[SPOILERS] There was nothing about episode 21 that was terrible per se, I just don't care about this attempt to keep the storyline going past its natural end four episodes ago. 24's in danger of capping its return to form with a final salvo that feels extraneous and undercooked, sadly...So, where are we? Bad Tony (Carlos Bernard) and his team have broken into the home of two passive Muslims, whom they intend to frame as the culprits behind their next attack using the last canister of bioweapon. To do this, they dress their home in terrorist paraphernalia, force Jibraan Al-Zarian (Omid Abtahi) to read anti-American propaganda into camera (by threatening his brother's life), and falsify his internet activities.
At the White House, Olivia (Sprague Grayden) meets with her friend Martin (Leland Orser) who says he can organize the murder of her brother's killer, Jonas Hodges (Jon Voight), if she transfers $250,000 to his contact's bank account. Later, Olivia is a mouse-click away from ordering Hodges' death before he vanishes into witness protection forever (the website button amusingly labeled "EXECUTE"), but ultimately decides she can't go through with the hit and shuts her laptop down.At the FBI Field Office, Jack (Kiefer Sutherland) and Renee (Annie Wersching) are having no luck finding suspects using CTU's purpose-built servers, until Janis (Janeane Garofalo) picks up on Al-Zarian and gives them the address of his local mosque. They arrive to persuade the mosque's Imam, Muhtadi Gohar (Ravi Kapoor), into giving them Al-Zarian's address -- begging two questions: why didn't they have Jibraan's address to begin with? And what is the Gohar doing at in a mosque at four o'clock in the morning?
Finally, Hodges is preparing to become Mr. Tippet and spend the rest of his days alone but comfortable at the tax-payer's expense, about to be transferred to his new home by a US Marshall. As Hodges opines his defeat and smuggles a photo of his wife and daughter into his waiting car, the vehicle unexpectedly explodes into flames. In the Oval Office, President Taylor (Cherry Jones) receives news that Hodges has been killed and is worried because that means there must be an inside leak. Olivia is horrified that the hit she reneged on still went ahead, despite the fact she didn't make the payment, but is forced to put on a straight face around her mother and bodyguard Aaron (Glenn Morshower) -- before arranging to meet her friend to discuss the terrible error.
Overall, this was another episode where the plot didn't really advance all that much, and the majority of subplots concern things we're not really that interested in. Olivia has had a few good moments this season, but arranging the assassination of Hodges isn't one of them. Speaking of which, I fail to understand why the show is suddenly very keen to make Hodges a sympathetic character. Voight has been good value as the villain this season, but he deserved a more spirited send-off than this car-bomb. It can possibly be construed as a victory for him, as he always intended to die anyway to protect his family and won't suffer the ignominy of witness protection now.The only storyline with any sense of importance is the one regarding the patsy Muslins and the canister, but even that's deflated because making Tony into a villain remains unconvincing, and Jack's still suffering from exposure to the pathogen. With just three hours left, a miracle cure seems very unlikely, so I guess we'll have to suffer seeing Jack grimace his way through saving the day and forgetting things. I'm not really excited by the idea of a weakened Jack having to save the day; I think we're expected to feel like success isn't a certainty because of Jack's condition, but does anyone truly believe that?
Not a great episode, and I'm now officially worried that Day 7 is going to flush all its good work down the toilet in the dying hours. They have three episodes to turn it around...
11 May 2009
Sky1, 9pm
Writers: Manny Coto & Brannon Braga
Director: Brad Turner
Cast: Kiefer Sutherland (Jack), Cherry Jones (President Taylor), Carlos Bernard (Tony), Mary Lynn Rajskub (Chloe), Annie Wersching (Renee), Colm Feore (Henry), Janeane Garofalo (Janis), Omid Abtahi (Jibraan Al-Zarian), Rafi Gavron (Hamid Al-Zarian), Sprague Grayden (Olivia), Herve Clermon (Police Officer), Jon Voight (Jonas Hodges), Leland Orser (Martin Collier), Amy Price-Francis (Cara), Kevin McCorkle (US Marshall Sullivan), Matt McTighe (Tom Moran), Frank John Hughes (Tim Woods), Glenn Morshower (Aaron), Brian Kimmet (Operative #1), Randy Flagler (Operative #2) & Ravi Kapoor (Muhtadi Gohar)
