Tuesday, April 10, 2007

TV Review: 24 - 10:00 pm - 11:00 pm

"Damn, Jack."

Indeed.

I guess the writers decided the nuke plotline had gone far enough, so they went all out to wrap things up in one hour. Two fakeouts in the first twenty minutes - and both of them were more about faking out the audience. Especially the President's fake nuclear attack - there was no real reason for him to keep his security advisers in the dark about what he was doing, so that was purely to fake out the audience. Jack's fakeout might have been more suspenseful had they left Doyle alive but wounded. Once it was seen that everyone got hit, then it was clear the whole thing was a fake.

But still, at least we're seeing some action, topped off with Jack's homage to Cape Fear and his one-man death squad. (And was I the only one flashing back to The Simpsons "Cape Feare" episode - "Hey Fayed - want to drive through that cactus patch?") The end assault was a classic, with the terrorists spraying automatic fire around at random, and Jack picking off a bad guy seemingly with every shot. Add in an ending hand-to-hand fight with Fayed, a zippy one-liner ("Say hello to your brother!") - and you end up with an outstanding episode.

And that's before they sprung the Audrey surprise on us - those Chinese sure know how to show up at the right time! Weren't they tipped off last time by Jack's dad - is that how they get Pappa Bauer back into the plot at the end (as has been rumored)? I sure thought they would save this for later, or maybe the movie, but I guess it's a good way to start off the last third of the season.

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