Well after 22 hours of ups and downs it comes down to this. Will Jack be able to save the kidnapped Tony? Where is the missile headed for and will CTU be able to stop it?
I got several emails and also got bashed by my fellow IP colleagues about missing something quite big last week. The chick who kidnapped Almeida had been featured in past seasons of 24. She being the one who blew up the plane in the first season and also attempted to kill Palmer in season two with a handshake.
Thanks to those who emailed me, a couple didn’t leave their names, but Steve Meyers had this to say:
You guys missed the boat on the woman in the apartment. That is Mandy the dubious plane exploder/handshake of DOOMer from the earlier seasons. I know you were blinded by Almeida love but you should have picked up on it.
For the record I was blinded by my love for Tony but I put all the blame on Murtz Jaffer for his not being in attendance last week.
Things start an hour earlier tonight but Murtz and Rob Purchase plan to be in attendance for what should be an excting finale.
Check back at 8PM Eastern. Refresh for updates.
Things are about to start, just got an email regarding the finale by M.J. Berry:
Hey, wouldn’t it be cool if Mitch Anderson didn’t really get shot down and is still flying the stealth bomber and then totally redeems himself by shooting the nuclear missile out of the sky?
Rob: I Love you M.J. Berry!!
We are all debating who will be killed and who will turn.
Rob: I think Secretary Heller will turn.
Romo: As long as Almeida doesn’t die.
Oh and a knock of the door and our buddy Dave Nesseth arrives. He has never watched 24 before.
Rob: It’s gonna be a baptism by fire.
Dave has arrived with some gifts for us, candy.
Here we go!
Previously on”¦
Rob: Stupid Logan!
Another extra long run down of what’s been going on for the past day.
Rob: One of them, Almeida or Michelle is gonna die.
Romo: Michelle is going to save Almeida and sacrifice herself.
5:00
Jack tells Bill and Michelle about Tony being kidnapped and the girl getting away. Michelle is sending Curtis with another team to help. Jack wants the LAPD there to help.
Murtz: What the hell else would Division be doing?
Audrey tells Novak about the missile and how its hard to pick up because its stealth and doesn’t put off any heat signatures.
Michelle is pissed because LAPD and division are not putting enough people to capture the woman who took Almeida. Bill gets Michelle to admit that she is not being objective because she is worried about Tony. Bill tells her that getting the hostile alive is important and nothing else matters.
Tony is tied up with his shirt off.
Rob: That is fantastic
5:04
She gets a call from Marwan. She tells him there was a problem. He is leaving in one hour and isn’t going to wait for her,
Murtz: I love Marwan, if he is banging this chick its over.
Mandy tells Tony how he put Michelle’s life above his job and was tried for treason, she asks if Michelle will do the same for him.
Audrey tells Palmer that the satellite has not been able to find the missile. Another pass would take 2-3 hours.
Murtz: The target is CTU, that is what I am calling.
Rob: no way.
Palmer orders them to evacuate the 20 biggest cities.
5:07
Michelle tells Edgar about capturing Mandy and how that is the only objective, getting Tony is not an issue.
Mandy calls Michelle. She sends a picture of Tony tied up. Mandy tells Michelle that she has to do everything she says if she wants Tony to survive. She demands to know how many men are involved and what their search pattern.
She tells Mandy there are 30 people from CTU. Mandy orders her to re-deploy her men before she calls back or Tony will die.
Michelle is crying. She gets on the computer and Edgar comes on. She gets him to upload a map of the building. She doesn’t order him to re-deploy the troops though.
5:10
break
Rob: Almeida is done.
Murtz: It’s gonna be crazy today. Some big characters are gonna die. Purch heard that two main characters die.
Romo: Does Audrey count as a main character? I hope she dies
5:14
Bill comes into the room where Michelle is looking at the building map. Bill is on the phone about casualty numbers. She tells him that LAPD are on the way. She tells Bill she can’t do this. She says she can’t sacrifice the lives of all of the people. She tells Bill Mandy caller her.
Murtz: What a Bitch!
Michelle tells Bill what Mandy told her about re-deploying
Romo: They should just re-deploy and fake it.
5:16
Bill tells Jack about the call to Michelle. She tells her about the north-east driveway.
Jack tells her to Mandy she is compiling. He will re-deploy and capture Mandy when she goes for the getaway.
Jack wants Mandy to believe Michelle is still working with her.
Michelle tells Bill she almost went along with it.
Jack is getting his crew and Curtis ready. Curtis is sent to get LAPD to arrest everyone who gives them a problem.
Jack calls CTU but Michelle has not got a call.
Jack tells his north-east team to move into secondary positions.
Mandy looks out the window. She goes over and stuns Tony with a stun gun. He collapses.
She gets ready with the weaponary. It looks like she is gonna leave Tony there.
Romo: I don’t get that why wouldn’t she just kill him?
She starts to put on makeup, she looks like a normal hot girl.
5:20
She leaves and knocks on someone’s door. It’s a neighbour she asks to talk to the guy living there. She shoots him. She puts the gun at the other two. K
5:21
break time
Romo: What the f*ck was that?
Murtz is wearing his Hulkamania shirt, Romo dons his Cobra shirt, Purchase supports English soccer. Dave wears his lucky Lacosts
5:25
Logan comes into a meeting room and tells Novak and Palmer about a call he got from the Chinese Consulate. Novak is pissed about how they have pinned the attack on them with the picture of the CTU guy.
Logan is pissed and starts to yell at Palmer.
Murtz: hit him, hit him.
Palmer tells Logan that he has to believe they will stop the missile. Logan says he can’t believe that. Palmer tells him he needs to be confident and remain Presidential. Palmer tells Logan that Novak will handle the Chinese government from now on.
5:28
Bill gets a call. Agent Burns calls him. Bill tells Burns about how the Chinese keep pushing. He tells him to create an alibi. Burns is worried about his family. Bill promises him nothing will happen.
An SUV pulls up. The door opens and it’s the Chinese consulate and Burns is pushed in.
Burns has a gun to his head. The security guy tells him that they know he was involved.
Murtz: This is all Edgar.
The guy tells Burns the government insists that someone will take responsibility for the attack. He asks who gave him the orders. Burns refuses to cooperate.
5:30
Michelle gets a call and she confirms to Mandy she has moved the CTU men. Mandy asks Michelle if she loves Tony. Michelle says yes and that if she is lying Tony will get a bullet to the head.
Michelle goes to Edgar to get him to get background noise from the cell call. She is pissed that Edgar is confuses and says she does not want this to fail because of technical incompetence.
Jack looks out his binoculars and says he sees something.
Mandy calls she says she is going and she has a gun on Tony.
Jack says she is completely in the open, she is running a big risk.
Jack announces that she is moving towards a black Jag.
Mandy tells Michelle that once she gets away in the car she will tell Michelle
Bill orders the men to move, Jack tells them to stand down but its too late.
Mandy sees the CTU guys and says she will not get them alive. The car explodes.
Jack calls and says Tony and Mandy are gone.
5:34
break
Rob: I don’t think Tony was in there, it was the other people in the apartment.
Murtz: yeah I think it was the girl in the apartment and Mandy triggered it from a distance.
5:38
Logan gets a conference call from Bill. Bill tells them about Mandy kill herself and Tony. Bill tells Logan they don’t have any expectation of finding the missile. Palmer tells Logan to alert all state and local authorities. He says whatever city there will be wide-spread panic. They need to declare martial law.
Palmer says they need to order the army on alert and
Logan orders CTU to get on disaster management.
Bill tells Edgar to order Jack back to CTU.
Logan tells Palmer that he failed him and he failed his country.
Michelle is sitting alone. Bill walks in.
Murtz: He is moving in.
Rob: What a horny old bastard, it hasn’t even been 10 minutes.
Bill tells Michelle she made the right decision.
Romo: She is gonna get a call from Mandy in two seconds.
Bill tells her that she should go home. Michelle wants to get back to work.
5:42
Jack is looking over the tape to see if there is anything he missed. Curtis tells him to let go. Jack gets a call from Bill who wants him to re-deploy. He does not think she would kill herself. He does not think it was her who died.
Bill does not think they were deceived, he tells Jack not let his feelings of Tony.
Jack refuses to leave but Bill tells him he has 10 minutes.
Jack orders him to tell him to play it again. He is listening to the audio at the same time. He asks for it played back again. He does not hear the rain on the phone call. She was making the call from inside.
Jack orders the team in
5:45
Mandy tells Tony that they are heading back in and that her neighbours died for nothing. Tony is ordered to take off his cuffs and he puts on some pants. They are getting out of there she says.
Romo: She wants him so bad.
Tony is now dressed and they head out.
Rob: I love the no button up on the shirt.
Tony digs something into his foot to leave a trail of blood.
5:47
commercial time.
Murtz: A little Hansel and Gretel Action.
Rob: ALMEIDA! Is there anything that man cannot do?
5:51
Curtis tells Jack they are searching room to room.
Jack gets a call about fresh blod being found outside of room 208.
Jack busts into 208 and sees the blood, he starts to follow it.
Mandy has the gun to Tony’s back. Tony turns and kicks her, they start to fight, Tony gets her to drop the gun. But his hands are behind his back and he can’t win the fight.
Bauer shows up, she tells him to freeze or she will kill Tony. She realizes that Jack can’t kill her.
Squealing tires in the background.
Rob: Curtis!
Curtis appears out of nowhere and knocks Mandy from behind!
Jack calls Bill about the capture. Bill is gonna find Michelle for Tony to call her.
Michelle is driving home, her phone rings. She picks it up, its Bill he tells her that Tony is alive. She’s in shock. Almeida gets on the line.
Rob: It would have been better if she killed herself.
Tony tells her that Jack figured it out and he saved him. Tony tells Michelle that he loves her.
Rob: Something is going to happen here.
Murtz: Michelle is dead dude
5:56
Jack tells Mandy that he will grant her immunity if she tells him wear Marwan is and helps them stop the missile. He puts a gun to her and says she will help him or he will kill her.
Burns is being interrogated by the Chinese. Burns is not answering any questions. The consular tells him that if he does not answer any questions they will put him on cargo ship that will cross the Pacific and he will be held in a prison camp on the Siberian border.
The Chinese guy tells him that no one will ever know about him, where he is, no chance of a prison exchange, his family will never know where he is.
Burns still denies knowledge. The guy just wants a name.
Romo: He is gonna name Jack.
Burns is struggling and asks what happens if he gives a name. He tells him he can walk out that door. Burns says his name is Jack Bauer.
Rob: You Fucker!
6:00
commercial time.
Rob: I am telling you I don’t think that angle is getting resolved today, they will save it for next season.
Romo: Are they doing previously on again?
Previously on”¦
Romo: Fuck.
Murtz: That’s bullshit!
Murtz: I say it’s Mitch Anderson time.
Rob: Come on M.J. Barry don’t let me down!
6:00
Mandy is with Jack.
Romo: She is so hot!
Jack is trying to get the deal through. An aide enters into a room and says he has info that may affect the immunity deal. He shows the news footage of the attempt on Palme’s life.
Palmer is not sure what to do. Novak gets a call from the Attorney General that the deal is ready.
Palmer looks at the scar on his palm. He tells the President to sign in.
Rob: That is what David Palmer is David Palmer, and why Logan is Logan.
Mandy tells Jack she will talk when her people confirm the deal is in order. She gets a call confirming it.
She tells Jack Marwan is at the Globo building, a chopper will take him to a ship.
Jack and Curtis run to a helicopter.
Rob: I love the GI Joe music playing here.
Marwan is on the roof, he makes a call, there is no answer. He is annoyed that Mandy isn’t there
6:05
They are not going to wait. The pilot tells him it will take 10 mins to reach international waters and the ship.
Murtz: Mitch Anderson, he is gonna shoot it down.
Jack is enroute and gets Edgar to look at the building. He confirms the chopper is on the SE corner.
Marwan says the missile is on target, they have to get out of there.
Rob: LA!
Marwan is in the helicopter
Jack’s chopper goes above it so it cant take off. Jack shoots the help.
6:08
Murtz: Kill yourself Marwan, go out in style
Jackl lands the heli and gets out. Marwan is running away. His buddy is shot. Marwan is away. Jack is in chase.
He is going down stairs. He reaches a parking garage. Marwan shot a CTU guy, it’s Curtis, he is down.
Jack keeps chasing and is on the ground crawling around cars.
Jack shoots Marwan’s foot.
Marwan goes down in pain. He gets up and looks around.
Murtz: Kill yourself.
Marwan goes over the edge of the railing. Jack grabs him and demands to know where the missile is going.
Marwan cuts Jack’s hand and he lets go. Marwan falls to his death. Jack screams, NOOOO!
Murtz: that was wicked.
6:11
commercial time
Murtz: 6-11, in heaven is Marwan. I am pleased.
DanH276: Jack Bauer: STELLLLLLLLAAAAAAAA!
mattromo78: Yeah so good. Murtz wants to know if you want a guest line in the recap?
DanH276: Sure
6:15
Logan is pissed that Marwan is dead and blames Jack.
Novak tells them that Chinese are on the tele-confernce.
The guy tells them that Burns has confessed. They play his confession. Burns is on tape and openly admits that Jack Bauer ordered the operation.
The Chinese guy wants Bauer to be turned over to the Chinese government.
Logan is pissed at Palmer again. The advisors are figuring out the options. One guy supposes that what if Bauer has an “accident” but Logan turns down the option because his administration does not condone murder.
IP’s Dan Hevia IMs me with his comments on the episode so far
Dan: So now everyone is dead and the missile is in the air. All they need is to have the missile hit LA and have my snookiekins, Reiko, walk out alive into my loving arms. Also, I swear I will never eat Chinese again due to these horrible consulate people.
6:19
Jack calls Chloe to work on the program to find the missile from the info Marwan had on his blackberry. Chloe yells at Edgar because he messed up again.
They see a trajectory, it’s headed West.
Chloe assumes its headed for LA and they have a range of where the missile should be.
6:21
Bill calls the Air Force to get ready and in the air.
A pilot is approaching the area.
Jack tells Edgar its unlikely they could detonate the missile because of the way it was built.
The pilot calls and has possible contact. He gets ready to fire, He is locked and fires.
He hits something, it explodes.
Romo: NO, that’s not it!
6:22
Commercial
Murtz: There has to be a turn.
6:27
Tony arrives back at CTU and Michelle embraces him. They hold each other tight. She tells him she loves him. She pulls away and tells him how she didn’t choose him, when he chose her before. He tells her its over.
They show Paul’s body bag. Audrey is on the phone talking about funeral arrangements. She looks at Jack through the glass.
6:29
She goes to talk to him. She is going to go to Washington to take care of Paul’s funeral. Jack wants to know where he stands but he says they can talk about it tomorrow. Audrey doesn’t want to meet him. She tells him that he belongs at CTU.
Romo: Shoot her!
Rob: (in Darth Vader tone) If you won’t have me, no one will.
Audrey tells him that she loves him but it won’t work. She walks away.
Jack gets a call from Palmer. Palmer tells him that words cannot express the gratitude towards him. He tells Jack about Burns’ confession. Palmer tells Jack they have no choice but to comply and hand over Jack.
Jack tells Palmer he will never give up the government. Jack understands that he will be put on trial and held in prison. Palmer tells him he will make it his life’s purpose to bring Jack back to American soil.
Secret Service will go over and place him under arrest.
Romo: Next year they are gonna bust him out.
6:33
An advisor, the one who advocated Bauer have an “accident”, calls some guy who is scared about Bauer going with the Chinese and hints that Jack should be killed to this guy.
Novak overhears the conversation.
6:34
commercial time.
Rob: Just think, we have till January till another 24 episode, 8 months. Monday night on Fox with House at 8 is gonna be a sick night.
6:39
Rob: 20 minutes left
Murtz: Its gonna end with Jack getting shot.
Novak tells Palmer about the phone call Cummings (the advisor) made. He tells Palmer to intervene because Logan lets Cummings do his dirty work and will not hear anything bad about him.
Logan is getting calls of congratulations from various people. He says various heads of states from over the world have been calling him. He tells Palmer what can he do for him because he “played the role.”
Palmer asks the others to leave. He says that his security chief, Cummings, is gonna try to kill Bauer. Palmer just asks him to talk to Cummings, Logan resists but Palmer insists. Logan says the Palme’s presidency was filled with paranoia and that if he questioned his security chief it would undermine his authority.
He tells Palmer its time for him to return to civilian life and let him do his job.
Romo: What job, you suck, the other pres will be back soon enough.
Almeida is changing in the locker room and tells Jack he heard about how they are making him take the fall for the consulate attack. Bauer gets a calls, its Palmer.
Palmer tells him not to turn himself in. That the man who is gonna pick him up will kill him. Palmer tells Jack to leave, now!
Romo: Almeida is gonna save him
Murtz: And die!
Jack looks around.
6:44
The guy coming for Jack is with Chloe and enters CTU. He goes to Bill and gets him to sign a form to change custody of Bauer. He says he will not sign it until Bauer is debriefed. Bill says he wants Jack respected.
An alarm goes off.
Tony tells Bill that Jack escaped and that he ordered the lockdown. Jack is still inside the building.
6:45
commercial time.
Rob: What’s the call?
Murtz: Jack gets shot to end it.
Rob: Almeida and Michelle are gonna die
Romo: I hope its Edgar.
6:50
Tony is not sure why he escaped. He says Jack got a call though, not sure from who. The secret service guy says he is gonna go after him. Bill does not want the guy to go. Almeida says he is going with him. Bill orders him to allow Almeida to go.
Almeida and the guy look for Jack.
6:51
He yells for Jack and shots ring out.
Rob: Jack is gonna shoot Tony.
Jack fires more shots, the SS guy returns fire.
Tony says he is gonna bring Jack out. He puts his weapon down and moves over to Jack’s position. The SS guy followes.
Jack is down, he’s been shot. Tony reaches him and says that he is dead.
Murtz: Did he fake it?
The SS guy looks at Jack and checks his pulse, he seems satisfied.
Tony is pissed at the guy, he tells him Jack was shooting wide not at them. Tony goes after the guy. Bill gets between them. Chloe and Michelle look at Jack.
Tony is dejected. Tony asks for the epiephdrine. They are all in on it. Chloe hopes it works.
Tony injects him. No response.
Murtz: Tony’s acting is stellar.
Jack shakes and convulses. He coughs. Tony tells Chloe to get the body double ready.
Bill comes back and runs into Audrey
6:55
Bill tells her that Jack tried to escape, he is at a loss for words, she suspects”¦he can’t say it. She walks away.
Rob: Kill yourself, do it, you know you want to.
She leans against a wall and is in pain.
Murtz: I am horrified there wasn’t a turn.
Jack is in his SUV with Jack in the back. Michelle is in shotgun.
Tony has secured Jack a new identity to get him across the border. They drop Jack off so they can get back to CTU before they are missed. Jack thanks them.
Romo: Jack’s “death” has brought them closer together.
Tony calls Jack over and tells him to be careful. They shake hands.
Murtz: That’s what I was hoping for.
Rob: A tear would have been more poignant.
Jack picks up his cell and makes a call to Palmer. He thanks Palmer for the warning. Palmer tells him that when he hangs up for all intense and purposes Jack Bauer is dead. He tells Palmer that it has been an honour, same for him Palmer responds.
Jack hangs up.
He walks away, its dawn and he puts in the sunglasses. He is in a rail yard. The sun beats down on our hero at he leaves America, and himself.
6:59
Final Comments:
Dave: I thought it was better when he (Kiefer) died and came back to life in Flatliners.
Dan Hevia: The show that you need to watch, hit a home run once again. Satisfying the masses yet leaving them wanting more, Cassar, Surnow and their phenomenal cast pulled off a fantastic season. Now, instead of saying “I wanna be Jack Bauer!” who will we say we want to be?
Rob: You would think the story of unrequited love between Tony and Michelle would make me happy, think again. The anti-climatic finale soured the entire season. We didn’t even get the death of Edgar to satisfy this 24 fan.
Murtz: How Edgar Styles managed to survive his horrible diatary habits, his mothe’s death and being a general f*cktard is something that will continue to baffle me as I do not anxiously await season 5. If they wanted to write off the character of “Jack Bauer” then the least they could have done is provide us with a suitable alternate. I can think of three possibilities right off the top of my head: Harris Barnes/Habib Marwan, Tony Almeida and of course Brown Edgar. This is Murtz Jaffer, signing off on a disappointing finale. Bring on Rob and Amber.
Romo: The fact that two people mentioned Edgar in their finale comments is quite telling to the importance of his role this season. But I would prefer to focus on the man who will no doubt be the centrepiece in season 5, Tony Almeida. Jack Baue’s plot line sounds very Richard Kimble-like and it will be Tony who will have to vindicate Jack. I, unlike other, was satisfied with the finale although having Edgar, Chloe or Audrey die would have made me happier. That’s all folks, hope you enjoyed the season.
