Spoilers. 24 races to its halfway point with a double-bill that plays like an action movie from the '80s; Die Hard with the Nakatomi Plaza replaced by the White House, and Alan Rickman by Tony Todd. Awesome fun that grips from beginning to end, albeit slightly ridiculous on reflection...Jack (Kiefer Sutherland) is acting on intel from Tony (Carlos Bernard) that General Juma (Todd) is planning another devastating attack on Washington D.C, but details are scarce. All he knows is that government worker Ryan Burnett (Eyal Podell) has answers about where Juma intends to strike but is unfortunately inside the White House with Senator Mayer (Kurtwood Smith) meaning Jack has to infiltrate the premises and interrogate Burnett without anyone knowing. To be honest, this part of the story didn't make much sense to me, because I wasn't sure why Jack and Tony couldn't go direct to the President with their concerns.
At the FBI, Jack has told Chloe (Mary Lynn Rajskub) to delete Burnett's name from Dubaku's digital list of traitors, to give Jack a chance at finding him first, but her deception is noticed by Janis (Janeane Garofalo), who alerts Larry (Jeffrey Nordling) to what's going on. Meanwhile, Jack manages to find Burnett and tortures him with a tazer gun, but Larry raises the alarm at the White House and Jack is taken into custody, seconds before Burnett was about to give him the target of Juma's attack. Jack's rogue actions cause more tension between President Taylor (Cherry Jones) and visiting Senator Mayer, who still persists that Jack is a dangerous thug and makes it clear he'll fight the President's intention to exonerate Jack of his perceived crimes because of his assistance in stopping Dubaku and rescuing her husband.
Day 7 only has one intelligent argument to hand (does the outcome justify the means, when it comes to Jack's brand of no-holds-barred investigating), and it's something the season is in danger of pummeling into paste because it's debated so often. But, admittedly, it was still great fun seeing the moral grey areas argued by a larger circle: Senator Mayer (a biased pen-pusher who's spent years trying to hang Jack out to dry), Jack himself (who believes desperate times call for desperate measures), President Taylor (who has first-hand experience that Jack's tactics get results, even is she's disagreed with them in the past), and her Chief of Staff Ethan (who is sympathetic to Jack's cause.)Meanwhile, Renee (Annie Wersching) stops being Jack's shadow, after Dubaku (Hakeem Kae-Kazim) is murdered with a lethal injection by an operative of Juma's in the hospital, sending her on a chase across the city where she locates the General's base of operations. Following Juma and his small army of men board a boat (dropping her cell phone and gun into the water, natch), she overhears the gang plotting their imminent attack. With their backs turned, she manages to get sight of some schematics Juma was interested in -- shocked to discover they're blueprints for the White House! Then, having been discovered by Dubaku's son Laurent (Arjay Smith), Renee's forced to jump overboard and swim to shore, with Laurent in hot pursuit. Concurrently, Juma's team reach their destination and dive underwater, intending to drill up through rock and access the foundations of the White House building...
The second half of the episode is an epic attack on the White House, as Juma and his militia break through the White House's security and into the bowels of the building. Elsewhere, Jack has been arrested for torturing Burnett after Taylor sides with Mayer over his controversial methods, and her own peaceful way to elicit information (offering Burnett full immunity from prosecution if he tells them what Juma's target is) doesn't work. Jack is soon in custody, where he implores Bill to get to Burnett and extract the information through force, but Bill isn’t comfortable going into such dark territory and refuses to help.
Juma's men sweep through the White House, making short work of Secret Service details thanks to the element of surprise, and honing in on the President (whose location they can track using her arm-band tracker.) Across town, Renee is caught by Laurent and tries to reason with him by revealing that Juma had his father killed, but the situation is taken care of when Larry arrives with a response team and shoots Laurent dead. Renee then reveals Juma's target is the White House and Larry alerts the President -- sending her bodyguards into a frenzy of action, as they rush to get her to a saferoom.
Of course, word of Juma's ostentatious attack spreads fast and Bill makes the decision to release Jack as he's prepared for transport, helping him battle Juma's men as they tear through the White House. Jack is soon side-by-side with Taylor, managing to get her into the saferoom with seconds to spare. Juma is apparently thwarted, but he gathers a room full of hostages and manages to dissuade the Secret Service into sending reinforcements by pretending he has captured the President and will kill her unless they retreat. Outside, Larry heads up a field office of agents with Renee by his side, both trying to decide what their next move should be.
Larry decides to call Vice President Hayworth (Cameron Daddo), as he's the only man who can authorize an assault on the White House to takeout Juma, but the VP decides it's too dangerous unless they can guarantee Juma is lying and Taylor is safe. Elsewhere, Aaron Pierce (Glenn Morshower) still has Taylor's daughter Olivia (Sprague Grayden) under his protection, and has to try and get her to safety, while alerting the authorities outside that the situation is "code green" and they can launch a retaliatory attack because Taylor is untouchable.
Inside the saferoom, Jack manages to disable the access panel, meaning Juma's men have no means to gain entry. This forces Juma to contact his inside-man who has made his attack possible -- government bigwig Jonas Hodges (Jon Voight), who has apparently helped Juma in return for a mysterious "shipment" of unspecified goods. Hodges notes that Olivia Taylor isn't amongst Juma's hostages, and suggests her finds the President's missing daughter and use her as leverage. Shortly after, Juma's men locate Olivia (seconds before she's able to flash a Morse Code message to the FBI outside using a flashlight), and positions her in front of a camera transmitting a feed inside the safehouse. The General threatens to disfigure and decapitate Olivia unless the President gives herself up, and despite Jack's advice to hold her nerve, Taylor can't sit back and watch her daughter's murder, so orders Jack to open the safehouse. Juma then prepares for the President to give a video statement...It's an exhilarating whirlwind for two hours, nicely tempered by some decent character moments in the quieter moments (like Bill and Jack's talk), while Tony Todd's gravelly voice and granite expressions makes him a perfect boo-hiss villain. Jon Voight's long-awaited debut also carries a certain classiness, as he essentially reprises his role from Enemy Of The State. His star may have faded since his '70s heyday, but Voight can still deliver in the right role.
The only real issues with this mid-season spectacle is how much you value plausibility in 24, as Juma's attack was undoubtedly a bit crazy and easily accomplished. And there was a certain predictability to how things panned out -- and this marks the second time a President has been frogmarched into a saferoom just this season! Still, a brazen terrorist attack on the White House had to happen on 24 sometime, and these episodes certainly brought achieved a fun, compelling and tense few hours of action.
Overall, in the cold light of day it's easy to pick fault with individual moments, broad developments and the silly cliches, but the sheer bravado and pace kept these episodes focused and enthralling. Certainly, 24's tropes have become so ingrained in the minds of its audience that it's possible to pause certain scenes and accurately guess the outcome (who didn't think the helpful park ranger who came to Renee's assistance would be shot dead by her pursuer?), but that's also part of the 24's charm. It's a fun, high-concept, macho fantasy. And these episodes are great examples of that.Still, I'm slightly concerned that Day 7 won't be able to better these episodes in terms of pure spectacle, but hopefully the White House raid won't become this season's version of Day 6's Valencia nuke -- an unexpected, well-executed shock that the writers can't top.
9 March 2009
Sky1, 9pm
Writers: Alex Gansa (7.11) / Manny Coto, Brannon Braga & Evan Katz (7.12)
Director: Brad Turner
Cast: Kiefer Sutherland (Jack), Mary Lynn Rajskub (Chloe), Cherry Jones (President Taylor), James Morrison (Bill), Annie Wersching (Renee), Bob Gunton (Ethan), Jeffrey Nordling (Larry), Janeane Garofalo (Janis), Carlos Bernard (Tony), Rachel Anderson (ICU Nurse), Patty Onagan (Nurse #2), Darren Keefe (Marine Squad Leader), Winston Story (Security Guard), Walter Wong (Marine #4), Armando Molina (Doctor), Robert Johnson (Resident #1), Keston John (Ngozi), Lovensky Jean-Baptiste (Udo), Arjay Smith (Laurent Dubaku), Ryan Cutrona (Admiral Smith), Eyal Podell (Ryan Burnett), Hakeem Kae-Kazim (Dubaku), Tony Todd (Juma), Roshawn Franklin (Commando #1), Jennifer Carta (Presidential Aide), Brett DeLuca (FBI Agent), Marvin Jordan (Commando #2), Mike Baldridge (Resident #2), Kurtwood Smith (Senator Blaine Mayer), Frank John Hughes (Tim Woods), Jon Voight (Jonas Hodges), Chase Kim (Park Ranger #1), Brittainy Parrett (Reporter), Michael Bryan French (Agent Ted Hovis), Sprague Grayden (Olivia Taylor), Cameron Daddo (Vice President Hayworth), Johnathan McClain (Derek Watts) & Burl Moseley (Abo)
