41% (83 votes) – Renee Walker’s emotional problems.
17% (35 votes) – Cylon mothership inspired CTU NY set design.
15% (31 votes) – Jack’s new, sophisticated manbag.
15% (30 votes) – Anil Kapoor’s hair … it’s so bad, it’s good.
7% (14 votes) – Katee Sackhoff’s legs in that dress.
3% (7 votes) – Chloe’s sheer, leopard print top. Was that a gift from Morris?

This poll has been running from right after the 4 hour premiere aired to now (just over 1/3 of the way through the season).  The results were overwhelming in favour of Renee Walker and her affecting (though far-fetched) emotional breakdown as the winner.  Jack’s new leather manbag and Anil Kapoor’s pompadour were pretty much neck and neck with only one vote separating them, but both were edged slightly by the new set design inside CTU.  As for Katee Sackhoff’s legs and Chloe’s horrendous wardrobe selections this season, no one seems to care much for them.

Don’t forget to vote in our new follow-up poll on the worst thing about Season 8 so far.

Josef manages to get a safe distance with the rods, but is contacted by CTU and his father. Just as they’re on the verge of working out an immunity deal with him, a sniper takes Josef out and Farhad and his people retake the uranium. Farhad becomes uneasy, however, when he learns that his associates are planning on attacking New York instead of their own country.

At CTU, Weiss calls Hastings and tells him that they’re going to need a scapegoat for all of the mistakes that have transpired in the past few hours, and suggests Renee Walker. He sends a woman over to CTU to try and coax Renee into admitting she killed Vladimir not in self defense, but because of the fact that he was an awful awful human being. Renee is sticking with her “self defense” story at the behest of Jack, but seems to find herself cracking.

Dana is trailing Kevin from the bar to a clearing in the woods, where she waits for an opportune time to remove him from her life for good. But Cole, with Arlo’s assistance, figures out her location and moves out to find out just what’s going on. Farhad, meanwhile, decides that his interests are no longer aligned with his associates, so he escapes and attempts to contact CTU.

Jack, getting wind of what’s going on with Renee, races back to CTU, but is unsuccessful in breaking her out of custody. That’s when Farhad gets in touch, letting them know about the impending attack on New York. Jack strikes a deal with Hastings, he’ll stay around for the duration of the crisis if the charges against Renee are dropped.

Dana has a window to take out Kevin, but Cole arrives at this moment and demands the truth. So she tells him about her sordid past, and after absorbing this, Cole goes to personally threaten the two losers into leaving New York and Dana for good. However, Kevin’s psycho friend takes it upon himself to try and take down Cole, stabbing Kevin once he gets in the way and getting killed himself after Kevin calls out a dying warning to Dana. Now she and Cole find themselves with two dead bodies…

Review

Watching this episode was so strange. During some scenes, I thought “In all honesty, this is actually pretty good. This is probably the best episode of the season so far.” And in the next scene, I was like “My GOD this episode is complete crap, what the hell are they thinking?” Then I took some Thorazine, and I feel much better now. The episode is still wildly uneven though.

At this point, Dana might as well find out that Kevin is inviting Danny Dessler, Gael’s Wife, Maya Driscoll, and Barry Landes to New York for one big Obnoxious Party. It seems clear they’re, for whatever reason, out to make the mother of all “CTU Character is Distracted by Annoying Person from the Past,” subplots, so they might as well just go for it. But instead she shadows them to a park, where she watches from a distance as Kevin and his friend try to date rape some floozies they picked up at the bar.

Eventually Cole shows up, and it’s really distressing how I was one step ahead of every turn in this scene. “So she’s going to tell him the truth, and he’ll be disappointed that she was keeping secrets from him. But he’ll still love her enough to go threaten the two guys to leave town and ahhhh, there he goes. Time for the more psychotic of the two to try and take Cole down. Yep. Now the only question is whether or not Kevin has a last second repent-… My GOD this episode is complete crap, what the hell are they thinking?” The scene even takes place in the exact darkened wooded clearing I was picturing whenever we were speculating about this subplot a few weeks ago.

When all is said and done, this could be the worst subplot we’ve ever seen in 24. As much as I’ve always criticized Kim in the woods/Loonie Lonnie or most of the Palmer family shenenigans in Season 3, those were at least characters we had a lot invested in already. We’ve had our first impressions of Dana shaped irrevocably by what’s going on here, and to say that she has a long uphill battle if she wants to become a liked character is an understatement. Cole has shown promise, but I fear he’s going to get dragged down too. Even both Sackoff and Prinze Jr. seem a little less than enthused with the idea of selling the material this week, but that could have been my imagination.

The worst thing is that a lot of the subplot takes place in one interminable scene that ends the episode. In the same way that the lengthy finale Renee scene in 7×05 made me think I had watched a really great episode, this one had the exact opposite effect. And I can’t even get excited that the death of those two bozos means the same for this subplot. At this point, we can’t really drop Cole and Dana back in CTU, have Hastings be mildly annoyed at them for a moment, then have them resume their respective analytical/field duties. Oooh no, it’s too late to transition them to something else entirely, so I’m prepared for 8-16 episodes of Arlo and Chloe sending them suspicious looks and slowly exposing their cover-up. It would still be a step up, I suppose.

Enough of that, let’s take a look at Farhad’s subplot. Him breaking ways with his cohorts to contact CTU has some negative and positive ramifications. The negative… we’re really running out of villains to even be halfway invested in. Vladimir we’ve already lost. Josef is taken down in the first act after the previous episode’s cliffhanger seemed to set him up as a major villain, but that’s ok, David Anders is used to it. Sergei seems to have been neutralized as a threat. And I’ll be extremely surprised if Farhad makes it through the next hour alive. That leaves some generic guy who wants to blow up New York. I already suspect I’m going to be longing for a Hodges or a Juma type figure to anchor the bad guys, but there’s seemingly no one ready to assume a head villain role right now.

The positive… as derivitive as this is of Vladimir Bierko’s Season 5 agenda, it will almost certainly inject some much needed energy into the UN proceedings. Only one of the four series regulars based there is around this week (Rob Weiss); President Taylor, President Hassan, and President Hassan’s pompadour are all missing in action. And given the lifelessness of their subplot these past four episodes, I didn’t miss them one bit. But when we come back, we should find that Taylor is suddenly finding herself sitting across from a man she might have to go to war with. That’s a new spin on the political subplot, and I’m looking forward to seeing if they can execute it well.

This review has been awfully downbeat so far, surely there was some stuff I really liked? There was! And you’ll never believe this, but it was all related to Jack Bauer and Renee Walker. The idea of these two crazy, damaged kids getting together is actually what I’m most invested in this season. I was kind of against the idea of a romance between the two in Season 7, because TV shows like this tend to fall into the trap of having attractive female characters like Renee defined by their relationship with male characters. But I think it’s fair to say that Renee has been extraordinarily well developed, both in Season 7 and in Season 8 so far. Giving her a love interest would likely just add another dimension to this already multi-faceted and compelling character.

The Jack/Renee attraction does lead to the silliest moment of the episode though, when Jack bursts into CTU and puts the woman interrogating Renee into a choke hold on sight. I know he’s done this sort of thing many times before, and maybe they’re just trying to portray Jack as gender neutral when it comes to strangling, but it leaves a really, really bad taste in my mouth. And of course, he’s mildly reprimanded by Hastings after and allowed to leave CTU immediately after.

This subplot was home to the episode’s two best scenes though. Renee’s interrogation was a lengthy and incredibly well done scene, one in which Annie Wersching did a great job portraying Renee’s internal turmoil. And the scene in which Jack somewhat bonded with Hastings over the pressures that come with being CTU director was great too. Best of all, it would seem that Jack is on board for good now, I was worried we’d fall into a silly pattern of Jack saying every few episodes “My plane is leaving in a few minutes, I have to go… wait what’s going on? Ok, I’ll stay for this one more thing.” A more committed Jack is a more entertaining Jack. So there was some good stuff in this episode. It was spread thin to be sure, but it was there.

What Would Tony Do?

I’m really not sure! Would Dana’s shady past and transgressions at work cause flashes of Nina Myers, prompting him to get back in his car and say “Deal with it yourself, b****.” Or would he love her unconditionally and be fiercely protective a la Michelle, and go and waste the two dunces earlier and more thoroughly than Cole did? Take your pick.

Overall

As much as I’d like to be the first person on this site to score a Season 8 episode in the 8 or above range, this episode sadly continues the uneven and unoriginal trends that have weighed down virtually every single hour. There is hope on some fronts though, and enough good stuff strewn about for me to say 6.5/10.

Based on New Zealand’s “Outrageous Fortune,” “Scoundrels” stars Virgina Madsen as a matriarch of a family of criminals facing life-gone-straight after her husband (Neal McDonough) is set away to prison.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Rambin (“Grey’s Anatomy,” “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles”) and Marano (“Gilmore Girls”) will play the family’s two daughters. Bernard (“24″) will play a detective who keeps an eye on the family.

Unlike the other shows in this article, “Scoundrels” has already been picked up for a summer run on ABC.

Sounds like this show could be interesting.  Virginia Madsen is a quality actress and I love Neal McDonough from his days as arrogant alcoholic District Attorney David McNorris on Boomtown.  Throw Carlos into that mix and you have a pretty tasty looking recipe for success.

That being said, I’m hoping that the filming schedule of this, with a summer air date, won’t interfere with any potential Tony Almeida involvement in the as-yet unconfirmed ninth season of 24.

Summary

Dana calls Kevin, who’s celebrating at a strip club. He asks her to join them, but she says all she wants is for him to leave her alone, like they agreed. “Yeah, that’s not gonna happen,” he tells her, and for some reason she’s shocked by this news. Arlo walks in and asks who she was talking to; he thinks she’s cheating on Cole, and threatens to tell him if she doesn’t do it first.

Cole informs CTU that they don’t have any way to track Jack. Hastings blames this on Renee and the fact that she killed their only lead. He orders her back to CTU, where she’ll undergo debriefing and, on Cole’s recommendation, a psych evaluation. As Dana appears, he asks her where she’s been – Chloe covers for her as Arlo watches, interested. When Hastings is gone, Chloe tells Dana that she can thank her by “putting aside whatever it is that’s bothering you and helping me find Jack.”

The Russians enter Bazhaev’s hideout with Jack. Bazhaev wants to know how he knows about the nuclear rods, and Jack – still undercover as Ernst Miir – says that communications between Farhad’s people were intercepted. He won’t tell them who he works for, and Bazhaev orders his men to “work on him” until he’s ready to share. Back in the kitchen, Josef enters after burying Oleg. He hands his father a cross necklace that Oleg wore, but Bazhaev says that he should keep it. He tells Josef that because of Jack he’s halted the transport of the rods until he knows more. Jack, in the meantime, is hanging from a pipe by his wrists as Demetri sticks a taser in his fresh stab wound. That’s got to hurt.

Back at CTU, Hastings briefs Taylor and Weiss. Nobody’s very optimistic about their chances of securing the rods anytime soon.

Farhad speaks to one of his men, who’s worried about Hassan’s crackdown back home. Farhad assures him that there’s nothing to be concerned about, but he’s starting to lose his composure, which becomes even more evident when Bazhaev informs him that the transport has been halted; his ranting is cut off when Josef puts a gun to his head and orders him removed from the premises.

Cole and Renee return to CTU. Hastings blames Renee for the failure of the operation; his words hit home, and she’s convinced that whatever happens to Jack is because of her. Chloe awkwardly tries to comfort her. Meanwhile, Dana pulls Cole aside – she says she has a problem and that there are “things in my past that I haven’t told you about.” He claims that he doesn’t care what happened before they met; she says she doesn’t want to lose him and that she knows what she needs to do now. This can’t be good.

Jack is still being tortured. The next time he “passes out” he doesn’t wake up, prompting Demitri to go find some smelling salts; when he returns, Jack pulls off a particularly cool move in which he uses his feet to pin the hand holding the active taser to Demitri’s chest. He falls to the ground, and Jack turns the pipes he’s tied to into his own personal playground as he uses his feet to make his way to the juncture in the corner of the room

At the UN, Kayla Hassan demands to know why her father had Tarin arrested; he blows her off until she drops the “bombshell” that she and Tarin were more than just friends. This simply convinces him that Tarin was trying to get close to the family for nefarious purposes, and he forbids Kayla from seeing him again.

Demetri starts to wake up, prompting Jack to get even more enthusiastic in his attempts to break free from the pipes. He manages just in time, killing Demetri and arming himself, all the while showing off his bare chest. He’s a multi-tasker, that Jack. He tries to call CTU but there’s no phone service. By the way, the phone he’s using isn’t Sprint. Just saying. He sneaks from the room and shuts off the lights in the compound, alerting Bazhaev to the fact that he’s escaped; when someone goes to check the fuse box, Jack attacks him from behind and steals his (Sprint!) cell phone – it works this time. He calls CTU and orders Chloe to trace the call before putting the phone on a shelf.

I’m getting tired of describing fight scenes, so long story short: Jack kills off Bazhaev’s flunkies, leaving just the two of them; a lot of glass breaks; Jack hides under a table; one of them ends up unconscious. I’ll let you guess who won. (Hint: it’s the one that should be in a hospital.)

Cole and Hastings notice that Dana’s missing; Arlo informs them that she logged out of the building fifteen minutes ago with some technobabble excuse. Neither he nor Cole seem to buy it. Hastings briefs the group on Bazhaev, who will be transported back to CTU. Renee is relieved to hear that Jack is safe, but isn’t too happy when Chloe tells her that she has to go to down to medical.

Jack approaches a sullen Bazhaev. He offers him, and his sons, a reduced sentence if Bazhaev tells him where the rods are. Bazhaev tells him that he murdered Oleg “for nothing” and forces a few tears out before demanding full immunity. Jack calls Chloe and is patched into a conversation between Hastings and Taylor; Weiss isn’t happy with the idea of immunity, but Taylor and Hastings trust Jack’s assertion that it’s their best option at this point. Taylor demands to speak with Bazhaev.

Cole approaches Arlo and asks what’s going on with Dana. He doesn’t believe that she’s cheating on him, but is shaken when Arlo shows him the video footage of Dana with Kevin in the CTU parking lot. He pulls himself together when Hastings orders him to lead the team to recover the rods, but before leaving, he asks Arlo to track Dana down. As he heads out, he leaves a message for Dana, who’s watching Kevin and Nick at the club and not looking very happy. In the elevator, Cole fixes the vest of a young agent that I’m shocked didn’t die this episode, but there’s always next week.

Kayla demands to see Tarin, but is denied access. She guilt-trips the agent into agreeing to find a way for them to see each other before he’s transferred to the Embassy.

Hastings warns Cole that two hostiles will be guarding the rods; as they approach the truck where the rods are supposed to be hidden, they see no sign of guards. They find them quickly enough once they’ve landed; they’re both inside the truck with bullet holes in their heads, and – of course – the rods are nowhere to be found, though the radiation levels show that they were moved not long ago. A cross necklace hangs on the side of the truck.

In the final splitscreen, a lot of people look pensive, and Dana pulls out a gun.

Hastings calls Jack and informs him that the rods are still missing. Bazhaev doesn’t know how that’s possible, but puts it together when Hastings mentions the necklace. Meanwhile, Josef tells Farhad that he’s five minutes out and has the rods in his possession.

Review

It took me until Thursday to start this recap, because I really didn’t want to watch the episode again. There was literally nothing going for it. Every other episode this season – just about every episode in the entire series – has had some plotline, some character, something to invest in, but I was really reaching here. This episode made me realize how much Renee is carrying the season so far; taking her out of the equation wasn’t a good idea.

There were a few nice moments. Jack climbing like a monkey down those pipes was fun to watch, and I’m always surprised that they can come up with new and creative deaths after eight seasons, especially since they seem to have run out of interesting ways to torture people – I know I’m not the only one who was having season two flashbacks. There were also a couple of lovely moments between Renee and Chloe. It’s so funny to think about the Chloe of season three – she’s grown so much! She still doesn’t do very well in emotional situations and was clearly desperate to get as far away from Renee as she could, but she’s making the effort. It’s sweet.

Aaaaand I think that’s about it on that front. It looks like the Dana storyline is actually going somewhere, and I don’t really care where, just so long as it ends soon. There are no words for how annoyed I am that Katee Sackhoff has been reduced to this role; she deserves better. I wanted so much to like this character but it’s getting to the point where I don’t even dislike her; I’m just annoyed that she’s taking up screen time. That’s not okay. (On the other hand, I still like Cole a lot more than I expected to, and hope that he stays awesome.)

Speaking of characters that are being misused, I’m not sure what’s up with the lack of President Taylor these last few episodes. Unacceptable. I’m also kind of surprised at how quickly Hassan has gone from an interesting and likable character to a vaguely psychopathic stereotype. The writers of 24 have lost the ability to surprise me on most fronts, but there’s always something. Now they’ve added the soap opera twist of the daughter and her forbidden lover, and all I can think is that at least it can’t get much worse.

Other than that – the rods are still missing! Josef turned against his father! Oh my God, I wonder what’s going – no. Sorry. I don’t give a damn.

What Would Tony Do?

He’d make out with Michelle in a corner. Hey, it’s what he did last time Jack was tortured like this, and there’s the added benefit of having nothing to do with an episode this lame.

Overall

Best episode of the season, can’t you tell from my glowing review? (Sorry, I’m feeling sarcastic today.)  4/10

—

Summary

Rob Weiss tells President Taylor she has almost unanimous support for the treaty. Jack is being taken to meet with Vladimir and tells Cole not to come in as backup. Arlo pulls up a traffic cam image of Jack in the car and notices he has control of the situation. Dana receives a call from Kevin, who has arrived at the warehouse to steal the money. Chloe tells Dana that Cole just checked in and that Hastings wants to see her in his office. Jack arrives at Vladimir’s location, holds Oleg at gunpoint and enters the room. Jack gets pissed at Vladimir for trying to take him out. Jack requests to speak to Renee alone. Lugo says they should take Jack out now but Vladimir says they need the deal. Jack tells Renee he’s going to pull her out but Renee assures Jack she is fine and that it will be worth securing the materials. Dana calls Kevin back and tells him he is good to go. She gives him instructions over the phone on how to infiltrate the facility and grab the money. Kevin gains access to the room and gets the money but his partner wants to stay a little longer and grab more stuff.

Vladimir starts calling his contacts to see if any of them have heard about the nuclear materials. Vladimir tells Jack he should relax and offers him a drink. Vladimir continues flirting with Renee. Sergei  asks his priest if he would personally bury his younger son out back. Father Gregor says it isn’t right but Sergei insists, and asks his older son Josef to help dig the grave, saying there was no other way and that he only did what he did so his son could have a nice life with a wealthy inheritance. Vladimir calls Sergei asking about the nuclear rods but he denies knowing anything about it. Renee insists that Vladimir keeps trying contacts. Sergei informs his men they must go and take out Vladimir since he knows about the nuclear rods.

President Taylor calls Hassan and insists they continue work on the treaty, and asks him about the crackdown in his country on opposition suspects. Rob Weiss says he didn’t sound like himself on the phone. Taran tells Hassan the interrogation of Jamot has revealed nothing except that he has a cousin in the opposition party. Hassan wants to threaten Jamot’s family to get him to talk. Taran says he doesn’t want to violate the principles that they both stand for. Hassan then tells Nabeel to continue with the interrogation and round up Jamot’s wife and kids as requested. Hassan also says to investigate Taran as well. Meanwhile, Kevin is trying to convince Nick to leave with the money and Nick pulls a gun on him. It turns out to be just a prank and Nick squirts Kevin in the face with a water gun. Dana calls Kevin and he says he’s not out yet when a cop shows up. She tells Kevin if he gets caught she is dead. She tries to get Kevin out but he is cornered and Nick beats the cop senseless so they can escape.

Taran meets with Hassan’s daughter Kayla, with whom he has a romantic relationship. Taran tells her what Hassan is doing in abducting Jamot’s family. The security forces show up to arrest Taran. Kayla tries hiding him but Taran gives himself up. Kayla begs Nabeel to speak with her father but he says he has given orders not to be disturbed. Vladimir calls his last contact and no one has given him any info. He says it is done and that Miir has wasted their time. Vladimir is content with the 5 million but Renee asks why settle for 5 when they could have 50 million. Vladimir tells Renee to ask Miir to leave. She refuses, and Vladimir attacks her. She finally snaps and stabs Vladimir, killing him. Jack tries to break it up but Renee turns and stabs him too by mistake. Jack kills Oleg then runs over to Renee, holding her and telling her it will be alright.

Jack checks in with CTU and informs them that Renee took out Vladimir. Jack suggests they move on by investigating the computer and checking the phone calls. Dana gets her ass chewed out by Hastings for being distracted at work. Renee starts to cry and takes the blame for everything that happened. She says she doesn’t have anything or anyone and Jack tells her she has him. Jack tells her she did a great job and they are further along then they were 3 hours ago all thanks to her. Jack thinks CTU has arrived, and goes to greet them but it is really Sergei’s men. Jack hides Renee and tells her he is going to give himself up so he can get undercover on the inside. Jack tells Sergei’s men that Vladimir tried to rip him off and that he killed them. They are about to kill Jack but Jack tells them he is only interested in doing business. The men investigate the house, almost discovering Renee, but they are called away and take Jack with them. Cole and CTU show up and find Renee. They try to track where they took Jack, but the Russians took Jack out through the sewers under the city.

Review

It’s a sad state for the show when one of the best moments of the episode is a guy shooting another guy in the face with a squirt gun. I still feel like this season isn’t quite as bad as season 6, but it certainly is getting up there. Most of our new starring cast members play stale characters with little or no story or plot development dedicated to them. The only exceptions really are Dana Walsh and President Hassan. Hastings, Arlo Glass, and Rob Weiss have had little or nothing to do on the series so far. I really miss the days when being listed as a starring cast member on this show meant something other than just being a presence on the screen. How hard would it have been to reduce the featured cast to 5-6 core characters with good plot development? Seeing the show in bad shape like this just makes me long for Tony’s return even more, because there is actually still a lot of great storytelling to be done with his character.

As for the episode itself, I felt it had its moments. I will reiterate that although I think the Dana Walsh subplot is a bit ridiculous, I absolutely love the chemistry between Katee Sackhoff and Clayne Crawford. Clayne in particular has done a fantastic job from an acting standpoint for a guest star. And speaking of great acting, Annie Wersching once again continues to make her case for an Emmy nomination in this episode. The moment at the end where Jack cradles her in his arms is absolutely fantastic, and I feel the road has truly been paved for the two of them to hook up now, even if she did stab him in the gut.

Going forward, I would like to see what is going on this season somehow interconnect with what happened last season. We really were left with a cliffhanger last season with Alan Wilson and had no resolution at all. Maybe I am still in denial with the fact that Tony is not coming back and that somehow having Wilson be important again would facilitate his return. But seriously, something has to give with this season or we are going to end up repeating the travesty of season 6 all over again.

What Would Tony Do?

Exactly what Renee did — stab the fucking bastard!

Overall

Individual elements are still there throughout, but somehow it feels like the whole is less than the sum of the parts.  7/10

[...] a bad guy who is really sort of only removed from the characters on the show [...] under other circumstances he could have been one of the team, but he is willing to do certain things that they’re not willing to do and that’s a divide that they just can’t cross. But he’s a guy who’s really committed to what he’s doing, really cares about what he’s doing. It’s a pretty devastating performance.  He’s pretty awesome.

Continue on for the episode’s promo video!

Summary

Jack advises Hastings to pull Renee out of the operation as soon as possible because he thinks she is unstable and no longer values her own life.  He suggests CTU can take Vlad into custody and coerce his cooperation another way.  Hastings still thinks Renee is their best shot at finding the nuclear rods and orders Jack to stick with the plan.  Vlad takes Renee back to his base of operations and demands details about the deal.  Renee gives him the cover information on Jack, fills him in on the uranium rods, and suggests he can use his contacts to find out who has them so they can make a counter-offer.  Vlad agrees to mine his contacts on two conditions — his men meet with the buyer first and the buyer provides a $5M “good faith” payment.

While Jack and Cole prep for the meet, Vlad gets personal with Renee.  He expresses regret for brutalizing her in the past, and blames it on his drinking. Things get tense when Vlad gets physical and makes sexual overtures toward Renee.  Renee escapes into the bathroom to use the shower, while Vlad instructs his right hand man to double-cross Renee’s buyer and kill him as soon as they have the $5M payment.  Vlad’s men leave for the meet.

Renee steps out of the shower to find Vlad waiting.  He again pressures her to have sex with him, and gets violent when she refuses.  Vlad says that unless she proves her loyalty by screwing him, he will call off the deal.  Jack, who has been listening via comm, assures Renee that he can send in a CTU extraction team immediately so she doesn’t have to give in to Vlad, but Renee tells Jack there is no other way to get him to cooperate.  She says she is going dark and flushes her comm unit down the sink as a single tear rolls down her cheek.

Jack, posing as Renee’s buyer (sporting a most excellent disguise involving geek glasses, ciggies and a questionable German dialect), meets Vlad’s men on the roof of a parkade.  After a brief phone conversation with Vlad, Jack initiates the funds transfer.  Vlad informs Renee he plans to kill her buyer and keep the $5M.  Renee tries to convince Vlad that if he goes through with the deal they can use the money to start a new life together, but Vlad has made up his mind.  When Renee attempts to call Jack to warn him, Vlad attacks her and chokes her, warning her never to go against him.

When the funds transfer completes, Vlad’s men attempt to take Jack out but Cole’s team beats them to the punch and kills all of them except Vlad’s right hand.  Jack calls Vlad and tells him what’s what.  Vlad agrees to proceed with the deal under the circumstances and instructs his man to bring Jack back to his base of operations.

Meanwhile, back at CTU, Dana has found a score for Kevin.  The NYPD has impounded $120K in drug money in an evidence locker with mostly automated security.  She can use her CTU access to help him steal the money by getting him an entry card and manipulating the security system.  On her way out of CTU to meet Kevin, she has a run in with Arlo, and her erratic behaviour rouses his suspicions further.  Arlo shares his suspicions with Chloe, who brushes them off and tells him he should stop acting like a creepy perv around Dana.  Dana meets Kevin in the parking lot and hands over the entry card and schematics to the evidence locker.  Little does she know that Arlo has been watching the surveillance camera feed of her meeting with Kevin, and has realized she is up to something.

Over at the UN, President Taylor learns that key countries want to withdraw from the peace accord over President Hassan’s crackdown and the mass arrests of his opposition in his home country.  She instructs Weiss to assemble the delegates so she can make a personal appeal for their support.  President Hassan discovers one of his key delegates at the UN has family ties to someone in the faction against him, and orders an underling to take the delegate into custody.  However, after arresting the delegate, the underling calls Hassan’s daughter and requests a private meeting with her to discuss her father.

At the medical clinic where Josef is forcing a doctor to treat his dying brother at gunpoint, the doctor has given Josef instructions on how to care for his brother and a supply of anti-radiation meds.  Suddenly, Sergei’s men bust in. They kill the doctor and force Josef and his brother to accompany them back to Dad’s Badass Russian Shadowy Lair.  When they arrive, Sergei is furious at Josef’s disobedience.  He beats Josef and waves a gun in his face, ranting about putting their family at risk and rules that must not be broken.  He then puts two slugs into his younger son to get him out of the way.  Boop beep …

Review

I enjoyed this episode more than the last five, primarily due to the fact that the majority of the action was focused on the Renee/Jack storyline and their sting op with Vlad.  This is easily the most compelling thing going on right now, and I think most viewers concur with that assessment.  Annie Wersching and Callum Keith Rennie have developed an excellent chemistry and the uncomfortably intimate nature of their scenes together were simultaneously electrifying and terrifying.  Annie Wersching continues to deliver as Renee, and while I’m not jumping on the Emmy nomination train just yet, her performance with this material is the only thing that has me the least bit emotionally invested in any of the action so far.

Callum Keith Rennie is chilling as the psychotic and dangerous Vlad, particularly in the scenes where he’s got himself convinced that Renee’s return is indicative of some kind of twisted attraction to him, and that deep down she actually wants him.  24 has explored the “voluntary rape” scenario before in Season 1, when Teri offered herself up to Eli to protect Kim from him, but this scenario with Renee and Vlad is a much more in-depth and uncomfortable exploration of the emotional consequences, particularly in light of Renee’s history with Vlad, the character’s state of mind coming into the action this season, and the rawness of Wersching’s performance.

I think it’s interesting as well that for the first time, maybe ever, Jack is willing to put the physical safety and emotional well-being of an agent ahead of a mission.  Jack is growing!

According to those in the know, Jack’s German wasn’t good enough to pass him off as a German national.  And after all the press and publicity Jack would have had on him last year during the Senate hearings, it’s pretty far fetched to accept he could ever believably go undercover again with anyone for any reason, even disguised by tortoiseshell glasses and a smoke hanging out of his mouth.  But I suppose this is one of those moments where it is necessary for us to suspend our disbelief in order to enjoy the action, so OK, I’ll go along.  Not only have I gotten really good at it after 8 years, but given Tony’s resurrection, it follows that we must now accept anything more realistic than that (and could there be anything less realistic?) as a given without complaint.  I don’t think it was any great leap of ingenuity to have Cole’s team save Jack at the crucial moment, but the scene was well-executed and played Renee’s genuine concern for Jack as the point of suspense well.  It raised my pulse above resting heart rate, at least.

I’m still not a big fan of the Dana Walsh storyline, but credit where credit is due — at least this episode advanced it beyond Kevin threatening Dana in a menacing, violent manner, and Dana cowering and crying in response.  This storyline is going somewhere now, and while I’m not entirely convinced that where it’s going will be either good or satisfying, at least they’ve moved on a bit from having Katee Sackhoff play the quivering victim (even though she was doing as good a job as possible at it).

The scene where Chloe calls Arlo out for being a creepy sexist perv was laugh out loud hilarious to me.   I guffawed.  Score another one for the trademark O’Brian sarcasm.  But that being said, I’m still waiting for her to actually DO something!  It’s great to have old-skool snarky Chloe back in the fray, but she’s still very much a peripheral character and I honestly hope that the writers are able to give her some substantial and honest character development and conflict this season, and don’t simply relegate her to “comic relief”.  Mary Lynn Rajskub is too talented for that, and Chloe, as the only remaining character from the old guard besides Jack, has come too far and is too important to the audience to leave in the background all season.  I miss the ass-kicking, risk-taking Chloe of Season 5.  Bring her back!  And as a totally shallow side note, I HATE her wardrobe this season.  I miss the sexy, fashionably casual Chloe of Season 7.  Bring her back!

The scenes related to the UN, President Taylor and President Hassan in this episode were clearly filler.  I have liked Hassan’s character for the most part so far this season, but am I the only one who thinks he was a little over the top in this episode?  I’m kind of hoping this whole thing with the underling and the daughter goes somewhere.  It would be wild if it turned out the daughter was in on the plot to kill her father.

Whenever 24 introduces a character willing to kill their own family members in the interests of business, you know they’re an evil badass, and Serrgei Bazhaev is no exception.  I was a little surprised at how the medical clinic arc was resolved.  I was expecting Josef to kill the doctor and take his brother away, so when his father’s men busted in, I was kinda pumped.  David Anders is coming into the role a little more in this episode and is drawing me into the character and this storyline more than I expected.  It’s still background noise in terms of the main thread with Renee and Jack, but it never hurts when the background noise is equipped with a solid performance from a talented actor.  Although it seems strange to have “Julian Sark” without his British clip.

What Would Tony Do?

For starters, he would refuse to use such a ridiculous undercover disguise …

Overall

The Wersching/Rennie scenes single-handedly elevated this episode above mediocre, and it was fun to see Jack in his element again, pulling the wool over bad guys’ eyes and beating them at their own game.  Plus, Chloe scored one for feminists everywhere.  8/10

24 is back and on these fair shores we are now 4 episodes in, my opinions of this season are forever going to be tarred by the lack of Tony Almeida but I’m trying to keep an open mind for Jack Bauer’s 8th “longest day of his life”.

I’ll watch 24 until the day it goes off the air for good, I’m strangely loyal like that, I stuck with Prison Break until it was mercifully put to rest and I’m still watching Heroes in spite of the utter gash they have been putting out recently, so Almeida or no Almeida I’m still a 24 fan.

Because let’s face it, even the debacle of day 6 (which was undoubtedly a debacle even if it did feature the return of Milo Pressman) which was 24 at its worst was better than 90% of the other rubbish on TV these days.

[...]

I’m trying to work past my bitterness at Carlos Bernard’s omission from this year’s effort, which now may or may not be the final season for the show, and give an unbiased critique of what I have seen in the first four hours of day 8.

Freddie Prinze Jnr. has been shockingly good as Cole Ortiz, he may be a bit Captain America but I had serious doubts that I’d buy the Scooby Doo star as a CTU agent, but credit where it’s due; within a few minutes of the first episode, all memories of him in a blonde wig as Fred opposite a giant CGI dog were gone.

[...]

Then we have Renee’s return: I wasn’t exactly her biggest fan last year and this whole dark Renee although seemingly promising is kind of hard to accept really, I’ll give it a chance though because let’s face it, anything is better than the irritating Renee we had last year; I personally don’t see why they brought her back.

Speaking of which, I know Chloe is pretty much as 24 as Jack now but the ways they keep finding to keep her involved are getting tenuous now, as much as I enjoy Mary Lynn Rajskub’s work as Chloe I’d be quite happy to see the back of the character.

The fact that the show has been haemorrhaging viewers in the States shows that people aren’t getting hooked in this year for one reason or another and you can’t really blame them.

This season just feels like a retread so far: evil brother, nuclear material on US soil, bad men from Russia, bad men from the Middle East – if this was originally set to be the final season then you would have thought that 24 would want to go out in a blaze of glory not in what is essentially an amalgam of seasons past.

[...]

If I seem overly critical it’s because I care, the character that made me love the show may not be around anymore but I’m still a huge 24 fan and it pains me to say that judging what I’ve seen so far it kind of feels like Jack should have maybe stayed in retirement…

It’s 8:00, and Ziya’s thumb bleeds. Jack reprimands Renee, who responds that she’s still their only shot of getting to the uranium. Jack sneaks back to his car as Ziya wakes up. He’s understandably upset, but Renee coerces him into helping her get to Vladimir in exchange for a big payday. He brings her to the hideout, and Jack tries to establish cover with her, meeting resistance when he asks Renee about her past with Vladimir. So like any man in love, he gets a mutual friend (Chloe) to google details about her life online.

Elsewhere, everyone connected to Farhad Hassan is being rounded up. Farhad himself is currently being kept busy by a couple of prostitutes, and Josef convinces his father to let him seek radiation treatment for his dying brother. The two wind up at a doctor’s office, where Josef convinces the doctor to help them… at gunpoint.

President Hassan’s decision to arrest all of Farhad’s associates does not sit well with President Taylor, who feels it tarnishes his image as a peaceful man. While the peace treaty is at stake, Hassan reconciles with his family, but is unable to prevent his wife from departing the UN.

At CTU, Dana continues to find herself under pressure from Kevin, eventually agreeing to meet him at her apartment. She arrives home and finds he has an additional squatter, before he begins threatening to reveal her secret… that she’s a former con artist … unless she uses her CTU access to somehow get him a hefty amount of money.

Jack hears about Renee and Vladimir’s prior history — she was abused and nearly raped by him six years ago. But she’s already in place, finding that her cover comes under hefty questioning from Vladimir. Seemingly unconvinced, he drives her down to the harbor, executes Ziya, and prepares to shoot Renee in the head. Without passion, tells him to go ahead, she has nothing to live for, and this is what ultimately convinces Vladimir that she’s on the level.

Review

I think I said on the forum that Episode 5 was an improvement on the first four episodes. Upon digesting it, I’ve realized I was premature. (Pause for sexual innuendo… annnnnd resuming.) There were PARTS of Episode 5 that were improvements on the first four episodes. The rest consisted of a number of tedious, tired subplots. Subplots that felt even more tedious and tired than ever, actually, now that we no longer have the moderately exciting engine of President Hassan’s potential assassination powering the story.

I mean, I actually skipped watching 24 live so I could watch Heroes instead. HEROES! I ask you, have you seen Volume 3?

Speaking of, here’s David Anders playing Sergei Bazhaev’s son, who goes off the grid to get his brother some radiation treatment. I grew to like this actor elsewhere, but we are given absolutely no reason to like or to be interested in what happens to his character or his brother. For now, anyway. Maybe it’ll go somewhere, but if it’s an attempt to give some minor bad guys a bit of dimension, it left me cold.

Over at the U.N… I still really like Kapoor, Jones, and Gunton a lot, but even their fine efforts can’t make this material that interesting. 24 has always done a really good job of giving these Presidential figures a personal stake in these big picture stories, i.e. a loved one caught up in a scandal that could bring down the Presidency. Here the big picture is clear, but the particulars are a bit obtuse. Because of the assassination attempt, President Hassan must retaliate and President Taylor might pull out of the peace treaty because Hassan’s image will……… I don’t know. Bottom line, no peace treaty, k? I’m sure I’ll get more caught up in it later, for now it’s not great.

And oh. Good. God. This Dana subplot… As I often do, I imagine the writer’s room. “Hey, we’ve got this actress who is insanely popular with genre TV fans on the show this year… let’s give her both the interoffice love triangle AND the subplot where a random person from her past begins harassing her at work!” “YES! The fans love those!” This time, we’ve got her ex-boyfriend calling her, and in an awful bit of dialogue, he awkwardly informs the audience that she’s an ex-con. Score another for CTU’s rigorous screening process. She heads home, finds out he’s got some loser crashing with him, and he begins threatening her for some six figure hush money. You can tell just by looking at Katee Sackoff that she could END this douchebag if she wanted to, but we’ll have to go with it for now.

Even by the low standards similar subplots in the past have set, this feels like it should be in another, much less good show. Maybe it will dovetail with the main story in a meaningful and unexpected way, a la Lynn McGill’s sister’s, but I’m getting less hopeful of that in every passing episode. Even if it does become important, I think it’s a mistake to leave it out in the wind this long. At this point, easily the low point of the season, and one I pray to God isn’t a 24 episode arc.

My initial enthusiastic response to this episode was, in retrospect, entirely due to Renee Walker. She’s an element that was completely missing for the first 7/8ths of last weeks big premiere, and one that dominates here. This episode belongs to Renee. Moreso than Jack, who stays a reactive character throughout. (Kiefer barely had to get out of his car for this one… Episode 6 will feature him changing into his pyjamas and literally phoning in his performance from his apartment.)

Strangely enough, Renee reminded of Nina Myers here. A female foil and ally for Jack who takes a dark turn after we get to know her for a full season. A dark turn that doesn’t entirely feel earned by the story, but is something you barely care about when you see how up to the material the actress is. I think the Nina connection has to do with how characters who go “evil” for some reason feel liberated enough to become snarky assholes. She was so remininsent of Nina toying with Jack before their big Season 3 kiss in the 20 Questions scene, I kept waiting for the moment where Vladimir shoots that James Cameron lookalike henchman and goes “What are you up to, Renee?”

This storyline is everything the others are not. It features most of the characters we give a damn about. It gives us those variables to the 24 formula I’m always on about; we’ve seen Jack go undercover before, but it’s fresh to see someone else go undercover by proxy. The bad guys are fresh too, I love that Ziya is actually a pretty huge idiot, happily tagging along with this deranged b**** who just cut off his thumb. Vlad and his bad guys have a bit of personality, and some interpersonal dynamics amongst themselves and with Renee. And I haven’t even mentioned that final scene yet. Annie Wersching kills it and kills it so hard, I think you’re left with the impression that you’ve just seen a more awesome episode than you really did.

What Would Tony Do?

Upon seeing new and vengeful Dark Renee, Tony would curl into the fetal position and start tunelessly humming “I’m saaaafe in my jaaaail cell. Thank God oh God, I’m saaaafe in my jaaail cell.”

Overall

I wish I could say more nice things about 24 Season 8 so far. But one of the many things Season 7 did right was avoid most of the pitfalls that have bogged down certain other 24 seasons, and it’s distressing to see hints that those lessons might not have stuck. I can only hope the very distinct weaknesses seen in this episode fall away soon, and the good stuff gets even more prominent. 7/10