24 6.8: "Day 6: 1PM - 2PM"

Written by Evan Katz and David Fury
Directed by Jon Cassar

In which Jack attempts to rescue Morris from Fayed before the terrorists can activate the remaining nuclear devices, while Tom is contacted by those displeased with President Palmer…

Status Report

The episode begins with the attempt to rescue Morris from McCarthy. This leads into a ten minute chase sequence that leaves Morris in the hands of a throw-away character trying to make a buck. As ludicrous as it sounds, it’s actually rather amusing. Morris looks supremely pissed that he’s been abducted by people working out of half-baked self-interest.

One gets the feeling that the writers made Morris intensely annoying at the beginning of the season so that he could be rendered more heroic at some point later in the season. After all, how likely was it that Morris would put up resistance when it counted, when he seemed so mercenary? It took a lot for him to give up the goods. Then again, when the time came, he seemed a bit too capable. If he wasn’t an expert on those systems, how could he simply program the device in a matter of minutes? And why wouldn’t he try to sabotage the device and buy time?

Just when it appeared that the drama at CTU would be over, Chloe is relieved for apparent lack of judgment and cooperation. Clearly none of these people remember working with Chloe before. When hasn’t she been annoyed with interference and questions about her judgment? And of course, it appears that Milo is unable to provide Jack with perfect tech support. Hasn’t everyone learned to trust Chloe by now? That’s two people CTU should always listen to: Jack Bauer and Chloe O’Brian.

With a little technobabble at the right time, Chloe gets Jack the right information. This, of course, is designed to give Fayed more than enough time to torture Morris. That was certainly creative use for a power drill! Did it ever occur to Fayed that Morris might need to use fine motor control to serve his purpose? It’s hard to believe that such a large drill bit would cause relatively minor damage, but there we are.

After his decision to forgo Tom’s plan for stringent changes to national security policy, Wayne seems rather clueless about the likely consequences. If he knew Tom so well from the campaign days, how could he miss the fact that Tom is a whiny pain in the ass. More to the point, he’s another figurehead for a conspiracy at the highest levels of government. After the Logan administration, wouldn’t some additional measures be put into place to prevent anything like that from happening again?

The problem, of course, is that it destroys the concept of a civil liberty/national security debate, which was one of the more intriguing elements of the premiere. At this point, forces are gathering to eliminate a president who stands in the way of massive changes to national security policy, including measures that would be illegal under nearly every circumstance. It would have been far better for the national security measures to be questioned on their own merits, rather than the methods of those supporting the measures.

This episode marks the return of Assad to the series, after a brief but palpable absence. The meeting between Wayne and Assad may not be as entertaining as the Assad/Jack partnership, but it still had its moments. Wayne makes his intentions very clear, and it helps to clarify Assad’s position. It brings more question to Assad’s endgame, which was somewhat hazy in the first place. This was one of the highlights of the episode.

The purpose of the episode, of course, was to get Jack in a room with an armed suitcase nuke. The rest of the episode was a means to that end, and unfortunately, it was relatively threadbare as a result. Was anyone under the impression that Jack would fail to disarm the bomb? The final act was left without a shred of tension as a result.

This had all the standard features of a “24” episode, but it simply wasn’t very satisfying. As the season marches on, a lot of the layers featured in the premiere are stripping away, and the loss of substance is alarmingly noticeable.

Final Analysis

Overall, this episode was another disappointment, largely because another intriguing layer of the story introduced in the season premiere was undermined. Equally troublesome, the entire episode led to a final act with little or no tension, despite a clear attempt towards escalation. While “24” has always required a willing suspension of disbelief and a modicum of patience, this season is beginning to feel cobbled together and scattershot.

Writing: 1/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 1/4

Final Rating: 6/10

(Season Average: 7.1)