24 6.19: "Day 6: 12AM - 1AM"

Written by Joel Surnow and Michael Loceff
Directed by Brad Turner

In which Jack goes rogue to save Audrey from his former Chinese captors, while the fallout of the terrorist attacks falls squarely on the shoulders of an unexpected CTU agent…

Status Report

The previous episode left Jack on his own, operating as a rogue, with Vice President Daniels firmly in charge of the nation following President Palmer’s collapse. Unfortunately, the episode was also another episode with a number of fundamental weaknesses. Many hopeful fans were willing to set aside the flaws in hopes that the season would manage to come together in the end. With only five episodes left, the damage is done, but can the season go out with some measure of dignity?

Once again, Mike Doyle appears to be more like the old Jack than Jack has in the recent past, but this time, Jack is closer than ever to his normal modus operandi. Jack is often at his best when working his own angle on a situation, and though his goals might be all too personal, he’s still thinking outside the box. It’s a good test of Doyle’s abilities.

Jack uses the CTU manhunt as a pretext for taking control of the situation with Cheng and Audrey. It’s hard to believe that Cheng would allow Jack that much latitude under the circumstances, but very little about this plot twist has made sense. Why this situation wasn’t used to expose the deal between the Chinese and the Palmer administration is hard to reconcile.

Daniels wastes little time to call out Tom for what he knows and what he might do with that information, and Tom appears to back down. Daniels also seems to be happy with his ability to spend more time with his treacherous aide. Meanwhile, the information that Tom and Reed had hanging over Karen’s neck comes out, just in time to cause trouble for Bill at a particularly bad time. It’s not quite logical for Bill to become a scapegoat, but then, how would Karen be placed in a personal moral quandary? And how would enough time be wasted to ensure that Jack’s confrontation with Cheng doesn’t happen until the end of the hour?

Karen’s decision to speak with Tom is an interesting twist. For all of Tom’s soul-searching earlier in the season, he snaps right back into listening to the lesser angels of his nature. His advice to Karen still doesn’t quite explain her inability to speak to Bill without starting with the implications for her career first and their marriage second. One might have hoped for a better end to Bill Buchanan’s career at CTU; hopefully this is not the end for the character.

With a possible national security crisis erupting, the drama at CTU jumps up a notch, with Morris back to his previous obnoxious self. At least it’s a chance for Chloe to show some spunk again, even if she still ends up apologizing for it. This coincides with the transfer of command over CTU to Nadia, who has yet to display enough of a personality to make the circumstances meaningful.

Cheng lets Jack spend far too much time with Audrey, considering the fact that he held full advantage at the top of the hour. Nadia’s supposed indecision forced Doyle to do something decidedly Jack-like. Somehow Cheng and his people make short work of the CTU assault teams (something that defies logic completely) and he gets the circuit board in the process.

It seems rather odd that Jack would be shocked at Audrey’s state of mind. He was held in Cheng’s facilities for quite a bit longer than Audrey, and he was psychological damaged himself. Perhaps the idea is that Jack’s gradual recognition of what happened to Audrey will help him purge the remnants of his own doubt, but as spotty as Jack’s restoration has been this season, that’s not likely to happen.

Final Analysis

Overall, this episode is an incremental improvement over the previous installment, but there are still some fundamental issues that refuse to go away. In particular, it feels as though certain elements were contrived to fill time, and considering the end effect on one character, that’s unfortunate. It still feels like the season is somewhat aimless, but at least the writers are keeping things interesting.

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

Final Rating: 7/10

(Season Average: 6.8)