24 4.16: "Day 4: 10PM - 11PM"
Written by Howard Gordon, Evan Katz, and Robert Cochran
Directed by Bryan Spicer
In which Jack leads a team in an assault of Marwan’s headquarters, only to discover that the terrorist’s plan is only moments away from fruition…
Status Report
The producers of “24” made a rather pompous claim coming into this episode: this would be the most explosive and unexpected plot twist in the history of the series. Perhaps they should have told the writers what they were expecting. While the plot twist was arguably explosive, especially in literal terms, it certainly wasn’t unexpected. In fact, many fans anticipated this plot twist immediately upon the introduction of Anderson and his Air Force uniform.
Blaming the producers may not be fair, however. They don’t create the promos and they have no authority over the scheduling. So when FOX decided that the episode was rather important to the overall plot and that the NCAA Men’s Basketball title game might cut into ratings, they made a simple decision: rerun the episode a couple of times to ensure that the audience doesn’t get angry about missing a pivotal moment. But rather than come out with the truth, they had to invent a reason for rerunning the episode so damn much. Hence, the claim that it’s the best episode ever made.
Which, of course, it’s not.
The best part of the episode, the “plot twist” that actually involving no twist whatsoever, doesn’t even take place until the final moments. Even then, the writers take what should be a major moment, crushing to the audience, and render it rather sterile by failing to give that audience a reason to care. Sure, this is the depiction of the assassination of a President, and in strict terms, that’s rather provocative. But this particular President is not the one that the core audience learned to love over the past three seasons. Keeler wasn’t even in five minutes worth of screen time before this episode, and that makes it hard to invest emotionally in his passing.
That is a harsh condemnation, because the assassination of a President, however fictional, should not be so easily dismissed. And yet, this one had been a possibility for so long that the culmination of the plot thread doesn’t have much bite. Had this been President Palmer, it would have been far more meaningful. It would have been even more traumatic if the whole thing hadn’t been telegraphed to death. The only thing remotely remarkable about the whole thing, at this point, is the fact that the writers actually let the terrorists win.
For all that this is about the failure of CTU to stop the assassination of the President, a lot of time is wasted on personal matters. Jack calls Audrey while preparing on the raid of Marwan’s HQ, reminding her that they should discuss how he tortured her estranged husband. It certainly doesn’t help that Paul is now in serious condition from taking a bullet for Jack. Nor does it seem to matter to Audrey that Jack is dealing with a rather important situation. (Will the death of the President force her to recognize that Jack was justified in his actions?)
Nicole, the femme fatale that seduced and killed the pilot whose identity Anderson stole to fulfill his mission, ends up ransacking Anderson’s flat for a hard drive that happens to contain mission-sensitive information. Funny how that just shows up as a plot point out of nowhere! While Marwan tries to take care of this massive oversight, he notices that his HQ has been marked by Jack. Knowing that this is a sign of impending discovery, Marwan prepares to get out before the doors come crashing in.
The assault on Marwan’s HQ is a nice enough set piece, though it pales in comparison to the assault on the compound where Heller was held earlier in the season. It was a given that the one dying terrorists would simply taunt Jack with his knowledge of the Secret Terrorist Mission. Here is where the writers get the plotting wrong. Had they been thinking clearly, the downing of Air Force One would have taken place no later than the second act. Why? Because then it would have been a bit less predictable, for one.
As the action ends at Marwan’s HQ, the drama rears its ugly head at CTU once again. It begins with the news that Paul might be paralyzed. Audrey is, of course, intensely distraught. Apparently Jack’s near constant death-defying acts don’t count. Far worse is the incredibly forced and unnecessary romantic relationship between Michelle and Buchanan. Just when it looked like Michelle might be portrayed with some degree of strength, using resources with relative effectiveness, it turns out that her Division colleague is also her lover and former boss. The writers are apparently trying to take Michelle down a peg compared to Tony, so she can’t stand on the moral high ground. All it does is add another silly distraction, once again underscoring the concept that CTU is undermined by the lack of professionalism rampant in the organization.
Instead of just getting to the damn point and dealing with the aftermath, the writers linger over CTU’s last minute investigation. For some odd reason, information about Anderson is just sitting around Marwan’s HQ, and the terrorist did a horrible job of destroying any trace of their operation on the way out. (And yet, the computers were being wiped clean!) The FBI sends an agent to Anderson’s place, where Nicole is conveniently waiting to kill her and take her place. All of which the audience, unfortunately, is able to predict from scene to scene.
On Air Force One, the writers make one last effort to make the audience give a damn about Keeler. The scene between the President and his son is incredibly forced, to the point of absurdity, and it brings the pace of the episode to an absolute crawl. The writers were going for idealistic; they slipped into sappy and clichéd.
While Anderson displays an amazing degree of stupidity (thinking that Marwan will bother to honor an agreement to help him get away), Chloe awkwardly takes a moment (in the middle of a major crisis) to tell Edgar that his mother’s body may never be recovered. Chloe may be insensitive, but she has a lot better timing than that. It’s all about contriving a way for the two to reconcile on some level when Chloe takes the wrap for Edgar’s mistakes, as if to make up for the idiotic spat they had in the previous episode. (Speaking of, whatever happened to those hourly logs that were so important?)
Not to be outdone, Tony also decides that this crisis is the best time to discuss his jealousy with Michelle. Granted, most guys would take one look at Buchanan and Michelle and wonder where things went horribly, horribly wrong. And he’s got to wonder, like most people, if Michelle just has a thing for men in position of authority over her. Sure, that adds a certain kinky side to Michelle that could explain her penchant for corset-esque tops, but it doesn’t say much for her professionalism.
When Jack’s fellow agent is killed by Nicole after finding the hard drive, there are three possibilities: Nicole will get away, Jack will kill Nicole and destroy the hard drive in the process, or Jack will kill Nicole and go on with his business. It turns out to be choice #3. It takes seconds for Jack to access the files and uncover Anderson’s plan. It takes a bit longer for Michelle and Tony to figure out what the audience knew several episodes ago.
Thus begins ten minutes of scrambling, all of which amount to filler while the seconds tick away. To their credit, the writers tease the audience with the notion that Jack will actually get through to Anderson, because in seasons past, that might have worked. This time, however, the stakes are higher. By the time Keeler is hugging his son and charging the Vice President with the future of the nation, even the audience is begging Anderson to get it over with.
One might be struck by the immediate suspicion that the Vice President, for all his panic, was actually involved in the whole conspiracy. That would certainly fit the pattern of the earlier seasons, where apparent foreign terrorists were funded and aided by American interests. One is also struck by the fact that the stealth fighter managed to fire only one missile, and only managed an indirect hit. Were the writers leaving themselves some wiggle room?
That’s unlikely, but it points to the problem that “24” is currently experiencing. The writing staff has fallen into the same trap that Tom Clancy found himself in around the time of “Executive Orders”: after the stakes are escalated to a certain point, it comes down to diminishing returns. Soon, what once was profound is mundane. Killing the President in this episode is easy to shrug away, and frankly, it shouldn’t be. The writers had the job of making sure the audience cared enough to want Keeler to survive, especially after his actions in the previous season. They failed, and as a result, something that should have been a moment of horror became a moment of apathy.
Final Analysis
Overall, this episode was not quite the unexpected plot twist that the audience was promised. While it was remarkable for the writers to deliver on what had been foreshadowed, the road getting there wasn’t nearly as exciting as the promos seemed to say it would be. There was more of the CTU Drama madness, which needs to be shelved as soon as possible, and some plot elements were dropped without explanation. But admittedly, the end does deliver, promising some interesting moments in the episodes to come.
Writing: 1/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4
Final Rating: 6/10
Season Average (as of 4.16): 6.7
Directed by Bryan Spicer
In which Jack leads a team in an assault of Marwan’s headquarters, only to discover that the terrorist’s plan is only moments away from fruition…
Status Report
The producers of “24” made a rather pompous claim coming into this episode: this would be the most explosive and unexpected plot twist in the history of the series. Perhaps they should have told the writers what they were expecting. While the plot twist was arguably explosive, especially in literal terms, it certainly wasn’t unexpected. In fact, many fans anticipated this plot twist immediately upon the introduction of Anderson and his Air Force uniform.
Blaming the producers may not be fair, however. They don’t create the promos and they have no authority over the scheduling. So when FOX decided that the episode was rather important to the overall plot and that the NCAA Men’s Basketball title game might cut into ratings, they made a simple decision: rerun the episode a couple of times to ensure that the audience doesn’t get angry about missing a pivotal moment. But rather than come out with the truth, they had to invent a reason for rerunning the episode so damn much. Hence, the claim that it’s the best episode ever made.
Which, of course, it’s not.
The best part of the episode, the “plot twist” that actually involving no twist whatsoever, doesn’t even take place until the final moments. Even then, the writers take what should be a major moment, crushing to the audience, and render it rather sterile by failing to give that audience a reason to care. Sure, this is the depiction of the assassination of a President, and in strict terms, that’s rather provocative. But this particular President is not the one that the core audience learned to love over the past three seasons. Keeler wasn’t even in five minutes worth of screen time before this episode, and that makes it hard to invest emotionally in his passing.
That is a harsh condemnation, because the assassination of a President, however fictional, should not be so easily dismissed. And yet, this one had been a possibility for so long that the culmination of the plot thread doesn’t have much bite. Had this been President Palmer, it would have been far more meaningful. It would have been even more traumatic if the whole thing hadn’t been telegraphed to death. The only thing remotely remarkable about the whole thing, at this point, is the fact that the writers actually let the terrorists win.
For all that this is about the failure of CTU to stop the assassination of the President, a lot of time is wasted on personal matters. Jack calls Audrey while preparing on the raid of Marwan’s HQ, reminding her that they should discuss how he tortured her estranged husband. It certainly doesn’t help that Paul is now in serious condition from taking a bullet for Jack. Nor does it seem to matter to Audrey that Jack is dealing with a rather important situation. (Will the death of the President force her to recognize that Jack was justified in his actions?)
Nicole, the femme fatale that seduced and killed the pilot whose identity Anderson stole to fulfill his mission, ends up ransacking Anderson’s flat for a hard drive that happens to contain mission-sensitive information. Funny how that just shows up as a plot point out of nowhere! While Marwan tries to take care of this massive oversight, he notices that his HQ has been marked by Jack. Knowing that this is a sign of impending discovery, Marwan prepares to get out before the doors come crashing in.
The assault on Marwan’s HQ is a nice enough set piece, though it pales in comparison to the assault on the compound where Heller was held earlier in the season. It was a given that the one dying terrorists would simply taunt Jack with his knowledge of the Secret Terrorist Mission. Here is where the writers get the plotting wrong. Had they been thinking clearly, the downing of Air Force One would have taken place no later than the second act. Why? Because then it would have been a bit less predictable, for one.
As the action ends at Marwan’s HQ, the drama rears its ugly head at CTU once again. It begins with the news that Paul might be paralyzed. Audrey is, of course, intensely distraught. Apparently Jack’s near constant death-defying acts don’t count. Far worse is the incredibly forced and unnecessary romantic relationship between Michelle and Buchanan. Just when it looked like Michelle might be portrayed with some degree of strength, using resources with relative effectiveness, it turns out that her Division colleague is also her lover and former boss. The writers are apparently trying to take Michelle down a peg compared to Tony, so she can’t stand on the moral high ground. All it does is add another silly distraction, once again underscoring the concept that CTU is undermined by the lack of professionalism rampant in the organization.
Instead of just getting to the damn point and dealing with the aftermath, the writers linger over CTU’s last minute investigation. For some odd reason, information about Anderson is just sitting around Marwan’s HQ, and the terrorist did a horrible job of destroying any trace of their operation on the way out. (And yet, the computers were being wiped clean!) The FBI sends an agent to Anderson’s place, where Nicole is conveniently waiting to kill her and take her place. All of which the audience, unfortunately, is able to predict from scene to scene.
On Air Force One, the writers make one last effort to make the audience give a damn about Keeler. The scene between the President and his son is incredibly forced, to the point of absurdity, and it brings the pace of the episode to an absolute crawl. The writers were going for idealistic; they slipped into sappy and clichéd.
While Anderson displays an amazing degree of stupidity (thinking that Marwan will bother to honor an agreement to help him get away), Chloe awkwardly takes a moment (in the middle of a major crisis) to tell Edgar that his mother’s body may never be recovered. Chloe may be insensitive, but she has a lot better timing than that. It’s all about contriving a way for the two to reconcile on some level when Chloe takes the wrap for Edgar’s mistakes, as if to make up for the idiotic spat they had in the previous episode. (Speaking of, whatever happened to those hourly logs that were so important?)
Not to be outdone, Tony also decides that this crisis is the best time to discuss his jealousy with Michelle. Granted, most guys would take one look at Buchanan and Michelle and wonder where things went horribly, horribly wrong. And he’s got to wonder, like most people, if Michelle just has a thing for men in position of authority over her. Sure, that adds a certain kinky side to Michelle that could explain her penchant for corset-esque tops, but it doesn’t say much for her professionalism.
When Jack’s fellow agent is killed by Nicole after finding the hard drive, there are three possibilities: Nicole will get away, Jack will kill Nicole and destroy the hard drive in the process, or Jack will kill Nicole and go on with his business. It turns out to be choice #3. It takes seconds for Jack to access the files and uncover Anderson’s plan. It takes a bit longer for Michelle and Tony to figure out what the audience knew several episodes ago.
Thus begins ten minutes of scrambling, all of which amount to filler while the seconds tick away. To their credit, the writers tease the audience with the notion that Jack will actually get through to Anderson, because in seasons past, that might have worked. This time, however, the stakes are higher. By the time Keeler is hugging his son and charging the Vice President with the future of the nation, even the audience is begging Anderson to get it over with.
One might be struck by the immediate suspicion that the Vice President, for all his panic, was actually involved in the whole conspiracy. That would certainly fit the pattern of the earlier seasons, where apparent foreign terrorists were funded and aided by American interests. One is also struck by the fact that the stealth fighter managed to fire only one missile, and only managed an indirect hit. Were the writers leaving themselves some wiggle room?
That’s unlikely, but it points to the problem that “24” is currently experiencing. The writing staff has fallen into the same trap that Tom Clancy found himself in around the time of “Executive Orders”: after the stakes are escalated to a certain point, it comes down to diminishing returns. Soon, what once was profound is mundane. Killing the President in this episode is easy to shrug away, and frankly, it shouldn’t be. The writers had the job of making sure the audience cared enough to want Keeler to survive, especially after his actions in the previous season. They failed, and as a result, something that should have been a moment of horror became a moment of apathy.
Final Analysis
Overall, this episode was not quite the unexpected plot twist that the audience was promised. While it was remarkable for the writers to deliver on what had been foreshadowed, the road getting there wasn’t nearly as exciting as the promos seemed to say it would be. There was more of the CTU Drama madness, which needs to be shelved as soon as possible, and some plot elements were dropped without explanation. But admittedly, the end does deliver, promising some interesting moments in the episodes to come.
Writing: 1/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4
Final Rating: 6/10
Season Average (as of 4.16): 6.7
posted by John Keegan | 17:17
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