I’m honestly not sure what to think of this week’s episode of 24: Live Another Day. It contains so many 24 cliches that I normally abhor, but somehow, this episode winds up being highly watchable and manages to surprise me in a number of ways.
But best of all — it sees the return of Jack Bauer into the field while working as an agent of the United States government.
Jack Gets What He Wants
The episode kicks off by revealing that both Steve and Erik are alive after the drone attack. The Prime Minister of London, Davies, is pretty angry with the US’ shoddy work so far, so he demands technical info on their drones. Heller gives it up, over his General’s protests, but also manages to have an Alzheimer’s-like slip-up that one of Davies’ advisers points out privately.
Heller then has Bauer brought before him. With many CIA agents dead in the failed raid, he decides to give Bauer what he wants to go back into the field and talk with the arms dealer that may have ties to Margot. Bauer demands not only help, but silence as well as access to Kate.
Davies, meanwhile, is meeting with his military advisers, deciding on whether or not to increase the military presence in the streets. Heller calls him to ask him not to, at least not for an hour, and even though Davies hates the idea that the US is working with Bauer, he says fine. Then he promptly orders his own staff to pursue Bauer and see what he’s up to.
Rask’s Hideout
Jack’s arms dealer is a man named Rask who Jack was working for. Jack betrayed him and now Rask likely wants him dead. So Jack wants to hand Kate over as a sign of good faith, while also blaming everything on a dead person named Nils.
It all works at first, since Jack suggests Kate be brought to the meeting unconscious (though he is surprised when she knocks herself out). Unfortunately, Rask has a cure and decides to wake Kate up and interrogate her.
Worse for Jack: the British government has been monitoring him and thinks he betrayed the US by knocking Kate out. Rather than tell Heller, Davies orders a covert operation.
Dumb dumb dumb. I thought we were beyond dumb government operatives this season, especially since Heller acted so rationally in the last episode.
Once she’s awake, Rask’s men interrogate Kate. They even throw water on her and electrocute her. One of Chloe’s helpers, a man named Belcheck, is watching from a sniper position while Chloe waits for Rask to access the bank account Jack set up for him. Once he does, she can install a virus on his computer system and find a way to Margot.
Belcheck is about to intervene on Kate’s behalf when he’s knocked out by an MI5 agent. They also conveniently (in an absolute bonkers, lame way) bust in Rask’s door literally before he hits enter to access his bank account. A shoot-out occurs, Jack hits enter anyway and the virus is uploaded.
Chloe finds a phone number on his computer and starts tracing it while Jack captures Rask alive. Then, MI5 agents intervene, Rask escapes and is able to kill himself with one of their grenades.
And then the episode takes an abrupt turn with two shocking things I didn’t see coming.
Simone’s Mission
Earlier in the episode, Margot tasks her daughter Simone with taking out Navid’s sister, who he likely told about the pending attack. Even after assuring her mother that Farah knows nothing, Margot orders Simone to kill her.
Which she promptly does, completely by accident, causing Farah’s daughter Yasmin to run into traffic and away from Simone.
The biggest surprise of the episode? The fact that Simone is hit by a big red bus and not Yasmin, like I was totally expecting to happen.
Navarro is a…?
We then end the episode on a bizarre plot twist. Apparently, there are missing data packets from Adam Morgan’s — Kate’s traitorous husband — file and Navarro suggests Jordan not bother looking into it.
Why? Because according to a phone conversation Navarro has with a mysterious male voice at the end of the episode, Navarro framed Adam. And it kind of seems like none of this has anything to do with Margot, right?
Bizarre ending. That could also mean we actually do have a mole this season. I think we need to reserve judgment on whether or not this was a good move until much later in the season and we find out Navarro’s true motive. Is it at least worth considering he might have been doing this with “good” intentions?
Other Odds and Ends
— Despite the fact that we’re in the middle of an international crisis, Mark takes a few minutes to stupidly act like a jealous husband, warning Jack to stay away from Audrey.
— Mark also is dealing with a Russian counterpart who demands to speak today so they can talk about the handover of Jack. That will not end well at all for the Chief of Staff.
24: Live Another Day airs Mondays at 9pm on FOX.
(Image courtesy of FOX)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
