Season 8, 9-10AM: Nearly great

Blogging brings an extra depth to this show.  It encourages me to think about it more, rather than treating it as a snotty tissue. 

But tonight's episode did all the encouraging I need.  Sure, I'm disappointed with the peace ploy being the driving drama.  Ooooh, if we don't do this or that we won't have peace.  Ooooh, I'm so scared.  Oooh, I'm so ready to sacrifice anything to get peace.  Oooh threaten me that if I don't do what you want my action will torpedo the peace deal.  Somehow I'm seeing all these scenes tonight and wondering how these actors can deliver these lines with a straight face.  OK, I know some folks wonder that about most of the lines on 24, but now that I've drunk the Koolaid, now that I consciously check my disbelief at the door once I settle in on Monday nights, it takes a lot to pull me out of that dull fog of mindless entertainment bliss.

But President Taylor in person trying to convince Jack that peace is worth his sacrifice?  Well, that pushed me over the edge, albeit a dime's edge.  And I bemoan the days/seasons where the choice was Jack's way or the imminent death of countless innocents.  This time around, do I want to continue peace negotiations including the delegation that's been working the whole day to derail them?  Instead of getting the proof of their shenanigans?  That's too easy--if Charles Logan can simply threaten to tell the president about the Russians' complicity and they'll cave, how much more convincing would Taylor be when she had hard evidence?  Ah, but my kind of thinking doesn't work in the 24 world.  I still don't know why, but it doesn't.

OK, other than that digression, this was a great episode.  We get Logan v. Jack again, w/ Logan looking all weaselly, gloating, impotent, crafty, cornered, vindictive, driven, self-righteous, smarmy, oh so much going on there all at the same time, especially when he sees that Jack stands in the way of his reclaiming some stature.  His toady tells him he has to call Taylor to stop Jack.  Here, I hoped Logan would be wilier than his assistant, but he simply does what his assistant tells him to do.

We get Chloe running CTU and still doing a bang up job of it, and I mean that in a good way.  She meets Taylor and is dutifully respectful, though Taylor, after her initial "Ms. O'Brien," gets to a first name basis awful fast.  She has plenty of the facial contortions that assure us that she is a troubled soul in a troubled environment dealing with troubling problems.   She tells Jack she's sorry about Renee.  (Jack gets that a lot--orderly at the hospital, Chloe on the phone, Chloe at CTU, Freddy at CTU, Taylor at CTU, and I'm already tired of scripts that think saying, "I'm sorry for your loss," sets everything right enough that the plot the writers think is more important can get rolling again.  Watch any cop show, look for the cop interview with anyone who's faced a loss--"I'm sorry for your loss"--adding a "so" in there if they "really" mean it--and we're done that part, on to how to get the info we want.) When Jack finally goes rogue (again) and steals a chopper, Chloe gets up there fast, tells the guards not to shoot (what good would shooting have done?), then radios Jack to tell him to come back or she'll call the Air Force to bring him down (I can't wait to see how you force down a chopper; only way I see to keep anyone on-board alive is to wait for it to run low of fuel).  That's perfect, perfectly by the book, and she doesn't miss a beat doing it, like she's been born to command. I wish she were put in tougher situations, or situations where the right choice would make a difference. Here, she's gotta know Jack has figured out an out, and if she were really good, she'd be on top of that, too.  I seem to remember her out-thinking Jack in an earlier season, but I don't recall the details.  But, boy there's another chance for greatness--Jack v. Chloe.  Wow.

Instead, we have the battle of ideas and ideals. The opportunity for that analysis attracted me to this show years ago. Then it was what ideal do you sacrifice to prevent a greater harm.  This year, in the softer 24 (less torture, wow, no guns fired this episode), we get what do you sacrifice to achieve the greater good.  Taylor is willing to sacrifice knowledge--knowing the Russians are scheming with terrorists to scuttle the peace conference (now I'm wondering if we get to find out why, especially with so many on the show asking that question but not getting an answer).  Jack doesn't like it when someone else plays "the ends justify the means" when it's his principles on the line.

And boy, that opens up a bunch of other conflicts.  Where to start?  How 'bout with Jack now faced with disobeying the president?!  OK, him taking Logan down was OK because Logan planned a terrorist attack.  But Taylor--she has no hidden agenda.  She straight up wants peace in the middle east, and she's decided taking down the Russians isn't worth sacrificing the peace.  Rather, it's the other way.  And Jack doesn't buy into it. This same Jack who wouldn't give up Islamic Pres in exchange for saving 10s of thousands of innocent New Yorkers because he followed Taylor's order.

And there's wondering if the ends justifies the means for Taylor--is negotiating with the Russians when you know they don't want the negotiations to succeed worth sacrificing uncovering the dirt on them?  Seems like either way, the Russians aren't really in this for the long haul.  But on a more abstract level, is peace worth knowingly letting someone get away with murder?

Then there's Taylor telling Jack that she won't sacrifice the peace for his vengeance.  Jack retorts that he wants justice, not vengeance.  Now, setting aside both that he knows the difference and he's right that he wants justice, not vengeance, do you know the difference between justice and vengeance?  How often do we hear, "I want Justice!" and the line really mean "vengeance"?  And with how that justice-y stuff has worked out for folks on 24 (Logan is a great example), how many think that Jack even stands a chance of seeing justice done?  And does Jack really think it'll happen?

To show the show hasn't gone completely soft, we had Jack interrogate Dana.  He slapped her around a good bit before she asked for immunity again for tons of info.  I'm not sure why Jack had to even hit her, maybe indeed to show the show's not soft on traitors.  And to show that Freddy knows Jack and that Chloe can make the wrong call sometimes ("Stop him" when Jack's hitting Dana, with Freddy saying, "No, wait, Jack hasn't lost it."  Does that show Freddy knows Jack?  Or that he wants "Dana" to pay for tricking him so thoroughly?)

Missing Renee already.  Seeing her freckles with her laid out on the gurney of the ER.  Ugh, I'll miss those.  Also made me wonder how the make-up/special effects crew do such a lifelike job of making a dead body. Our only hope left is that Jack tracks down Tony after the Air Force forces him down.  Sorry, thin on the links this week.  I guess the show had too much food for thought. Sphere: Related Content