Day 5: 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Original Airdate: February 27, 2006
Writers: Joel Surnow and Michael Loceff
Director: Tom Iacofano
This episode essentially negates some of the developments of the last two episodes. Some of them are expected, like Bierko setting out to do what Erwich was planning, making his death more a penalty for trusting the Americans. Unfortunately, that leaves little advancement of the story aside from the Henderson thread. That's not to say this episode is bad. It's still entertaining, and it has one of the best moments of the season.
While Martha had good intentions going with the Suvarovs, her uneasiness when she learned her loser husband didn't change the course of the motorcade didn’t help. Suvarov could tell that something was wrong, and the attack a half hour later would validate those suspicions. Although the Suvarovs, Martha and Pierce turned out OK, the fact that the missile hit the car is enough to warrant huge repercussions.
It’s safe to say that Martha is the best thing that ever happened to Logan. Therefore, the thought of sacrificing her to the terrorists pushes him to a place he shouldn’t have been in to start. Of course, Logan doesn’t realize that Martha did this to tell him that this was wrong and it would only result in bigger problems than releasing nerve gas. Logan should’ve known that he couldn’t negotiate with terrorists. Because of this, he delivered a potent blow to his crumbling marriage, entangled himself in an impossible PR situation with the Russians and made a man with 19 gas canisters really angry. Smooth move.
Praying with Novick draws obvious parallels to Nixon and the story where he allegedly prayed with Kissinger in his last days as president. Nixon has been a huge component of Logan’s character, down to the psychical similarities, but this incident was the closest comparison, the only difference is that Novick’s objection was that it was “personal” rather than he being of a different faith.
24 has been ruthless in dispatching main characters, especially from this season’s opening moments. Although many believed that Martha would be safe from Bierko’s attack, many were especially worried about the fate of Agent Pierce. This season he has gotten plenty of moments to shine, notably when he helped Jack get to Walt. It could’ve been a good indicator that he was going to die, and this would’ve been a prime way to do it. I almost believed that they did it when he didn’t respond to Martha. Then he woke up. Casually opening the door and blowing those two terrorists away was easily the highlight of the episode. Is there anyone who doesn’t love this character?
I am disappointed that Lynn has been marked down into an annoying figure made to hinder our heroes. Earlier he appeared to be thoughtful as he saved Jack and the terminal hostages. Then he got cranky after he got beat up by his sister’s boyfriend. Lynn’s frustrating control of CTU hinders anything that could be considered progress. Even if he didn’t believe it, he should’ve connected the dots between an attack on the Russian president’s motorcade and the separatists with the nerve gas.
Speaking of annoying characters, Audrey has shed that persona this season, becoming a worthwhile component of the show and referencing Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the process. Besides William Devane being on another show, it is worth asking why Audrey wouldn’t aggressively pursue getting Heller involved. At least she took the initiative to get the reckless Lynn out of control.
Lynn’s behavior had to reach its breaking point eventually, so what better time than when CTU desperately needs to avert a major attack? Although I generally have a problem with some of the high school elements of 24, this time they were far more convincing, with there being a genuine problem our heroes have to avert (gotta love Edgar's comment about how he would do it, but he still wasn't comfortable). It’s no surprise that Curtis influenced the guards, but it will be interesting to see how this will affect CTU in future episodes. I’m a bit behind, so I won’t divulge the upcoming circumstances yet.
The biggest tell to how much Lynn’s power trip hurt CTU’s progress tracking the gas and Bierko was how Buchanan made more progress in his first minute back on the job than Lynn did during his tenure. Lynn’s abuse of power was so the writers could make sure the terrorists could get close to killing everyone in the motorcade, without succeeding in the primary target. That makes it a bit more frustrating.
Another episode with little Jack, but it does delve into unexplored Jack history with his former mentor playing a crucial role behind the conspiracy. We knew Jack busted agents for taking bribes from the pilot and that was awkwardly covered later on, but this one is more substantial and less annoying, especially with special guest star Peter Weller playing the role of Henderson.
Some complained that Jack was stupid to place that much trust in Henderson, but the personal history explains why. Jack busted Henderson for selling information, but Jack only said he "believed" in Henderson's guilt, implying some lee way. Also, Jack now knows that there were people within CTU who were corrupt like Nina (although Mason became a hero, he did take some money from Darcet). That guilt lead Jack to give Henderson some slack, which cost him precious time and almost killed him.
It is never said, but Henderson’s motives must be similar to Walt and Nathanson’s. There are some things worth asking: what exactly is his role in the conspiracy? Why did he have a bomb in the clipboard in his office? With the bunker blown up, what was Henderson planning to do? Wouldn't he be targeted by the same people who came for Nathanson and his crew? Even though CTU didn’t have a lot, they still had his name and would want to speak to him, especially with an attack on a federal agent. Likely, he would’ve skipped town and gone into hiding with whatever money he got from this operation.
Something is also suspicious about the three dead scientists, all killed in “accidents”. The proximity of them incidents indicates that someone killed them and made it look like an accident, but who? Was it Henderson and crew, wanting to keep them quiet in case their plan unraveled (which it is now)? Or was it Erwich, who got help from the Americans, who wanted to silence anyone who wasn’t on board for this operation? We may never know for sure, but the facts given are enough for us to draw our conclusions.
There are some good moments in this episode, especially when Aaron saves the day (or hour), but there is little forward movement, indicative of a transitional episode. With the two hour event the following week, 24 isn't going to run out of steam yet this season, which is amazing considering the pace they've set for themselves.
Score: 7/10
