Spoilers. Another good episode, moving deeper into the accumulating menace of Jonas Hodges (Jon Voight) and his smuggled bio-weapon. Here, Jack (Kiefer Sutherland) has discovered that the weapon's in a shipping container at the Port of Alexandria, so heads there with Tony (Carlos Bernard) to prevent Starkwood getting their hands on it...The shipyard sequences are the backbone of this episode; involving another of 24's well-choreographed gun battles, as fugitives Jack and Tony go up against Starkwood's armed team without any backup. However, it was more interesting to see the influence Renee (Annie Wersching) seems to have had on Jack, as he decides to protect a lowly port authority called Carl (Star Trek Enterprise's Connor Trinneer), who has taken a backhander from Starkwood to provide for his pregnant wife, believing they're just smuggling electrical goods.
Ordinarily, Carl would be an expendable "asset" for Jack to manipulate for the greater good, but here Jack risks blowing the whole operation to protect Carl, as he promised. Has Renee softened Jack? Did the earlier death of Dubaku's girlfriend Marika get under his skin, and this is his way to redress the balance? Or do we agree with Tony that Jack's act of compassion actually cost them the safe retrieval of a weapon that could kill thousands? It's been a feature of Day 7 that many of Jack's tough decision-making is being tested (for once), which helps humanize him away from he gung-ho caricature he had become in recent years. And by making him check his moral compass, it helps us feel more invested in the process.
Elsewhere, Larry (Jeffrey Nordling) begins to realize Jack may have been telling the truth about being framed for Burnett and Mayer's murders, as forensic evidence at the Senator's house indicates another gunman was involved, and Larry manages to get Renee to reveal that Starkwood are the group Jack believes are behind events. Larry's been written as quite an obstructive idiot at times, but this episode rehabilitated him somewhat. It can be frustrating for the viewers that people don't automatically trust Jack (particularly considering they can look at his resume and note that he saved the country on a half-dozen occasions in similar situations), but Larry does act as a nice reminder of how you need proper justification and can't just take someone's word for their innocence.
We also got a better look at Starkwood itself, with Hodges giving an impassioned speech to his fellow board members about how the Pentagon have been snubbing them recently -- with some of his words hinting at the possibility of mounting a government coup. Voight's great fun in this role; with his waxy jowls and shark-eyed stares, he's already a far classier villain than the smirking foreign terrorists that usually populate 24.At the White House, Ethan Kanin (Bob Gunton) realizes his position as Chief of Staff is untenable after recent events, so decides to tender his resignation to spare President Taylor (Cherry Jones) any political embarrassment -- particularly after hearing that Jack Bauer is wanted for the murder of Senator Mayer. In a twist many people guessed last week, Olivia (Sprague Holden) feigns respect for Ethan taking the decision she planted in his mind awhile ago, then calls her journalist contact to leak more gossip to effectively lynch Ethan politically, on the proviso that her mother is protected from the day's fallout. It's been awhile since we had a devious, ambitious bitch by the President's side (remember the glory days of Cherie Palmer?), and Olivia is now continuing this 24 tradition of the Commander-In-Chief being aided by a dishonest family member. And I'm inclined to agree with her assessment that Ethan has proven to be dangerously incompetent.
In the final moments, Jack commandeers the truck carrying the bioweapon and leaves the shipyard with Starkwood in hot pursuit, as Tony is captured. Jack has no option but to call Larry and have him send backup to prevent the device being reacquired at any second, before he's forced to stop and seal a dangerous leak in the weapon. This gives Starkwood enough time to catch Jack up and retake their property by helicopter airlift, leaving Jack empty-handed... and perhaps lethally exposed to the bioweapon's chemicals after his ad hoc repair job. Only, we know there are nine more episodes and an eighth season to come, so I think he'll be okay...
Overall, "10:00PM - 11:00PM" was one of those middling episodes that didn't really provide any big surprises, and its handful of significant developments were practically reset by the end. Along the way it fleshed out a few background elements, provided some decent action, and set-up a few things for future episodes (the First Gentleman's now out of the operating theatre, Larry may start trusting Jack again, and Renee will hopefully get reinstated.) I'm still not sure if the season can sustain now that we're in fairly overplayed territory with Jack chasing another doomsday weapon around town, but maybe there are some surprises in store given the unique placing of Starkwood as a government cabal?
30 March 2009
Sky1, 9pm
Writers: Alex Gansa (story by David Fury)
Director: Jon Cassar
Cast: Kiefer Sutherland (Jack), Carlos Bernard (Tony), Jeffrey Nordling (Larry), Annie Wersching (Renee), Cherry Jones (President Taylor), Bob Gunton (Ethan), Sprague Holden (Olivia), Colm Feore (Henry), Rory Cochrane (Greg Seaton), Connor Trinneer (Carl Gadsen), Chris Mulkey (Doug), Tim Guinee (Ken Dellao), Stephen Jared (Driver), Meredith Salenger (Linda Gadsen), Marci Michelle (FBI Agent #1), Rey Gallegos (FBI Agent #2), Jon Voight (Jonas Hodges) & Kevin Fry (Cooper)
