Cable for One – 24 – Day 6 – 1:00 AM

Shows

Another kind of off week for 24. Maybe they’re trying to save up all the exciting developments for sweeps or something because this week’s episode was definitely lacking on that front.

Are we supposed to sympathize with VP Daniels now? Cause it seemed like they were trying to make us do that this week. What with his making peace with Karen, the sob story about his dead wife and his being taken advantage of by Lisa. Of course, any sympathy he may have built up (not very much considering he’s still just as crazy as he was before) was probably wiped out when he threatened to declare Lisa an enemy combatant and stick her in solitary confinement if she told anyone about their relationship; just a wee bit of abuse of authority there. Considering Tom also has information that could be used to embarrass Daniels, Tom may want to make arrangements for said information to be released if Tom himself ends up being declared an enemy combatant at some point.

The whole storyline with Lisa playing Daniels while being played herself by a Russian spy was unusual in that we have no reason to really like or care about any of them. And assuming there’s not a second spy, it’s going to short circuit the whole Russian threat storyline in a hurry. But even so the storyline was worthwhile if only for the scene where Daniels told Tom about his relationship with Lisa. In theory that scene helps to explain the creepy relationship that existed between Daniels and Lisa but I had a hard time paying attention. Every time I tried to listen they’d cut back to the shocked look on Tom’s face and I’d start laughing all over again. You’d think that Daniels had just confessed to a goat fetish by the look on Tom’s face. Definitely the highlight of the episode.

A character who’s having more success on the becoming likable front is Doyle. I think his actions in this episode (with the defending Audrey/freeing Jack/etc) officially make him a likable character. We still don’t know what went on in Dallas that made Milo dislike Doyle so much, but after the first couple episodes (where he acted like quite the jackass) he’s mellowed out substantially. If he survives the next four hours he could make a good addition to the team for next season.

Speaking of teams, things continue to look grim for Chloe and Morris. I don’t really like the Chloe/Morris pairing but I still had to feel bad for Chloe this week. Even when Edgar died I don’t think we’ve ever seen Chloe looking so hurt/vulnerable; she’s not really one for vulnerability most of the time. I’m wondering about her disappearance after Morris dumped her. We’re obviously supposed to believe that she’s off being upset but there’s something that feels slightly off about that, like perhaps there’s something else going on. What that something is, I really have no idea; I guess we’ll have to wait until next week to see what/if there is something.

I’m liking Nadia as acting head of CTU. The conversation where she basically told Karen she was a moron for firing Bill was definitely one of the highlights of the episode. Of course, given that she’s proving semi-adept at her job, I fully expect a really bad replacement to arrive from division in the very near future (which, of course, will further underline what a bad decision Karen made when she fired her husband in the middle of a crisis).

Getting to the whole post traumatic stress club Jack and Audrey have going on, I’m glad they explained why Audrey was talking before. I had thought it odd she was able to talk to Jack on the phone; I didn’t even realize that she said the exact same words just after she was rescued last week. I’m hoping even if she’s still around for the rest of the season she won’t be acting much like herself. People on 24 do have a tendency to make miraculous recoveries in a matter of minutes but in this case I think it would be best for Audrey to remain a shell of her former self. If she’s on the show again next season, then she can be getting back to normal but she should remain semi-coherent at best for now.

It still remains to be seen if Audrey actually will be on the show over the next few hours or not thanks to the return of Secretary Heller. I do appreciate the show ending with something other than a sudden revelation or Jack being in a life-threatening situation; all too many episodes of 24 end with one of those two things and so a change of pace is a good idea. I also was glad to see the return of Heller. But wow, did his conversation with Jack ever make for a weak ending.

Jack and Heller used to have a fairly good relationship over the last couple seasons which gave the scene marginally more impact, but really the whole “stay away from my daughter” bit is something that’s more at home on a teen drama than on a show like 24. And yet that was supposed to be the big dramatic conclusion? Not exactly something that will keep you on the edge of your seat for the next week.

This week seemed to be really about treading water. We introduced a new story element with the Russians which is looking to be resolved almost as quickly as it was introduced. Cheng uploaded his schematic but then was delayed by some random damage to the circuit board. Morris reiterated that he was finished with Chloe. The only stuff that really felt it was moving the plot forward was the stuff with Jack and Audrey, and even then not that much really happened. It’s odd that the writers introduced a whole new second major plot for the last seven hours of the season but now seem to be having trouble stretching out the plot to last the rest of the season. I guess unlike all their other plots they can’t have the terrorists keep switching targets as to what they want to gas/explode.