Tony and Agent Castle are stationed on the roof. At this point, I'm wondering if CTU remembered to surround the building. They have a little trouble with that whole surrounding thing.
Jack finds the dead guy in the apt, who is watching a tv tuned to Fox News. I wonder if dead guys are counted in the Nielsens.
On the roof, Castle is walking around and.... Mandy wings him! Oh, cold. When Tony doesn't move fast enough, she shoots Castle in the leg. I'm telling ya, Mandy is a dangerous one. She tells Castle to cuff Tony, and does a pretty good job of it considering he's been shot twice. For his trouble, Mandy then finishes off Castle. Cold cold cold. Mandy says "Agent Castle, you came and you gave without taking, but I blew you away, cuz I'm Mandy." Farewell, Agent Castle. All those exciting missions today, and you get your butt kicked by a girl.
The episode ends with Mandy taking Tony hostage. Well, now Michelle will have a chance to screw the country and rescue Tony and go to jail for him.
Strangely, the whole diplunacy thread with the Chinese was not mentioned. At all. Guess it's not that much of a threat.
Next week, in the two hour finale, this whole crazy exhilarating loveable mess of a season comes to its earthshaking conclusion. I mean literally earthshaking. The Chinese are back, and they dig clean through to, well, China, and release all that molten pressure in the center of the Earth, and the US is flooded with lava.
(and now, once again here's guest critic Paul Foth. When we last saw him, he blew up a 747, then parachuted out of it, and realized too late that was the wrong order. He landed a charred lump, and has taken him a couple of years to recover)
***
WE INTERRUPT OUR NORMALLY EPISODIC SCREED AND PULL BACK
TO LOOK AT SOME OF THE BIGGER PICTURE
We like Chloe; we really do. She was a breath of acerbic but fresh air when she first appeared, a truly unique mix of the stereotypical computer nerd with a sad lack of social skills, and someone who very much knows who she and what her talents are, and who doesn't suffer idiots (or anyone else) gladly. Her personality really stood out, no doubt because of the combination of the writers having fun with her, the talents of Mary Lynn Rajskub (who gave a keen interview in The Believer several issues back), and a lack of quirks in the rest of the supporting characters.
But to explain what I think has gone wrong with Chloe, I have to point to a TV character who was more abrasive-in-a-funny-way than she is: Albert, the medical examiner from Twin Peaks. (And there's a 24 connection: Kiefer gave a great performance as another odd medical examiner, Sam Stanley, in the theatrical release Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.). Albert arrived like the Tunguska comet, flaying people alive with his acid tongue, not the least apprehensive to let anyone know what he thought of the law enforcement and forensic (lack of) talent in what he saw as nothing more than a hick logging town (e.g., "I've got a lot of cutting and pasting to do, gentlemen, so why don't you please return to your porch rockers and resume whittling."). He crackled with a cynical energy that made him stand out in a show already populated with very strong characters.
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.