At the 3:00 AM hour, CTU is a tableau of shock and terror. Slowly Morris covers Milo; everyone else is still pretty quiet, even Jack. Zhou calls Cheng and is told to send Josh to him. Marilyn is past hysterical, she's gone on to blithering idiot — can't blame her so much, though – it's just painful to watch. Zhou makes ugly threats if she doesn't quiet down — can't blame him so much either. Nadia tries to intercede, but she gets slammed to the floor. Jack works at calming Marilyn.
As Josh is taken through the underground sewer tunnels on his way back to Cheng, Zhou announces that everyone being moved to a secure room. In two groups, CTU staffers are herded off the main floor, but Jack, Nadia, and Morris stage a coup by attacking any hostile within arm's reach. Jack squeezes the petals out of Zhou, successfully weeding him from the Garden of Bad Guys.
Nadia and Morris keep fighting, not unsuccessfully, but it's not easy. Suddenly there's a shot from a different area. It's Mike Doyle and his TAC team. They dispatch whatever hostiles remain and secure CTU. After Nadia realizes that Jack will be more effective doing his thing than being under arrest, she releases him. Immediately he and Doyle head out to get Josh back.
When we watch these intense chase and battle scenes in the wake of Milo's death, and our increased pulse rates are exacerbated by the knowledge that anyone is expendable.
Anyone.
How long can I hold my breath anyway?
When the remaining hostiles bring Josh to Cheng's HQ, Cheng puts him on the phone with his grandfather. Josh is incredulous; he reminds Phillip that the last time he saw him there was a gun pointed at his head. Phillip tries to make nice:
"I had to make it look convincing, but otherwise I wouldn't hurt you for all the tea in…oops, probably not the best analogy…but now that I've mentioned it, I want to take you away to China."
Yeah, the old man says he wants to remove Josh from the stain of his father's mistakes. Also he wants to bring him to China 'cuz they are like going to be all advanced and everything. (And they're going to get that way from stealing other countries' technologies, eh?) Josh pleads with Cheng, and says he's frightened of his grandpa. Cheng chastises him, saying that the senior Bauer is a visionary.
Article comments
1 - Victor Lana
As usual, great recap, MK. "Jack squeezes the petals out of Zhou." You have to love that scene. Next week should be really explosive. Will be the best finale in "24" history? Hmmm.