Throughout nine seasons of 24, Jack Bauer has faced many foes. He’s defeated terrorists from virtually every country in the world and taken down about a hundred government moles. But there’s one bad guy who stands head and shoulders above all others, one villain who has hurt Jack Bauer more than anyone else. And this week, he’s back!
Adrian’s Mission
Instead of hiding his evil from Chloe, Adrian comes right out and tells her his plans. He tells her about getting classified info from Navarro and selling it to the Chinese to fund Open Cell and that he’s taking back the override device (which he designed) so he can expose all of the firewalls in every country’s weapons systems to make them all useless. By invoking the names of Chloe’s dead husband and son, she goes along with it. Well, it looks like she does, but we all know Chloe isn’t evil.
Jack Gets Navarro
Navarro is on the run from Jack, but he makes his way to the subway station to retrieve his exit package. He drops off the override device, but then Adrian double-crosses him, taking the device and abandoning Navarro. Jack catches up to him and arrests Navarro, but the device is gone. Jack, always able to make his way to the right place at the right time, sees Adrian and Chloe riding off in the subway.
Interrogation Time
Back at the CIA station, the tech quickly discovers the truth about Navarro framing Kate’s husband for selling secrets to the Chinese. Kate is, of course, not happy, since her husband went to prison and killed himself after a month.
Navarro is brought back and it’s time for Jack to interrogate him. By now, we all know the drill. Jack asks for the override device, Navarro asks for full immunity, Jack says “No” and smashes Navarro’s hand, guards come in to subdue Jack, Navarro is taken to medical and Ritter, now in charge, agrees to the full immunity deal. The show should just skip over these scenes, because they always play out the same way.
What’s less expected is the secondary interrogation. Kate storms into the medical room and pulls a gun on Navarro, threatening to kill him for what he did to her husband. She’s very unstable and Jack shows up to point his gun at her, threatening to shoot her if she tries to kill Navarro. It’s just like when he killed Curtis back in season 6.
Navarro pleads for his life, claiming he put a tracker on the device. Kate doesn’t believe him and is about to pull the trigger when Navarro shouts the tracker code. As soon as he does, Kate calmly puts her gun down. The whole thing was a set-up, with Kate and Jack working together. And now that they have the information, there’s no need for an immunity deal and Navarro is gonna fry.
A Russian Mess
Mark continues to be blackmailed by the big, scary Russian for forging the president’s signature. He agrees to give the Russians a way to trace Jack’s secure line, possibly because he’s jealous that Audrey might still have feelings for Jack. However, Mark soon realizes that the Russians are going to try and take Jack while he’s leading the operation to retrieve the override device.
He tries to stop them, but it’s too late. En route to the device, Jack and Kate get rammed by a truck and are engaged in a firefight with the Russians.
Cheng Is Back!
Good News: Chloe hasn’t actually turned to the dark side and, instead, tries to steal the override device because she recognizes how crazy Adrian’s plan is.
Bad News: She fails to escape and is becomes Adrian’s hostage.
Worse News: When Adrian and Chloe get back to the new Open Cell HQ, all of their friends are dead.
Worst News: The killer is none other than Cheng! In case you forgot, Chloe does a great job of giving exposition about how Cheng, the Chinese Consulate’s head of security first introduced in season 4, kidnapped and tortured Jack for more than a year between seasons 5 and 6 and then did the same thing to Audrey, which is what made her go crazy and is the whole reason Jack agreed to leave her alone.
He funded the creation of the device, but since Yates modified it, Cheng needs it restored. Adrian can’t do it, but Chloe can. As motivation, Cheng shoots Adrian in the leg. Chloe tries to sabotage it, but Cheng is too smart and only needed her to get in. Adrian confesses that Chloe’s husband and son died in an accident, not some conspiracy aimed at her which was her primary motivation for joining Open Cell.
Cheng realizes he has no more use for Adrian and shoots him in the head. Chloe, for some reason, is kept alive to see what Cheng has in store. Cheng uses the device to break into U.S. Naval Command and orders a nuclear sub to fire on a Chinese carrier. The order goes out and they do. The episode ends with the Chinese carrier being destroyed, which I assume will start World War III.
It’s nice to see that 24: Live Another Day is hitting the trifecta of terrorists in its final hours, with Muslims, Russians and now the Chinese. With only two hours left, I have to assume that the return of Cheng is going to cause some serious drama for both Jack and Audrey.
(Image courtesy of FOX)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.
