24 4.8: "Day 4: 2PM - 3PM"
Written by Stephen Kronish, Peter Lenkov, and Matt Michnovetz
Directed by Ken Girotti
In which Jack and a changed Tony must work together to help Audrey identify someone working with the terrorists, while CTU deals with a recurring mole problem…
Status Report
This episode leaves little doubt that the fourth season has finally found its voice. The earlier pacing issues have been addressed to some degree, and while it’s still evident how the writers are trying to block out the storyline in easily digestible chunks, it works to the show’s advantage when the writers manage to make the scenes in-between as compelling as the overall arc. It’s also impressive to see the writing staff manage such a relatively tight episode, considering that this is when the scheduling began to fall apart, forcing the writers to work on the script as the episode was filming.
The opening scene drops the audience right in the middle of a modern nightmare: six nuclear power plants on the verge of meltdown in proximity of major cities, with death projections in the “low millions”, and that’s not even counting the subsequent increase in cancer and reproductive damage in the years to follow. The lack of a timetable tells the story: the need for a solution is immediate; usually, an event is given a few hours to percolate.
Within seconds, Jack is secretly informing Heller that there’s a mole at CTU. That puts the Secretary of Defense in the perfect position to flush that mole out, something that Jack obviously doesn’t trust Driscoll to do competently. Jack is obviously trying to find people he can trust, and the list is fairly short. Tony is one such person, but it’s clear that all is not well between the two men. Tony looks like a wreck, and it doesn’t take long for him to remind Jack that Michelle left him after Jack and David Palmer got him out of prison early.
This is an interesting director to take with Tony, because it defies expectations. The audience had every reason to expect Tony to still be in prison, given the end of last season, and seeing him in the civilian world again brought up some interesting questions. Had Tony returned to the world unscathed, it would have been unrealistic (even for this series). Thankfully, Tony fell into darker territory, which is hard to see but intriguing to watch.
The writers use short scenes with Keeler and Marwan to increase the tension. Keeler doesn’t hesitate to issue the evacuation orders, which would have been more of a problem for Palmer. Keeler also leaves out the fact that many will still be trapped in the meltdown zone, something that the writers would have milked to death with Palmer. So far, Keeler has been used more as a grace note to the plot, rather than the subject of yet another subplot, and that helps to keep the story from treading into unnecessary tangents. As far as Marwan goes, his scene with Navi sets the stage for Jack to confront him personally at same time in the future.
Meanwhile, Behrooz is forced to deal with his mother’s gunshot wound, and he eventually convinces her to visit an emergency room, despite the fact that there are obvious drawbacks. This presents an interesting twist for the audience, because it’s not hard to sympathize with Dina and Behrooz under the circumstances, even if they were (and could still be) dedicated to the downfall of the United States.
Back at CTU, Marianne continues to be the world’s most obvious mole, this time making phone calls in the middle of the restroom to her contact, Powell. Powell makes it very clear that Marianne needs to see after her own longevity, and it doesn’t take much to recognize that Marianne is not long for this world, even if she gets away. Moles who get noticed are not very useful, even if they get away. It’s also not hard to figure out that Sarah is going to be her decoy.
Heller gets his assistant Scott to come into CTU and plant false information about Jack’s whereabouts with Driscoll. Now, this is not a very hard trick to figure out; it’s rather obvious from the context what Heller has in mind, especially since the audience knows where Jack is. Yet the writers feel the need to beat the audience over the head, while Heller and Scott nod and wink at each other like idiots. If this is how the DOD conducts business in the real world, one of the problems with the intelligence community has just been revealed.
The trip to Tony’s house is one of the more cringe-inducing moments in the series, but this time, it’s a good thing. One can’t help but feel for Tony, considering how far he’s fallen. His “friend” Jen, while relatively cute, has one hell of an attitude, and it’s hinted that Tony doesn’t treat her very well at all. If that’s how Tony was treating Michelle, then it’s not at all hard to imagine why she left him. It’s also revealed that Michelle is a Deputy Director at Division, which makes a future appearance more than possible.
In short order, Heller and Scott believe that have identified the mole, and they go to Driscoll with the unfortunate news. Despite the fact that Heller did what needed to be done, Driscoll has some legitimate concerns. For all that the various agencies are supposed to interact and have clear protocols, in times of crisis, priorities begin to overlap. It’s far too easy for one agency to take inappropriate control of the resource of another. In the end, however, it’s hard to deny a Cabinet member when he makes up his mind, and in this case, Heller was well within his rights, especially since CTU protocols failed to detect the leak. Again.
Edgar, the resident computer hacking expert, quickly realizes that Sarah cannot be the mole. Marianne is not pleased by the fact that someone has noticed something flawed in her little improvisation. It doesn’t really matter, because in another demonstration of flighty management, Driscoll decides to make up for past lack of action by jumping right to the torture with Sarah. The scene plays out just long enough to make it very uncomfortable to watch, which is obviously the point. The fact that Driscoll quickly concludes that Sarah might be innocent is disturbing at best, since it suggests that Driscoll isn’t sure about her point of view (a matter of minutes is too short a time to make an assessment, even under the circumstances).
Having identified the man that Audrey recognized at the terrorist compound as Powell (Marianne’s contact), a computer consultant to the contractor that developed the override technology currently being exploited, and with the mole supposedly in custody, Jack feels more comfortable about letting Audrey out of his sight. So while he waits for Audrey’s ride to arrive, he sits down with Tony. Tony is not pleased over the idea.
In another display of Tony’s personal despair, he outlines in short order how little he wants to care about his old life or the world in general. He wants Jack to consider this payback for helping with the pardon, but it sounds a lot more like Tony wants to convince himself more than Jack. In other words, Tony protests just a bit too much when it comes to not caring, and Jack has little time for the pity parade.
Dina’s conversation with Behrooz at the hospital is rather telling. After convincing the audience to sympathize with Dina and her son, they remind the audience that Dina is concerned only for their safety, which means getting out of the country. This is significant because one would think that the police would be able to protect Dina and Behrooz from Navi. But Dina doesn’t want to reveal the truth to law enforcement. In some measure, she’s still loyal to the terrorist cause.
Sure enough, Jack is the only one in a position to stop Powell from leaving the area, and backup is too far away to arrive in time to help. This gives Tony the chance to jump on board, perhaps against his best instincts. The scene is constructed in a way that makes it seem like Tony won’t last the hour, let alone the day, so as long as Tony’s on screen, it’s going to be tense for his fans. It really feels like they’re setting up a heroic end for Tony.
Since the emergency room doctor isn’t a complete idiot, the police are called in to question Dina about her gunshot wound. This leads to a rather improbable escape from the emergency room (which any number of security measures could have prevented), which basically proves that Dina has no interest in anything other than saving her son. The trip to the hospital will give Navi a lead, and it also gives them some medical supplies, so it advances the plot somewhat. (Another odd moment: the cameraman can be seen in the car’s rearview mirror, just before Dina and Behrooz jump in!)
Once again saving the day (despite a truly annoying set of mannerisms), Edgar sets Curtis and then Driscoll on the right path. Marianne’s not so stupid as to think that she’s not exposed, so she decides to make a run for it. It seems foolish at first, especially when it looks like she’s going to attempt driving away. But then, when one of the agents attempts inserts the key, the car explodes. So either Marianne was stupid enough to think she’d get into her car and out of the parking lot, or she was aware of the bomb and wanted to kill herself before they could question her. The “stupid” option seems more likely, since Powell seemed to be very clear that Marianne was a disposable asset.
Speaking of Powell, Jack and Tony do a great job of preventing his escape, but as the seconds tick down, there’s too much time left for the audience to feel confident. Sure enough, just as Jack gets ready to celebrate, a shot rings out, and Powell goes down, shot through the heart. Considering the fact that Tony appeared to be the likely victim, there’s a momentary sigh of relief, at least until it becomes clear that the good guys just lost their one solid lead. Preventing a nuclear disaster is looking less and less likely.
Ever since Jack rescued Heller, the plot threads have kicked into high gear, and they haven’t let up one bit. This is essentially a transitional episode at heart, but between the situation at CTU and Tony’s personal issues, there’s never a chance for the audience to feel like things have slowed down. With the nuclear threat still waiting in the wings, it’s not like the story is going to suddenly lose momentum. If anything, the timing suggests that efforts to stop the meltdown will fail, at least partially, and the result will be the next phase of the season arc.
With the story about a third of the way done, the season has managed to bounce back from an early slow patch. There are still a number of CTU character threads that could detract from the overall quality of the story, but this episode is remarkably free of such problems. This is mostly about capitalizing on the best elements of the story thus far, and doing something about elements that weren’t working. In that regard, the writers continue to impress, especially since it’s well known that they are working without a net right now. There are a lot of series with a much more forgiving schedule producing much worse material this season.
Final Analysis
Overall, this episode continued the recent run of strong episodes, overcoming the usual issues that come with transitional episodes. The writers continue to challenge the expectations of the audience, especially when it comes to handling Dina/Behrooz and Tony’s new lifestyle. This episode also ends the “mole” plot thread, which should hopefully evolve into something less annoying.
Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4
Final Rating: 8/10
Season Average (as of 4.8): 7.7
Directed by Ken Girotti
In which Jack and a changed Tony must work together to help Audrey identify someone working with the terrorists, while CTU deals with a recurring mole problem…
Status Report
This episode leaves little doubt that the fourth season has finally found its voice. The earlier pacing issues have been addressed to some degree, and while it’s still evident how the writers are trying to block out the storyline in easily digestible chunks, it works to the show’s advantage when the writers manage to make the scenes in-between as compelling as the overall arc. It’s also impressive to see the writing staff manage such a relatively tight episode, considering that this is when the scheduling began to fall apart, forcing the writers to work on the script as the episode was filming.
The opening scene drops the audience right in the middle of a modern nightmare: six nuclear power plants on the verge of meltdown in proximity of major cities, with death projections in the “low millions”, and that’s not even counting the subsequent increase in cancer and reproductive damage in the years to follow. The lack of a timetable tells the story: the need for a solution is immediate; usually, an event is given a few hours to percolate.
Within seconds, Jack is secretly informing Heller that there’s a mole at CTU. That puts the Secretary of Defense in the perfect position to flush that mole out, something that Jack obviously doesn’t trust Driscoll to do competently. Jack is obviously trying to find people he can trust, and the list is fairly short. Tony is one such person, but it’s clear that all is not well between the two men. Tony looks like a wreck, and it doesn’t take long for him to remind Jack that Michelle left him after Jack and David Palmer got him out of prison early.
This is an interesting director to take with Tony, because it defies expectations. The audience had every reason to expect Tony to still be in prison, given the end of last season, and seeing him in the civilian world again brought up some interesting questions. Had Tony returned to the world unscathed, it would have been unrealistic (even for this series). Thankfully, Tony fell into darker territory, which is hard to see but intriguing to watch.
The writers use short scenes with Keeler and Marwan to increase the tension. Keeler doesn’t hesitate to issue the evacuation orders, which would have been more of a problem for Palmer. Keeler also leaves out the fact that many will still be trapped in the meltdown zone, something that the writers would have milked to death with Palmer. So far, Keeler has been used more as a grace note to the plot, rather than the subject of yet another subplot, and that helps to keep the story from treading into unnecessary tangents. As far as Marwan goes, his scene with Navi sets the stage for Jack to confront him personally at same time in the future.
Meanwhile, Behrooz is forced to deal with his mother’s gunshot wound, and he eventually convinces her to visit an emergency room, despite the fact that there are obvious drawbacks. This presents an interesting twist for the audience, because it’s not hard to sympathize with Dina and Behrooz under the circumstances, even if they were (and could still be) dedicated to the downfall of the United States.
Back at CTU, Marianne continues to be the world’s most obvious mole, this time making phone calls in the middle of the restroom to her contact, Powell. Powell makes it very clear that Marianne needs to see after her own longevity, and it doesn’t take much to recognize that Marianne is not long for this world, even if she gets away. Moles who get noticed are not very useful, even if they get away. It’s also not hard to figure out that Sarah is going to be her decoy.
Heller gets his assistant Scott to come into CTU and plant false information about Jack’s whereabouts with Driscoll. Now, this is not a very hard trick to figure out; it’s rather obvious from the context what Heller has in mind, especially since the audience knows where Jack is. Yet the writers feel the need to beat the audience over the head, while Heller and Scott nod and wink at each other like idiots. If this is how the DOD conducts business in the real world, one of the problems with the intelligence community has just been revealed.
The trip to Tony’s house is one of the more cringe-inducing moments in the series, but this time, it’s a good thing. One can’t help but feel for Tony, considering how far he’s fallen. His “friend” Jen, while relatively cute, has one hell of an attitude, and it’s hinted that Tony doesn’t treat her very well at all. If that’s how Tony was treating Michelle, then it’s not at all hard to imagine why she left him. It’s also revealed that Michelle is a Deputy Director at Division, which makes a future appearance more than possible.
In short order, Heller and Scott believe that have identified the mole, and they go to Driscoll with the unfortunate news. Despite the fact that Heller did what needed to be done, Driscoll has some legitimate concerns. For all that the various agencies are supposed to interact and have clear protocols, in times of crisis, priorities begin to overlap. It’s far too easy for one agency to take inappropriate control of the resource of another. In the end, however, it’s hard to deny a Cabinet member when he makes up his mind, and in this case, Heller was well within his rights, especially since CTU protocols failed to detect the leak. Again.
Edgar, the resident computer hacking expert, quickly realizes that Sarah cannot be the mole. Marianne is not pleased by the fact that someone has noticed something flawed in her little improvisation. It doesn’t really matter, because in another demonstration of flighty management, Driscoll decides to make up for past lack of action by jumping right to the torture with Sarah. The scene plays out just long enough to make it very uncomfortable to watch, which is obviously the point. The fact that Driscoll quickly concludes that Sarah might be innocent is disturbing at best, since it suggests that Driscoll isn’t sure about her point of view (a matter of minutes is too short a time to make an assessment, even under the circumstances).
Having identified the man that Audrey recognized at the terrorist compound as Powell (Marianne’s contact), a computer consultant to the contractor that developed the override technology currently being exploited, and with the mole supposedly in custody, Jack feels more comfortable about letting Audrey out of his sight. So while he waits for Audrey’s ride to arrive, he sits down with Tony. Tony is not pleased over the idea.
In another display of Tony’s personal despair, he outlines in short order how little he wants to care about his old life or the world in general. He wants Jack to consider this payback for helping with the pardon, but it sounds a lot more like Tony wants to convince himself more than Jack. In other words, Tony protests just a bit too much when it comes to not caring, and Jack has little time for the pity parade.
Dina’s conversation with Behrooz at the hospital is rather telling. After convincing the audience to sympathize with Dina and her son, they remind the audience that Dina is concerned only for their safety, which means getting out of the country. This is significant because one would think that the police would be able to protect Dina and Behrooz from Navi. But Dina doesn’t want to reveal the truth to law enforcement. In some measure, she’s still loyal to the terrorist cause.
Sure enough, Jack is the only one in a position to stop Powell from leaving the area, and backup is too far away to arrive in time to help. This gives Tony the chance to jump on board, perhaps against his best instincts. The scene is constructed in a way that makes it seem like Tony won’t last the hour, let alone the day, so as long as Tony’s on screen, it’s going to be tense for his fans. It really feels like they’re setting up a heroic end for Tony.
Since the emergency room doctor isn’t a complete idiot, the police are called in to question Dina about her gunshot wound. This leads to a rather improbable escape from the emergency room (which any number of security measures could have prevented), which basically proves that Dina has no interest in anything other than saving her son. The trip to the hospital will give Navi a lead, and it also gives them some medical supplies, so it advances the plot somewhat. (Another odd moment: the cameraman can be seen in the car’s rearview mirror, just before Dina and Behrooz jump in!)
Once again saving the day (despite a truly annoying set of mannerisms), Edgar sets Curtis and then Driscoll on the right path. Marianne’s not so stupid as to think that she’s not exposed, so she decides to make a run for it. It seems foolish at first, especially when it looks like she’s going to attempt driving away. But then, when one of the agents attempts inserts the key, the car explodes. So either Marianne was stupid enough to think she’d get into her car and out of the parking lot, or she was aware of the bomb and wanted to kill herself before they could question her. The “stupid” option seems more likely, since Powell seemed to be very clear that Marianne was a disposable asset.
Speaking of Powell, Jack and Tony do a great job of preventing his escape, but as the seconds tick down, there’s too much time left for the audience to feel confident. Sure enough, just as Jack gets ready to celebrate, a shot rings out, and Powell goes down, shot through the heart. Considering the fact that Tony appeared to be the likely victim, there’s a momentary sigh of relief, at least until it becomes clear that the good guys just lost their one solid lead. Preventing a nuclear disaster is looking less and less likely.
Ever since Jack rescued Heller, the plot threads have kicked into high gear, and they haven’t let up one bit. This is essentially a transitional episode at heart, but between the situation at CTU and Tony’s personal issues, there’s never a chance for the audience to feel like things have slowed down. With the nuclear threat still waiting in the wings, it’s not like the story is going to suddenly lose momentum. If anything, the timing suggests that efforts to stop the meltdown will fail, at least partially, and the result will be the next phase of the season arc.
With the story about a third of the way done, the season has managed to bounce back from an early slow patch. There are still a number of CTU character threads that could detract from the overall quality of the story, but this episode is remarkably free of such problems. This is mostly about capitalizing on the best elements of the story thus far, and doing something about elements that weren’t working. In that regard, the writers continue to impress, especially since it’s well known that they are working without a net right now. There are a lot of series with a much more forgiving schedule producing much worse material this season.
Final Analysis
Overall, this episode continued the recent run of strong episodes, overcoming the usual issues that come with transitional episodes. The writers continue to challenge the expectations of the audience, especially when it comes to handling Dina/Behrooz and Tony’s new lifestyle. This episode also ends the “mole” plot thread, which should hopefully evolve into something less annoying.
Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4
Final Rating: 8/10
Season Average (as of 4.8): 7.7
posted by John Keegan | 15:46
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