WRITERS: Chip Johannessen & Patrick Harbinson[SPOILERS] Another very entertaining hour all round, really. It's getting difficult to praise the second-half of Day 8 without repeating myself, but while the stakes are a little shaky (does anyone beyond the characters care about the peace treaty?), I'm enjoying how the characters are being stretched and taken to unusual places recently: President Taylor's (Cherry Jones) forced to swallow her idealism and deceive people for the alleged "greater good", Jack's (Kiefer Sutherland) pain over losing Renee's pushing him into dark, desperate places; and even Chloe (Mary Lyn Rajskub) has been given added responsibilities and a reason to actually distrust Jack.
DIRECTOR: Milan Cheylov
GUEST CAST: Gregory Itzin, Michael Madsen, John Boyd, Reed Diamond, Jennifer Westfeldt, Graham McTavish, Necar Zadegan, Navid Negahban, Joel Bissonnette, Thomas Ryan & Julie Claire
To recap quickly: Jack now has Dana's memory chip containing video evidence of Russian involvement in Hassan's assassination, so decides to get help from Ricker (Michael Madsen) in setting a trap for CTU using journalist Meredith Reed (Jennifer Westfeldt) as bait; Chloe started to suspect Pillar's (Reed Diamond) part of the government conspiracy Jack warned her about, so enlisted the help of Arlo (John Boyd) to locate Jack themselves in secret; Logan (Gregory Itzin) pressured President Taylor about publicly praising his role in getting the peace treaty signed; and Jack managed to evade being caught in a shopping mall, capturing Russian hitman Pavel (Joel Bissonnette) and torturing him for information about who he answers to.
We've been seeing Jack treated as the "villain" by everyone recently, and the fact he's mainly interested in avenging Renee's death has given Jack a rawness that's been interesting to watch. Jack's never been the cheeriest of people, but the torture of Pavel in this episode was one of 24's more uncomfortable moments because there was a certain twinkle of delight in Jack's eyes. Unsettling. Also interesting to see the writers bring back reporter Meredith, whose character's become Day 8's bookend, and I'm still glad there's uncertainty about how this season (and the series) will end.
Asides
- That shootout in the mall; just a typical shopping trip for Jack Bauer, right? It gives "clean up on aisle four" a whole new meaning.
- Arlo's possibly the least developed or interesting CTU employee on the series, ever -- but somehow that works in his favour. It's almost refreshing to have a character who's just a regular guy trying to do his job well.
- I sometimes laugh at Jack's staccato mannerisms. Kiefer Sutherland has a very distinct style of delivery both verbally and physically in this role. The way he can't seem to concentrate on something in front of him without snapping his head left and right to check for, what, possible incoming attacks? Makes me chuckle.
