WRITER: Robert Cochran DIRECTOR: Brad Turner
CAST: Kiefer Sutherland (Jack Bauer), Mary Lynn Rajskub (Chloe O'Brian), D.B Woodside (President Wayne Palmer), James Morrison (Bill Buchanan), Peter MacNicol (Thomas Lennox), Jayne Atkinson (Karen Hayes), Carlo Rota (Morris O'Brian), Eric Balfour (Milo Pressman), Marisol Nichols (Nadia Yassir), Regina King (Sandra Palmer), Megan Gallagher (Gillian Wallace), Harry Lennix (Walid) & Michael Angarano (Scott Wallace)
CTU believe Fayed has orchestrated the escape of terrorist Husan Numair so he can construct a "suitcase nuke". Meanwhile, Gillian goes against her husband's wishes and contacts the police...This is why we watch 24. The show may tread water occassionally, sometimes gets tangled in its own narrative, usually runs out of steam before getting a "second wind" mid-season, but the hit rate is always far higher than the misses... and episode 4 hits bigger than most.
CTU now suspects Fayed's demands to release 100 terrorists was just a smokescreen to spring bomb-maker Husan Numair from captivity. Numair quickly escapes to meet Fayed in a Valencia warehouse, where manipulated Scott Wallace has unwittingly delivered a vital component to make a suitcase nuke.
The pace and tension skyrockets in this episode, helped enormously by the pulling together of plot strands. The opening four episodes are being released as a DVD to curb internet piracy, so this is effectively a "mini-finale" designed to get you hooked into season 6. As such, it's the tastiest bait 24 has produced for awhile and I'm only too glad to bite.
Gillian Wallace (Megan Gallagher) contacts the authorities, which is always the best decision for people in the world of 24, and Jack is soon heading up a tactical team to end her family's hostage crisis. The prickly tension between Curtis and Assad also escalates, somewhat forcefully, leading to a predictable clash between the pair.
The Sandra Palmer subplot, about her principles in allowing government authorities access to personal client information, is a neat comment on real-world discussions about civil liberties, but little else. The outcome of her colleague Walid's detainment is to overhear terrorists discussing their plans for the day, so the argument in the minds of 24's writers is clearly that the breach of civil liberties are warranted. Harry Lennix is doing solid work as Walid, despite not being given much to do so far, but still a restrained and watchable presence.
Of course, it's the double-whammy climax that proves most memorable. I'm not one for revealing spoilers, even after an episode has aired in my native land (so you'll have to wait till next week for my thoughts on the stunning closing moment), but rest assured this episode ends on a nihilistic note. Remember Edgar's death? Or Chappelle's assassination? You ain't seen nothing yet...
24 may quickly settle into tried-and-trusted scenarios, with a few tweaks (after 124 hours it's understandable), but season 6 is off to a strong start and this episode will have to picking your jaw up off the floor and covered in goosebumps for a few hours afterwards...
