“The only death on my head tonight is yours.”
With that line comes one of the most badass Jack Bauer moves ever. In a scene that’s quite a surprise, given there are still three episodes left, he pushes Margot al-Harazi out a window through which moments before, her son fell through on his way toward a long plummet to his death. Just like that, the supposed Big Bad of Live Another Day is wiped out, and the season’s taken another turn.
Now, the episode opens with a decision I’m still not very fond of: the Heller death revealed to be a technical trick, therefore diminishing the power of last week’s buildup quite a bit. I had a sinking feeling that the lack of a silent clock marked something other than what we saw, and I was right; I would really like to see the show deal with something of the magnitude of a Heller death in this final arc, but alas, it’s not meant to be. That’s not to say that him being alive doesn’t add an extra oomph to Margot al-Harazi’s final push; it certainly does, pulling her down from the woman who’ll stand by her promise to a woman hell bent on seeing people suffer. She’s been betrayed, and and betrayal is a knife right in her heart.
So, it makes it particularly exciting when Jack and his team converge on the al-Harazi hiding space, with the show’s penchant for intense action scenes once again shining through. It all culminates in that aforementioned “al-Harazis, meet the pavement” scene, and it’s fitting that at this point in his journey, Jack Bauer would do something like this.
Of course, not all things are meant to last. Bauer has the satisfaction of dispatching the terrorist threat and saving London and the President (all in the span of about 28 minutes), but at the end of the episode, Chloe’s left with Adrian Cross. The government’s power has been restored by Jack, but he loses Chloe to an organization bent on taking down the government. He also finds out that Steve Navarro is a mole, and he ends the episode chasing after the director (who’ll hopefully run into Aaron Pierce, which will result in him being demolished by Agent Pierce in a wonderful display of martial arts).
The season reaches its crescendo with this episode, and hopefully, it has more in store for us.
GRADE: A-
OTHER THOUGHTS:
-I’m nervous for Chloe. I hope the show doesn’t do anything to her.
-So, uh, how ’bout that forgery now, Mark? Not looking so good for you, buddy.
-Man, another one of Catelyn’s kids gets thrown out of a window. Of course, you could do worse than having it be Jack Bauer who does it.
-Another awesome Jack Bauer moment: him threatening the guard in order to keep him quiet, then knocking him out afterward just because.
-Three more left. It looks like there will be no time jump, which is a shame because I would definitely like to see something like that. However, the show restricting itself to twelve hours has certainly done wonders, so you won’t hear too much complaining from me.
Photo credit: FOX, 24: Live Another Day
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I have a bad feeling that Chloe may not make out alive.