Day 8: 6:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m.
- Episode aired Jan 18, 2010
- TV-14
- 41m
Jack and Chloe race against time to try to thwart a well-planned assassination of the President of the Islamic Republic.Jack and Chloe race against time to try to thwart a well-planned assassination of the President of the Islamic Republic.Jack and Chloe race against time to try to thwart a well-planned assassination of the President of the Islamic Republic.
Storyline
Did you know
- GoofsNear the end, where everyone is evacuated out of the United Nations through the underground parking lot, Chole mentions the ramp to 2nd Ave. The United Nations complex is on First Ave.
- Quotes
Brian Hastings: [Interrogating her at CTU] now I'm going to ask you again and this time I want an answer
Brian Hastings: [Show her the keycard] now we know this keycard was issued to President Hassan and his family at the UN. I want to know where you got it
Meredith Reed: I'm not saying another word until my attorney gets here
Brian Hastings: You're already looking at a life sentence at a federal penitentiary. So if this plot succeeds and Hassan dies, I promise you the death penalty. If you give me the name of the assassin, maybe we can cut a deal?
Meredith Reed: I told you I don't know anything
Brian Hastings: You know who you stole his keycard from
Meredith Reed: I didn't steal it
Brian Hastings: Then you manufactured it: cloned it somehow
Meredith Reed: No
Brian Hastings: Then used it to gain access to the UN security data
Brian Hastings: [Yells] where did you get it? Tell me
Meredith Reed: He gave it to me
Brian Hastings: Who?
Meredith Reed: Omar... gave it to me
Brian Hastings: President Hassan? Why would he do that?
Meredith Reed: So I could have access to his private residence: when he wanted to be alone with me
Brian Hastings: You really expect me to believe your "involved" with him?
Meredith Reed: Believe what you want, it's the truth
Of course the writers must throw in an obvious diversion to develop suspense WITHIN CTU, to distract us alert fans from what is really happening at the nerve center. There will be a mole or two, unsuspected, perhaps the slow-witted and ethically challenged leader Hastings, well-played by Mykelti Williamson, or maybe the eager beaver John Boyd, but the scripts' focus so far is firmly on the two jailbirds. As played by Crawford, the manipulative psychopath Kevin Wade is unconvincing. This is a difficult role and back in the day would have required the talents of an offbeat, maniacal character actor -I'm thinking John Davis Chandler. As styled here, Crawford resembles a minor league Arch Hall Jr. (see the drive-in classic THE SADIST), but what we get is a one-note, distasteful performance. Obviously Crawford was cast because of his looks (I can imagine producer Gadd yelling: "Get me a Channing Tatum type -the kids will love him". (Whoops -I just looked the two up and they're both from Alabama! Maybe my delusions are on to something here.)
Opposite him is Katee as analyst Dana Walsh, whose decision making is laughable throughout. National security is at stake, she is an important CTU cog, even styled as "better than" fan favorite Chloe O'Brian at her job, but every few minutes she is running off like a lapdog to follow the latest absurd orders barked out by meanie Clayne. His "I gotta be with you" refrain while the fate of the entire world lies in the balance is understandable from a sociopath's point of view, but for the viewer of a suspense drama it makes no sense - we are all (figuratively) screaming at the boob tube repeatedly: "Hey Dana, turn the guy in and take your medicine already". Just to save her job and impending marriage she puts up with this jerk's demands over & over -it makes no sense at all in the context of a show whose strength derives from the "kill 'em now and ask questions later" attitude of Bauer, Renee and all the other prinicipals.
I'm afraid this level of bad writing, the weakest link in the chain that has to be developed to make 24 x 48 minutes of TV drama add up, could sink the entire season. The sooner these two crappy characters are killed off the better. In fact, their footage could subsequently be replaced by some deleted scenes or newly shot "saver" characters to make the eventual year's DVD compilation palatable -I would remove Clayne entirely and find some other diversion to kill time (get it?) instead of having him chiming in every few (missing on the DVD) commercial breaks.
As it stands, the Katee/Clayne routine reminds me of a drawback of the George Reeves "Superman" TV series of my childhood. On the show Superman was wasting his time each week with petty crooks, on the level of safecrackers, each week, when we knew from the comic book that he could use his powers for more Earth-shaking crises. Similarly, having the K/C duo caught up in some minor-league, extremely puny criminality ("gotta be six figures!" demands the idiotic Kevin at one point) is the same sort of "who cares?" triviality that is out of place in a story about loose nukes and large-scale danger. It represents the dumbing down of TV -the injection of supposed "human interest" into a ripping-good-storyline show. Next season I expect some teen vampires, or at least gossip girl types, to be injected into the 24 milieu.
- lor_
- Jan 26, 2010
Details
- Runtime41 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.78 : 1