I'm thinking Mark Twain's comment about the weather applies anywhere, just ask the internet. Watching 24, I'm sure that's the case in NYC. I'm pretty sure we saw the sunset yesterday. I don't remember the sun today, seemed like it was a bit overcast, though the helicopter scene last hour and in tonight's Previously scenes showed some blue sky.
But after blowing up Chloe's ambush and escaping with Freddy, Jack and Freddy head to the raindropped CTU SUV. Hmmm, not 15 min ago it was pretty sunny.
Why did we go to the trouble of rain? Only guess I have is that contemporaneously we were seeing Dana undergoing water boarding. Rain there didn't seem to serve another purpose--later Jack is driving through town on dry pavement, running around on dry pavement. Writers were going for art there, I guess.
Poor Dana. Yeah, I got some of my wish. She came into her own a bit. Holding out gamely under water boarding, sticking to her story that she was bluffing about having evidence. Though I don't know what her angle is there. Holding out as long as she can hoping for rescue? Once they believe that she doesn't know anything, she's no use to them. Seems like a dead end no matter how you look at it. When we find out her backup plan was a safety deposit box, I'm still at a loss as to how she could make that work--if she's the only one who can get to it, then just what leverage is it? But all my knowledge of these things comes from TV shows, so what do I know.
Jack and Freddy spring her. Jack kills a lot of private security baddies, including torturer. Torturer has Dana at gunpoint, hiding behind her, Jack has him in his sights--stand-off right? Torturer tells Jack the shot's too tough, Jack won't take it, and thinks he's OK. We all know Jack's hit tougher shots, and Jack's not in the mood for subtlety. Another baddie bites the dust. Freddy can only gape. And us, too--Dana alive is the only reason Jack is there: off her, and Jack goes away, right? And the evidence vanishes with her, no? Well, this is 24, and national security is involved, and we know all those secrets eventually come out, right?
But why is Freddy stunned, too? Jack's only option was to try the shot because the foolishly deployed back up "units" (meaning gunsels--wow, that scene and how it's acted in The Maltese Falcon take on a whole new meaning when you look up the word!) had to have figured out the diversion on the roof and headed back down by now. I'm thinking Freddy being stunned is to clue us in to Jack losing it. Chloe harped on it last hour and this hour, and Freddy is thinking it, and even Dana is trying to play that card. But we all know Jack better than that, right? We're not gonna believe Jack's lost it, right? We've seen him play us in seasons of yore, never better than in his prison escape.
Well, we find out that Dana really does have the evidence, and boy, can she act, too. But we had to know that already with that huge range she's shown us. Just this episode she looks lost, forlorn, hopeless then cursingly defiant during torture, then pleading, conniving, manipulating, clever with Freddy trying to get him to turn on Jack. Then heartfelt, caring when she bares her heart to Freddy. Then cold, resourceful when she turns the tables on him and then blows away the bank VP. Then hysterical as she places a false 911 call. Which is the real Dana? We're probably to think that she really cared about Freddy and wanted to turn her life around because she doesn't kill him when he's unconscious, rather she caresses his face (Lord John Whorfin knows when you show true character).
Dana also tries her best with Jack, and maybe this is where we're to find out Jack's one deck shy a full load. She doesn't believe Jack's as good as his word even though we all do. So he puts the gun to her chest and counts down from 3 (torturer gave her all of a 10 count). Freddy tries to intervene at 2, but Dana caves at 1. Jack later tells Freddy he had to make her believe he'd have shot her. Freddy tells Dana that later, and Dana says, "You believed that??!?" I guess she should know how gullible Freddy is.
And after escaping the bank, and "letting" Jack see her escape (while the police are trying to nab him) she has alas, one last scene. Jack shoots a cop in the foot after saying, "Sorry" in order to escape (lotta good that sorry's gonna do--is it for our benefit or is it character development, Jack feeling tortured?). Dana didn't skedaddle fast enough, though, and the cops didn't slow Jack down enough, so he catches up with her, even after she ruthlessly guns down someone getting into a cab and pats a guy on the shoulder (so many subtleties in this show--like why did Jack swap guns in the shoot out when both still had bullets? This show gives you more for fodder than Lost!). She runs into a building under construction, and Jack follows. She discards her shoes, even though we haven't yet heard her clicking heels. Barefeet have jumped up a few times this season. She gets to the high ground (though running upstairs seems to take away escape routes), Jack flips his jacket her way, and she plugs it with her remaining bullets. Jack seems to have at least one left when he finally catches up with her. She gives up her evidence, and asks Jack what she can do. "Nothing." And he finally plugs her in the chest. Then again after she's fallen on the ground.
Was she right when she said he wanted vengeance, not justice? Was she right when she said he was going to take the evidence and kill all whom it implicated? And seeings how it's just an audio, don't we already know what kind of luck Jack has when he tries to use audio evidence against a president?
Scenes from next week suggest Jack takes up torture again, this time on the guy who murdered Renee. Seemingly confirming Dana's points. The writers gotta be hating themselves for writing Dana so well. Oh, we all couldn't stand her for the 1st 1/2 of the season, but when her depth started coming out, whoa, I for one am sorry she had to go. But at least this is the last season for everybody. And Dana was entirely self driven. No higher purpose, not even money. Just doing whatever she could to save her skin. Though she had the flash of hope that true love can provide.
Even with all that, we still had the new Islamic president saying in her speech how much integrity Taylor has, Logan continuing to pull strings, Taylor continuing to trust Logan ("one last time"), Logan continuing to try to keep up appearances (continuing to talk for the benefit of his aide after Taylor hung up on him), and a new plant arriving at CTU. Chloe doesn't like it, but he came under Taylor's order. She also feels betrayed by Jack ("He threatened me!"). I'm tempted to guess where this is headed, but I know better than that. OK, I'm guessing terrible endings for most involved--but where does that leave us for the movie? Wow, can you have a series ending cliff-hanger to set up a movie?
Oh, and Freddy told Chloe that she did the right thing. I guess we're not tired of that yet. Sphere: Related Content
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