Writers: Joel Surnow, Robert Cochran.
Director: Omar Madha.
Cast: Kiefer Sutherland, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Kim Raver, Tate Donavan, William Devane, Yvonne Strahovski, Michelle Fairley, Emily Bennington, Giles Matthey, Benjamin Bratt, Stephen Fry, Aksel Hennie.
Synopsis: Taking place between 4pm and 5pm, tensions between Heller and Davies boil over, and one of them decides to take matters into his own hands. Jack proposes a plan to locate Margot by using someone unexpected as his bait.
Jacks back! It’s hard to believe I know, but it has been a whole four years since we watched Jack, now a wanted man, bid Chloe farewell and disappear from our TV screens. You can’t keep a good man down though and everyone’s favourite rogue agent has this time set-up camp on British soil. Though not quite 24 this time around, with only twelve episodes, 24: Live Another Day promises to be crammed full of just as much action. THN will be here every step of the way in our new episode-by-episode Bauer Blog.
As we figured from last week’s explosive ending, Jack has got his way, and will be going undercover. He has a list of demands though; an unmarked car, an untraceable phone, a portable interrogation kit (whatever that is) and Kate Morgan. Heller is one hundred percent behind Jack and was more than happy to meet all of his demands, telling CIA head Navarro to reinstate Kate, with the great line of ‘Jack wants her, Jack needs her, Jack gets her.’
Before he set out on his mission Bauer received a visit from Mark. This is the first opportunity that the two men have had to size one another up. Mark seemed more than a little relieved when Jack told him that nothing had happened and that Audrey had said that she was happy. His contentment didn’t last long though as he got a call from the Russian Embassy who were wanting to know when they could collect Jack. For those with a short-term memory Mark forged Heller’s signature on a contract stating that the US would hand Bauer over them – Jack is wanted for the assassination of some Russian officials. His contact at the Embassy was not pleased with Mark’s news of the contract being ‘rescinded’ and the pair are to meet in person to discuss the matter.
Jack’s plan was as ever rather controversial. He revealed to Kate that he has been working for a man called Karl Rask for the last three years. Rask is the arms dealer that Bauer told Heller about last week. Don’t worry 24 fans Jack hasn’t gone bad, far from it, he has in fact actually been working against Rask from deep within the organisation, helping bring down various clients. As soon as he heard news of the attack on Heller though he left the faction, leading Rask to the conclusion that he was the leak – which of course is correct.
His plan to get back in involves framing one of his deceased colleagues as the mole, a mole who Jack claims has been working with Kate. The CIA agent is to be the ‘gift’ to show his loyalty to Rask. When confronted with the plan and the news that she may not survive the mission, Kate simply injected herself with the sedative that Jack had prepared. One brave lady. Unfortunately for Jack, Rask had something to counteract the drugs meaning that Kate could be interrogated.
Meanwhile in a rather ballsy move, Prime Minster Davies decided to go against the American President’s wishes and send MI5 to follow Jack. Davies has been made aware of Heller’s condition from intel from one of his staff members, and is not happy to put British lives into an unwell man’s hands. Who else is loving Fry and his extensive vocabulary as our PM?
Kate Morgan found herself living the worst fifteen minutes of her life as she was interrogated by Rask’s men. First she was strung up in what appeared to be an exceptionally uncomfortable position before being slashed, doused in water, and electrocuted. Thankfully for her MI5 turned up just in time to stop a drill from entering her body. Showing her Bauer-like qualities Kate held up to the interrogation well and seized her first opportunity for freedom, wrapping her legs around the henchman’s throat, freeing herself of her hook and contorting herself backwards to stab her attacker in the back.
Jack and Chloe’s plan to upload a virus into Rask’s computer almost didn’t work thanks to the MI5 mission. Just as Rask was about to hit the return key the team showed up, guns blazing. Luckily Jack managed to position himself quickly and was able to hit the return key, giving Chloe access to the information she needed.
Whilst all of this was going on between Jack, Rask and the MI5, the Al-Harazi family seems to be coming unstuck. Just as we predicted last week Simone appears to be pulling away from her mother’s regime – or at least trying to. Her hour started with her watching her husband’s executed body being disposed of when his phone rang. Margot checked the phone and found a voicemail from Navid’s sister, Simone’s sister-in-law, who wanted to know why she should leave London. The bereaved daughter was then tasked with finding out how much the woman knew and to handle it if she knew too much.
After assuring sister-in-law Farah that her brother was just stressed, it became clear that neither knew anything, though Margot wasn’t happy with this assessment and told her daughter to ‘tie-up’ the loose ends. Simone was clearly conflicted by this order, especially when it came to her niece, and for the first time defied her mother, pleading with Farah to get out of the city after all. This obviously lead to the other woman becoming suspicious and as Simone wrestled her away from the phone she accidentally stabbed Farah, thereby killing her. Unfortunately for Simone her niece had seen everything meaning that she had no choice but to kill the child as well. The pair then began a chase across London which saw Simone hit by one of our famous double-decker buses – a cautionary tale to always respect the green-cross-code.
As we came to the exact halfway point of the series we had our first ‘corrupt good-guy’ revealed. Earlier in the episode Jordan had approached Navarro about doing some further investigation into Kate’s husband Adam. Navarro shut him down and told him to concentrate on more pressing things; at the time it seemed sensible however, in light of the shifty phone call he made it would appear that he had something to do with the case. It looks very likely that Kate’s husband wasn’t involved in the selling of secrets, but was potentially implicated after finding out about it. This twist clearly points to that case having some relevance to today’s events and throws up the question of who was on the other end of the phone. Our money is on Adrien – there was all that chatter about whether the computer data was uncover-able or not.
We are exactly halfway through this series to the minute and events are fast starting to spiral. The reveal of our first ‘good guy gone bad’ came as somewhat of a surprise and it will be interesting to see how the Morgan case plays into the unfolding events.
After his rest last episode it was lovely seeing Jack back in action. Bauer in the mix with the bad guys is always something spectacular to behold and the tension in the warehouse scenes with Rask’s men was superb. Yvonne Strahovski is also showing herself as a worthy female counter-part to Jack and I for one am looking forwards to seeing how the relationship between the pair develops.
CIA Blunder: So Kate’s husband has already been convicted, and Kate is being shipped back to the States, yet we find during this hour that there are still loose ends regarding the case, as Jordon brought them to Navarro’s attention. Surely the CIA above all people would conduct the most thorough of investigations before brandishing one of their own as a traitor? Especially when we now know that Adam Morgan may not have had anything to do with the incident.
Badass Bauer Moment: Chloe can’t find the information about Rask’s bank worker quick enough so Jack makes the decision to call Rask’s bluff, finding himself facing down the barrel of a gun. Jack being Jack didn’t even break a sweat – something that Rask was very impressed with.
‘Damnit!’ Counter: For the third episode in a row we have not been treated to Bauer’s iconic pseudo-catchphrase. Only time will tell if we will ever hear those iconic words ever again.
[usr=5] 24: Live Another Day airs on Sky One Wednesdays at 9pm.
