In terms of bleak endings, few could match the climax of Season Two's third episode: with CTU blown up and George Mason contaminated by exposition to plutonium, there is no way Jack Bauer's second longest day could get any worse. Or could it?
After helping Wald's men bomb his won workplace, Jack exposes himself as a federal agent, shoots everyone and goes after Wald to find out who organized the hit. Meanwhile, back at CTU Tony is struggling to keep things together and ensure wounded colleagues survive, and President Palmer gets very concerned when he learns the tragedy could have been avoided if it hadn't been for the NSA director's objections.
In the first season, Palmer found out his wife and some of his financial supporters had conspired to keep a dirty secret from him, and subsequently vowed never to behave in a dishonest way. This character arc is rebooted starting from this episode, and Haysbert is once again revelatory, showing the complexity and emotional burdens of a man who wants, above all, to protect American citizens and won't let anyone go behind his back.
As for Jack, the writers take advantage of the real time to put him in an interesting situation: the tension almost triples as he spends a large part of the show outside Wald's hiding place, with only a camera acting as a communication device between the two bitter adversaries. In other productions, such a scene is a mere gimmick, chucked in to anticipate some huge action sequence; here it is a valuable part of the plot, and leads to a climax that will have a massive impact on the rest of the day, not to mention prompt die-hard fans to re-watch Season 1.
After helping Wald's men bomb his won workplace, Jack exposes himself as a federal agent, shoots everyone and goes after Wald to find out who organized the hit. Meanwhile, back at CTU Tony is struggling to keep things together and ensure wounded colleagues survive, and President Palmer gets very concerned when he learns the tragedy could have been avoided if it hadn't been for the NSA director's objections.
In the first season, Palmer found out his wife and some of his financial supporters had conspired to keep a dirty secret from him, and subsequently vowed never to behave in a dishonest way. This character arc is rebooted starting from this episode, and Haysbert is once again revelatory, showing the complexity and emotional burdens of a man who wants, above all, to protect American citizens and won't let anyone go behind his back.
As for Jack, the writers take advantage of the real time to put him in an interesting situation: the tension almost triples as he spends a large part of the show outside Wald's hiding place, with only a camera acting as a communication device between the two bitter adversaries. In other productions, such a scene is a mere gimmick, chucked in to anticipate some huge action sequence; here it is a valuable part of the plot, and leads to a climax that will have a massive impact on the rest of the day, not to mention prompt die-hard fans to re-watch Season 1.
