24 Thoughts

As usual, it was a great episode, possibly the best in weeks. The main plot consisted of Cheng's mercenaries invading CTU through an underground passage. In the thick of crisis, since CTU was invaded by Cheng's goons, Jack was let out of the interrogation room, and got his opportunity to become the Jack we all know and love: Unstoppable Jack. He took out at least 5 of them. Let's call this the "Die Hard" episode. All that was missing was Jack saying "Yippee-Ki-Yay, motherfucker."

So far in 24's history, the Chinese considered it an act of aggression when Jack and CTU burst into their embassy on Day 4 to extract that guy. The Russians are now considering letting the chip fall into Chinese hands an act of aggression by the U.S. But what do you call it when the Chinese storm a federal building, take numerous government employees, kill other government employees, kidnap a U.S. citizen who happens to be a minor, and hold a federal agent and an employee of the U.S. Department of State?

But a CTU employee bit the dust, that being Milo. That sucks, he was actually with "24" at the very beginning, it was interesting seeing him back. I knew when he had that conversation with Nadia, telling her that it was cool if she wanted Mike, that he was a goner. It was really wonderful of him to lie to the mercs and tell them that he was the acting director; Karen did Bill a really big favor by letting him go. RIP Milo. And to the people who think he deserved a Silent Clock, get over it. Tony didn't even get a Silent Clock. TONY!!!

Let's count the attacks on CTU. On Day 2, it was blown up. On Day 5, it fell prey to a chemical gas attack. Not sure if this would count, but on Day 3, Nina struck their computers with a virus. And on Day 6, CTU is under invasion by Cheng's mercs. If you count the video game, CTU also gets seized by terrorists.

What was up with James Cromwell's name being put in the opening credits? It pretty much totally blew the suspense of the last 10 or so minutes. I could have been figuring out the motives of Cheng for invading CTU, and later wanting Josh, but with Cromwell's name at the beginning, I knew that the Chinese were working with Phillip Bauer. What a goof that was. BTW, why did Phillip have the Chinese get Josh back to him? Isn't Josh the same grandson he was going to kill earlier in the day? Also, why did he have these guys invading CTU to capture Josh if they were going to release him and Marilyn in a few hours anyway?

Does being a guard at CTU pretty much confine you to instant death? Most of the times I see one of them, they're being shot or tasered or something. They remind me of the guys in red shirts in the original Star Trek, they were always the ones killed on an Away Team mission.

What was up with Lisa Miller tonight? She meets her "boyfriend" to enable him to trick the Russians into thinking the circuit board thing is destroyed, and by the end of the hour, they're putting on a "porno" for Lennox and the other guy is watching. Now, Lennox is a straight shooter, but I think the other guy is probably choking his chicken. I thought that Miller would act for the good of the country, but this isn't what I had in mind.

What was up with Nadia saying "Go to your assigned safety rooms" after the Chinese guys got in CTU? What are they, in Kindergarten?

Anyway, those are my inital thoughts on 24.