Knowing now that Tony was really bad all along was not a high point of the last week’s episode. I did start to suspect at some point. I certainly did not want to believe it. I like my happy shiny endings, although this Day still has some exciting hours left to go, seeing Tony mercilessly kill Larry would not be my ideal way to texturize the plot line.
The writer is not supposed to inject themselves into a story. Of course, I clearly do not follow all the rules when writing about 24 or anything else, but I do have a certain technique. I straddle the line between satirizing the hour’s events, and embracing the outright drama – and I like to pretend that it’s all about me, that Jack and the crew are living and fighting and dying for my benefit. We all internalize these forms of entertainment to some degree. But last week’s revelation hit me with a sick sort of dull surprise and I took it quite personally.
And admittedly, personal family health issues colored my viewing experience of this last sad twist and it left me feeling more let down by the show than ever. And I don’t make this remark lightly, and I don’t intend it as a criticism. Maybe it’s a strain of the “Oh-no-why-Kutner?” virus that’s been floating on the air currents. Shocking developments usually make good drama, whether the audience approves or not. Television writers are not obligated to hire a focus group; the vetting process occurs afterwards, on pages like these. And we move on.
In the Wee Hours of this long day, Jonas Hodges has been taken into custody at the White House, a lone rogue canister is on the loose, ferried by a man named Galvez – whom I shall call Gaston, because that’s much more fun, and kinder, gentler, and more mature Kim Bauer has come to see her dad. Maybe Ponyboy did her some good? (C. Thomas Howell played her steady-Eddie named Barry in a two-episode stint during Day Five.)
And of course, this hour begins with one of those WTF “Gee Golly” moments, as a beautiful and determined lawyer is halted en route to see Jonas Hodges, her client. In the doorway of her tony and presumably Georgetown home, a masked man sprays her in the face with a toxin that makes her fall back, helpless to fight off her attacker. Must have been a sale on these sorts of nerve agents; Henry Taylor, Jack Bauer and now this poor chick have all succumbed to the awful horror of the out-of-body moment, witnessing their own attacks but unable to respond – like some sadder version of Patrick Swayze’s antics in Ghost.
Article comments
1 - Dr Dreadful
What's the betting that when Jack gets to the bottom (and he will) of who's running this shady superorganization that Tony's working for, he will be told that it's just the tip of the iceberg and there's another even bigger, shadier superduperorganization behind that one. And so on and so on... Dammit!
Where will it all end? I suspect with a man in a shack who talks to his cat.
2 - Mary K. Williams
That was awesome Dr. D - Thanks for all the fish!
And regarding that Iceberg theory... I know exactly what you mean. It's like a more violent take on - "it's turtles...all the way down"