“He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and made my footsteps firm…” These words from Psalm 40 are at the center of a rather complex episode, one with foreshadowing (believe it or not, that Jack will violate yet another embassy) as stark as the few seconds after the explosive end of the hour, when Prez Wayne and others lie in the dust after a bomb placed inside the presidential podium goes off and leaves us wondering what will happen next.
Ex-president Charles Logan (seeming more somberly Nixonian than ever before) stares eerily into the mirror, one that no doubt reflects the darkness of a soul that allowed not only the assassination of President David Palmer but also the use of deadly gas to kill thousands of Americans (in Season Five). Here he seems calm, resolved, and willing to make the Lord his guide as he steps ahead. He tells Jack that David Palmer once helped him and he would like to return the favor.
His willingness to help is seriously questioned by Agent Jack Bauer, who bluntly tells him “I don’t trust you.” Of course, you don’t, Jack. He ordered your good friends killed (Tony Almaeida, Michelle Dessler, David Palmer) and was no doubt behind your spending twenty months in a Chinese prison. Still, Jack is going with the plan of having Logan broker some kind of deal with Russian Ambassador Markhov, one that could lead them to rogue General Gredenko and the remaining nuclear suitcases.
Jack goes out to the old retreat (complete with stables where Logan once lived with wife Martha) after coming up empty in the search for Gredenko. As Jack prepares to meet Logan, he says goodbye to sister-in-law (and ex-girlfriend) Marilyn and her son (his nephew) Josh. Repeating an almost funny but extremely sad and unfulfilled promise to others (including his daughter Kim, George Mason’s son, and Diane Huxley's son Derrick), Jack vows to sit down with Josh and explain when everything is over.
Of course, as we well know, things are never over for Jack Bauer. The truth is that Jack is always on the clock, even when we don’t see him for a twenty-four hour stretch, and it’s not hard to understand why his marriage to Teri suffered and also why he has never been able to establish a relationship after losing her. Jack lives his job and, like a captain of a ship, he is married to it and inevitably is willing to go down with it if need be.
Article comments
1 - Mary K. Williams
Very nice mix of somber analysis and sarcastic scene setting.
Mr. Lana is in the HOUSE!
2 - Victor Lana
Thanks, MK. I wonder about that preview for next week: Jack in the Russian Embassy. Man, it's going to get ugly when he starts using that cigar cutter in ways we don't want to imagine.
Oh, and by the way, when I hear "Mr. Lana" I still think of my Dad. Still not used to it.
3 - tim irr
If you still have episode 11 of “24″ on tape…go back and slow-mo the podium explosion. They yanked an explosion out of the archives. Remember the old episode when Jack was locked in a computer room by Christopher Henderson and hid under the floor to avoid the bomb? Well, that’s the file video. I wonder how often that happens??
4 - Victor Lana
Wow, Tim, that is amazing if you saw that. I do have to look back at that episode and check it out. Thanks for letting me know.