What did you think of 24: Live Another Day Episode 10?

What did you think of 24: Live Another Day Episode 10?
What did you think of 24: Live Another Day Episode 10?

Tonight’s episode of 24: Live Another Day was another big one credited to four writers. The story was by Robert Cochran, Evan Katz, and Manny Coto with the teleplay being written by Adam DaSilva. It was once again directed by Milan Cheylov.

This was another big episode which featured a foot chase, a big firefight, shirtless Benjamin Bratt, both Jack and Kate interrogating Navarro, the death of Adrian Cross, and more.

But the biggest reveal was Tzi Ma returning as longtime recurring villain Cheng Zhi! We told you about this three weeks ago and surprisingly Fox listed Tzi Ma’s name in the opening credits. What do you think about this new development?

Thoughts on 24: Live Another Day Episode 10?

Thoughts on Cheng Zhi's return?

Favorite Quote of Episode 10?

424 Comments

Comments Closed
Wow – such a good scene between Jack Bauer and Kate Morgan… she pulled off a better interrogation than him.

And holy goodness – they kept Cheng well under wraps (except for that photo)… anyone have any predictions as to what happens next?

Awesome episode by the way.

Jack is BACK!!!!!

He’s been back for 10 episodes already genius

Was it necessary to be such a jerk?

Daniel is always like that.. I wouldn’t worry. Little does he know that he’s the one being laughed at.

Ohh good one. That really stings. Like I care what you think.

I’m laughing with him actually. Nice one Daniel!

Yeah, kinda.

Cheng zhi is back

Oh my god, so much things happening. 2 episodes left, oh shit.

Loved the episode, and Cheng. A LOT.

:)

This was pretty much the first time I’ve liked Cheng. Gone rogue, less cartoonish, good times. :)

It was also great to see ‘Jack and Kate’ trend about #4 on Twitter in the US tonight!

Big Gucci Sosa
June 30, 2014 at 10:03 pm
shit real now son, dis dat dem ganja!

I love this freaking show. Slow build up and down all season and now the action’s been turned way the heck up for the finale. Great scenes with classic lines tonight.

Really hope Cheng gets killed off. They would’ve written him off in the Season Six finale.

Kiki Vanderway
June 30, 2014 at 10:09 pm
I never thought I would feel this way but the 12 episode format is.making me long for the side roads and detours of past, full day seasons.

These arcs peak too fast and get resolved too quickly — I feel like these transitions are so rushed there is no time to savor and taste– any one of tonight’s focal points could have been extended and I would have been happy to have the theft of the override played out more, the capture of Navarro, Chloe’s mad dash for freedom, the interrogation, the set up the reveal with Adam, the killing room, Cheng, the missile launch, hell I’d even have welcomed a longer see debate with General Useless

That’s been my opinion on this new season too, people complain all the time about subplots and side-stories in the previous eight seasons but I actually enjoyed the fact the writers had plenty of time to flesh out and fully develop character arcs and plotlines. This current season has obviously forced the writers to be very concise and precise in their overall plotting (Manny Coto even commented on the tighter format leaving the writers “a little short of the runway” in plotting), they simply don’t have time for the fine details of narrative they had the time for over 24 episodes. That’s not a complaint because this season has been largely gangbusters good so far, but it’s made me appreciate the old format all the more…

Kiki Vanderway
June 30, 2014 at 10:48 pm
Maybe an 18 hour format? There has to be a sweet spot between the two….

Get it down to an even 16 episodes and you’ve got a deal.

I’ll have my people call your people, we’ll do lunch :-)…

I think 16 episodes would be the most suitable middle ground.

I have never understood the criticism people gave ‘slow’ episodes of ’24’ in seasons past. Granted, a few that were genuinely superfluous or ‘filler’ (hello, Episode 23 of Season 6) but I don’t think ‘slow’ should necessarily be confused with ‘filler’. Many of these episodes featured important character development and I believe that the action of the show has always been principally driven by the characters. The more appropriate term would be ‘pacing’ which is something else entirely. I do miss this and I feel this is one of several reasons why ‘Live Another Day’ isn’t quite clicking with me even though I’ve found it thoroughly entertaining and well executed.

Oh… I actually love S06E23…
I think that season 6 finale is largely great.

(okay, I’m about to go on a tangent about all 24 finales, bear with me)

IMO, it might just be the best final 5-10 minutes of any 24 season finale. This is not to say it is the best finale overall of the series, or that it has the best final scene (even though I adore that shot of jack looking out on the beach). In terms of final scenes/sequences, Season 1 had Teri die, Season 2 has the palmer assassination attempt, season 3 had jack cry in the car, season 4 had the “revival” of Jack. season 5 had jack being kidnapped, season 7 had jack asking forgiveness and season 8 had jack talking to Taylor and Chloe. While all of those were legitimately great scenes to end each season, I feel that the final 10 minutes of every season was often just people congratulating each other and saying goodbye. With the exceptions of seasons 4, 6 and 7, few of them had 5-10 minutes of actual great scenes (the rest waited for the final scene to pull the trigger on a twist). Season 6 has the argument between Jack and Heller, then Jack saying goodbye to Audrey, then Jack walking away. Those are marvelous minutes of legitimately great television.

I actually don’t think they need to cut down on the number of eps at all. It occurred to me that the writer’s issues prior where the combination of two separate factors: a) 24 episodes per season, & b) 1 new season every year. The solution then would be to either a) cut down the number of episodes per season, or b) take more time between seasons.

Live Another Day has essentially done both, when I think either one would’ve sufficed. Since the show is 24, after all, It seems (if the show were to continue,) the best solution would be to continue making 24 episode seasons free from the need to begin airing every year. Let the staff take as much time as they need to flesh out a story. One year, two years, whatever. When it’s done it’s done.

Angelika Kanis
July 1, 2014 at 2:39 am
Kiki and Gerry, I am so with you there in your remarks. Of course 24LAD is more action-packed than the full seasons, and certainly a lot of people will like just that. But I am deeply missing the character- and story developments that made the quality of “24”, so that it could be different from any average action-show. 24LAD is more superficial, like “24” light.

Kiki Vanderway
July 1, 2014 at 8:23 am
Yes and the shame of it is that the story lines are really good and actors are as always but in particular Yvonne and Michelle are exceptional and this new arc/gear with the Chinese and Russians cries out for more than a three episode rise and resolution. Dammit we are running out of time!!!

I feel like this wouldn’t be so much of a problem if the writers weren’t trying to write a story of such global proportions. I can think of several ways this season could have been deeply personal and intimate without the threat of World War III. Angelika is right. ‘Live Another Day’ is thrilling entertainment but there’s a vital quality that’s missing. The organic development of character and narrative isn’t quite there.

I agree with all of you. It’s like they took old-school amount of time on the build-up only to resolve it all in a choppy scene or two. I loved the old detours because that’s when you explored the characters more, that’s when you had the sort of darkly witty stuff that was the 24 world.

Remember the mini-plot on Day 2 where the terrorists are in a van trying to transport parts of the nuclear bomb that they plan on using to decimate L.A. in a matter of hours but they come across the pool repairman with the flat tire? In order to keep their cover, they’ve got to stop their in-squabbling and help this one guy they plan on murdering later get on with his work day. They’re this guy’s heroes for the hour. It’s classic 24 but there’s no time to do anything like this anymore, let alone actually explore the more major characters in the story, and I feel like these sort of moments were what gave the bigger stories their weight.

Absolutely, Mary. For whatever reason, my mind wanders to 8.11 when Marko sealed himself in that chamber. You just can’t have those kind of episodes in a condensed version of the show.

8.11 was such a great episode. I think they can have those moments but they have to have a plot that supports them and this is very… large. It’s very difficult to care about characters without spending time with them and they did have a tall order with so many new characters this year. They pulled off the history really well with the Hellers and Chloe but I wish they’d gone smaller scale, particularly for the last few hours.

i can’t agree more

F***ing intense episode tonight!! Chinese! Cheng!! Russians!!! Adrian telling Chloe the truth….Mark on his way down. World War 3 to start?? Craziness…and only 2 episodes left to finish it all!

I do not think 2 torpedoes can sink a modern aircraft carrier. It would take a lot for to sent to the bottom.

Depends on what’s the warhead of the torpedos….and if its a chinese aircraft carrier, it may not be built the same way US aircraft carriers, as may are repurposed Russian aircraft carriers.

Wow, this was a stunning episode. Kate’s reaction to finding out the truth about her husband, and learning about Navarro’s betrayal was gut wrenching to watch. I honestly thought she was going to kill Navarro in that scene. That was a great scene with her and Jack getting the info from Navarro.

Can’t believe that Morris and Prescott’s accident wasn’t caused by anyone, and they were killed tragically. Poor Chloe! I am so worried she isn’t going to make it.

Kiki Vanderway
June 30, 2014 at 10:13 pm
I like the Chloe just an accident reveal because it will– I think- snap her back to the real world. Of course Chengs arrival and Adrian getting a bullet would have done that as effectively but because it was really o my an accident Chloe will have something to prove to make up for the bad road she went down.

Yeah, I like the reveal too. Fingers crossed that Jack and Kate get to her in time in the next episode. This is the first time where I’m not sure if Chloe will make it out okay.

If she dies her death will likely be on Mark’s hands, because him calling in the Russians prevented Jack and Kate from getting to her in time.

Kiki Vanderway
July 1, 2014 at 8:24 am
Oh shut that makes too much sense :-(

Actually, what I really like about that idea, is that Jack is more or less ultimately responsible for her death. In the grand scheme of things, that is. If he hadn’t gone on his revenge spree in Season 8, the Russians wouldn’t have been after him in the first place.

New West Virginian
July 1, 2014 at 9:43 pm
Yes I do think at the end of Season 8 it was all about revenge for Jack and not actually about revealing the conspiracy.

“Can’t believe that Morris and Prescott’s accident wasn’t caused by anyone, and they were killed tragically.”

Was it really though? Because right after he told her that, we saw a truck slam into Jack and Kate’s car, and wasn’t a truck slamming into the car the “accident” that Morris and Prescott died in? That’s quite the coincidence, just sayin’.

Not to mention that Kate and Jack got out of that car alive…

Great episode but felt it was a little rushed. Navarro mocked Jack while Jack interrogated him by saying “tic toc”. Now that was said by a previous 24 villain. At first I thought it was Nina Myers but now I am sure it was Dana Walsh in S8. She said “tic toc Mr Bauer”. Did anyone else catch that. I wa sure Chloe would side with Jack. And the previews indicate that Mark Boudreau will be exposed.

I thought Boudreau was supposed to be exposed tonight. The press release for tonight said that Audrey confronts Mark about his duplicity, but she doesn’t seem to have any idea what he’s up to with the Russians. Maybe they changed it?

And there’s the problem right there. You believe the press too much. :)

What I loved about Navarro’s “tick tock” comment was that it seemed to almost purposefully echo Dana. Like Navarro had seen the recordings of that interrogation and he was waving the flag in front of the bull with Jack, egging him on.

Yep, it made me think of Dana Walsh immediately – the scene from the 8th season was way better though.

Holy crap. From when Adrian and Chloe showed up at Open Cell HQ to the end, my heart was racing. That was insane.

And the episode 11 promo…hot damn.

Mark and Audrey are so much more fun when they’re snarky and sassy with each other.

Kiki Vanderway
June 30, 2014 at 10:25 pm
I agree it’s far more.interesting when they are at odds. Mark is back to being his weasel self and I hope Heller hangs him out to dry. Poor Audrey so unlucky in love.

At least he’s better than Walt Cummings.

Kiki Vanderway
July 2, 2014 at 8:35 am
Walt Cummings at least had a rational reason (rationale?) For his actions– he was a patriot (he says so himself)

Mark is just a tool. He is committing treason just because he can’t compete against Jack for his wife’s affections. And while we are at it — I love Kim Raver but is she actually worth starting world war three over?

He committed treason to try to protect his wife from a guy he thought was looney tunes until he met him and now he’s stuck trying to figure out how to get out of this mess and making even worst decisions about it. His motivations for trying to get rid of Jack weren’t entirely awful and Cummings tried to kill Jack, so there’s that. At least Mark just wants to send him to the Russians– Cummings tried to have him be killed before he could be given to the Chinese lol. There’s no way you’ll ever convince me that cheating, slimy, squirrelly scumbag Cummings was a better man than Mark, who is ridiculously dense and making terrible decisions and trying to get out of going to prison but isn’t evil. And so what Mark’s trying to get out of going to jail for protecting his wife… I don’t see Jack running to hand himself over to take responsibility for the killing spree he went on. Both of these guys are irresponsible idiots who are going to get lots of people killed over the fact that their sex lives are terrible. If Audrey were smart, she’d become a nun.

Kiki Vanderway
July 2, 2014 at 10:33 pm
Sorry I just can’t buy the whole “protecting his wife” angle Jack was NO threat to Audrey & no fact known to him would have confirmed that his thought process was rational or defensible.

I can give him some benefit of the doubt for at first thinking Jack posed a threat to Heller but Jack never approached Audrey even when in the same building as her it was Audrey who came to him and his first words “you shouldn’t be here” indicate how little a threat he was. Mark took action based on his own selfish need to assert his authority and command and control the situation.Mark was not protecting Audrey he was protecting his turf….if he was a dog he would have ….oh nevermind the dude is just such a weasel

Jack was no threat to Audrey because *we know Jack.* Mark Boudreau did not. His understanding was that a guy who murdered in cold blood like ten people and then went on the run to avoid prison had shown up in town at the same time as Mark’s father-in-law was there and could possibly be there to harm the President. Harming Heller = harming Audrey. Mark had never met Jack before today. He has been led to believe by *his own family* that Jack was responsible for Audrey’s mental condition. The very dangerous, murderous psychopath with some kind of mental hold over your wife enough that she followed him to China and was held captive and tortured for months as a result is absolutely, most definitely a threat to your wife if you’re Mark Boudreau.

How Mark handled this threat was another matter. Trying to covertly throw Jack to the Russians and forging Heller’s signature isn’t right and it’s not smart and it’s just as treasonous as what Jack’s done, ironically. It is making choices for his family but, christ, look at his family! It’s not like they’re the most mentally capable people on earth. Audrey’s suffered from China and Heller has Alzheimer’s. These two have given the responsibility of sanity over to Mark then get snippy when he tries to do the job they’ve asked him to do. He’s making all the wrong choices but he is for sure in an impossible situation.

That. Was. INTENSE. Definitely the most I’ve been on the edge of my seat this entire season, and one of the most intense of the series, I think! Whoever decided Bob Cochran shouldn’t work on 24 (maybe even Bob Cochran) is terrible….every episode he’s been involved with this year has been great! :)

Things are heating up for what is sure to be a heckuva ride from here on out, as if it hasn’t been already.

Music wise, great throwback to Jonas Hodges (Paranoid Friend from the Redemption soundtrack) from Day 7!

And as much as I hated hearing about Cheng returning, his comeback was incredible tonight. Still not thrilled to have him STILL in the picture, though.

I didn’t like hearing about Cheng either but he feels better this season. He feels a lot more evil and a scarier villain for sure than the season 6 “you’re too latteeeeeeeee!” Cheng.

Also never noticed paranoid friend played this episode but loved the music played towards the end over Chloe in the HQ. Last time we heard it was in episode 2 when jack was tracking Simone

As much as I love Sean callery (he’s the reason I became a composer) I’ve felt like he has been reusing his music and not writing much original and unique stuff for the past few seasons.

The music he wrote in the early seasons and season 5 was so unique and powerful. But the last few seasons of 24 it feels like he’s kind of out of ideas. Everything he writes works brilliantly in the show though. Just long for the cool “bierko enters the gas plant” or “Mandy plan” type tracks again.

Loved the episode too!

Seriously? The score on the finale of Season 6 is beautiful, haunting, and genuinely poignant, as is the score on the final scene of Season 8….

Oh don’t get me wrong. He still writes incredible new music. And yes those scenes are amazing u still have them on my iPod Lol

But in the earlier seasons and specifically seasons 4 and 5 he was writing amazing original pieces every episode. Really unique sounding stuff. This season he’s reused the same “action music drum beat” probably for at least 7 or 8 different action scenes. I just wish he would write new stuff because he’s brilliant!

It’s probably a question of budget. He’s probably not getting paid for a lot of new music, so stuff gets re-used. In earlier seasons, he probably had a much larger budget, and could stretch out a lot more with new music.

He will still get his royalties/residuals even if his old tracks are used, which is good, for him

Paranoid Friend played after Mark and Audrey’s argument, right when Mark calls the Russians the first time.

Kiki Vanderway
June 30, 2014 at 10:21 pm
Anyone venture a guess — and I mean you two, Brad and Mary—on the Cheng backstory?

I thought he was part of the Chinese government but I guess something happened between 6-‘9? And does it mean Audrey definitely isn’t a mole?

What gets the Crazy Theory Stamp of Approval?

Never thought they’d molerize Audrey. It won’t happen, calling it now.

Whatever happened between him and China, I don’t think will be explained, because he had to have separated from China before Day 6. Raiding a US federal government building and murdering (whom they thought) was the head of the office in cold blood for absolutely no reason would DEFINITELY be considered an act of war against the US. There is no way he was working strictly for China, he had to have just been a dark, off book agent who was willing to give the subcircuit board over just because he loved his country, not because it was his mission as a federal agent.

Kiki Vanderway
June 30, 2014 at 10:44 pm
Is.molerize a verb? Awesome!

It is now! :)

If the very unique author Ogden Nash can write a book entitled, “More ‘Trashery’ By Ogden Nashery” then why not “molerize” as it is a good one and sure does seem to fit the subject at hand.

Also enjoyed the banter negotiations of getting a 16 hour series and doing lunch! Will be glad to hostess said lunch.

Haha, that’s awesome!

It’s a perfectly cromulent word…

I thought Boudreau was supposed to be exposed tonight. The press release for tonight said that Audrey confronts Mark about his duplicity, but she doesn’t seem to have any idea what he’s up to with the Russians. Maybe they changed it?

Re. Cheng, I am thinking from what Chloe said that he might not have been part of the Chinese government in seasons 5-6 either. It never made any sense to me that the Chinese government could have invaded a US government agency, abducted an American citizen on US soil, and held the daughter of a high-ranking American politician hostage without starting a war with the US. If Cheng were part of some rogue element that would make a lot more sense.

Kiki Vanderway
June 30, 2014 at 10:33 pm
Well if that were true and he was not official then how could Palmer have negotiated and paid a high price for his return?

That is the one hangup in my theory. But did they ever say specifically that the release was negotiated with the Chinese government?

Come to think of it, though, Renee said in season 7 that hours after Tony’s “death”, Jack was abducted by the Chinese government. But she might not have known that Cheng was acting outside the government.

Ah good point….totally forgot it was Cheng who dropped him off in the Day 6 premiere. My fault.

Anyways, there is no way he could’ve been operating under Chinese authority with the CTU raid.

Kiki Vanderway
June 30, 2014 at 10:45 pm
Ummm didn’t we do it to them first in Day 4?

No, that was the whole thing. Illegal raid, yes. But the Chinese raid on CTU was 100% unprovoked. At least the US did it to capture a suspect.

It’s safe to assume that Cheng is rogue at this point. I don’t see why he would start a war for his country from what happened in the sixth season.

New West Virginian
July 1, 2014 at 9:52 pm
But at the end of S6, Cheng did say his government won’t abandon him, plus he arrived on a Chinese government plane with Jack at the beginning of the season so he probably was working for them. It’s possible however that they did abandon him and accused him of acting on his own and taking the fall for what happened with the CTU attack and trying to steal the nuclear subcircuit boards.

Did anyone actually ever think that Audrey could be a mole? That would never happen.

Kiki Vanderway
June 30, 2014 at 10:35 pm
I didn’t think.so.either it’s Mary’s crazy theory …..which I’m pretty sure.comes from remembering that the writers start with the premise “What is the one thing that can’t happen?”

In this case Chloengoing rogue and terroristic was the premise not Audrey

Yeah but Chloe is clearly not a terrorist either. I just hope Jack realizes she is not before it’s too late. I wonder if his conversation with Kate where she regrets not believing her husband will come into play there.

Speaking of which, I always assumed that her husband committed “suicide” the same way Walt Cummings and Jaime Farrell committed suicide. But from what they said tonight it seems that actually was a suicide. That was such a sad, gut-wrenching scene. I felt so bad for Kate tonight.

Kiki Vanderway
June 30, 2014 at 10:42 pm
Yes terrible way for Adam to go. Didn’t Jack say something to Ritter and Kate about whether Chloe was working against them he said something like “my instinct says no but I can’t be sure”.Anyone catch that?

ok… it has been a while, but wasnt Jamie Farrel killed by Nina and made to look like a suicide?
And not that we havent seen repeditive script/ story lines before ie: ” this is more dangerous than we thought”, Jack said that tonight,, earlier in the day, and in a few other seasons no doubt. That said, I still love the show and am on the end of my seat.
As for Chloe… after everything Jack has been through, with Terri and Tony and Chappelle, and Rene Walker… I could go on, not to mention that Chloe has been there for Jack every time he has needed her. Would they really kill her off? Add another tragedy to push Jack over the edge? I figure Chloe is walking away from this season… alive, in custody maybe.
The time jump hmmmm, Jack solves the plots and flies to L.A. to reunite with Kim, only to be drawn into something that gives us another season or 2… or hopefully more than that

“Speaking of which, I always assumed that her husband committed “suicide” the same way Walt Cummings and Jaime Farrell committed suicide. But from what they said tonight it seems that actually was a suicide. That was such a sad, gut-wrenching scene. I felt so bad for Kate tonight.”

Yeah I’d been thinking it was “suicide” as well, because really, it’s safer for Navarro if Adam’s dead and can’t appeal and have the evidence looked at again, so it made sense that he’d have arranged for it to happen.

Poor Kate, GAH, so sad that she has that last moment with Adam burned into her brain forever. :-(

Joe– Other things that “would never happen” on 24 in the past that happened:

-Tony is a “bad guy” and not really dead.
-President Heller is still alive.
-Jack puts a bullet in Ryan Chappelle’s brain.
-The Chinese show up and kidnap Jack.
-Nina is the mole.
-Jack, Tony, & Gael are working together on a secret sting.
-Jack goes on a killing spree and becomes a traitor to his country.

So, yeah. Sometimes the one thing that doesn’t seem possible is the one thing they’ll do just because it doesn’t seem possible.

I think the motives behind Cheng are pretty obvious: when Cheng was captured and put aboard the helicopter in S6, he famously proclaimed upon returning to CTU that his government was going to forget about and abandon him like the US did with Jack. It seems pretty transparent that Cheng was likely left behind by his government and now, by targeting his country’s fleet, he’s looking for payback.

Chloe even added a clue to that effect in Episode 10 when she asked if Cross was working with Cheng; Cross said the Chinese paid the best; and Chloe then says that Cheng isn’t working for the Chinese.

I think he’s working for Russia.

Kiki– I knocked something over during Chloe’s moment of giving Adrian a three-season Previously on 24 in four or five sentences lol so I’m not entirely sure I heard her Cheng backstory right for what happened to him after Day 6 and haven’t yet rewatched. I was a little unclear as to whether or not she said that the Chinese left Cheng to rot in American prison and he somehow got out or if the Chinese got Cheng out of American custody and then threw him in their own prison and he somehow got out.

Either way, I think he’s pissed off, anti-China and anti-U.S., and is working for the Russians. All the while that Adrian and Navarro thought they were selling secrets to “the Chinese”, they were really just selling them to Cheng. Cheng’s being funded by the Russians, who love that any moles think they’re actually selling stuff to the Chinese, not the Russians. The Russians want the override device to incite a war between the U.S. and China, which they just had Cheng start with the aircraft carrier attack. Everyone will have to prove that the Russians are behind the attack in order to stop a third world war and to stop any repercussions (like having to retaliate), everyone will just agree to say that Cheng was a rogue entity doing his own thing and call it a day. Cheng Zhi’s going to get hung out to dry, big time.

Also, Navarro is awesome. Just wish he would’ve had a bigger part this season, I think he is the most underused character this season, such a good actor.

Also love seeing Mark and Audrey’s relationship, they are great. And Audrey is terrible at this whole “marriage” thing. Way to give up so easily talking to your husband, the one you’re so “committed” to.

Who says Audrey gave up on Mark? She just wasn’t up for talking to him about Jack at that moment. With everything she’s been through emotionally today I think she is entitled to a little time to process. It’s not like she told him she’s leaving him for Jack (although after she finds out what he did I wouldn’t be surprised!)

That was an easy cop out for her to give up tonight with her “I can’t talk to you like this” line.

Also, my problem with her started when she was on the “Jack Bauer ass kissing train” after she found out he saved Heller, and had said that she knew he would never allow that to happen. NO AUDREY, he would’ve let that happen if Chloe hadn’t been successful no matter how much he hated to, because Heller’s death would’ve meant saving thousands upon thousands of more lives. Just like when Chappelle had to be executed. And Jack just takes it all in…while Mark has to bear the brunt force of it all like he single handedly piloted the drone into Heller’s face.

Kiki Vanderway
June 30, 2014 at 10:59 pm
Audrey isn’t known for her stellar ability to read the men in her life (Pail, Jack, Walt,Mark) nor for being able to process what is happening in a reasoned, rational way. And her year abroad probably didn’t help much either.

However in fairness to Audrey Jack has (except for.killing Paul) come through when she’s needed him. He saved her and her father from the terrorists single handedly. saved her from the S5 interrogation and gave up the recording to.save her life, he got her back from Cheng and was prepared to.die for it, he saved her from the evil fast talking psycho doc, clearly she has mythologized him so it’s not a complete surprise that she is putting him up on a pedestal

24Nathan, totally agree.

yes mary would agree with anyone who talk negative about audrey

I’m sorry that I don’t think she’s a perfectly lovely saint whose every action is correct. If she was that way, how interesting would she really be?

Audrey is super flawed. I agree it makes her interesting. I don’t agree though, that she was wrong that Jack would “never let that happen” to her father.

Jack was not happy about Heller’s plan. He didn’t think it was right. He said so right on the green at the stadium. I said it before but I’m gonna just say it again, if Chloe hadn’t come through I think he would’ve done something crazy and risked his own life in those last moments to save Heller and push him out of the way.

His reasoning would be complex, he has a lot of love for Heller, the plan was wrong to him in his gut, and yes, Audrey’s feelings would factor into it in some sense too. I don’t think Audrey was saying ‘You would never let that happen because you love me too much” She was saying “Because I know you and what makes you tick, I know you would never let that happen.” One of her flaws is not, in my opinion, understanding Jack.

As for her treatment of Mark yesterday, he got what he was asking for and it was appropriately awful. If he wants a happy marriage with Audrey, and she’s willing to stay, he should probably not ask about Jack Bauer. Why set oneself up to fail?

Sprite~ I think it depends on what Jack’s ultimate end goal here is. I totally agree that he would never willingly let anything happen to Heller so long as there is nothing else he sees as a bigger goal. We’re getting some allusions to Jack’s family and they’re opening up questions of how they can be okay as a result of Jack’s actions on Day 8. If he has another end goal here where helping the Hellers was only part of a bigger plan, he might have been forced to let Heller die at Wembley if Chloe hadn’t come through. If there’s something more important to him at stake than Heller, then I think he would have stood by. It depends on how clear his motivations are right now, I think.

So you think Mark should just shut up and pretend he has a happy marriage with a woman who clearly doesn’t love him? It’s appropriately dysfunctional for 24, that’s for sure ;)

haha, isn’t it? I think clearly, she’s never gonna love him as mush as she loved/loves Jack. So he really should cut and run, but if he is too proud or loves her too much to do that, life would probably be easier if he avoids comparing himself to Jack freaking Bauer. lol.

He should totally cut and run. Grow some balls, Mark. Jack’s no picnic either but I guess Audrey couldn’t have married two men who were both better men than Jack and Paul Raines has got Mark beat. ;)

Sprite, I agree, he would never let anything happen to Heller and would take a bullet for him in a heart beat, even after Day 6, I believe. However, I do not think for a second that he would’ve risked the lives of hundreds of thousands to save Heller. Heller had accepted his demise and was willing to sacrifice himself, Jack would never have interfered had Chloe not been successful in entering her cheat code.

We still know that Jack has a very strong moral compass, Kiefer has mentioned it in multiple interviews about Day 9 as well. He may be darker, he may have changed after his Day 8 revenge spree, but he still was out saving lives behind the curtain while working for Rask.

That argument totally makes sense. Jack wouldn’t have saved Heller if it directly meant keeping those lives at risk, but he would have done everything he possibly could, including risking himself. I think that’s part of his moral compass and is what Audrey was referring to.

After all this being revealed I feel like Margot was a coverup and a waste

Kiki Vanderway
June 30, 2014 at 10:28 pm
I’m not sure…. without the override device getting customized for drones by Yates crossing Adrian, how would Jack have been launched into Day 9? It’s classic 24 with shifting equally horrific threats as soon as you resolve one you have to tackle another.

Not at all – she was just the prelude, like the writers did for most of the other seasons of the series. Just think back to S2 – how much did Sayed Ali end up having to do with Peter Kingsley? Or in S3 – did the Salazars have anything to do with Saunders?

On the contrary, Margot helps link everything together. Look at it this way… right now, 24 is asking you to believe that Jack Bauer, like, went out for milk one morning two weeks ago, tripped, and fell straight into a plot that ties together almost every aspect of his storyline for the entire second half of 24. He “intercepted intelligence” and what was all he could get out of this intelligence? A hit on Heller, related to drones, based on some kind of device, and the name “Derrick Yates”. Jack just stumbled upon a plot to kill his father-figure with whom he really needs to make amends by a rogue member of the organization Chloe now works for! And who is behind this dastardly threat? A woman who is buying the device from Yates who just so happens to not only want personal revenge against Heller (making for a great opportunity for Jack to save the day and get back in with the President) but just so happens to have crossed paths with Jack in the past, when she bought arms from Karl Rask. Who is the arms dealer Jack is using to take out unsavory sorts. Who hasn’t actually had contact with Margot in over a year but whom Jack also wants to take out in the process… so he fakes some transactions to make taking out Rask a part of his day. A day that now finds Jack’s archnemesis Cheng and Novakovich’s old Red Square buddy Anatol right in the middle of the threat.

Jack Bauer is cleaning house, guys.

He doesn’t want a pardon; he wants to be held responsible, so long as he can be held responsible *tomorrow*, after he’s dealt with all these messy things from his past first. He freely admits that he did what he did on Day 8 but goes up against those who try to arrest him for it while he’s still in the process of trying to make things right. He is the only connection between all of the major players, using a device that is more or less the CIP Firewall Device from Day 7, when Tony Almeida set up several different groups to go after one another in an effort to take out a bunch of people at once. Jack apparently thought that plot was pretty brilliant and now is using it to take out everyone he’s opposed to so he can live with himself– Adrian Cross, Margot Al-Harazi, Karl Rask, Cheng Zhi, the evil faction of the Russians. The override device is the one thing Jack has wanted to get his hands on all day long. He’s been chasing it down since he showed up. We have no idea where he got his information of its existence, except if he’s the one who set all of this in motion. If he’s the one who has gotten all these players to take each other out for control over the ultimate in power, which found its way onto the black market because of Jack in the first place. Isn’t it a little odd that the one who has had her hands on the device all day is the only person on the planet who would only use it for its drone-hacking capabilities and not it’s starting-WW3 capabilities? Margot only wanted to hack the drones to take out Heller ironically because of her husband’s death. It’s not even until after she’s dead that we learn the override device can override just about anything on the planet– that we were safer when Margot had the thing than we were when anyone after her would have the thing. The DOD tech tells Jack and Navarro that he thinks it can hack any U.S. systems but he’s not finished yet. Jack tells Kate on the phone it can hack any *worldwide* government defense systems. How did Jack know that? Maybe because he’s been after this thing all day. He resurfaced in London to use a threat against Heller that he himself put into motion in order to gain more resources through Heller’s backing in order to stop bigger, more powerful enemies, like Cheng and the Russians. There are too many instances in the story so far that only make sense if Jack is at the center of them.

Your analysis has enforced something that I like about Cheng returning. Cheng is kind of central, if not in the most obvious way, to everything Jack has lived through since Marwan shot down Air Force One and got Logan into power. That episode in Season 4 changed the landscape of the series forever. Seasons 5-9 would not – and could not – have happened had Air Force One not been shot down.

Logan would not have been brought in, David Palmer would not have been brought in, Jack would not have raided the Chinese Consulate, Jack would not have been forced to fake his death, the entire Sentox conspiracy revolving around Logan would not have happened, David Palmer and Michelle Dessler would not have been killed…and the list goes on and on.

I like that Cheng’s return is representative of Jack’s journey – and his quest for restoration – throughout the second half of the series.

Cheng was captured by Jack and Bucanan off of the oil rig before it was destroyed by missiles. Cheng’s final lines were something along “my government won’t abandon me like you did to Jack Bauer” before being thrown on to the helicopter. Is most probable that he was captured, interrogated, and then thrown back, rather than traded back, like Jack did. If that’s the case I doubt that he would be part of the Chinese government any longer.

Kiki Vanderway
June 30, 2014 at 10:31 pm
Why? And if so then I guess he was wrong– his government would hang him out to dry and abandon him they just brought him back to his.homeland first.
But why let him live? Wouldn’t they get rid of him if he knows so much but outlived his usefulness to them?

Its probable that he found a way out of the country when his countrymen were dispatched to take him out, like Jack found a way out of the country.

Amazing episode!

Why did Cheng launch an attack on his own country’s ship? I must have missed something.

Kiki Vanderway
June 30, 2014 at 10:31 pm
Chloe says he’s not with the government any longer.

Probably to start WW3

He’s clearly trying to start some kind of war.

Kiki Vanderway
June 30, 2014 at 10:40 pm
Ok but to what end? Obviously he turned between 6-9 but what happened? What does he gain?

Maybe he’s just pissed that his government didn’t help him get out of jail after all, (maybe he was broken out by some rouge band of goons instead), and as payback he’s gonna send them to war and that’ll learn ’em to not abandon him in an American jail. Perhaps?

Kiki Vanderway
July 1, 2014 at 7:37 am
Or perhaps they will leave to skip right over the jail part and head directly to execution?

Still how’d he get out?

The Russians Dana Walsh-ed his ass out of prison in exchange for his special skill set of crazy, I’m thinking…

Probably to provide the pretext for the US to go to war to China.

24 should continue with Kate Morgan (Yvonne Strahovski) taking over the lead role. She is amazing.

um, nope. 24 should continue with Jack Bauer staying in the lead role. He is amazing. Kate is nothing more than a Jack clone

Kiki Vanderway
June 30, 2014 at 11:21 pm
I love Kate I think she is unique and Yvonne plays her in such a way that she has a distinct point if view she is NOT a Jack clone and is coming from a completely different place.

Don’t get me wrong there is no more perfect fit of actor to role as Kiefer is to Jack but Yvonne as Kate is wonderful too and may turn out to be just as great in time

well obviously of Jack can still do it we want him!!! But he’s has talked about feeling too old for the role so I’m talking about if he wants to hang it up.

Don’t believe he feels too old for the role. Sounds more like him doing PR for FOX

It’s hard to believe how lost and pathetic Kiefer Sutherland has been in his other roles since ’24’ ended in 2010 – he looks and sounds so good back in the Bauer role and hasn’t missed a beat in each scene, like he never left at all. Even though it’s supposed to be that way, Kiefer has been the glue to this entire season…

..which is why his frequent admissions in interviews about his age and his acceptance/welcoming of this being the true end of the series are utterly frustrating with each increasingly exciting episode we see.

Please, Kiefer, for the love of God, sign on for another season and more!!!

Lost and pathetic? Really? Melancholia? Reluctant Fundamentalist? He’s done some of his best stuff since 24 ended. He can act in other roles besides Jack Bauer. Rent Behind the Red Door sometime…

He is so amazing in Melancholia. Blew me away. No pun intended lol.

Meh. Like when Chase was supposed to be a younger Jack. There’s only one Jack Bauer.

I wish they didn’t show Tzi Ma in the opening credits. Even so, I screamed when he walked through the door. Amazing, amazing reveal.

Phenomenal episode.

If I hadn’t seen that photo with Tzi Ma, I would have been more shocked when I saw Cheng appearing.

Well he was in the credits so anyone paying attention would have caught that. Still loved his entrance in this episode.

Wanna bet that if Jack and Kate don’t die and this show gets renewed, next season will start with Jack and Kate no longer being, but having been during the break, an item?

I don’t think so. Jack is too old for Kate, and it just doesn’t seem like they are going there with them. Jack is playing more of a mentor role to Kate, which is cool.

You could say the exact same things about Renee Walker though, and Jack hooked up with her. So I wouldn’t rule it out based solely on that criteria.

I do think if Jack gets together with anyone it’d probably be Audrey.

Renee was closer to Jack in age. Plus, it’s because they did that with Renee that I don’t see them going there with Kate – too repetitive.

If you’re talking strictly age differences, there’s 10 years between Kiefer and Annie, and 16 between Kiefer and Yvonne.

There was always sexual tension between Jack and Renee. Annie Wercshing has said that in the script, the scene where she slaps him and asks if he feels anything, originally had a kiss in it, but they decided that it was way too early to do that so they changed it. There were unspoken emotions by the time we got to their final scene on Day 7, and those emotions were amplified by what they experienced on Day 8. So even though we only saw them interacting for less than two days, there was still a believable progression of their growing connection. Age really wasn’t a factor with them at all, (though it’s kinda funny to think that had they got married, Renee would have become a grandma).

I don’t think Kiefer and Yvonne have been attempting to portray that same vibe between their characters. He looks at her in a different way to how he looked at Renee IMO. With Renee, he did mentor her (couple of hours spent with him and she was stepping right up to that line), but it took some convincing to get her to do it and she didn’t handle it that well. When he met Kate, she was already hardcore, like a younger version of himself. Where I see their relationship going if the show continues is Jack taking it upon himself to guide Kate in her career so she doesn’t end up as destroyed as he did, because he sees so much of himself in her and sees an opportunity for a do over of sorts. That translates to a father/daughter relationship IMO, not potential for romance.

Agreed, Phee. It’s also worth pointing out, I think, that Jack’s quest for restoration which began in Season 7 continued into Season 8 in his attempt to restore Renee as well. That would have further fueled their connection.

Kate seems to me to be about Kim’s age exactly, and looks so much like her. I think there are meant to be Kate/Kim parallels for Jack and a romance is thusly not in the cards.

Kate is like Jack’s daughter. He sees Kim and a younger version of himself when he looks at her. There’s pretty much no romantic/sexual tension between them. A man and a woman can have a meaningful relationship that isn’t just about sex, guys…

Not on TV.

I guess you’ve never seen this show called ’24’. The lead guy has two lady friends, Chloe and Michelle, and his most important female relationship is with his daughter. Oh, and his other half is his male best friend.

This makes me miss Tony a lot Mary.

Another good example: Benson and Stabler never hooked up on SVU, even when he was separated from his wife.

I figure kate opens the door for more field operatives to take over, perhaps with Jacks oversight. Maybe day 9 will see that Jack has rebuilt CTU or some other clandestine agency even seperate from the government… that is to say, continuing on down this “fuck you, I know best”, line that has come accross this season… who knows, I just want more!

Did anyone have a Jack-shoots-Curtis flashback when Kate had her gun to Navarro? I soooo thought Kate was dead.

Nope, as soon as Jack broke Navarro’s hand, I figured he had a plan up his sleeve. He NEEDED info out of Navarro, so why do a thing that would guarantee the interrogation being instantly shut down? ‘Twas genius that he did it just to get him moved to a location that Kate could bust into and take control of to legit scare him into giving up the info.

Do you think they had it planned out at that point? I figured Jack and Kate came up with that plan after Navarro was taken away.

I reckon Jack had it in mind all along. Like I said, it made no sense for Jack to go all in so suddenly with something he KNEW would get the interrogation shut down instantly. Jack’s smarter than that, he was a man with a plan from the getgo.

Totally agree on this. He’s interrogated enough moles like Navarro to know how to out smart them.

Kiki Vanderway
July 1, 2014 at 8:59 pm
Frankly considering he was duped by Cross and Kate and Jack in the same hour I’m not sure how hard it was to outsmart him…MENSA material he ain’t.

LOL I WAS THINKING THE SAME THING!

24marathonman
July 1, 2014 at 7:33 am
Yes, I thought about Curtis Manning too at that moment.

Kiki Vanderway
July 1, 2014 at 7:43 am
I thought it was more like the Renee Jack set up of the secret service agent Edward Vossler and his wife with Renee on the phone and screaming baby….

I would like to see Jack go to prison at the end of the season, and get locked up where Tony Almeida is. President needs Jacks help…Jacks agrees if Tony can come along..Day 10 here we come. boom!

Thank God you folks are not writing the scripts. As much as I like Tony and was very glad to see him in S7, come on!!! That would be a step too far.

I’m sure the writers would like to see this thing go out on a high and a script like that would be a mockery.

If Cheng Zhi isn’t in jail, then Tony Almeida is sipping mojitos on some tropical island. :)

OPINIONS WELCOME:

Okay, so….something that’s been on my mind is this: If you’re the commanding officer of a ship, and you understand the current political standings of your country and another country, and you get an order to fire on the ship of another country, wouldn’t you at least want to make sure the order wasn’t issued in error?

I mean…the sailors on the ship…the CO was just like, “Okay, fire 2 torpedoes.” Other than checking to see that the numbers matched, that was it: no deep thought, no asking, “Why would we fire on them? Should we phone the chief of staff to be sure?”

You would think there would be MUCH greater security for launching nuclear missiles than a fucking fax printout. Has nobody in military intelligence watched “The Spy Who Loved Me” and learned something from it?

Sounds more like a logic and plot override device more than anything else.

New West Virginian
July 1, 2014 at 10:46 pm
They weren’t nuclear torpedos. Its a “nuclear sub” in that its a nuclear powered submarine. If those had actually been nukes, the entire carrier would have been vaporized with a mushroom cloud like the ones we seen in Seasons 2 and 6. It only damaged the carrier and it started sinking.

Unfortunately, my conversations with military people I know (full disclosure: I don’t like them) seem to demonstrate that almost all of their training is about learning to fall into an authority structure, shooting things, and shunning critical thinking. As much as I wish the guy had thought twice, I don’t think it’s all that surprising that he pulled the trigger.

And I do sort of understand why you shouldn’t have soldiers questioning orders. I just don’t like it.

Yeah. I know there’s a phrase that, “I was just following orders,” but geez…you’d think that the military would have some sort of wiggle room for this very type of order.

That bit was hilarious. “Oh, the codes match, guess this is it! Everyone get in position to start a third world war!”

Those missiles were not nuclear

Jack miss Renee Walker. He mention to conversation with Kate

In my opinion, Kate Morgan is way better than Renee Walker. She’s without a doubt the female version of Jack Bauer.

Meridith Bloom
July 1, 2014 at 1:17 am
Agreed!

Most definitely

New West Virginian
July 1, 2014 at 10:47 pm
Kate is the best partner for Jack except for Good Tony.

I think he brought her up because he realized he threw his life away on a revenge mission for a woman he knew a day and a half who didn’t want to live in the first place. He was like today’s life lesson, Nice Me-Like Agent Lady, is do not become me. My life sucks.

I loved how they handled that moment. Still feels the pain of the loss, also still feels the reverberations of the decisions he made because of it.

I liked how it also came back to Jack talking to Renee after Larry died, when he mentioned having lost partners before. Now, Renee is another person he lost, and he’s talking to someone else, and this time he’s maybe learned a thing or two. It was a great scene.

Wow, for once I agree with everything you said.

We’re proof there’s hope for the world yet! ;)

Jack gets pardoned. Audrey ditches Boudreau. She hooks up w/Bauer. Heller resigns. VP – Mike Novick? – becomes prez and appoints Bauer as the new veep. Time jump to Jack taking the oath of office.

You heard it hear first.

Perfect ending: Mark getting killed by a cougar.
-Behrooz Araz

Meridith Bloom
July 1, 2014 at 1:19 am
Hi Behrooz,

The cougar had enough sense not to kill Kim. Smart cougar!

Lol. We might disagree on “sense”. Haha

Hey Behrooz! How are you? Where have you been all this time?

New West Virginian
July 1, 2014 at 10:49 pm
Behrooz is Simone okay? Has she reached out to you yet?

What did Adrian Cross say about Chloe’s husband and son? I missed it.

That their deaths were truly an accident and not people trying to kill Chloe.

Meridith Bloom
July 1, 2014 at 1:15 am
I was saying “cut it off Jack: LEARN something from Margot!” when Navarro’s hand was on the table. What is good enough for one terrorist (Simone) is good enough for another. Terror by proxy: can Navarro be charged with something like that?

Hands are bad news on 24. David Palmer’s hand. Jack’s hand in China. Chase’s hand.

Kiki Vanderway
July 1, 2014 at 7:25 pm
Jack’s hand after Marwan gets caught….

The episode blew me away. Navarro paid the price for his involvement regarding Kate’s husband. Erik Ritter takes over as CIA Station Chief. Audrey and Mark are on the verge of “divorce”. Jack Bauer has finally found lady luck in Kate Morgan (way better than Renee Walker in my opinion) and Cheng Zhi is back with a vengeance as he and his Chinese goons takes down Adrian Cross and his entire Open Cell team. Poor Chloe, she’s all alone with no one that will help her. Another great hour of 24 and I can’t wait for the last episode before the explosive finale. Hope Jack Bauer gets out of London alive to the very end.

Kate with Jack . I AGREE .

Kill on the son a bitch of Cheng. I thinking he’s dead in the end the season 6 later

Thrilling return but I have to say that Tzi Ma’s mandarin really doesn’t improve AT ALL during the past few years!!!
Can’t they just find some actors that can actually speak fluent mandarin?

I’m Chinese and I don’t mind too much. Yes all the Chinese pronunciation in the show is horrible, but with Tzi Ma’s brilliant portrait of a thrilling villain I can live with that.

At least they attempt to let them speak in Chinese to each other in that scene. It is much worse in situations where foreign terrorists would talk to each other in ENGLISH just so audience would understand. Those are much more ridiculous than bad pronunciation IMO.

New West Virginian
July 1, 2014 at 10:52 pm
Tzi Ma is from Hong Kong so he probably speaks Mandarin with a Cantonese accent. I think that’s fine, no different than an American character who speaks with a Southern accent. Aaron Pierce actually kinda does.

Russia wont get jack if they think sending a hit team would work is crazy

Russians are INSANE M! I was worried about those guys more than anything else the past few episodes. But looks like from the preview Jack got away. Helping hand from Belcheck perhaps? We’ll see.

How great would it be if jack was granted his happy ending…permitted to go back to LA…and just as he is about to knock on the door to re unite with Kim (who I find to be a terribly annoying character), he receives a call from a free, vengeance-stricken Tony Almeida?

Ps- although I doubt it would happen, I think Jack / Kate would be the tin are power couple. Might I say, their child would be good looking, ace, and unbelievable too!!!

Ultimate *** (power couple)

Ick. It’s like saying Jack and Kim should hook up.

New West Virginian
July 1, 2014 at 10:54 pm
The worst would be the time jump involves Jack flying back to Los Angeles. Its revealed that Cheng, the Russians, Al-harazi’s friends or someone hired Mandy to take him out. Mandy attempts to kill Jack but kills Audrey and/or Kim instead.

Just watched it, and I’m literally shaking. Such an awesome episode, watching Cheng walk through the door was incredible!

I think it’s great they brought him back, I think it’s good that the last villain is someone we’re familiar with.

this is why 24 is still the best , even with 2 episodes left i think we all have to agree that 24 live another day was the best way for 24 to go for the next chapter in the franchise

god dam cuser is dont continiue 24 and doing time jump

chris howlett
July 1, 2014 at 6:19 am
Great episode, Cheng certainly got a whole lot more badass in the past few years! I’m gonna be fascinated to discover whether he is operating as a rogue agent or actually secretly for the chinese gov.

This season has truly blown me away, its been 24 at its very best and I pray that Fox will commission at least one more twelve episode ‘event’, the actors have earned it this year for sure!

I DO NOT RECCOMMEND YOU WATCH THIS EPISODE IF YOU HAVE HEART CONDITIONS.

24marathonman
July 1, 2014 at 7:41 am
Will there be another unannounced appearance of a previous villain yet to come? Mandy? I am guessing no, but the means they will have to do a S10 in order have Mandy meet her end at the hands of Jack.

Did anyone else notice that the press release for this episode said “Audrey confronts Boudreau about his duplicity”, but that didn’t seem to happen? They might have had an argument but thus far she seems blissfully unaware of the mess he’s made with the Russians. I wonder if they changed that storyline; if the scene where Audrey waits for him in the hall was originally supposed to be her finding the rendition order and confronting him?

I think thay definitely changed it (although you can never really rely on press releases), and now that I think about it, it’ll make his duplicity all the more devastating to her. I thought that maybe if she confronted him about it, she might be quicker to forgive (as she has been VERY forgiving so far).

More interestingly, it’s not shown in the ep11 promo (at least explicitly) how she reacts to the news, despite it being a pretty Mark-heavy promo. Ugh, Audrey. Girl can’t catch a break. Though this may have been a last-minute change.


I think there’s a decent chance she could go off the deep end just in time for the finale. She’s been holding her shit together remarkably well but she has to crack eventually.

This is where having no backstory on what she’s been doing (and how Mark fits in) since S6 has left some details up in the air. We can all agree that Mark’s “I helped her restore her mental capabilities!” Is a load of BS, but we have no idea what this relationship has been like before today. We’ve caught little glimpses (Audrey angry that Mark treats her like a keepsake, “I can’t talk to you when you get like this”, Mark’s pissing contests with Jack), but you could arrive at multiple conclusions. At best, Mark is good-hearted but overly protective (sees her as fragile, just wants to keep her safe), and at worst he manipulated his way into a position of power by marrying the unstable (I feel like if we had 12 more episodes, we would see a LOT more of this) daughter of a powerful politician, and treats her like she’s made of shattered glass.

We also don’t have a clear timeline: since Heller is maybe halfway through his term, I can only logically think that Mark has known the Hellers for 3-5 years. That would make sense since it wouldn’t look too suspicious (Heller would be just beginning his presidential campaign and would need a Chief of Staff) and Audrey would be somewhat out of the woods. It would have been a marriage of convenience: it would get out eventually that a presidential candidate has a loon for a daughter, and could be devastating to his campaign.

That being said…(woosh, early morning theories), I do think Mark loves Audrey. Somewhat. Maybe. But the reason why this marriage doesn’t work and never will work is because Mark doesn’t see her as an equal. He sees her as beyond damaged goods who needs to be sheltered. He loves her as his delicate, helpless wife because he gets to be her hero. Jack is concerned about Audrey’s well-being but would never act like that towards her – he respects her as an equal. He knows what she went through, but he doesn’t judge or shift the blame around like Mark does. Now that Jack’s in the picture, our favorite former catatonic is really seeing Mark’s true colors. I’m sure she’s suspected how he operates before this point, but Jack being back has given her enough memory jolts to be like, “Hey! Remember when I was an independent woman who didn’t have Tate Donovan around to babysit me? Those were the days!”

I also think Jack and Audrey are endgame couple because of their history (and chemistry) and because Audrey has always been a gentler balance in his life. She can hold her own, but she’s not a quick-tempered field agent or a total doormat. Now that Jack’s lost so many people, Audrey is one of his only links to a past life where he still had hope for (his own) humanity. Also, sista totally still loves hin and how can you say no to a girl who followed you to China (and almost not back) and went through all sorts of horrible shit and is still rational enough to not blame you for her own decisions? Ding ding, we have a winner!

“Hey! Remember when I was an independent woman who didn’t have Tate Donovan around to babysit me? Those were the days!”

C, agreed with your assessment of how each man perceives Audrey, and how each of them influences how she sees herself as well. If she’s been treated like the delicate, damaged girl for the last several years, then that’s probably all she thinks she amounts to these days after her bout of catatonia. Seeing Jack again probably brought back memories of not just their relationship, but also of the strong woman she was when they first met. The woman who took it upon herself to go into a dangerous situation to find the man she loved. Granted, that didn’t turn out great for her, but she had the balls to throw herself into that situation in the first place, and the version of herself that’s been shielded and coddled by Mark probably wouldn’t dream of doing anything so ballsy. Seeing Jack again may have brought up some emotional vulnerabilities for her, but it’s also potentially empowering for her to have him around again.

I do think Mark loves her, but really, the circumstances under which they met and fell in love weren’t ideal for him getting to truly know her. He let himself get swept away nonetheless and now the inevitable is happening and it’s falling apart for him. He was already in a hole and he just keeps on digging himself in deeper, the poor, misguided, desperate bastard.

I love this discussion. No surprise to anyone whose read my previous comments on here. I wish there were a few more episodes so there was room to explore some of this stuff. It’s particularly heartbreaking that Jack has never been able to really sit down and thank her for going to China and risking so much to find him, even though it didn’t work out that well.

I definitely agree (and I’m so glad I joined in on the conversation, finally)! At the same time, it would stink if a lot of these “extraneous” plots were bogged down by an additional 12 hours. I thought it was interesting upthread that many people thought keeping Jack and Audrey apart is just making their brief reunions (and their whole relationship) even more meaningful. I’m inclined to agree. Dragging it out would also start putting Mark squarely into “cartoon villain” territory, which he’s been toeing (mostly because Tate Donovan has a monopoly on bumbling, well-intentioned but poorly-executed and overall incompetent protective husband territory).

Ah well, we can speculate…

I thought it was weird that it wasn’t a confrontation about the rendition order, too. I guess they meant the duplicity of him having helped her father with the Wembley stuff.

One thing that kind of interests me is that Jack and Audrey don’t really seem to be a focus of the story, even if the ‘will they get back together?’ question is out there. The day has spent a lot more time concentrating on Jack’s relationship with Heller and Audrey’s relationship with Mark. Jack and Audrey have had one scene and a couple of phone conversations together but not a lot of interaction. It seems a little odd to me. Not really sure how to describe it but you’d think they’d give Jack & Audrey more time in the story if they want them to be the end game of the day.

Early on when I learned that Audrey would be married when she returns this time, I know it would not end blatantly with Jack and Audrey back together. With their deep and complicated history and now with a marriage on Audrey’s side, it simply is not realistic that she abandons her husband and return to a long gone love in merely one day, no matter how dramatic the events are.

Therefore I believe at best the ending would be hinting that are good chances for Jack and Audrey to reconcile and redevelop their lost romance. I still think they would be the endgame, just that it would happen in a much more subtle way than most of us would expect. That’s why we don’t really see too much interaction between these two in this season. A few scenes showing that they clearly still have feelings for each other is all there is.

I agree that they could go for a more subtle ending. I’m not saying I anticipated it ending with them running off to get married. I think it’s more that I would think if they were building towards a positive ending with them, that they would show more of that progression towards it by having more scenes of them together. Instead, it seems like Jack has spent the day getting back together with President Heller lol. I’m not complaining as I think that’s the more interesting relationship but it’s almost as if they know that all they need are one or two Jack and Audrey scenes because they have another ending other than a hopeful one in mind. If they were trying to appeal to viewers who would watch with this romance in mind, they’ve completely kind of tanked in making it a focal point. Think of Day 4 when Tony & Michelle getting back together was an entire storyline and they had tons of scenes together to that end, even if the real focus of Day 4 is Jack and Tony’s relationship. We’ve barely had Jack and Audrey interacting today. Audrey doesn’t even really have a story, she just reacts to whatever else is going on around her, and she’s not always terribly likable in the scenes she does have. It almost feels like they might be working towards a different end than we’ve been anticipating. What end, I don’t know, but it just feels strange so far.

Kiki Vanderway
July 1, 2014 at 8:56 pm
The ending: Mark digs a deeper hole for himself by tearing up Jack’s pardon, telling the Veep Heller is out of him mind and undermining every presidential decision he has made since he was elected tarnishing his reputation and legacy. Heller is hurt and betrayed and broken. Audrey can’t take it and to vindicate Jack and her father rids the world of Mark and she and Jack continue their tortured together in their hearts but physically apart love story…..

Really? I don’t know. The Veep already knows Heller is losing it as they were preparing for the transition before they decided not to fly home because of the override fiasco. I feel like Mark is going to get caught and then try to help fix the problem. Not sure where that leaves the rest of it.

New West Virginian
July 1, 2014 at 10:58 pm
I really hope that shot of whiskey Heller took won’t affect his medication and his condition.

I’ve had this strange feeling that Jack and Audrey have been in contact prior to the start of this season.

Really? Why? The only time she was mentioned was when Tony was yelling at Jack in S7. I know that she didn’t sound too surprised when she heard his name for the first time this season, but her reunion with Jack was painful to watch. That was a scene between two lost people who are only just beginning to find each other again.

I know some people had a theory that Audrey may have been in touch with Chloe and that both of them may have known he was coming, but I don’t think that’s the case (though an Audrey and Chloe reunion would be totally rad).

I don’t know. Aside from when they met face to face in Episode 5, there’s a casualness to their interactions that I’ve found interesting. Not to mention that Jack has Audrey’s number programmed into his phone…

Kiki Vanderway
July 2, 2014 at 9:05 am
But everyone knows that in the 24-universe a brand new scramble phone is pre-programmed with everyone’s numbers already in it searchable using just the first or the last name of the person (except Belechek who is, after all, like Madonna) so when it pops up we know who it is.

I think that scene had a very ‘first time they’ve seen each other in nine years’ feel to it.

Seen, yes. Heard? I’m not sure. I know it’s improbable. I just found it interesting.

I had a feeling about that too before the series started, but I am not sure it’s possible now.

i dont think 12 episodes is not enough to focus on jack and audrey romantic relationship when this show is never meant to be a chick flick. i agree there are very few interaction between jack and audrey. i agree they are more concentrating on Mark and Audrey’s relationship ofcourse. but everything about mark and audrey relationship they portray has negative vibe, not positive which lead us to believe that it wont survive at the end. other thing is if writers want to make jack and audrey end game, they can not make it by giving jack and audrey more romantic , intimate scenes when audrey is a married woman since it seems immoral and turn off fans. so if they have to be end game , it’s only possible by first focusing on negative aspects of mark and audrey relationship. and that;s what writers are doing. all these fighting and arguments between these to is good example. since audrey did not have any story line what so ever untill now, if writers did not bring audrey for the purpose of giving jack happy ending, then it make us wonder why did she came back for. every episode pass by with less audrey involvement, validate the point that audrey is here only to give jack’s life purpose or happy ending.
having said that i dont think jack and audrey will hold hands and dance together in the final scene. but writers might leave it in the open. that is audrey dumps mark and jack be free of all charges and even one step further, jack say audrey , ill give you a call sometimes when i get back to US or something and leave it there.

Oh, I’m with you on them needing to focus on Audrey & Mark to help us get to know Mark and everything. It’s not a ‘chick flick’, yeah, but it’s also been that romance in the past has been a central part just because it’s partially responsible for characters’ motivations. I guess I’m just surprised that it hasn’t played a stronger role here and am kind of wondering if it’s a conscious choice on their parts to downplay it a bit.

It could all about pacing as well. It’s like LAD Fan said, making Jack and Audrey interact a lot when she’s still married is immoral. But once she discovers what Mark had done, then it is kind of morally acceptable for her to reach out the Jack once more. In other words we kind of can’t really get too much Jack/Audrey scenes until Mark’s misbehavior is out in the open. I’m quite sure that we will get a good number of really important Jack Audrey scenes in the last two episodes.

But anyway this could all be my wishful thinking, because I’ve always seen Audrey as the last chance of Jack’s happiness so I want her to be with him. I feel they deliberately left Audrey’s fate in the open at the end of Day 6 to preserve that chance for Jack. And the only reason they bring her back now is to give him a potential good ending.

That being said, at this point, I’m really much less concerned about Jack and Audrey’s relationship. With Chloe in so much danger that could potentially lead to one the most devastating death in the show, she’s all I care about right now.

I’m not so sure that they can’t interact without it being immoral. Two people can talk to each other when one is married without it being a crime, right? lol I just meant there’s not been so much as even a little pining while they work on a problem together. Their paths haven’t really crossed much at all. The show even dragged out Audrey knowing Jack was in London for the entire first third of the day. I don’t think it makes it any more moral for Audrey to interact with Jack more after Mark is revealed to have done some shady stuff. Marriage vows are just broken once one partner is revealed to be a traitor?

Let’s not forget that Jack is a traitor to his country who confessed to murdering foreign diplomats to Audrey herself. If we want to make this a morality debate, he’s no more on the up-and-up than her forger husband.

mary. the way that this year story is written , it”s not possible for jack and audrey to interact with each other specially it’s only 12 episodes. jack is always in the field chasing drones where audrey in the office. so how that possible ? audrey is not a field agent like renee. to make jack and audrey to interact more , they have to rewrite the main story line. so less interaction doent mean that the writer dont have something in their mind abot these 2 in the final episodes

This was the first time I noticed a wedding ring on Navarro.

chris howlett
July 1, 2014 at 8:32 am
I’m guessing the scene where Audrey confronts Mark has been moved into the next episode, the trailer definitely indicates the Mark storyline is going to come to a head very soon. Can’t believe there is only two episodes to go, I’m praying this could increase the chance of another season, the fact that it will be quite difficult to wrap everything up in a satisfactory way in the time remaining, although I guess they actually have a whole 13 hours if the storytelling is clever… its going to be fascinating to see 24 out of real time, I literally CANNOT WAIT!!!! ARRRRGHHHH

Awesome episode. Only criticism is anyone with half a brain would question that order. who wants to start a war with billions of Chinese?

Called the Cheng thing since the first episode. Damn I like being right lol

*high-five for fellow caller of the return of meester bowa’s favorite enemy*

I loved how the first scene with Cheng was him having killed Adrian’s whole team. It makes you believe that Cheng would be willing to sentence millions of people to death in order to get revenge on most likely the Chinese government. He may be in league with the Russians as well… we just don’t know what his ultimate plans with the override device are at this point.

I think Jack and Kate will take out all those Russians but this will cause Cheng and his men to leave and not have a chance to kill Chloe. Then Jack will be told about Cheng by Chloe, so I can’t wait to see his reaction to this and Audrey’s. It seems doubtful Mark will be able to contain his duplicity much longer, which means Audrey’s life is gonna fall into chaos within the next hour… gotta love it!

Another good episode!

I knew Chloe would deceive Cross. Proves she was just playing along till she had an opp to take the override.

Jacks interrogation methods are so well thought through. Remember him and Nina in Season 2 when Mason flipped out?

I can see why they brought back Cheng since he is linked in with Jack, Audrey and Heller. I’m happy with his return and would love to see him killed. The promo for next week shows Audrey saying ‘kill him’ which is obviously refers to Cheng.

I’d like to know what Chengs motives are too.

Speaking of S2, I liked how Ritter’s speech was basically a Mad Libs version of the speech Tony gave when he took over for Mason on Day 2.

Kiki Vanderway
July 1, 2014 at 7:32 pm
Erik’s speech was not good and I am on the fence about whether it was a conscious choice on his part to have that lack luster delivery because he is new to the station and no one knows him at all so he has no familiar territory and actually everything he though was true turned out to be wrong so being thrust into the head position would have felt awkward so I’m thinking he delivered the lines carrying that with him….

Tony’s speech was inspirational in part because he knew everyone and understood what needed to be said and delivered it well.

Tony’s speech was the bee’s knees. He was ready to take over and had been pretty much running the place for ages anyway. Ritter is more of a rookie and his speech lacked Tony’s confidence. I think part of it (the way he emphasized ‘temporary’) was intentional, like you say, because he’s new to the place and the others could misconstrue the scenario as a kind of coup. I think the rest of it was just legitimate nerves, kind of like in the way that he exhales after giving his first update to the President. He’s doing a good job, he just didn’t expect to have to do this job today, I don’t think. Good thing he took, like, a four-hour nap earlier ;)

Some of the lines, though, are *very* similar to Tony’s speech. Like he’d watched the video back in the academy kind of similar lol.

Off topic, has anyone ever thought about how different things would be if people like Mason or Chappelle were still around running things?

Kiki Vanderway
July 2, 2014 at 8:46 am
If I had one pick for a character coming back from the dead it would be a toss up between George Mason and Bill Buccanan (not dead wife not dead president not dead girlfriend not dead computer nerd (any of them) because I think the series would be better for it if either one was still around. George would have brought a great deal of sarcastic energy to the series Bill would have brought ……well- Bill Buccanan he just needs to stand there is a suit and I’m feeling better.

I remember when Bill died. I’d been all relieved that they hadn’t just shot him when they first found him and then I stupidly believed that he’d remain safe. Then BOOM and my heart broke. :-(

A thing that bums me out about Mason’s death is I reckon him interacting with Chloe would have been all sorts of fun.

Kiki Vanderway
July 2, 2014 at 3:23 pm
Even better George Chloe and Morris

George would be awesome to have back…I loved every single line he had in the show. Seriously, all of them. He is my favorite character in 24.

loved george mason so much.

I’d pick George, too. Unless CTU: LA is a character, in which case gotta go with that.

A few points. If Morris and Prescott were killed by a hit and run driver that was never found, and Chloe assumed it was meant for her, how did Cross know it was just an accident. And if it was not hit and run and truly an accident, and the driver stopped like most folks do, why would Chloe assume that the driver was after her. This is a tad confusing. As far as Cheng is concerned, the last time we saw him in the end of season 6 when he was walking into CTU with Buchannan to be arrested. We know that he is no longer part of the Chinese government and his actions last night were to provoke a war between the US and China. This all maks sense. But I am curious to know how Chen got out of a US prision. Finally, I have a feeling that in hours 10 PM to 11AM of LAD on July 14, one of the 5 main characters may not make it. It won’t be Jack, for there is no way he is killed off. It won’t be Kate because Howard gordon has said that there is a possibility for a future show for her with the right script. It won’t be Audrey becuase it does not make sense that she would be in danger. Same with Heller. That leaves Chloe. Since I know for sure that AS OF THE BEGINNING OF MAY (per both Howard Gordon & Keifer) that LAD is “absolutely it for 24” , I just have a gut feeling that Chloe may get a bullet from Cheng prior to Jack empting his gun into Cheng. I hope I am wrong, but we will see.

I think Chloe assumed that it was a targeted hit meant to kill her because she had been targeted in the past and it’s not paranoia if people are really out to get you. She helped Jack on Day 8, she assumed the Russians would come after her the way they would come after Jack, and Chloe has seen her friends suffer similar fates. Tony & Michelle got out of the CTU world and their pasts came back to haunt them one day when Michelle and their son were killed in a car bomb. Tony and Chloe were targeted on the same day. Chloe felt responsible for Morris and Prescott’s deaths because she wasn’t the one in the car– she has survivor’s guilt, feeling like it should have been her and Morris should still be alive. For it to have been an accident, something that could have truly happened to anyone at anytime, meant it was meaningless. At least if Chloe had been being targeted, her family died for something and weren’t just taken away from her. On the other hand, it makes Chloe stricken with grief and responsibility, feeling like it’s all her fault that they’re dead. Adrian tried to absolve of her of that, believing that they both weren’t going to make it out alive and that he didn’t want Chloe to die thinking her family’s death was all her fault.

It’s possible Adrian lied to her to try to bring her some kind of peace before they died. I’m not sure how that works for the plot. It seemed like they were trying to wrap up the open question they had left in 9.03 when Chloe described what had happened to her family. The “evidence” he could have found could have been the identity of the driver who fled the scene and then he could have determined that this guy wasn’t working for anyone and it really was an accident. He also could have discovered that the whole thing was faked to keep Morris and Prescott safe and never told Chloe that because he didn’t want her to leave and also because it would have endangered her family if she knew. If Adrian found that out, he wouldn’t have told Chloe if they were about to die because that would have just been cruel and that defeated the purpose of what he was trying to do in that scene, I think.

They also said Heller’s “death” was “pretty cut and dry”. According to Giles Mathey in a recent interview, he said you can be sued if you leak story contents, so I’m not counting anyone safe. I thought Teri was safe in Day 1. They went there…I think they could go anywhere else except for Jack, since Bob said that won’t happen, and that’s a pretty heavy statement coming from him.

They also said 24 was over in 2010. There’s a lot more that goes into it besides Howard and Kiefer, no matter much in charge of the show they are. Fox wanted more 24 back during Day 8, Mary Lynn has said to not count out the 24 movie or a tenth season, and so much more. Anything could change, I won’t believe anything I hear about this being it until for sure after I see the ending, and then for a while after that while Fox makes the decision if they want to continue.

My humble opinions…

The Good:
-Adrian Cross’ motivation being crazy of course but not evil, want to watch the world burn-kind of crazy. Extreme greater good. Made him interesting. Too bad we got all of it in an exposition dump scene when it would have been more interesting if it was actually an arc. Exploring Adrian more than just making him Shifty Scrambled Caller would have made a better story.

-Jack & Kate teaming up. Great mentor-protege stuff. I like that Kate gets Jack’s good advice and some dad-like empathy. Great stuff there.

-Cheng. My least favorite recurring antagonist was pretty entertaining and that Open Cell slaughter was one of the first true surprises this season. Chloe having to watch her Substitute Edgar gasping out his last again was just brutal.

The Bad:

-No one seemed to care why Navarro did what he did. I get that he’s kind of Kate Morgan’s Nina Myers but not exploring Nina’s motivations was a major weakness of the former series that it looks like they plan on repeating. Hoping they can bring Navarro back in future seasons and get into it a little more because he went from intriguing to one-dimensional muahahahaha villain in one scene flat. Very disappointing, especially in a season of fairly complex antagonists on a show that has done some really interesting things with them in the past.

-Apparently, the only time Jack thinks he went insane and got no satisfaction was four years ago. It was good for him to mention to Kate how pointless and meaningless all of that was for him and say aloud how much of a mistake it was but I couldn’t help but feel like Jack only feels that way because people are holding him accountable for it. He murdered Victor Drazen and Christopher Henderson and Nina Myers in revenge but never paid a legal price. I think this would have been a stronger comment if he told Kate it was never worth it, not that it just didn’t happen to be worth it four and a half years ago.

-Morris and Prescott dying in a true accident = good. Ironic as all hell. Jack still not yet having any direct consequences for the actions of Day 8= very, very bad. I have hope in Jack saying that his actions destroyed what was left of his family, along with the frequent mentions of them today, means that we will get to see those consequences but, right now, the only person who seems to have suffered as a result of Jack’s actions on Day 8 is Jack himself. That’s not very 24. Actions on 24 have karmic retribution and consequences. You try to kill Victor Drazen, eventually your wife winds up dead. So far, Jack slaughtered nine people on a killing spree four and a half years ago, seven of whom were not even directly involved in the conspiracy (Novakovich’s security staff) and, to date, the consequences have been that he goes on the run for awhile until we get to Day 9, when everyone spends the day changing their mind about him and calling him the second coming of Christ. Interestingly, *Jack* doesn’t seem to want a free pass- he didn’t want the pardon from Heller, he admitted to Audrey that he killed those people on Day 8, he seems to want to be held accountable, if held accountable on his own terms. I’m interested in Jack having told Kate that his actions destroyed what was left of his family but based on what Navarro said when he had no motivation to lie in the premiere, it seems like Jack’s family is fine. Hopefully, there will be some kind of twist here because I am not a big fan of Jack not suffering any kind of repercussions for Day 8 in the story.

If Chloe dies, and Jack’s distraction with the Russians plays a part in that, then I suppose one consequence would be Chloe’s death. I do feel like there will be direct consequences for Jack’s actions during Day 8 before the season is over.

Like I said above:

Jack would more or less be ultimately responsible for her death. In the grand scheme of things, that is. If he hadn’t gone on his revenge spree in Season 8, the Russians wouldn’t have been after him in the first place.

I agree that there still could be some repercussions for it and that’s what we’ll see heading into the end. I think Chloe could be the biggest consequence he has and that they’ve actually been foreshadowing it for awhile now. I guess I just don’t like how things seem to be working out so well for Jack so far today and I’m kind of feeling like the last couple of hours since Heller was not really dead have been fairly predictable overall, which makes me think the finale will be fairly predictable. I want Jack to go home to his family, I want him to have some kind of semblance of happiness, but I don’t want everything to work out for him. Something has to give and it’s just not giving yet and with only two hours to go, I’m a little bored with everything being exactly as it seems to be.

“Chloe having to watch her Substitute Edgar gasping out his last again was just brutal.”

It was rather brutal, but I liked that the last one left alive, who Chloe happened to get there just in time to see die, was Substitue Edgar.

Also liked that Cheng had his goons invade Substitute CTU.

And that Chloe was like Substitue Morris being forced to reprogram the device of evil by the terrorist.

Made me all nostalgic, it did.

“I think this would have been a stronger comment if he told Kate it was never worth it, not that it just didn’t happen to be worth it four and a half years ago.”

I was fine with him using the Renee aftermath as a particular example. They’ve gotta have enough exposition to fill in the gaps for any potential first time watchers (like they had Chloe do when she told Cross about Cheng), without bogging down all the dialogue with a full history lesson. Also, him focusing on just one incident amps up the emotion of it IMO. A general “I’ve killed a bunch of people for revenge, and it’s never really been worth it,” has less punch than, “I lost this one person that meant a lot to me and went on a killing spree.” And Jack losing Renee is comparable to Kate losing Adam, so they could have the characters relate to each other on that level. Kate didn’t need the full list of his revenge kills at that point in time. Just because he didn’t mention the others, I don’t think that means they didn’t also affect him.

I agree! Brutal in a great and brilliant way and yes yes totally on Chloe being Morris-ed into working on the override.

Also agree that I’m being nitpicky on the revenge comment, which I really did love a lot. I think the situation with Adam and Renee… hmm. I see it. On a suicidal comparison, maybe, but I got a ton of Tony & Michelle-projecting out of the whole Adam Morgan thing as well. The four years ago thing does pack a wallop and it’s all basically like “don’t become me, Kate” and I loved that. So much. I just miss the old-school characters Jack had more in-depth relationships with. I’d rather someone with older ties to the plot just popped around the corner than Cheng and kind of cranky about how much I’d rather be watching more of the Russians and/or Alan Wilson as the focus of the story right now. I’ll be fine when Kim shows up after the time jump lol.

Kiki Vanderway
July 1, 2014 at 7:38 pm
Yes yes on being Morrised (new verb in the 24 dictionary under molerized)

The Jack providing mentoring advice to Kate– meh– he tried to do that with Renee and look how that turned out. So I am not sure he was being that direct on don’t become me– I think he was saying the brutal truth is good people sometimes do unthinkable things and if you believe the choices you are making will bring closure or peace or acceptance it won’t–

Reminded me more of George Mason’s speech– You want to be a real hero, this is what you do, you make thing right with your daughter, you find a way to forgive yourself and you continue serving your country….

What I liked about the advice with Kate is that I think it’s an evolution from his crazytown advice to Renee and completely b.s. at the same time. Jack tried to give Renee advice but he wasn’t mentally in the place to do so and his advice helped lead Renee to make some truly terrible choices and go down a pretty miserable path. Renee’s miserable path crossed into Jack’s downward spiral and, on the other side of all that, here’s Jack giving Kate advice that amounts to: I was an idiot. I made mistakes. I was in your spot, wanting revenge, I took it to the farthest extent possible, it destroyed everything, it was NOT GOOD. Don’t go there, Kate. And Kate agrees and it seems like– shutthefrontdoor!– Jack might have actually just done something *positive* for someone.

The only thing is Jack told Kate in their earlier car drive chat that he’s basically been taking revenge on a whole bunch of terrible terrorist organizations for the last 11 months. He set up Karl Rask to get revenge on him a few hours earlier in a scenario that basically had Kate herself being tortured for nothing because we know the bank transactions were faked and there is no current connection between Margot and Rask. Jack is knee-deep in a plot that includes Adrian Cross (guy Jack hates for screwing with Chloe’s head), the evil Russian faction (Day 8, unfinished), Margot Al-Harazi (old Rask client Jack knows from over a year ago who hates his father-figure Heller), and Cheng Zhi (Jack’s big nemesis.) What. A. Total. Coincidence! Gee, Kate, do you think Jack might be after a little revenge of his own here? He is a ‘do as I say, not as I do’ kind of guy.

I thought of those exact words by Mason as well! *high five*

@ Mary

Nina’s background was explored in 24: The Game.

In short: she was working for Max and his agenda must have been the same as the one in Day 2.

Yeah, it’s true. They did explore that and give her the Max motivations and the implications that Max’s dead kids were also Nina’s dead kids but unless you’re the kind of fan that we are and know about The Game, you don’t really get why Nina would do what she did. The show painted her as pure mercenary and didn’t get into it too much. Marianne Taylor wound up with more in-show backstory than Nina did and Marianne is possibly the show’s worst plotline (at least bottom five.)

I don’t like counting The Game as canon…it is never really ever considered such on the show.

This is probably just wishful thinking, but could Fox’s surprise cancellation of mid-season series Hieroglyph mean they’re making room for more 24?

I don’t think so personally. First, I don’t think the timing matches up. I think Hieroglyph was supposed to be premiering sometime this fall/midseason or something, so I don’t think that matches up with when another season of 24 would air. Secondly, and perhaps more on point, the Hieroglyph series was greenlit by a Fox producer who was fired/resigned. New Fox team obviously didn’t agree with his decision. Think of it in terms of Seinfeld when Russel initially gives “Jerry” the go-ahead but then once he’s out the new president of NBC cancels it.

Good points. I believe Hieroglyph was going to debut in January/February, so that would be too early for 24 to come back.

The same guy they fired is the one who got LAD on the air. Not looking too good for anyone really.

All the Audrey peoples here on this board…

I didn’t want to bring this up again because I thought the idea might be done and buried but uh, what of yet another scene around Heller’s medication (Daddy! Don’t mix them with booze!) and the fact that Audrey looked like she was ready to jet off that tarmac in Air Force One and get the hell out of dodge, if not for Dammit!Mark! bringing them a reason to stay.

Is it me or is there just something different about her?

I think there is something different about her and I really felt it last night. Honestly, she’s unhappy. She’s in an unhappy marriage and her father is dying of a terrible disease and her great love is probably unattainable but also right around the corner. I think in the past when we’ve seen her in a tough situation due to the drama of the day, she’s had a support system in her life that made her happy and her reactions reflected that. (Season six doesn’t count so much here, lol) On this day, everything pretty much sucks. Plus she’s probably dealt with ptsd and been forever changed by what down in China. She wasn’t trained to handle/survive something like that. She’s subtley colder than we’ve seen her before, except in her interactions with Jack, which have a really heartbreaking sense of nostalgia. I think it’s smart writing and even smarter more dynamic acting from Kim Raver who just blows me away. But it’s not fun.

I could see all of that except it’s something else that’s gnawing at me. I think it’s actually a lot of how the scenes are framed that are suggesting some of it. Her mannerisms don’t just seem colder to me, they seem more mannered. She sounds as if she’s acting a part more than she does just sound sad or angry.

I see what you’re saying. I think it could easily be that coping after what she’s experienced is like playing a part every day, and when stuff gets stressful, one starts to crack a little.

sprite summed it up very beautifully – sista is definitely different. I actually think that the show has really glossed over her recovery – she holds no ill will towards Jack (good), is de facto First Lady and has actual duties in the administration (questionable, although one recapper commented that the latter probably consists of “drawing with crayons”, which makes me laugh more than it should), and has been very involved in the day’s events (probably not healthy for someone who has gone through such heavy trauma). I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and chalk it up to the fact that we only have 12 episodes. But when she let out that “Mark, PLEASE”, it was nasty. It stung him as much as she wanted it to. She’s been hot and cold all day, and while it’s been making a lot of people suspicious I think it makes a lot of sense. If my long-lost boyfriend showed up after nearly 10 years and a kooky extremist/terrorist was angling to kill my father, I’d probably need a bit of time to process – never mind if I had been slowly recovering from the deep end.

I don’t know if I saw it here or not, but in the earlier episodes this season (before she reunited with Jack onscreen) there was a ton of bitching about how bored Audrey looked (okay, mostly people claiming Kim Raver is an awful actress), and even I was suspicious of her lackluster response when she heard Jack was back (which I think was what led many of us down the path of “Audrey could be a sleeper agent/mole for the Chinese” theory, which was admittedly nuts). Someone else noted that apart from the Parliament bit, she was just very slow to react and not really with it – which sounds a lot like somebody who is/who’s been catatonic.

And I think that’s some damn brilliant acting on Kim Raver’s part (I’m not sure if it’s the writers, because they’re juggling a lot with these series and there’s not much time to insert such things) – we have no idea just how much Audrey has recovered from her time in China. Yeah, Mark can go on and on about how he totally helped her “restore her mental capabilities” or some crap, but just because she can count to 50 backwards or be in a relationship with someone doesn’t mean she’s anywheres near 100% OK. She could be (okay, probably definitely is) suffering from some very serious PTSD or something worse, and this is where the show is paralleling real life: despite the treatments available, the average person doesn’t “get” PTSD. And it’s different for everyone – some people shut down when triggered, or become extremely upset/violent. This is Hollywood, so who knows.

Meanwhile, at Club Commons (and the White House, and elsewhere), everyone has been cheerfully going about their business without really addressing Audrey’s past (I can imagine a deleted scene where Heller angrily tells a staffer to butt out of the family’s business – hee!). I know in some of her interviews, Kim Raver has mentioned that Audrey is “more outspoken and independent”, but other characters “definitely treat her differently” after what she’s been through. We haven’t seen much of the latter (besides Mark, lol) but I thought it was interesting because I’ve always seen Audrey is an independent and highly intelligent character to begin with, which was one of the reasons why her and Jack worked so well. Because there’s so much secrecy around this show, I’m pretty sure she was subtly hinting at what the main point of what I was trying to say: this is not the Audrey we once knew, whether we like it or not.

And I wish we could explore it more, but I’m fine with speculation.

thank y’all for putting up with my winding theories

Are there really people talking about Kim Raver being an awful actress? I just had to reply because that is so crazypants.

Yeah, I’ve seen quite a few people saying they just think she’s a boring actress and there’s a pretty sizeable group of people who just think Audrey’s a boring character…mostly because she’s not Renee.

Zzz. Haters gonna hate.

I’m so over every female character on this show being compared to one another (and especially Renee.) Audrey’s not a boring character just because she doesn’t run around with a gun and Kim Raver’s not a terrible actress.

Whenever I see a respected, working actor like Kim Raver called a terrible actor, I’m always tempted to post this link of arguably the worst actress ever…..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEV8r3dJAmQ

hahaha. This is amazing.

She was fired after 16 days. What a shocker. :P

Oh my god. That was awful. Hee.

C, I’m with you. I totally agree that everything you’ve said is reason enough for Audrey to be different than we remember but it doesn’t feel like that to me. It feels like they’re structuring scenes so that when we look back, we see that something else was happening all along. Half the characters on this show have been through hell and have severe PTSD but they don’t all act like Audrey. I sort of wonder if they’re building the mentally unstable side of it towards Audrey killing herself or something, rather than a mole-type plot or anything other than what she seems to be. It’s just very… specifically drawn. I don’t get that she’s catatonic– I get quite the opposite. She’s crafty. She manipulates the hell out of Mark’s emotions. She is conscious about how others’ perceive her, feeds into their expectations of her as in need of protecting, then lashes out at them for doing what she’s been telling them she needs. ‘Oh, Mark, pick out just the right necklace, but don’t treat me like I’m a fragile keepsake in a box’ seems to be her attitude. I mean, Mark’s no peach, but he’s not the only one treating someone terribly in this marriage and I think if they’re creating a plot where we’re supposed to want Jack and Audrey to be together, even if they don’t get together, they aren’t exactly making it a joy to want this, since Audrey’s been kind of awful half the day long. It’s not like she started out one way and we watched her evolve into something else. If anything, she’s gotten worse. Every single character on the show this season has their own personal agenda– what’s Audrey’s? What is she after here?

I’d have ignored all of this if we didn’t have what Kiki called below that creepy Shining moment in the hall, coupled with another reminder about Heller’s pills that implies that those things have got to be important still in the plot, and the way that you can read every single Audrey scene this season as just what it is *or* that she’s got a secret. Usually, if you can do that? It’s the secret that wins out.

I just don’t see the manipulation. I think she just hasn’t been particularly kind. Cause they you know… probably shouldn’t be married and when you’re married to the wrong person the not best parts of yourself come to the forefront under stress. I also don’t think the pills have been given any particular attention other than to signal to certain characters that something is wrong with Heller.

I could see being wrong about the pills but I don’t see clues to Audrey having a big secret. I mean, she could, it would be cool if she did. Though I think the only secret that would make sense is one that somehow helps Jack and maybe has been helping Jack all along. Though I guess suicide or her just actually not being recovered at all are also options. But gosh would that be a downer. And at least for me not in a cathartic Arisotelian way as 24 tragedies tend to be.

Yeah, people aren’t always nice when they’re in an unhappy marriage, but they also don’t always get into that marriage in the first place. Audrey led Mark to believe that protecting her was fine and what she wanted. The first time it occurs to him that maybe it’s not what she wanted was earlier today with the “Is that what you think I do?” bit. It’s manipulative in that she keeps Mark on a leash while berating him at the same time. He mostly takes it until he starts to kick back, then she turns it all on him and says it’s all his problem. Like he should be ashamed for wanting a wife who loves him. “I can’t talk to you when you’re like this”, etc.. One minute she makes him feel like he needs her and the next minute she pushes him away– that’s manipulative.

I can’t help but feel like a lot of the earlier scenes of the day aren’t just to illustrate who Mark is but to show who Audrey has become, which ultimately might be just as important.

I was throwing out the pill bottles as just a symbol of Heller’s Alzheimer’s even after he survived Wembley until last night, when we had a totally unnecessary to the plot reminder of them. It would still be very fitting for Heller to die this season and the easiest way to go back to that would be the pills. If it circles back to them and it turns out that they were important all along for another reason, then that’s something else that could somehow factor into Audrey’s story. Maybe her dad dies and she loses it. Maybe someone in this plot is trying to kill Heller. Maybe Heller doesn’t even have Alzheimer’s. All the questions come back again since they made a point to show us the pills again when we didn’t need them in the scene at all.

That’s really interesting. I thought the show was maybe angling that way until 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM, but I’m not sure Audrey has much to hide or any kind of secret. Maybe because she’s waking up a bit more and she’s had more plot thrown her way. I definitely think that we’ve seen her play Mark like a fiddle – but she learned it from the best. I talked a little bit earlier about how their marriage isn’t really a healthy or a strong one, but it’s really showing today. He’s trying to guilt-trip her for being excited about Jack, and she’s playing on how much of a jealous prick he is. They’re both absolutely right about the other, but they’ve both been dancing around it. Honestly, a very small part of me was expecting Audrey to find out about the forgery very early on, and have Mark snap and go off on her (possibly physically – I don’t know if he would ever hit her, but I could see it happening & him apologizing with a “the stress of the day is getting to me” – and then she’d forgive her. Then again, I can’t really buy him being that sleazy.), just to get them to actually be honest about their feelings.

But their relationship is totally toast. I figured it was as soon as the show started, expected it after he let Heller give himself up, and this week confirmed it.

It would definitely be cool (okay, really really rad) if she has some kind of major secret, but that would be more likely in a full season. I just don’t think there’s time for it, because I feel like there would’ve been subtle hints at her agenda throughout the way. Either that, or they’ve been playing us – which would be super awesome, but I don’t think that’s what they’re setting out to do. I think the writers want us to think there is, but I have absolutely no idea what is. I just don’t think Audrey is that manipulative. She is definitely colder than we’ve seen her, and now she’s starting to play her husband’s game.

Honestly, I don’t think she learned the manipulative stuff from Mark. I don’t even think Mark really manipulates her– he just wants to be loved, he wants to know what they have is real. He held her hand, waited until she felt ready, and presumed when they eventually got married that she meant her vows. So far? Not so much. If Audrey knew in her heart that she still loved Jack, she had no business marrying Mark. She refers to her husband as a commitment she intends to honor. Well, Audrey, so is filing your taxes every year lol. Way to be romantic to the guy who waited around for you and loved you and supported you back from the abyss that you were only in because you followed your ex into it in the first place. I really can’t blame Mark for being like are you f-ing kidding me? I do everything under the sun for this woman and she’d be happier with the guy who went on a killing spree? I don’t see it as unfair that he wants an answer from her as to where they stand because he shouldn’t even have to ask for one. If Audrey really loved him and if she was really a decent person, she never would have married Mark if she didn’t really love him. Mark’s made stupid mistakes today but he’s made them for her and her father. I don’t think he has a malicious heart. I think he has maybe too big of one and it’s gotten him into huge trouble for a woman who really could care less about him.

Audrey was manipulative in a more subtle way when we first met her. She basically goaded an uncomfortable Jack into saying he loved her on Day 4, she pressures him to get back together on Day 5 when he’s initially not ready for an answer. Ironically, it was Audrey back then acting like Mark is now– desperate to know that Jack still wanted her and only her. This kind of isn’t new behavior for her but it’s really pronounced now, it seems. Maybe to some kind of end game because hey, why does she need Mark anyway? Her dad has been on the verge of stepping down all day. She’ll no longer be the de facto First Lady. Fewer public eyes on her. She could divorce Mark and run off with Jack the traitor if she felt like it and it wouldn’t really impact anything, so why is she determined to honor this commitment in the first place?

I can’t help but wonder why she’s honoring her commitment to Mark – maybe because she’ll be with Jack and Mark’ll be dead/arrested by the end of the day? Hee. :)

Mary I think your brilliant but I gotta fight you on the goading into saying he loved her. She did the opposite in my opinion. With Jack she is guileless and no one’s gonna convince me otherwise. She shared her love from a really pure place and meant it when she told him “I don’t need you to feel the same way. I just wanted you to know.” When Jack called her back he was the one absolutely itching to make sure she knew that she hadn’t made things awkward, basically exactly that he wasn’t being manipulated, and that they were on the same page. (On day five, she was intensely emotional, but pressuring? I didn’t see it that way .)Their interaction in that season four premiere is a tiny ray of simple, straightforward (not to say without layers) light in the nine years of the show. In my opinion, it just doesn’t make sense any other way, and the actions both of them were propelled to by their relationship would be hugely unsatisfying storytelling wise if Audrey had been manipulating or pressuring him. I’m sure there are a lot of fans who read it this way and found the story unsatisfying, but I’m pretty confident that that is not what the writers/directors/actors intended.

meant to see ‘that he wasn’t feeling manipulated’ up there. : )

sprite– I didn’t see guileless, exactly, on Day 4. In their first scene on Day 1, Audrey and Jack chat while getting dressed and Audrey kind of won’t shut up about the laundry list of issues Jack’s had that she has the unfortunate task of audience-recapping for the new people lol. But Jack is uncomfortable when she brings up his drug use and that he was fired from CTU and now he’s going back to face Driscoll. He doesn’t want to talk about it and he’s mostly turned away from her while we see this and she doesn’t. He turns it into cute kissing and a change of subject. He’s not really comfortable with Audrey understanding/knowing this much about him, even if the irony is that, at this point, she only had an on-paper kind of knowledge. Day 4 taught her who Jack really was in the real world, not just in his file.

But then it’s a few scenes later when she decides to tell him that she’s falling in love with him. The look on his face is one of total discomfort. He’s not really ready to have said something yet, or he would have said it already. Instead, he starts babbling about how he didn’t know he could feel this way since Teri (keep in mind that Audrey’s read Jack’s file and Day 4 takes place six years after Day 1. Teri Bauer was murdered about six years ago this month.) The same woman who spends the day going back and forth over whether or not to divorce Paul is carrying on with Jack, keeping him on the hook. I’m not saying she had evil intentions or anything but I’m saying she had that kind of not-so-guileless manipulation that a lot of woman have when they’re trying to keep a man from bolting out the door. Jack wasn’t ready for that step, even if he was getting close, but he has to say something because she said something, and Audrey knew he would, or else she wouldn’t have gotten them into that stage. She didn’t look at all lacking in confidence that Jack would say he returned her feelings but she also knew that she was suggesting to him that saying them was what she wanted. It apparently didn’t occur to her that maybe he wasn’t quite ready for that step and what it might mean going forward, not just with her but with their relationships with her dad, etc.. On Day 5, she keeps interrupting Jack on his mission with a reminder that she’s super-available, while he’s not so sure. He literally tells her he has to think about it at one point and she pushes again later on. It’s probably half the reason why he wondered if maybe she really was a mole, even if it didn’t add up for him, and wasn’t true.

I know Audrey isn’t exactly awesome when it comes to men (Walt Cummings, much?) but she also knows how to get what she wants out of them and guileless is not quite how I’d describe her with Jack. She genuinely cares for him but she’s not always like… pure about her ways of showing that.

I’ll start with day 5. (Thanks for humoring me in this discussion by the way. Fun!)

Audrey as a character was a victim of the structure of Day 5, the only way to get in those bonding moments in the first half was with her making those calls and yeah, the timing wasn’t good. But I 100 percent don’t think Jack’s “I have to think about it” was because he didn’t feel as strongly for her as she did for him, it was because he didn’t know if he could return to civilized society. But at the end of the day, right before the kidnapping, it’s very very clear how invested he is in a future with Audrey.

I’m gonna have to say rewatch the footage on your season 4 analysis. When Audrey is stuck with all that exposition in the top of that scene, she is very firmly on Jack’s side. The dialogue is all her telling him that he was wrongly forced out of his job, that he has nothing to be sorry for and that he was in the right. She is unflappably supportive. Maybe Jack is uncomfortable talking about it, but I think it’s pretty clear that he shared it with her in the first place. And he doesn’t change the subject. She asks if he misses his old job. He says no, that he wanted something different from his life… (sorry Jack! lol) and goes on to tell her how special it is for him to able to connect with someone this way. Even going so far as to say ‘It may not seem like a lot to you’, implying how huge it really is for him.

As for her declaration of love. It is in this same scene in the hotel room, right before they go downstairs, not a few scenes later. Jack kind of deflects and gets smiley and awkward. (What show is this? haha) He says he’ll see her downstairs and I always read Audrey’s face after that as ..”hmmm, I hope I didn’t make him feel weird right there…” She doesn’t bring it up again, he does.

Then they see each other downstairs, go on about their business pretending not to be a couple in front of her father, share a little knowing glance, and that’s it.

Their next interaction later in the episode is when Jack calls her. She’s not pushing it. They talk about his meeting, all work, she is ready to get off the phone and Jack keeps her on. With enough urgency is his voice that she clearly thinks something bad/dangerous has happened and he’s about to inform her.

But he’s just that keen to make sure she knows that he was in fact not uncomfortable and that he is feeling the same way. She even tries to stop him when he mentions Terri, saying that she understands (presumably that he’s not where she is yet) but he pretty forcibly tells her, no you don’t understand, I’m falling in love with you too.

And then they have the closest 24 comes to cute as they finish their phone call, all smiley and oblivious of the horrors to come. (scratch that, Jack and his grand daughter were full on cute)

I think, in watching those scenes it’s pretty clear that she is concerned about his feelings, his readiness to move forward in their relationship, his wellbeing. I think she means it when she says ‘I don’t need you to feel the same way.’

I think when he tells her he is falling in love with her and she says she’s caught off guard that’s she’s being completely honest there too. I don’t think she’s in the space of trying to hold onto a man or being strategic about it at all. She’s still in the first flush of love.

As for her flip flops about the divorce. She was very certain of her feelings at the start of the day and only began to waver at all after seeing a violent pretty scary side of Jack. And then after he was directly responsible for the death of someone who despite her no longer being in love with, had been family to her for years. I

really really don’t get the criticism of her questioning her feelings for Jack/her decision making on that day. (questioning her feelings doesn’t mean they’re any less strong I think). If she hadn’t had at least the level of distress/confusion/questioning that she did in reaction to all that violence and mayhem, she’d be pretty clearly a sociopath. And you know, not a good choice of mate.

Ok… that was a lot. But I was for some reason, compelled! This show does me in.

Kiki Vanderway
July 2, 2014 at 9:12 am
Maybe but Sprite what about the total irony of sitting in Tony’s house and talking about his divorce from Michelle Audrey says “he saved her life and she paid him back by leaving him?” And she is totally offended and incredulous about it and a few hours later she turns around and dumps his ass… so wrong so wrong so wrong…..

She had just been through an EXTREME trauma. Tony didn’t kill any of Michelle’s family lol. I just don’t think you can fault her for that. She was about to fly Paul’s body back home. She would have been actually crazy and mentally unstable to be like… “Yeah it’s cool. Let’s stick with our plans.” In my opinion of course. You can see how attached she still is the moment she believes Jack is dead. And when he comes back into her life the very first thing she does is say I don’t blame you for what happened with Paul, which is incredibly incredibly big of her, and that she hated the thought of Jack dying believing that she hated him.

Mary, are you really that cool with him forging the rendition order? You are very generous! Don’t think there’s a little bit of macho pride in getting rid of his romantic rival? Or a bit of power hunger? (Isn’t that more interesting anyway?) He’s not evil but I don’t think he’s acting selflessly or simply out of love.

I’m not at all cool with him forging the rendition order. I just don’t also jump on the bandwagon that he’s some kind of insanely evil villain who is also trying to kill Heller or oust him from power or something. I think his motivations are to help Heller and Audrey and he makes colossally stupid decisions as a result but those have been his motivations. Right until he got stupid in the last hour because he felt like he did it all for nothing and then he just wanted Jack captured already. But even then, he didn’t want innocent people to be harmed, so he tried to call it off. I’m not forgiving of what he’s done at all. I just don’t think he’s evil because of it. It’s not that black & white.

I agree with you. Not evil. But I’m not actually so sure about his motivations. If he really was acting out of love for Audrey he would have talked to her about Jack’s presence in London, not sold him out for ‘her own good’. I think he’s more than just misguided. He sold Jack out in part out of ego and jealousy and fear. He didn’t want to see what might happen to him and his marriage if Jack was back in the picture. I don’t buy that it was simply because he was worried about Audrey’s mental health.

Clearly he was right to be afraid, but it was disrespectful to hide it from her and worse to do what he actually did by selling out Jack. If he had trusted her with the information, maybe she would have felt closer to him and Jack’s reemergence in her life would have meant less. (It also would have showed trust in the strength of their union which he pretty clearly doesn’t have.) If there was any way she would love Mark more at the end of this day and be more invested in her marriage rather than in her past relationship it would only have been if Mark had told her immediately when he heard about Jack. But Mark didn’t trust her, (and it sure would have been boring if he had!) thus making it even easier for her old Jack feelings to burst right in.

Here’s where I think we disagree on Mark’s motivations versus his role and this might come back to opinions about Audrey. I think Mark sees protecting Audrey as not bringing Jack up to her because when he met her, she was still getting over all this trauma that was Jack-related (if not Jack’s fault but Mark doesn’t seem to have that impression, which is another kind of interesting thing about the Hellers. No one–including the President– ever set Mark straight on this.) Not telling Audrey was a stupid move but it’s also the moves that she’s been asking him to make in this marriage. She’s been a different person than we used to know while she’s been recovering. Mark really doesn’t know the old Audrey. I think that was part of the point of telling us a few hours ago when they met. It was to suggest that he only has known her since she’s been on the mend from China. If you didn’t know the old Audrey and the woman you met was quieter, more docile and fragile-seeming, and you fell in love with her and she led you to believe you were her white knight who kept her sane after everything she’d been through then, yeah. You might not want to cause her more pain. You might think the right thing to do would be to quietly take care of the Jack Bauer situation without putting the woman you love through more pain because of it and, hell, even the father-in-law you love. Mark cares about Heller. I think he feels about him the same way that Jack does– like he’s the kind of honorable man they both aspire to be. But now Mark’s in another tight spot, too. He works with his family– *for* his family, really, since Heller and Audrey out-power him– yet, they both ask him to hold more power in their relationships and then resent him for it. Heller asks Mark to be his right-hand man, to help him when he slips, to take care of the darker stuff so that Heller can do his job as President. Audrey married a man who protected her and looked after her and liked it that way. She wanted that from Mark or else she never would have married him. It’s not Mark’s fault that she’s decided she wants to be different now, just as it’s not Mark’s fault that Heller has issues handling his Alzheimer’s. All three of them are bound together by family and by secrets but they’ve set it up so that Mark is the family whipping boy who shoulders the brunt of the blame when the impossible situations these people are in don’t work out. When Jack shows up, it just highlights to Mark that he’s a substitute, not just for Audrey but for Heller. He’s literally risked his *life* for them, as he could get the death penalty if anyone finds out that he forged Heller’s signature. It was a terrible decision. All in all, he’s made a series of terrible decisions, but I don’t think he’s jockeying for power anymore because he knows he’ll never get it. He knows Jack has won and now he’s just trying to stay out of prison. The worst part for him, I think, was realizing that Jack Bauer may not be the devil incarnate that he was led to believe he was. When Jack was a decent guy when they met, it forced Mark to realize that he’s pretty much been had by Audrey and Heller. He was the schmuck who thought he was their savior but really was just their substitute. It’s, like, one of the saddest plots on 24 ever lol.

Haha. It is really sad, and Tate Donnovan is doing an amazing job. I absolutely see your take on his motivations, I think for me it comes down to a think about about basic respect for any person’s autonomy and agency. He may have thought it was the loving thing to do to keep Audrey in the dark, but it really really wasn’t. And he seems to smart to me to really be so clueless about that. Also the fact that forging that document was even an option for him is evidence of a pretty shaky moral compass. Not totally broken, but def shaky.

At this point, it seems unlikely, but Audrey might turn out to be working for Cheng Zhi. It’s far-fetched, but like people mentioned here. There is something off about her. She might not be able to cope with drama as much as before, she might have lost the strength she had in the past. But, I don’t know. There is something fishy about her character. Kim Raver plays those subtleties very well. Who knows? She might hide something we don’t know yet.

Best quote: Obviously it was “I need to pee.”

FINALLY!

LOL, I think the writers had the fans in mind when they wrote that one.

Another great one that seemed like fan service was Navarro asking “How about giving me something for the pain?” and the doctor replying that he’s been instructed not to. Then Navarro says “Naturally.”

Kiki Vanderway
July 1, 2014 at 8:33 pm
1. No one pres in 24
2. What girl sees a port-a-potty (port-a-loo?) and thinks oh yes, gotta go!

There was no way that was gonna work….

Renell Couzart
July 1, 2014 at 2:43 pm
This show is the best. My prediction is over the course of the remaining two shows, going into next season, is that kate and Jack will become closer as will Audrey and Jack thanks to Mark. So now Jack will have two women vying for his attention.

This ‘Jack is a pimp all women want to climb like a tree’ thing this board has going on is hilarious. The guy’s a bleeping succubus of pain and misery. Kate, at least, seems to be smart enough to be avoiding this walking plague of death.*

*And I love Jack!! :)

But the two of them have something in common, and that’s pain. They both have lost someone close to them as in a spouse. Plus they work great together and they’re kinda alike as far as doing their job. Chemistry is there regardless as if someone doesn’t see it, it’s there.

Having things in common doesn’t mean you’re OTP. I see chemistry there but it’s not romantic/sexual. It’s the same sort of vibe that Jack and Kim have. You know, that woman around the same age as Kate who looks just like her? Jack is a f-ed up guy but let’s not make him *that* f-ed up. Bad enough that Audrey has a ridiculous amount of stuff in common with Kim but to shack Jack up with a woman who could be Kim’s twin sister is just plain gross.

Kiki Vanderway
July 1, 2014 at 7:51 pm
First, Kiefer seems to be overloaded with pheromones and pretty much has chemistry with most of the actresses that play opposite him I think its chemical — so there is that in the background.

Jack as a character is not a good bet for a love interest. Objectively speaking this dude has had a death wish ever since Teri died — he was ready to make his kid an orphan rather than ask anyone on the tarmac if they would be willing to fly the plane with the nuke to the dessert — not exactly a family first kind of guy. No question he found his footing later on and improved but still not a good long term bet–

But what he is – in spades is loyal, powerful, committed and unwavering and those are the character traits that Audrey will respond to and so will Kate but for VERY DIFFERENT REASONS. Kate is not going to be a romantic interest nor by the way will Chloe (ewww) but they are drawn to him, respond to him, will work hard to do what he asks them to do– but not because of a romantic or sexual attraction.

This. Exactly. Thank heavens for you, kiki.

Just because a woman is in a scene with Jack doesn’t mean that any connection is sexual. They all respond to different things in Jack for different reasons *just like a lot of the men around Jack do.* I’m so over this idea that every woman who is okay with Jack should marry him and have his babies. Michelle Dessler is rolling her eyes at these posts lol.

Kiki Vanderway
July 1, 2014 at 8:10 pm
Particularly since Reiko and Kiefer dated in real-life :-)

Which shows how good an actress Reiko was :)

Kiki Vanderway
July 1, 2014 at 8:47 pm
Yes yes exactly knew you would understand!

I really think a jack/kate/audrey love triangle is the least likely thing to ever happen on the show. There is already something of a triangle with Jack/Audrey/Mark. There is definitely chemistry with Jack and Kate but it’s not romantic. It’s all kinds of fun other stuff.

Kiefer is one of those who has chemistry with the scenery. What can you do?

Kiki Vanderway
July 2, 2014 at 8:48 am
totally agreed the guy could turn on a fence post, a parking meter, etc.

I could not believe everyone was just… dead in Cross’s office!

Exactly

Kiki Vanderway
July 1, 2014 at 8:11 pm
Traditionally, cyber punks do not do well in the 24 universe

That was a classic 24 twist. I definitely gasped!

My reaction was pretty much on par with Adrian’s.

it is still very possible that 24 live another day could continue. the writers said they would continue if there is still a story to be told and with the plot that is constructing right now its possible that there could be another 12 revolving around the US, China and Russia

How about the ridiculously wasted potential of the Alan Wilson and his cabal plot? They gave up on the whole thing and instead, wrote a Day 8 which was nothing else but a blend of cheaply manufactured classic plots from the previous seasons (starting with Dana Walsh aka Nina Myers 2.0).

Yeah stupidest thing ever, They just dropped that plot like it was nothing.

Max and Trepkos were infinitely more interesting to Alan Wilson’s cabal, I think. Maybe it was because we still don’t know what happened to them or what Plan B was.

The game went into that for the most part

Not sure that is canon.

Milo Pressman, CTU *bang*
July 1, 2014 at 3:48 pm
Silly 24 writers. Don’t they know that only Austrians can start world wars? *ducks*

Feeling a little torn in regards Cheng.
On the one hand, he was without a doubt one of the shows most ridiculous and horribly cringe-worthy ‘Big Bad’s’ and his presence only serves as a reminder to season 6 which was the show’s lowest point and worst season.

On the other hand, 24’s writers have been known to build big conspiracies around major villains and then sweep them under the rug and forget about them pretty quickly (Max and the Alan Wilson storylines come to mind). It’s nice to get some sort of closure on Cheng and the Chinese storyline. I appreciate the writers giving the audience the respect they deserve by returning to old storylines. Far too often the writers ignore the shows continuity in order to streamline the plots for specific seasons.

2 episodes left? There’s a lot to wrap up!

This is exactly how I feel. At least he’s slightly less of a Scooby Doo villain so far.

But don’t you want your scooby snacks?

If they come with a Tony and Kim ending for Jack then sure. I’ll take whatever Cheng is necessary to get there. :)

Tony, Kim and Aaron, but doubtful on the first and last, maybe the second.

I still think there’s a chance for all three but a stronger shot for Kim & Tony than Pierce. Unless either Heller or Audrey dies and some old school characters greet Air Force One after the time jump, kind of like the David Palmer’s casket moment from Day 5.

I can see them bringing in Aaron or Mike Novick to greet Air Force one if they jump ahead and land back in America, that would easily make sense.

Kim makes sense too. Tony, it could work, and I hope so, but I don’t see it. Unless he and cheng were in the same prison and he busted out when cheng busted out and cheng somehow helped alan wilson escape so Tony is trying to get payback on cheng and has been searching for him, then winds up face to face with Jack, I don’t know.

Random but re-watching Day 7 recently, I got such a Scooby Gang vibe from the start of it. Chloe was Velma, Renee was Daphne, Bill was Fred. Neither Jack or Tony are really a Shaggy, but Jack would be Scooby so I guess Tony is Shaggy by default. They were even driving around in their own Mystery Machine. Was fun while it lasted, even knowing that it wasn’t gonna last the day.

lol omg shaggy by default *giggles* phee, I don’t think Tony is very happy with you right now. But, hey, he is the only one who ever seems to have food on occasion. I love the Scooby Gang vibe on Day 4, as well. I’m such a sucker for stories that form a team then break them up and then have the gang get back together.

If Tony wants to scowl in my direction he’s welcome to (scowly Tony makes me happy as well as sad). I have a Cubs mug full of his beverage of choice to placate him with.

Kate has slipped into Jack’s skin with her combo of anger, revenge and guilt. Their tender exchange of stories about how their careers doomed their family members sealed that. She now pulls ahead of Audrey in future of Jack Bauer IMHO. Other highlights, Navarro shirtless and Chloe’s eyeliner looking more fierce than usual as she struggled with learning about Adrian’s true intentions. Cheng’s just as scary the second time around. http://tvruckus.com/2014/07/01/24-live-another-day-800-900-pm-the-nukes-come-out/

Kate is the future of Jack Bauer not Jack Bauer’s future. Not every woman he comes in contact with is a potential love interest and she’s young enough to be his kid, for crying out loud. And she looks *just like* Kim. You’re all advocating for Jack to hook up with Action!Kim… Just because they have a connection doesn’t mean they have a romantic/sexual connection. Contrary to popular opinion, you can have a meaningful relationship with Jack Bauer that doesn’t involve being love interest potential. Just ask Kim, Michelle, and Chloe.

Kate exists so that when Jack eventually wants to go see his granddaughter’s school play instead of saving the world for awhile, he at least knows there is someone like him carrying the torch. Someone who will inevitably call him to chat or help her take out some common enemies at some point in the future. She’s way more important than just the next poor lady to wake up in his bed and have her life destroyed before she inevitably dies.

Kiki Vanderway
July 1, 2014 at 8:14 pm
Mary your first sentence there is my new bumper sticker!

Thank you!!

And really guys…. did you see the scene where Jack saw Audrey again? That was pretty intense… There would be no reason to bring her back to then have Jack fall for a younger kim look alike. Why on earth? I love Kate. She is an amazing character. I am all about her relationship/future with Jack, but it’s not a romantic one.

So, I know I haven’t commented on this site since the beginning of the season, this was because I was busy and wanted to keep away from spoilers until I caught up to where you guys were. Well, I’m caught up. Basically, I thought the first 5 episodes were solid 24, even if it all felt familiar. Still good moments though. From episodes 6 to now 10, I’ve been having a ton of fun! The narrative momentum has arrived and is in full throttle.

24 is in its ninth season and at the end of this latest episode, I was visibly (and audibly) shocked at what had just transpired. That alone is commendable for this drama series, known for its twists and turns. I love how all the walls and layers of storyline the writers have built up throughout the season and the series are coming down. The Russians are after Jack. The Chinese are involved. Chloe is being held by them. We find out that Kate’s husband is actually dead. And, let me not bury the lead here, a Chinese carrier was just blown up by a US submarine! Having watched very single episode of this show, been through it in its good times and bad times, this episode filled me with joy, because now all the storytelling cards are stacked in such a way that I could really envision a truly amazing series finale. I was definitely a fan of season 8’s supposed series finale, but there’s no question that it left things… indefinite? With Jack going head to head with both the Chinese and the Russians, I can see a clear way for the writers to end this show forever, on a spectacularly satisfying note, whether Jack Bauer lives or dies in the end.

I share this opinion. I don’t want to see 24 end just yet, but at this stage, it seems unlikely that it will come back, at least for a long time. It might resurface as a movie, to see the aftermath of what happened in London, say, two or three years later. If Jack Bauer lives, I’d see him take the role of a special adviser for another counter-terrorist organization like CIA, CTU or even the FBI, like in the eighth season, but with more coherence and less familiarity. If there is a movie, it should have a new plot, new characters and something unexplored in 24 thus far.

Cheng Zhi is back! That’s all I have to say. I was thrilled when I saw him for the first time since the sixth season. It’s a shame for Adrian Cross though. It turns out he was just an idealist holding onto his beliefs and hiding the truth from Chloe.

Kiki Vanderway
July 1, 2014 at 8:30 pm
Is it just me or did anyone else get a Shinning vibe when Mark comes around the corner and sees Audrey standing in the hallway? Creepy

And what’s with Ron “All I Do Is Give People Significant Side Glances” Clark? If he isn’t getting Mark a document off his computer, he’s giving someone some serious side eye. Who are you, Ron? Are you a hot, glorified extra? Are you a spy? Do you have a crush on Audrey? On Mark? Are you Heller’s secret kid or something? WHY DO YOU EXIST? lol

LOL, he did seem to show up out of nowhere. I like his accent though.

Ron is played by Ross McCall, who has played big roles fantastically on other shows. I seem to be the only one really enjoying his small role on 24. He’s way more than an extra or a small-time extra.

Yeah, I really like the character Ron as well.

Alongside Ron, I like the CIA Scottish tech guy Gavin Leonard.

Yeah, that was who I meant to refer to in my previous comment.

Dude, I love Ron Clark! I just wish we saw more of him.

“All work and no play makes Jack go… uh…. something…”

“Crazy?”

“Don’t mind if I DO!!!”

*cue carnage, prolonged gunfights, and eighteen-hour car chases*

Kyra Zinsmeister
July 1, 2014 at 9:42 pm
This episode was AWESOME!!! The return of Cheng was a stroke of genius!! Now,all we need is SEASON 10!!!!!!!!!!!

Loved it.

Cheng’s entrance was so awesome, and I can’t wait to see how the other characters (Jack, Audrey, Chloe, Heller) all react to his reappearance. I’m guessing he’s working for the Russians?

I’m worried for Chloe. On a side note, are we going to have to see Chloe with the Dragon Tattoo (with smudge-free make-up, no less) for the remainder of the season? Oy. I thought the new look was cool at first, but I’m not sure of its purpose at this point.

She’s gotta keep that look long enough for Tony to hopefully see it. Because, come on, you know you want to see Tony react to that ;)

Ha then she might be wearing it for a long time! I feel like Tony will like it though :)

Shush! How dare you speak of more of this Almeida-less suffering? :( I think Tony’ll take one look at it and go for the nearest beer lol.

Fox is calling the finale a “SEASON” finale in the press release + promos, so do w/ that what you will.

Milo Pressman, CTU *bang*
July 1, 2014 at 10:49 pm
The press release also says the TV mini-series event is coming to a close.

Honestly, I wouldn’t mind continuing 24 without Jack. Kate Morgan would be a great new central character to the show – she has a similar background to that of Jack in Season 1. Start a new cast (that survives multiple seasons) centered around Kate, Erik, and even Navarro for all I care. It’d be a successful re-boot. How many times can Bauer stop a terror plot?

New West Virginian
July 1, 2014 at 11:20 pm
IF they do a new season centered around Kate, at least she will be much more likable than the blonde female CIA agent played by Claire Danes in Homeland!

How true! Claire Danes is a good actress, but Carrie’s cryface routine gets old after a while.

Big Gucci Sosa
July 2, 2014 at 1:33 am
skuuuurt

Loved Navarro’s brazen character while being held up in locking, only to get smacked around and interrogated creatively!!

Still waiting for Tony to show up.

Me too. I’ve had to refill his mug like ten times already. His (Irish) coffee keeps getting cold.

About Cheng’s motives, remember his last words on day 6:

“My people will not abandon me like you abandoned Jack Bauer.”

There is a plot of the chinese government. We never saw any chinese people killed by the missile… It could be empty.

I think Cheng was wrong and now he’s ticked off about it. They left him behind the way the U.S. government left Jack behind. Jack still wants to protect the country that abandoned him but Cheng doesn’t give a fig newton about China. He was just as much of an uberpatriot as Jack was at one time but now he’s a mercenary. I think people died on that ship and now it’ll be about how to avert a third world war with a pair of rogue former government agents from the U.S. and China both in the middle of the plot.

I really enjoy when ’24’ does something that the show hasn’t done beforehand. When Navarro and Chloe walk into the room and see their whole team dead, it was a great shocking moment that put me on the edge of my seat. I don’t recall a scene ever in ’24’ that was similar to it. Now given that we haven’t seen Navarro’s team in several episodes, the scene would have worked even better if Navarro’s team as a whole had some screen time in this episode prior to this moment so that we the audience felt at least a little connection to these characters. That would have made the scene not just shocking in a surprising way but also shocking in an emotional way. But all in all, the scene still worked well. And then the revelation that Cheng was behind it took the scene to a new level of shock.

When I think of Cheng, I dont think of him from season 6 as i’ve basically erased that season from my memory. I initially dont even think of him from the season 5 finale. I think of him from the classic Chinese embassy episode of season 4 and the subsequent episode where he kidnaps the CTU field agent who was part of the Chinese embassy operation. The actor/character was amazing in those episodes and I’m pleasantly surprised that the show brought him back for these final hours.

Cross’s team…

but yes. I agree.

yeah, I meant to say Cross’ team, not Navarro. Thanks.

Alex of Hong Kong
July 2, 2014 at 1:39 pm
Great plot, US, UK, RUSSIA, CHINA, all involved!! Never happened in previous seasons. I think this season should deserved a full season with 2 story arcs. 12 for US-UK-Magot (done very well for 8 episodes), 12 for US-RUSSIA-CHINA. (with Tony)

New West Virginian
July 2, 2014 at 1:43 pm
I’m surprised Davies didn’t renew the drone out as a courtesy to Heller after Heller was willing to sacrifice his life to stop the attacks. Plus the events of the day should only highlight the importance of continuing to fight the war on terror. Heller also seemed to have convinced Parliament during the speech.

That move is up to Parliament, not Davies.

PREDICTION: Jack will have to choose to either stop WW3 or save Chloe’s life… He’ll stop WW3 at the cost of Chloe… that’s when we’ll get the silent clock (counting backwards down to 00:00).

The time jump will be flying from London to L.A. with Jack (finally) getting the happy ending with Kim (her fam) and with Audrey.

I agree except for Jack and Audrey.

New West Virginian
July 3, 2014 at 5:52 pm
Or they might fly to Washington, D.C. cause we know Audrey is going there, as Heller needs to hand power over to the Vice President who we may finally get to meet. Though if they go to LA then they can have Kim there waiting. I’m just afraid something will happen at the very end in the last minute.

I don’t quite get what Adrian’s plan was before Jack came to town. How was he planning on getting the device back from Yates (who he had no problem locating)? Same question later, what was his plan if Navarro didn’t run into trouble?

Also seems funny that the super-connected Adrian (who has Chloe’s computer mirrored all day & knows instantly what Jordan’s up to) wouldnt be automatically alerted to Cheng’s takeover of his headquarters. At the very least he should be aware that all his Open Cellmates suddenly stopped working on their computers.

Lastly, how did Cheng suddenly discover Adrian’s true intentions, & why didn’t he intervene earlier when Yates had the device.

Great, great episode!

Kate, well, damn she’s good! That’s the way to get the information from somebody! She WAS ready to kill Navarro – and he knew it.

So what has Cheng got planned for poor Chloe? Must be something or he’d have killed her at the same time as Cross. Now Jack’s pinned down in a fire-fight, how’s he going to get to Chloe?

It’s at times like this that the compression of the show into 12 episodes really shows, with so much happening in a short time. As others have said, it’s not quite the same, with the gradual building of the tension lacking.

I found it a bit odd the that sub commander just fired off torpedoes without a word of questioning the order, or at least trying to verify it. Anyone seen the film “Crimson Tide”? Brilliant film where the Executive Officer fights the Sub commander over whether to launch a nuclear missile.

Nevertheless, this was hugely enjoyable! They are certainly building up to a tremendous finale!

Please don’t let them kill Chloe!

How about the “time jump” being 3 more episodes (15 total). That would be a “neat trick.”

Best season best episode. Love this s—

I wouldnt like kate (Yvonne) taking over as lead character.. sorry but she’s just new, her acting could be alot better.. her character doesnt do much for me.. If 24 stops with jack.. then i’ll also stop with 24 :)

I disagree completely. She’s done a phenomenal job on the show, and is a fantastic actress. The way she expressed her rage and grief over Adam’s death was heartbreaking to watch.

I agree. She’s absolutely wonderful. I’ve seen her in other things as well and they’ve barely scratched the surface here so far with what she can do.

Yeah, as much as I’ve loved this season and Yvonne’s performance as Kate, she hasn’t gotten the chance to show her full range here.

I think her acting is stellar. Unassailable really.

Ok so who is the VP??? I have watched every season don’t know. Clues?

We know it’s a guy. Heller seems to like him, since he suggested that the VP would probably hire Mark and that Heller himself thought he’d be a good man for Mark to work for. I think he’s been told now about Heller’s condition and is preparing to take over, so he’d have to be fairly trustworthy, I would guess. I think if we do meet him, it’s Ethan Kanin. How two elder statesmen with heart conditions won a Presidential election, I’m not sure, but I think he’d be the only one who would work if it’s a character we’ve already met. (And since they keep making a point not to say the guy’s name, we’ve probably met him.)

Also people said how many times can jack save the world?
The same could be said about james bond movies.. How many times can james bond save someone, or save himself? so far 24 times.. and they keep scoring good!
There’s enough Jack Left.

But they aren’t 23 sequels. Each Bond (the different actors) are a different incarnation, and even in most movies, past events are rarely, if at all, mentioned.

Jack Bauer isn’t James Bond, though.

The Bond franchise has been reinvented many times, though. Brosnan-era Bond is way different than the Craig-era Bond for example. Each movie has different writers and directors adding their own unique spin on the Bond formula. And there’s been what, like six or seven different actors who’ve portrayed Bond? These shakeups have prevented it from feeling stale.

24 on the other hand has remained largely the same throughout the series run. Same lead actor, same director Jon Cassar, same production crew for Seasons 1-8, same writing crew. They haven’t really tinkered with the formula much.

Which I think is kind of inexcusable, actually.

Kiki Vanderway
July 3, 2014 at 12:27 pm
No question that’s a fair criticism but on the other hand the actors/ characters changed with alarming speed so it had to be situation driven not character based and Bond had a novel series platform to work with helping the initial writing plus lots of time between movies to get things right

Kiki Vanderway
July 3, 2014 at 12:30 pm
Plus and I think more importantly bond is irreverent and fun and funny every thing is done with a twinkle in the eye it’s conscious of its own send up and 24 just can’t do that

Kiki Vanderway
July 3, 2014 at 12:32 pm
I would love a House of Cards 24 episode with characters breaking the 4th wall would be great

New West Virginian
July 3, 2014 at 1:51 am
I think the VP is Mike Novick. If they want to surprise us, they might do John Keeler, who is still alive.

So here is a scenario finale:

Jack saves the day, as usual, but at the cost of Chloe who died at the hands of Chang. US drones eventually catch up with the device and Chang and level a building he is in, killing him we are led to believe. As it seems all is at peace with the world and jack flies back on air force one to the states with Audrey and Heller. Once arriving jack gets word that Kim is waiting for him at the airport. Eventually they see each other in a crowded airport and begin to walk towards eachother. As this is happening, the camera quickly switches to a rifle scope that is watch the two walk towards eachother. Just as they are about to hug, a shot is fired and strikes Kim in the heart. As Kim falls to the ground, jack catches her and cradles her as she is bleeding out and unable to speak. camera quickly switches back to the sniper, who is revealed to be Chang (who was not killed in the drone attack), who naturally escapes quickly and out of sight. We switch back to jack and kim, and as kims eyes are slowly closing, the scene starts to fade black with a silent clock for Kim Bauer.

After that, a promo for season 10, in which jack goes ballistic and stops at nothing in good old fashioned revenge to foil a terrorist plot by Chang and evently fades out with Chang with his hands tied in a chair in a dark room, where it is reavealed that Jack has him captive and about to perform the most epic torture in the 24 series for him killing his daughter.

BOOM.

That sounds terrible. We just had a season where Jack went ballistic. How derivative. This season has really pushed Jack’s attempt at restoration. We’re simply not going to have another ‘Renee situation’. Kim is safe.

Buck, I’ve told Mary on a couple of occasions that she has a terrific imagination and the potential to one day write something amazing all of her own.

I’m now about to tell you the exact opposite.

Please, for the love of God never write anything ever again!

“BOOM.” indeed – Jesus!

Ever the ball of sunshine around here.

He’s right though.

Uggg, that would just be a rehash of what they are doing now. Cheng just needs to die now, bringing him back was great how they did it, but bringing him back again would be stupid.

Cheng should have NEVER been a villain, and if the people he’s working for turn out to be the Russians then 24 and I will part on VERY bad terms.

Consider this. Both the Russians and Cheng have had a legitimate beef and a reason for wanting to bring Bauer to justice. It would be VERY fucking convenient would it not for BOTH parties to become international terrorist masterminds down the line… working together no less.

Do me…

a fucking

favour!

Yeah if it turns out to be the Russians then that is stupid and some very easy way of writing everything together in a nice neat bow. Hopefully they aren’t that lazy.

I’d rather have him working for Alan Wilson’s group, as they are the ones that busted him and Wilson out. Would leave the door open for Tony too, but i highly highly doubt that.

Or just have Mandy show up and kill them all, then turn the gun on herself, the end.

Wilson, Trepkos or Max would be ideal… and makes perfect sense because all 3 were part of the sinister war-profiteering machine.

Max would work great if they ignore the game, which I don’t see a problem with. Trepkos always seemed more like a middle man then to be a big reveal player. Wilson would work to, but I think it would only work great if they were looking for a way to bring Tony back, which I doubt at this point. Still anything would beat the russians, hell Carl Webb or the guy who shot down Air force one would beat the russians. Even reviving Sherry Palmer would beat the russians.

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s confirmed, the VP is:

…is…
…is…
…is…

…Tony!!


Source? :P

My dreams hahaha


New West Virginian
July 3, 2014 at 5:53 pm
I thought you were about to say Behrooz.

Nope, wrong. The VP is
Martha Logan


what? Don’t believe me?

So, if that’s true, we know exactly who the VP-gentleman is…
Aaron!


Great way to bring him back haha

No, it can’t be Aaron! Who the fuck would he say “Yesssh mishter president” to then?

What a excellent episode last night on Sky1, it was gripping and tense. didn’t expect to see Cheng back after we last saw him was in the series 6 final so that was a shock :)

Adrian confess to Chloe about Morris and Prescott’s death was an accident, well I didn’t expect that!

I wonder how Jack will react when he finds out that Cheng is back? Poor Adrian got shot in the end, I don’t think its looking good for Chloe, I reckon she will be killed of this series.

Only 2 more episodes to go before its over, hope we get a season 10 for next year, also its just been reported about ratings for last night on Sky1, is this good for ratings?

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/news/a581948/24-live-another-day-continues-with-426000-viewers-on-sky1.html#~oIYtEWzXqSgzNE

That would be…really bad on US TV, but since it’s an import and there was a lot of sports stuff on…I guess that’s good?

we need season 10

season 10 needs to happen…..it would be great if they finish the series with the arrest of the mastermind behind the David Palmer assassination…..only the Russian/chinese storyline will be wrapped up

Yvonne Strahovski got an honorable mention for one of the performances of the week. Well deserved. :D

http://tvline.com/2014/07/05/rory-kinnear-penny-dreadful-performance-grand-guignol

Spoiler Alert: Heller gives his presidency to Almeida. End of Day 9

Spoiler Alert: You get trampled by a herd of stampeding Stags.

Well I’ll give him credit where credit is due, and that is at least Almeida wasn’t described with the “F*^k” word interspersed as a verb, an adjective, an adverb, and of course a declarative statement for any and all frustrations deemed worthy of its use, or any other number of possibilities. That was a refreshing change from other postings some of which were taking exception to postings on a whole host of real and imagined slights.

Yes I know having said this I am now an open target for all sorts of ill will and those all but declaring war on me for sure, and there will be all manner of remarks posted to me about your right of free speech, me imposing my values on others, yadda, yadda, yadda. And oh yes I’d almost forgot of course being judgmental when scripture says I shouldn’t judge others. Careful with that one having been a theology major in college I’ve already been there and done that one in debates add on infinitude. Not interested in doing it again, just would like to see “24” posts on subject and cleaned up a tad.

For the past couple of episodes I have enjoyed staying quietly in the background playing a bit of a role of a lurker and it has been very thought provoking at times, and educational as well as fun. As an observer it has had the quality of a large dinner party which has a variety of topics being discussed; there has been a warmth of camaraderie as the ideas unfold and others add to them their own thoughts. There has also been that word R E S P E C T as well for the person and the ideas they are putting forth. And I note that from a personal exchange with Mary who helped me to see that I was very much off base regarding President Heller because of my anger with his treatment of Jack in S6. She was right and I was wrong to a degree, but she never made it personal or got into name calling with me. My long period of silence after our sharing was because I learned from Mary that there was a lot I had forgotten and I wanted to get better caught up to speed with those here who obviously could all but lip sync the various parts they were so familiar with and immersed in.

With that in mind I say how about a little respect for what has gone before and so let me repeat a little as I ask you to give due consideration to this. Up to some of the more recent postings we have had some very thoughtful views shared here by a large number of writers including Mary, Kiki, sprite, and many others. All of whom have obviously put in a lot of effort and time, as well as thoughtful thinking, not to mention heaven only knows how many hours of reviewing all of the seasons which have gone before this one. Granted it is something they have enjoyed doing, as well as it being in many ways a labor of love for them and for us too. I for one have enjoyed their in depth reviews of the earlier the earlier shows as they have brought back much that I had not thought about in a long time and sent me back to my DVD to see it again.

Their eyes have seen facets of the characters and plot lines that I had either missed or completely forgotten about in so many ways that reading their reviews, thoughts, and insights has been like unwrapping what had appeared to be a simple package on Christmas morning. Then only to find that the gift was as complex, uniquely special, and that like the giver it truly had a touch of elegance and class to it. Or in other cases that it was as perverse and quirky as could be just like the giver that it caused you to burst out laughing with them at the whole thing. Their insights have challenged others of us to either think outside of the standard “24” box, to be caught up in a continuous loop of moles and senseless violence. Or to consider many other possible outcomes that stretched our mind of plausibility to the max, and yes of course how ever could the writers possibly bring back Almeida too! Although I really wanted to see Aaron Pierce again.

So if I appear to be a crotchety old woman who is too easily offended by the casual use of this word, which as I see it, is a rather rude, crude, socially unacceptable word, that seems to have become so easily accepted by some groups, then know this. The word you hold so dear is very often being misused from its original intent, it in fact is an acronym of letters put on a placard over the head of one who had been placed in public stocks in the town square because they had been found to be guilty of and were being punished: For Uncommon Carnal Knowledge Just as we who are either military or were married military know what a SNAFU is and that it is also an acronym, and while it has become widely used we did slip other words into it for civility and the sake of the polite society we were considered to be part of; could we just not have it being posted with such ease here? Please? A little civility?

OK, have at it as I am sure I’ve stirred up a bit of a hornets nest and there is probably a lot of anger and frustration with me for this post. But do you want to kill the messenger because you don’t like the message? Does it have to become personal? Have I really asked that much of those who are posting here? All I asked for is some civility and to just think before you post?

If you are among those who have quietly sighed a huge sigh of relief because of what I’ve posted here; then please say so. Don’t sit in silence and leave me alone out on a limb that supports your thoughts as well and then by your in action of saying nothing I am cut off at the tree trunk to go crashing down into the midst of an angry mob below, speaking metaphorically of course.

Thanks for allowing me to vent a bit of frustration over a very number few posts considering how big the number overall posts are that are here. It has been a joy reading what everyone is sharing, as there are some very good writers and postings here.
Blessings One and All, Lady J

I think this post warrants a minutes silence from all members out of respect for the dead – both on 24 and in real life.

Hey XAM,
Thanks much for your critical comment on my post. And I mean that sincerely. It actually had a soft touch and was on the gentle side; I burst out laughing when I read it. Your dry humor was also perfect, down to even using the word “Respect”! That was just too funny! And please know I wasn’t laughing at you I was/and still am laughing at the whole thing as I can only imagine what must have been going through your head when you read it. I love it!! I was expecting or at least tried to prepare for some much harsher comments that would have some pretty sharp edges to them. Too late now people, don’t bother. I was frustrated and vented, your humor is appreciated. I am still chuckling to myself over life’s sardonic humor that has this thing”of group think” thing called “the generation gap”.

I thought of it earlier this afternoon while at our pool chatting with a friend who is my age, and is of a similar mind set. Her granddaughter is visiting with a couple of teenage friends for the weekend. My friend and I were talking about this topic I so clumsily covered here and she understood my views completely; her granddaughter and friends completely disagreed with us.

OK XAM, so much for “a minute of silence from all of the members out of respect for the dead – both on 24 and in real life.” Very funny! We’re now at little over 1 day before we have only the wrap left for the show.

Big Gucci Sosa
July 6, 2014 at 9:57 pm
you done lost yo mind son

Not sure if this was mentioned already, but when Cross asks Chloe how she knows Cheng, she responds: “He kidnapped Jack, had him put in a secret prison outside of Beijing and tortured him for over a year. When Audrey Heller went to go look for him he did the same thing to her.”

Audrey Heller? Did the show ever mention her changing her name back to Heller after season four?

This is an interesting question.

The “Previously on 24” segment for the second and third episodes has her name as Audrey Bodreau as do the official press releases. The official cast photos list her name as “Audrey Heller” but the official episodic promotional photos have always referred to her character as simply “Audrey.”

So it’s been sort of inconsistent even among the official media.

Kiki Vanderway
July 6, 2014 at 6:30 pm
Although she was talking to someone who may not be a U.S. citizen in which case referring to her as Heller would make it easier for Adrian to better understand the magnitude of the connection. Adrian may not have understood who she was if the last name Chloe used was Raines or Bodreau.

She’s practically the Julie Cooper-Nichol-Cooper-Atwood of 24 at this point.

(Which is even more ironic because both characters have been married to wimpy husbands played by Tate Donovan.)

Kiki Vanderway
July 7, 2014 at 10:41 am
Poor misbegotten Tate typecast as the perfect weaselly wuss

He’s so good at it, though…hehehe.
Just when you start to feel sympathetic, he does something awful or shady, with debatably good intentions. I’m pretty sure he also played a character on Damages that was similar.

dat typecasting doe

Tate Donovan will always be “Joshua” from Friends to me. :D

My husband and all my family and it’s a large family we love 24 and we would and if ok with Kiefer Sutherland and staff to film more episode it’s a great show and we enjoy watching it

Looking back this was definitly the strongest episode of LAD