Indeed, the first 2 hours of Season 8 aired last night.  So what is the official AIG response to the premiere?  Honestly, there isn’t one yet.  I fell asleep, so I’m going to have to watch the first two hours again sometime this evening between the time I get home from work and the time the second 2 hours begins.

Now, don’t get me wrong.  I’m not trying to intone that the premiere was so boring that I slept through it.  I honestly don’t know if the premiere would still have been snoozy for a person who wasn’t hung over, running on 5 hours of sleep after partying the night before and then a day of helping her aunt shop for a new laptop and setting up said new laptop.  Especially without any “OMG TONY” adrenaline coursing through my veins to offset the fatigue. (more …)

Just wanted to let everyone know that Kat and I loved the finale and are completely satisfied.  The extended debrief will be up tomorrow, but we are too drunk and tired to deal with it now.  I have work to do tomorrow (good thing I took a vacation day).  But it is all worth it.  Bravo, 24, for giving me what I wanted.  You have redeemed yourselves and you have thoroughly pleased the minds behind AIG.

So our humble little cyber-abode here has seen insane traffic levels all through last night and today, more on average per hour since the very first 2 episodes of this season.  I suppose my prediction that Almeidaists throughout the land are indeed freaking out after last night’s … I don’t even know what to call it … Debacle?  Shocker?  Character annihalation?  Death of Kasia’s fandom?  I still don’t know.  Kat and I will definitely be checking in tonight, so you can look for a video from us probably in about 5 hours from the time of this writing (I’m guessing midnight EST).  But in the meantime, here’s a few more choice excerpts from the members of our discussion forum on what’s clearly become the hot topic of the week for 24 fans.

From tifah:

[...] the more I think of this, the more I’m convinced it is Tony doing a triple (quadruple?) play. [...] I am even more convinced that Seaton and Tony have some kind of agreement. And whatever it is excludes Hodges. Hodges was complimenting Seaton on the brilliance of his plan, but it seemed to me that, by some gosh darn amazing subtle acting on everyone’ part, that Hodges hadn’t been in on it. Not completely. [...] Right now it looks like Tony is part of the deeper conspiracy, but it’s also possible that he’s working against it. I can see the seeds of plotting. It’s carefully done, in such away as to not reveal anything to early. And there are more questions than answers, which is as it should be for this point in the overall arc. [...] Some might disagree with me, but I have to say, there is some brilliant writing going on. Maybe I’m giving the writers too much credit — I completely agree that it’s hard to trust them after last season, an also to trust them re: Tony — but if I’m not smoking crack, they are being incredibly deft with their dialogue, helped by some nicely subtle acting. Almost everything is ambiguous enough to be read in multiple ways. [...] Since Tony was revealed as being part of DeepSky and not really a bad guy, I have been on edge waiting for the moment when he would turn bad again, because the seeds of it were left ever since then (at least imo they were) and there have been carefully left hints and tiny little reveals all along, just enough to give me angina, and most of which could have been read both ways. I had started to get comfortable since most other Almeidaists felt he was good for good [...] if he does remain evil, Jack will have to kill him, and then there’s no hope at all. The Jack-killing-Tony scenario is the one I fear the most, and whatever happens, I really really hope it doesn’t go to that.

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Good evening.  Due to personal craziness in the lives of both Kat and myself, we were unable to converge on a debrief tonight, though I believe we will be checking in tomorrow.   I am so unbelievably exhausted right now, not to mention mindfucked, that I am unable to process this episode or write about it coherently too much at this time.  I need some time to get my thoughts in order before Kat and I broadcast tomorrow.  But in the meantime, I have no doubt that Almeidaists throughout the land will feel an intense desire to discuss this episode.  So instead of a proper Episode Post-Mortem, I bring you selected excerpts from the weekly analysis thread on our message forum in the immediate aftermath of Episode 7×18.

From Captain_Typho:

First Almeida is God…..then Almeida is…….well I just don’t know what he is anymore…..I guess he’s a badguy…..or maybe he’s not….only 2 options here as I see it:

a. Tony’s a badguy and knew about this weapon all along and joined up with Bill and the gang just to try and get close to the weapon to use it with his own group….or b. Tony’s a good guy and needed to maintain his cover of being in with the bad guys so he can track this weapon and see how far down the rabbit hole this conspiracy goes….and to do that….he needed to finish off Larry…..who was probably dead anyways….notice how he does tell Larry that he’s sorry.

or maybe c. Tony is trying to get his hands on that weapon so they can study it and try and find a cure to Jack that doesn’t involve Kim.

Jesus what an episode…….

First 20 minutes Almeida was God and the last 5….he has reached a new low.

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Hello, my peoples.  Kat wasn’t feeling well last night, so she elected to forgo worship with me and instead we have scheduled a video session for tonight, so you can probably expect the video to be published late late this evening.  I won’t get too crazy with my thoughts here, because I’ll need to save something for the debrief, but I can offer a few preliminary reactions to last night’s episode.

The outstanding moment that seems to be creating the most buzz around The Open Channel for this episode was the spectacular scene between Senator Mayer and Jack at the Senator’s home, and I have to say, I am totally down with’at.  This was definitely the highlight scene of the episode in terms of character development and I’ll tell you why.  For Jack’s part, all season long he’s been in this post-machine Jack mode, where he is simply done apologizing to others for what he’s done in the past, done attempting to justify his world view to those who don’t understand it or can’t relate to it and done punishing himself for collateral damage residing on his conscience.  He has refused to capitulate to demands from his critics that he throw himself at their mercy and renounce the life he has lived as the wrong path.

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I’m sad… Even though I knew in advance that we’d lose Bill in this episode – both from my own gut feeling and Kasia’s post I’d unfortunately read before seeing the ep – and was prepared, it didn’t make watching him die any easier… It happened so fast… And because it was so quick, we didn’t exactly have the time to actually watch him take his last breath. I guess at least you can say it was his choice, it was heroic and selfless and at least he died for a cause, something more important than himself. But oh, that ominous ep 13… First Tony in s5, now Bill in s7. Which led me to think about whether we’d lost Mason in ep 13 too? I know Chappelle came later cause by 3×13 we’d only lost the Mexican connection, if I remember correctly.. But if there’s someone out there who isn’t too lazy to check, see if there’s other lead characters whose unlucky number proved to be 13…

But thinking logically (and putting aside the fact that Jack is immortal), when Jack started telling Bill about the plan he saw as a possible strategy, and Bill understood it was a suicide mission, did Jack really think that Bill would let him do that? So… From there on at the latest, it was more than clear that Bill was going to take Jack’s place. Even more so when Bill gave Jack the information about Juma having a contact on the outside.  Surely Bill wouldn’t have needed to tell that to a man about to die. It was his last action before his final act… So, it is with pain that we say goodbye to Bill. I’m glad he had a meaningful death. He was a great character, he was given some purpose in this season, and it cannot be said he’d only been brought back just to kill him – he’s been in the season, on and off, for about half of it and he was an integral part of DEEPSKY.

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Please allow me to scream: I NEED MORE!!!!!!!! After just watching 2 episodes back to back, I’m craving a 3rd one, and a 4th one, and… I’m an addict. Again. And I don’t mind at all!

Episode 12 has done it to me. And yes, despite the lack of Tony. This is probably the best Tony-No-Show episode this season, and I’d rate it a clear 10. With the automatic 0.5 deduction for No Tony, it makes it a 9.5. I’ll also deduct another 0.5 for the screw-up in the Casting department that Kasia has already commented on: Secret Service Agent Simes (Season 1) being recast as Secret Service Agent Hovis without anyone noticing, making the episode 9.0… But that’s still pretty fucking amazing for mid-season episodes, when you think about the possibility of “mid-season sags”. There is not a trace of that here. The middle of the season is just as rock solid as its beginning was, in fact, so far I have not noticed a single “sag” in the current season.

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You know, these episodes had some pretty amazing moments.  The Jack/Tony scene at the beginning of the two hours, the related conversation between Tony and Bill at the end of the first hour, and then the scene between Bill and Jack with the steel bars between them.  But all of that will have to wait for the time being, and be resumed tomorrow night with Kat.  For now, I would like to express my feelings about what was almost a hugely amazing 24 moment, but just ended up being a crushing disappointment for a Season 1 Episode 1 the night it aired on network television fan like myself.  And that, my friends and compatriots, is the return of not-Simes.

When Michael Bryan French popped up on my screen, I jumped out of my seat.  “Holy shit!!!!  Is that FRANK SIMES???” I shrieked.  Frank Fucking Simes!  Crown Prince of the Season 1 Frank Fenomenon!  Ol’ Simes, still on the job with Secret Service, even after all these years.  #11 on the AlmeidaIsGod.com Top 24 One Episode Characters of 24 List.  THIS GUY IS A LEGEND IN THESE PARTS.  Just ask Matt.  Seriously.  I was SO FUCKING PUMPED.  Then, when asked to identify himself, Simes says his name is “Agent Hovis”.  AGENT FUCKING HOVIS???????  WTF?????

But seriously, I just don’t get it.  You have the actor, who obviously knows he has done the show before, and Cochran/Gordon et al must know has done the series before, and you let the opportunity for THE UNBELIEVABLY AMAZING return of a completely obscure random S1 character for whom AIG’s heart still burns slip through your fingers???  I’m at a loss.  Seriously.  I don’t know what to say.  The character was a Secret Service agent, it would have been perfect!  Especially since Frank Simes knows Jack Bauer from way back at the San Clarita Power Plant.  Working the same detail as Aaron Pierce, the same day HE met Jack.  Whatever the name of the character was in the original script, as soon as MBF was cast, Simes should have been a done deal.

The only explanation I can think of is that TPTB just simply did not think we would remember Frank Simes.  Not-Faheen in S4 was bad enough, and I am actually on board with Detective Mike Norris’ reincarnation as General Juma just because the actor is so fantastic, but Not-Simes is simply unacceptable.  FOR SHAME, 24!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I apologize for my excessive use of the CAPSLOCK key in this post.  Honestly, Not-Simes has driven me to CAPSLOCK.  I’m pleased that the Not-Simes episode is mine to review, even though (and there will be more than one automatic 0.5 deduction, I can tell you that) Tony was not in it.

Oh, that man Almeida! He sure knows how to make an entrance! Not only did he reappear out of nowhere with information that will keep the season from ending after only 10 episodes, but the place where he reappears couldn’t be more significant: the steps at the West Front of the White House, where Presidents have been inaugurated for almost 30 years. The daylight is fading, the sky is almost unrealistically technicolor pink, and between the White House and the Washington Memorial, you see the Badass Aviator Sunglasses walk into the picture and you think, “Just when you thought it was over, Jack… This ain’t over yet.” The whole scene was perfect in every way. Jack’s initial reaction, Tony’s calm explanation, and the brotherly hand on Jack’s shoulder…

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…or : “Hello, surprise!”

So, I’ve just finished watching episode 9 and while it is still unacceptably lacking a single second of Tony, the rest of it wasn’t bad.  It was a solid ep, which I’ll rate a 7 out of 10. But yet again, things went as predicted, and the ep offered no big surprises. How often have we seen this? Jack gets someone to co-operate with him to help him get close to a terrorist, finds a way to track this person, and then things go to Hell. Sure, some people are more comfortable in Hell, but we’re not there yet.

In fact, where are we?

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