I don't know what to make of the fact that the guy Richard was in bed with when Mandy made the call looked like Richard himself. I'll leave it for those better versed in sexual politics to parse that one out.
Commercial. When we come back--two minutes later--CTU has tracked down not only the cab company that Mandy and Richard II used when they left Richard I's place, but also the cab driver! Huuuhhhhh?! How many cab companies are in Los Angeles? How many cab drivers are there in Los Angeles? I'm just...just...speechless. How is this good drama?
The Worst Dialog of the Episode Award has to go to Michelle and Tony for this little exchange about Jack and Diane--I mean, Audrey:
M: Every move he's made has been the right one.
T: Not if he wanted to be with her.
As Bill the Cat would say, "PPFFFFFPPPFFHHHTTT!" Nuclear power plants threatened with meltdown, Air Farce One shot down, the nuclear football stolen, the President in a coma, a nuclear missile stolen and launched, and Tony thinks Jack should've played it differently so he could keep his girlfriend?!!?! That thing about being speechless a few paragraphs back? Ditto.
Next week: the two-hour season finale, when the real question won't be whether America survives, but whether the viewers do.
***
Approximate Body Count: 146 (plus "many dead" near the nuclear plant, plus the Warhead Nonprotection team, plus whoever else was on Air Farce One)
Article comments
1 - Temple Stark
whew
2 - mike hollihan
Wow, indeed. Pretty exhaustive.
I can forgive 24 a lot of sins because it's just a television thriller. Even the elastic treatment of time this season. But the rocket launch last week gets me. I'm a model rocketeer and there's no damn way that missile, launched at that angle, has been in the air for an hour! Just ain't gonna happen.
3 - Paul Foth
Mike, thanks for your comment. Jeff and I were astronomy grad students at the University of Iowa. George Hospadarsky, mentioned in a previous review, was another of our ilk, and once in a while all the rocketeers in the physics building would gather at the farm where he grew up and spend the afternoon launching rockets. We definitely feel your pain when it comes to the show's launching of the nuke.
I think part of the reason we shred the show so much is that we don't want it to be "just" a thriller. We want it to be edge-of-the-seat, white-knuckle fun, yes, of course, but we don't want it to be so sloppy, either. A thriller should have thrills IN ADDITION TO the necessities of responsible storytelling, not INSTEAD OF them.
4 - mike hollihan
Exactly right, Paul. It's already a great show, but with just a bit more, extra, effort it could be one for the ages. Remember, the speed of light isn't just a good idea, it's the law! ;-)
5 - Jeff
And in Hilbert space, no one can hear you scream...
6 - Karen
I missed an episode. Does anyone know where I might buy an episode or see it?
Day4 4 to 5 AM
7 - Aaman
This is episode 23 torrent.
Here is the 24th episode torrent
This is the entire Season 4 (8 GB) torrent
All in hd
usual disclaimers apply.
8 - HW Saxton
In the seventh paragraph the reviewer
mentions a missile that was fired from
somewhere in the "mountains of Iowa".
I'm just wondering where the "mountains"
of Iowa are. Ive never even seen a hill
there that was more than maybe a couple
hundred feet tall and that's on a very
gradual grade. Hmmmm.......
9 - Jeff
Yeah, my mocking tone kinda gets lost when merely reading this! This goes back to the 12 AM - 1 AM episode, where Mike blamed the loss of contact with the warhead transport team on the mountainous terrain in Iowa. This silly comment (as anyone who has been to Iowa knows) was a howler, and I used it ever since.
10 - HW Saxton
I figured it was sarcasm but just wanted
to clarify. I'm familiar with the Iowa
landscape,having crisscrossed the state
on I-80 too many times. A hill would be
nice distraction amidst all the corn,soy
bean fields and stench of cattle & pigs.