Friday, April 23, 2004
Rodney Charters answers sneaky fans
So loads of sneaky fans ended up actually sending an email to Rodney Charters, ASC, CSC after the website sylviaimports.com turned out to be registered to him. I was not one of them because I'm a big chicken (and I don't recommend bombarding his email now either.) Surprisingly, he very graciously sent back a reply to those who had emailed him:
Thank-you to all of you who tracked me down. I secured the site name as we shot the scene and then could not come up with something smart enough to do with it. The writers and the set crew, were way too busy just shooting the show. I was going to put up a QTVR of the whole crew in CTU but didn't get it photographed in time. It used to point to my web site at www.rodneycharters.com as the purchase was piggy backed on my site, but I disabled that when I discovered the link.
Anyhow proves the power of the net since a bunch of you sleuthed about and came up with my address and e-mailed me, 3 of you even called and asked for Mr Saunders? Thank-you, we love making the show for you.
Please buy the DVD and tell your friends.
Yes we will all be back next year as of yesterday so congrats to Jack Bauer and the team at CTU.
Cheers
Rodney Charters
Director of Photography on "24"
I think that's pretty damn cool.
Thank-you to all of you who tracked me down. I secured the site name as we shot the scene and then could not come up with something smart enough to do with it. The writers and the set crew, were way too busy just shooting the show. I was going to put up a QTVR of the whole crew in CTU but didn't get it photographed in time. It used to point to my web site at www.rodneycharters.com as the purchase was piggy backed on my site, but I disabled that when I discovered the link.
Anyhow proves the power of the net since a bunch of you sleuthed about and came up with my address and e-mailed me, 3 of you even called and asked for Mr Saunders? Thank-you, we love making the show for you.
Please buy the DVD and tell your friends.
Yes we will all be back next year as of yesterday so congrats to Jack Bauer and the team at CTU.
Cheers
Rodney Charters
Director of Photography on "24"
I think that's pretty damn cool.
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Wednesday, April 21, 2004
7am - 8am
Well here it is, the day after, and I'm still feeling as though last night's show was more of a transitional show to move the story along. But that's okay. That's not a bad thing because it was still pretty kickass and I'm going to try not to compare to episode 18.
So we opened with Jack staring at Ryan's body. Yep, he is most definitely dead. *moment of silence for friend-less hero Ryan Chappelle*.... You know, I bet Jack doesn't have many friends either. I can't imagine him coming home from a day like this one and stopping off at Albertson's to pick up hot dogs for a barbecue with the neighbours at the weekend. But at least he has Kim......
As Jack stands over the body, Saunders' thugs pull up in the unmarked black van and proceed to check him for tracking devices. Jack stands facing them in classic Jack-and-his-gun pose that I love so very much. One of the thugs stands in much the same pose but doesn't look nearly as cool as Jack. They leave with the body and Jack hurries back to the chopper to head back to CTU. As he flies back he calls Palmer to inform him that the deed is done. Palmer's pissed off and does not want to continue down this road of caving in to Saunders' demands. He asks Wayne to convene the cabinet. (About time too.)
Back at CTU the techs discover a thread Ryan was working up 'on his own'. Why he didn't mention it to Jack during the scramble to save his life remains to be seen, but we find out that Saunders has a daughter. A nineteen year old student at UC Santa Barbara named Jane. When Jack calls in to CTU to inform Tony about Chappelle he learns about this and correctly assumes Saunders will have someone watching Jane so he suggests trying to find a look-alike agent to swap her with while Jane is interrogated. Chloe gets right on it. But uh-oh... The only viable look-alike is Kim. You can tell Tony is not happy about having to tell Jack he needs to send his daughter into the field. Kim is informed about the need to use her but Tony, very benignly I thought, tells her that the choice is hers. He won't order her to do it. Kim bravely agrees. Yes I said bravely. I'd be scared to death to do something so risky - but especially knowing my father is going to go ballistic when he finds out.
As of this moment in the hour the agents are also working on tracking Cole who's out and about infecting as he goes. Cole's nose is bleeding profusely so he goes to a pharmacy, bumps into a lady there and infects everyone with whom he comes into contact. Don't forget that once a person becomes symptomatic, they are extremely contagious. Chase has interrogated Cole's wife who realises her hubby was out cheating on her and voices her opinion that she hopes he dies. She's going to get her wish methinks. But alas, so will she because she was around him when he began to bleed.
As Kim prepares to head for Santa Barbara, Chloe gets a little bitchy about Kim getting sent out in the field. I'm getting the distinct impression that Chloe is going to lose it at some point in the next few hours. She keeps making comments such as 'This thing is out of control.' and looking increasingly more worried. I wonder if she'll go into panic mode and botch something up.
Jack returns and asks Tony for an update on the look-alike. When he finds out Kim's the one, man-oh-man does he go ballistic. Poor post-surgery Tony gets knocked around the room by a furious Jack who refuses to let her go into the field. But Tony's got some cajones because he won't back down. Kim works for him, not Jack and it was her decision to go through with it. So Jack barges into the room where Kim is being briefed and manhandles everyone but her out of the room. I haven't seen Jack this pissed for a while now. I think I like it *flashes her SFU card :)*
Jack informs Kim that he will not allow her to go through with this. He tells her, quite forcefully as he pushes her against the wall that he put her at CTU to keep her safe. But Kim tearfully tells her father that she took the job because she wanted it. That she feels it's her decision - her duty to do as she's asked. This was such a good scene, I enjoyed it immensely. Jack can't think of anything to stop his daughter. He has no choice but to let her, but heaven help anyone who might tell him he can't head the mission.
When she's through being prepped, Jack escorts her onto the helicopter pad and tells her to keep her head down as much as possible and stay at least 10 feet behind the counter of the library where Jane Saunders works. He hands her a gun and they board the chopper. Kind of eerie to think this is the same chopper Chappelle was sitting in just a half an hour earlier. And you know, I've been to Santa Barbara and L.A. and I can't recall how far away they are from each other. I know in 24-land distances are shorter and as a fan one must be willing to suspend disbelief now and again, but it didn't seem to take long to fly to UCSB. But I shall fanwank it if they did fusge that a little. It matters not in the grander scheme of the show.
While they are en route, Palmer addresses his cabinet and catches them up on the events at the Chandler. Why haven't they been told before now I wonder? There was a feeling of stunned horror when they were told that the President has already given in to 2 of Saunders' demands. But Palmer waves off the talk of never negotiating by explaining that he was trying to buy time for CTU to find Saunders. He had no choice but to order Chapelle's death because it could prevent, or at least delay the deaths of millions. He then asks his staff to open up all of their files so that CTU has everything they might need at their disposal.
At CTU, Chloe asks Tony about something regarding Chapelle's 3pm briefing and Tony takes that moment to tell the staff that Ryan has been killed in the line of duty. He doesn't go into detail, but you can see how shocked everyone is. He may not have been liked, but it's still disheartening to lose on of your own. This makes me ponder whether the staff will ever know that Jack killed him. I don't think that would be announced, but eventually, assuming Jack lives through all of this, he will have to be debriefed and surely it would come out then. Would he be vilified for what he had to do?
Anyway, Chase calls in and learns that Kim's out in the field, which pisses him off, but methinks Chase is getting a bit uppity lately. Maybe sort of cocky. I don't know how he ranks in the organization but he doesn't seem to be leery of piping in his opinion without knowing the facts first. Maybe when he learns of Ryan's death and the manner in which it took place he'll learn that he lives on a need-to-know basis and to keep his mouth shut. I'm not dissing Chase because I like him, but the past couple of hours he's gotten a little cocky.
By this time our contagious cheating husband has found his way to an Urgent Care Center (later we learn the address of it and I swear I heard Tony say Something and Morepark - er however it's spelled. Could it be the very same Urgent Care Center where Jack ripped open a man to get a chip only to find himself in the basement of it getting tortured minutes later? I think it might be!) and after a while the staff behind the desk cops onto who he is and he's quickly isolated. But not before he's infected everyone he's come into contact with in the waiting room. Once CTU learns he's been caught, we learn the 'ripple effect' of the fact that he was out wandering the streets in his condition. It's entirely possible that CTU now has to deal with an outbreak.
Now we visit Saunders who receives verification that Chappelle is indeed dead (told you!) Saunders tells a flunky to be sure that Jane is kept in sight constantly because the next few hours are crucial to his plans apparently. He then rings Palmer. Now we get to learn about his 'main event' and his motives (maybe). Seems he wants to 'cleanse' America and prevent further American atrocities by dismantling military operations around the world. I nicked that bit of info from FOX because I'll admit this part of the episode was a bit unclear to me. Saunders said 'The world hates America.' I know that much. Well *I* could have told Palmer that. So Saunders tells Palmer instead and then demands he be given a list of foreign nationals working covertly as spies in their own countries. The list is to be transmitted via the web at the site called sylviaimports.com. (Go ahead, click it :) ). And like I said a post or so ago, the domain is registered to Rodney Charters :) Saunders gives Palmer an hour to comply or he'll release 2 vials of virus.
Jack and Kim land at UCSB and Kim gets into hair and makeup. Other agents have already set up a staging area on campus and are ready for them to arrive. As Kim is made up to look like Jane, Jack gets a little touchy about the shade of the wig Kim is wearing. I can feel his angst at letting his daughter do this. He wants nothing to go wrong and every little detail counts. But there's nothing they can do about the wig. Soon Kim is positioned inside the library bathroom, ready for the swap. An agent spills a drink on Jane, forcing her to go into the bathroom to clean up. She's chloroformed, her clothes are switched with Kim's and Kim heads back out into the library, followed very closely by CTU surveillance. She does pretty well and is soon situated behind a computer and out of site of people in the library - one of whom could be Jane's bodyguard.
While Kim seems to be relatively okay, Jack leaves the monitor to the other agents and goes to interrogate Jane. And what I would have given to be Jane Saunders at this point in time. Phwoar. He wakes her up with the old smelling salt trick (do those things really smell that bad?) and Jane is frightened (understandably.) She's handcuffed to a chair alone in a room with Jack. Oh god I think I just had an orgasm. He asks her to tell him where her father is and of course, she says she doesn't know. They barely speak. They just have dinner twice a year and he sends money. And of course Jack does not believe her. She he lays it all out for her. Everything her father is doing, and very menacingly tells her that there will be no lawyers today. It's just him, and her. *shiver*
Unfortunately, they are interrupted. A man with a red shirt is trying to get Kim to help him and this man is one the agents had been wary of. So Jack goes out to monitor Kim again and has her step away from the desk and go put some books away on the shelf as another library staff member helps the man with the red shirt. As Kim sort of hides in the stacks, the surveillance camera pans away from her and they're unable to see her. It's just then that she's grabbed by Jane's bodyguard and dragged out of the library. In a flash Jack's out of the surveillance room and running across the campus towards the library. Before he gets to it, Kim has managed to knock the guy's gun out of his hand and pull out her own. During their struggle there is a gunshot and the guy goes down (oh for a split second we're left to wonder if it was Kim who was shot, but no it wasn't. Ha ha faked us out :)
As Jack calls for help with the guy, Kim says to Jack, "Saunders is going to know we have his daughter." Tick boom, tick boom.
Phew!! See? Lie I said a hell of a lot of exposition, mixed with some action, angst, and anger. Good stuff!
So we opened with Jack staring at Ryan's body. Yep, he is most definitely dead. *moment of silence for friend-less hero Ryan Chappelle*.... You know, I bet Jack doesn't have many friends either. I can't imagine him coming home from a day like this one and stopping off at Albertson's to pick up hot dogs for a barbecue with the neighbours at the weekend. But at least he has Kim......
As Jack stands over the body, Saunders' thugs pull up in the unmarked black van and proceed to check him for tracking devices. Jack stands facing them in classic Jack-and-his-gun pose that I love so very much. One of the thugs stands in much the same pose but doesn't look nearly as cool as Jack. They leave with the body and Jack hurries back to the chopper to head back to CTU. As he flies back he calls Palmer to inform him that the deed is done. Palmer's pissed off and does not want to continue down this road of caving in to Saunders' demands. He asks Wayne to convene the cabinet. (About time too.)
Back at CTU the techs discover a thread Ryan was working up 'on his own'. Why he didn't mention it to Jack during the scramble to save his life remains to be seen, but we find out that Saunders has a daughter. A nineteen year old student at UC Santa Barbara named Jane. When Jack calls in to CTU to inform Tony about Chappelle he learns about this and correctly assumes Saunders will have someone watching Jane so he suggests trying to find a look-alike agent to swap her with while Jane is interrogated. Chloe gets right on it. But uh-oh... The only viable look-alike is Kim. You can tell Tony is not happy about having to tell Jack he needs to send his daughter into the field. Kim is informed about the need to use her but Tony, very benignly I thought, tells her that the choice is hers. He won't order her to do it. Kim bravely agrees. Yes I said bravely. I'd be scared to death to do something so risky - but especially knowing my father is going to go ballistic when he finds out.
As of this moment in the hour the agents are also working on tracking Cole who's out and about infecting as he goes. Cole's nose is bleeding profusely so he goes to a pharmacy, bumps into a lady there and infects everyone with whom he comes into contact. Don't forget that once a person becomes symptomatic, they are extremely contagious. Chase has interrogated Cole's wife who realises her hubby was out cheating on her and voices her opinion that she hopes he dies. She's going to get her wish methinks. But alas, so will she because she was around him when he began to bleed.
As Kim prepares to head for Santa Barbara, Chloe gets a little bitchy about Kim getting sent out in the field. I'm getting the distinct impression that Chloe is going to lose it at some point in the next few hours. She keeps making comments such as 'This thing is out of control.' and looking increasingly more worried. I wonder if she'll go into panic mode and botch something up.
Jack returns and asks Tony for an update on the look-alike. When he finds out Kim's the one, man-oh-man does he go ballistic. Poor post-surgery Tony gets knocked around the room by a furious Jack who refuses to let her go into the field. But Tony's got some cajones because he won't back down. Kim works for him, not Jack and it was her decision to go through with it. So Jack barges into the room where Kim is being briefed and manhandles everyone but her out of the room. I haven't seen Jack this pissed for a while now. I think I like it *flashes her SFU card :)*
Jack informs Kim that he will not allow her to go through with this. He tells her, quite forcefully as he pushes her against the wall that he put her at CTU to keep her safe. But Kim tearfully tells her father that she took the job because she wanted it. That she feels it's her decision - her duty to do as she's asked. This was such a good scene, I enjoyed it immensely. Jack can't think of anything to stop his daughter. He has no choice but to let her, but heaven help anyone who might tell him he can't head the mission.
When she's through being prepped, Jack escorts her onto the helicopter pad and tells her to keep her head down as much as possible and stay at least 10 feet behind the counter of the library where Jane Saunders works. He hands her a gun and they board the chopper. Kind of eerie to think this is the same chopper Chappelle was sitting in just a half an hour earlier. And you know, I've been to Santa Barbara and L.A. and I can't recall how far away they are from each other. I know in 24-land distances are shorter and as a fan one must be willing to suspend disbelief now and again, but it didn't seem to take long to fly to UCSB. But I shall fanwank it if they did fusge that a little. It matters not in the grander scheme of the show.
While they are en route, Palmer addresses his cabinet and catches them up on the events at the Chandler. Why haven't they been told before now I wonder? There was a feeling of stunned horror when they were told that the President has already given in to 2 of Saunders' demands. But Palmer waves off the talk of never negotiating by explaining that he was trying to buy time for CTU to find Saunders. He had no choice but to order Chapelle's death because it could prevent, or at least delay the deaths of millions. He then asks his staff to open up all of their files so that CTU has everything they might need at their disposal.
At CTU, Chloe asks Tony about something regarding Chapelle's 3pm briefing and Tony takes that moment to tell the staff that Ryan has been killed in the line of duty. He doesn't go into detail, but you can see how shocked everyone is. He may not have been liked, but it's still disheartening to lose on of your own. This makes me ponder whether the staff will ever know that Jack killed him. I don't think that would be announced, but eventually, assuming Jack lives through all of this, he will have to be debriefed and surely it would come out then. Would he be vilified for what he had to do?
Anyway, Chase calls in and learns that Kim's out in the field, which pisses him off, but methinks Chase is getting a bit uppity lately. Maybe sort of cocky. I don't know how he ranks in the organization but he doesn't seem to be leery of piping in his opinion without knowing the facts first. Maybe when he learns of Ryan's death and the manner in which it took place he'll learn that he lives on a need-to-know basis and to keep his mouth shut. I'm not dissing Chase because I like him, but the past couple of hours he's gotten a little cocky.
By this time our contagious cheating husband has found his way to an Urgent Care Center (later we learn the address of it and I swear I heard Tony say Something and Morepark - er however it's spelled. Could it be the very same Urgent Care Center where Jack ripped open a man to get a chip only to find himself in the basement of it getting tortured minutes later? I think it might be!) and after a while the staff behind the desk cops onto who he is and he's quickly isolated. But not before he's infected everyone he's come into contact with in the waiting room. Once CTU learns he's been caught, we learn the 'ripple effect' of the fact that he was out wandering the streets in his condition. It's entirely possible that CTU now has to deal with an outbreak.
Now we visit Saunders who receives verification that Chappelle is indeed dead (told you!) Saunders tells a flunky to be sure that Jane is kept in sight constantly because the next few hours are crucial to his plans apparently. He then rings Palmer. Now we get to learn about his 'main event' and his motives (maybe). Seems he wants to 'cleanse' America and prevent further American atrocities by dismantling military operations around the world. I nicked that bit of info from FOX because I'll admit this part of the episode was a bit unclear to me. Saunders said 'The world hates America.' I know that much. Well *I* could have told Palmer that. So Saunders tells Palmer instead and then demands he be given a list of foreign nationals working covertly as spies in their own countries. The list is to be transmitted via the web at the site called sylviaimports.com. (Go ahead, click it :) ). And like I said a post or so ago, the domain is registered to Rodney Charters :) Saunders gives Palmer an hour to comply or he'll release 2 vials of virus.
Jack and Kim land at UCSB and Kim gets into hair and makeup. Other agents have already set up a staging area on campus and are ready for them to arrive. As Kim is made up to look like Jane, Jack gets a little touchy about the shade of the wig Kim is wearing. I can feel his angst at letting his daughter do this. He wants nothing to go wrong and every little detail counts. But there's nothing they can do about the wig. Soon Kim is positioned inside the library bathroom, ready for the swap. An agent spills a drink on Jane, forcing her to go into the bathroom to clean up. She's chloroformed, her clothes are switched with Kim's and Kim heads back out into the library, followed very closely by CTU surveillance. She does pretty well and is soon situated behind a computer and out of site of people in the library - one of whom could be Jane's bodyguard.
While Kim seems to be relatively okay, Jack leaves the monitor to the other agents and goes to interrogate Jane. And what I would have given to be Jane Saunders at this point in time. Phwoar. He wakes her up with the old smelling salt trick (do those things really smell that bad?) and Jane is frightened (understandably.) She's handcuffed to a chair alone in a room with Jack. Oh god I think I just had an orgasm. He asks her to tell him where her father is and of course, she says she doesn't know. They barely speak. They just have dinner twice a year and he sends money. And of course Jack does not believe her. She he lays it all out for her. Everything her father is doing, and very menacingly tells her that there will be no lawyers today. It's just him, and her. *shiver*
Unfortunately, they are interrupted. A man with a red shirt is trying to get Kim to help him and this man is one the agents had been wary of. So Jack goes out to monitor Kim again and has her step away from the desk and go put some books away on the shelf as another library staff member helps the man with the red shirt. As Kim sort of hides in the stacks, the surveillance camera pans away from her and they're unable to see her. It's just then that she's grabbed by Jane's bodyguard and dragged out of the library. In a flash Jack's out of the surveillance room and running across the campus towards the library. Before he gets to it, Kim has managed to knock the guy's gun out of his hand and pull out her own. During their struggle there is a gunshot and the guy goes down (oh for a split second we're left to wonder if it was Kim who was shot, but no it wasn't. Ha ha faked us out :)
As Jack calls for help with the guy, Kim says to Jack, "Saunders is going to know we have his daughter." Tick boom, tick boom.
Phew!! See? Lie I said a hell of a lot of exposition, mixed with some action, angst, and anger. Good stuff!
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24 is renewed!
First USAToday reported 24 as one of the FOX programs that will return in the fall (but their story was about the summer schedule, so was unsure if the comment about 24 in the Fall was just speculation), now Zap2It's article has more of an official ring to it. It looks like my beloved show will be back for a fourth season.
Please oh please let Kiefer still be on it...... I can live if he isn't but I'll be oh-so-disappointed.
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - With its summer programming slate already in order, FOX is looking forward to the fall, renewing a quartet of its strongest current offerings. The network announced on Wednesday (April 21) that Golden Globe winning drama "24," admired comedies "The Bernie Mac Show" and "Malcolm in the Middle" and popular freshman drama "The O.C." will be back for a full season next year.
Woot!
That's all for now. Recap is being worked on :)
Please oh please let Kiefer still be on it...... I can live if he isn't but I'll be oh-so-disappointed.
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - With its summer programming slate already in order, FOX is looking forward to the fall, renewing a quartet of its strongest current offerings. The network announced on Wednesday (April 21) that Golden Globe winning drama "24," admired comedies "The Bernie Mac Show" and "Malcolm in the Middle" and popular freshman drama "The O.C." will be back for a full season next year.
Woot!
That's all for now. Recap is being worked on :)
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Tuesday, April 20, 2004
Showdown at the CTU Corral
That was cool. I thought Jack was going to clock Tony.
I feel that tonight's show was all about moving the story along. We had many things to cover: Escaped cheating husband, Giving Ryan's body to Saunders' thugs (Yes, Chappelle is truly dead.), giving Jack very little time to digest what he's just done, Palmer convening the cabinet, discovering a new thread and that Saunders has a daughter named Jane, Jack making the call for a CTU agent to switch places with Jane in Santa Barbara, Chloe coming up with the only viable match: Kim, Tony giving Kim the assignment and her acceptance of it, Jack finding out and nearly kicking Tony's ass, and nice showdown between Jack and Kim, Saunders making his weird demand known (something or other about giving him a list of in-country spies in a bunch of different countries), the switch taking place, Jack interrogating the hell out of Jane as Kim gets taken by one of Saunders' thugs, Kim shooting her kidnapper before they get away (go Kim!), knowing that Saunders will realise Jane's been taken, tick boom...
Hey look at that, I recapped in a paragraph. Yes Virginia, it is possible! But I didn't do it justice. It was a great episode, truly. But coming so soon on the heels of Chappelle's death (with the presidential shuffling and FOX's notion that pitting 24 against Alias and Sopranos is a good idea), I think this ep lost some of its impact. I think if I'd had a week to digest last week's episode, I would have 'felt' this hour more. Unfortunately I'm still reeling from Ryan's death.
But that's okay. I'm confident I will change my opinion upon further viewing :)
Oh, and sylviaimports.com is up now and has a cheeky little message posted on it. I love stuff like that :). Tthe domain is registered to Rodney Charters, the Director of Photography for the show :)
I feel that tonight's show was all about moving the story along. We had many things to cover: Escaped cheating husband, Giving Ryan's body to Saunders' thugs (Yes, Chappelle is truly dead.), giving Jack very little time to digest what he's just done, Palmer convening the cabinet, discovering a new thread and that Saunders has a daughter named Jane, Jack making the call for a CTU agent to switch places with Jane in Santa Barbara, Chloe coming up with the only viable match: Kim, Tony giving Kim the assignment and her acceptance of it, Jack finding out and nearly kicking Tony's ass, and nice showdown between Jack and Kim, Saunders making his weird demand known (something or other about giving him a list of in-country spies in a bunch of different countries), the switch taking place, Jack interrogating the hell out of Jane as Kim gets taken by one of Saunders' thugs, Kim shooting her kidnapper before they get away (go Kim!), knowing that Saunders will realise Jane's been taken, tick boom...
Hey look at that, I recapped in a paragraph. Yes Virginia, it is possible! But I didn't do it justice. It was a great episode, truly. But coming so soon on the heels of Chappelle's death (with the presidential shuffling and FOX's notion that pitting 24 against Alias and Sopranos is a good idea), I think this ep lost some of its impact. I think if I'd had a week to digest last week's episode, I would have 'felt' this hour more. Unfortunately I'm still reeling from Ryan's death.
But that's okay. I'm confident I will change my opinion upon further viewing :)
Oh, and sylviaimports.com is up now and has a cheeky little message posted on it. I love stuff like that :). Tthe domain is registered to Rodney Charters, the Director of Photography for the show :)
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Monday, April 19, 2004
24 One Shot
I know I should leave the recap up top for a bit but I thought this comic book thing was looking pretty good. 
IDW Publishing will be releasing a one-shot issue based on the hit Fox television series "24" called, appropriately, "24: One Shot." It's an all-new story worked up specifically for this comic by writers J.C. Vaughn and Mark L. Haynes. CBR News spoke with Vaughn and Haynes to see what we can expect with "24: One Shot."
"CTU agent Jack Bauer has to protect a beautiful terrorist, who up until this point has been among the worst of the worst," Vaughn told CBR News. "Her name is Moira O'Neal, she's from an IRA splinter faction, and things in her life have brought her to a point where she's changed, or at least seems to have changed. Now her former friends want to kill her. All this on Jack's first day at CTU."
Click here for a few more pix from the article.
IDW Publishing will be releasing a one-shot issue based on the hit Fox television series "24" called, appropriately, "24: One Shot." It's an all-new story worked up specifically for this comic by writers J.C. Vaughn and Mark L. Haynes. CBR News spoke with Vaughn and Haynes to see what we can expect with "24: One Shot."
"CTU agent Jack Bauer has to protect a beautiful terrorist, who up until this point has been among the worst of the worst," Vaughn told CBR News. "Her name is Moira O'Neal, she's from an IRA splinter faction, and things in her life have brought her to a point where she's changed, or at least seems to have changed. Now her former friends want to kill her. All this on Jack's first day at CTU."
Click here for a few more pix from the article.
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6am - 7am
Before I begin I just want to say that this episode ranks, for me, as one of the most emotional... most haunting episodes out of all three seasons. I realise some may find others, such as Teri's death, or Mason's sacrifice, more emotional but somehow, those were different. I cried more during Jack's goodbye to Kim in the plane more than I did for Mason's demise. But to me, Teri was killed by the 'bad guy' and it was definitely shocking and heart-wrenching. Mason was dying anyway and it was nice to see him take the hero route out. But last night's hour was different. And I'll explain later on why.
We begin with Wayne and David discussing Saunder's latest demand. Wayne attempts to justify it, Palmer angry at feeling powerless. But there's no way out. He has to continue to string Saunders along by giving in until CTU can find him and stop him. But it's hard for David to justify killing a top level government agent. How can David be above the law himself and order the execution of an innocent? Why does Saunders want Chappelle dead? We're led to believe from the last episode that Saunders knows Chappelle is following the 'bank trail'. So is he ordering the President to kill him merely as a way of using Palmer like a puppet? 'Look what I can make you do?' Or is he truly worried about what Chappelle may find? He did say that he knew Chappelle... I don't know. I hope all becomes clear soon.
Anyway, back at CTU Jack and Chase arrive with the hard drive from MI-6. He hands it off to Tech for analysing and then goes to see Chappelle. At this point, Jack doesn't know about Saunder's latest deman, and so he and Chappelle basically just catch each other up on what they're doing. They're interrupted by Chloe who tells Jack the President wants to speak with him in private. Palmer then proceeds to tell Jack that he has to deliver Chappelle's body to a trainyard downtown by 7am. I think Jack is stunned by this - stunned and confused. Why Chappelle? He's just a beaurocrat. What possible connection could the Suit have with an ex-MI-6 agent? Jack quickly realises that Palmer has no choice on this one. He knows there are eleven vials of virus out there in the world and after the Hotel, he knows Saunders has no qualms about releasing them. His only hope is to find Saunders before 7am.
Jack hangs up with Palmer and goes off to sort out the information Chappelle is working on. He puts Chloe on it. It was kind of nice to have some Chloe moments this episode. She was in rare form because Chappelle's mad at her for like, twelve things you see :) So while Jack's doing that Tony speaks to Michelle about the suicide capsules he's sending over. He's losing it, I can tell. The quivering chin, the swollen voice, the beads of sweat. The day is taking its toll on Tony and despite Chappele's harsh words the hour before, Tony can't forget his wife may be dying. As he hangs up with Michelle, after promising not to 'say their goodbyes' because the time isn't right, Tony struggles to regain control over his emotions when Jack walks in.
The power of a look says it all really. Jack knows what Tony's suffering through. You could see it in Jack's eyes - sympathy, strength... But there's business at hand to deal with and so they get on with it. Jack asks Tony if he knows of any possible connection between Chappelle and Saunders. Tony can think of none. Nada. He wants to know why Jack is asking. 'Because Saunders wants him dead.' He explains Saunders' demand to a bewildered Tony who then decides he needs to downgrade his security clearance because he's now a flight risk. Jack realises he's going to have to tell Chappelle the truth, but he and Tony decide to keep the info from everyone else.
As he walks back into Chappelle's work area, Ryan asks him what the President wanted. Rather than dance around the issue, Jack tells him flat out. Ryan is of course, visibly shaken. He staunchly denies ever even hearing Saunders' name before this day (which blows my theory that Chappelle might have had a hand in Operation Nightfall...) He's clearly confused about why he's on the chopping block all of the sudden. He's just the Suit. Jack deduces that it has to be because Ryan is on to something as he followed the money trail. He tells Ryan to give everything he's been working on over to Chloe so she can begin digging. I think Ryan, despite being shaken and disturbed by this, holds onto some hope that Jack the miracle-man can somehow find Saunders before 7am. As he tries to carry on working he comes up with an offshore bank account and tries to access it. But of course it's encrypted. "Another brick wall!" shouts an exasperated Ryan. Jack has him send that over to Chloe to break.
As Jack and Ryan work hard to track Saunders we go back to the Chandler Plaza Hotel in time to find Michelle looking upset to see Phillips, her stoic head of Security at the hotel come into the isolation area for those infected. His nose is bleeding profusely, and to see him like that seems to hit her hard. Phillips asks with quiet dignity if he can phone his wife. He just wants to hear her voice one last time. He says they can listen in and he won't say anything about the virus. But Michelle is forced to refuse his request. Man that was heartbreaking. I know she couldn't let him but still... *sniffle*
She turns to face everyone gathered behind plastic curtains. Michelle takes a moment to gather herself and then she tells everyone, in as direct a manner as she can, that they are going to die. She lays out the time frame, the symptoms, and that it will be extremely painful. She then offers them the alternative of the suicide capsules that will be arriving shortly. She wants them to know that they have to make the choice themselves, but that an alternative to a painful death is available. The pain and sympathy in her face is evident and it almost overwhelms you. To have to tell so many people they're about to die in a horrible way and they did nothing to deserve it... What a terrible burden but Michelle handles it well, with professionalism and dignity.
When she's done telling them about the capsules, she's informed by Sunny (I think) that there is that a possibility of an infected guest has escaped the hotel. The guest was a man who was there for a one night stand with some chick he met in a club. He was exposed but left before the hotel had been fully locked down and is apparently unaware of the happenings at the hotel. Michelle speaks to the woman who had come forward once she learned the gravity of the situation and Michelle orders her room to be dusted for prints by a forensics team (one of which was apparently Ed Miller whom you'll remember from Season 2 as the agent Jack drugged in the van with Nina :)
Meanwhile back at CTU, Chloe's a little short with Jack when he asks her to work only on breaking the encrypted account but won't tell her why. Chloe Chloe Chloe... Never question Jack. You just do as he says :) Kim offers to help Chloe and as Jack heads back over to Ryan, he notices Ryan has left the area. Ruh-roh. We then see Ryan trying to head out of the building, but jack was too quick for him. He had alerted security not to let Ryan out of the building and he confronted him in the hall flanked by two more security guys. Ryan claims to have just been going for a smoke. Jack asks Ryan to show him the pack of cigs. Ryan just looks at him. Jack then orders Ryan back to a holding room under the authority given to him by the President. Ryan gives him one of those 'you idiot' looks and holds up a pack of Camel Lights as he heads back with security.
Tony lets Jack know that Chase will head up a strike team to snatch Saunders when the info comes in and that he's ordered a helicopter for him and Ryan to take the to the trainyard. He then gets a call from Michelle letting him know that a possible infected victim has gotten out of the hotel and into the general population and they are working on identifying him. As they're pulling prints from the bar babe's room Michelle asks her to go over exactly what happened as they came into the room. She tells Michelle they began to kiss, they did not turn on the lights but headed for the bed. She says he began taking off her clothes, first her shirt, then her pants and it's then that Michelle notices the woman's belt. It has a metal, flat buckle and after examining it, they were able to pull a partial thumb off of it that did not belong to the woman.
She sends the print back to CTU and as Adam begins attempting to match it, we switch over to some guy sneaking back into his room at home, trying not to awaken his wife. At first I was like, 'Who the hell is this?' before it dawned on me that it's the infected hotel guy. His name is William Cole. Anyway Cole's wife wakes up anyway and questions him, but he just says he's been in meetings or whatever lame lie cheating husbands usually come up with and he heads into the bathroom. As he's washing his face, of course his nose begins to bleed. Dum da dum dum.
Chloe does it again! She decrypts the bank account and it shows that its been accessed as recently as 45 minutes before from a location not far from CTU. Chase is given the go ahead to hit the location. Jack tells Ryan the news and relief emanates from him like cheap cologne. He hugs Jack and begins to feel safe again. And I have to say the hug this time wasn't nearly as awkward as his hug with Michelle earlier in the day :) But the feeling of elation passes quickly as a grim Jack tells Ryan that they still have to go to the trainyard, just in case Chase's mission fails. He tries to assure Ryan by saying it's just a precaution, but there's still a sense of finality to it that forces Ryan to feel a returning sense of dread.
As they head for the roof, we go visit Palmer and find out that his press secretary is beginning to get 'feelers' from the press about what's happening at the Chandler. He tells the President that he appreciates that there are things he can't know but if what's happening at the hotel is connected to the red alert the President ordered, he should know. Wayne agrees and tells him about the virus. Clearly this disturbs the press secretary but he shoulders the info well for now. Palmer doesn't want him going public with anything until the virus is contained.
As Jack and Ryan prepare to board the helicopter, Chase stops them and asks why Jack's not going with him to get Saunders. Ryan tells him that he's ordered Jack over to Division to answer more questions. Chase kind of loses it and unleashes a bit of vitriol at Ryan, saying he's always putting obstacles in their way etc etc.. I think if 24 were on HBO we'd have heard a bit of strong profanity there :) But it was almost bittersweet because we know, and Jack and Ryan know that Ryan's probably never going to see CTU, or fly in a helicopter or anything ever again. He has to put his life in Chase's hands right now - well his hand anyway. It's kind of sad.
So Jack and Ryan fly off in the chopper, Jack at the controls, and Chase heads off to get Saunders. Adam pulls up 300 potential matches on the partial thumbprint and they have the woman at the hotel begin going through them until she finally identifies the guy. We see Saunders in his flat speaking to a flunky. He discovers only three of his operatives were able to reach their target cities before everything got grounded by the red alert. His casualty list has diminished. But this seems of little importance to him. 5 million dead, fifty million dead, it doesn't seem to matter. The flunky also seemed a bit worried about the possibility of the virus spreading beyond 'the Americas' but Saunders assured him that he was safe.
As Jack and Tony land at the trainyard, Tony patches them both into the realtime relay of Chase's operation. In a fakeout worthy of Silence of the Lambs, Chase and Agent Baker (whom you might also remember from Season 2 as the agent who helped Jack with Kate, Syed Ali and the bomb at the airport) take out, I think, five guards around the address Chloe got from the bank account, only to burst into the apartment to find nothing more than a switching node. The apartment is otherwise unoccupied.
Jack's cell phone rings as Chappelle quietly tries to disappear into his seat. With tears in his eyes, Jack answers. It's Saunders calling to gloat and to remind Jack that he expects Ryan's body to be left with his thugs who will be arriving in a van shortly. Ryan's face is pale. I can't imagine the things that might be going through his mind right at this moment. He knows he's doomed, and he knows Jack *will* carry out the order. God...
As they await the arrival of Saunders' thugs, we go back to the hotel and Dr. Sunny Macer grimly announces that the capsules have arrived. At first, the people are reluctant to come forward. What a decision to have to make. If it were me, I would be so torn between holding out hope that it's either all a dream, or that there is a cure because how tragic would it be to take your own life only to have it come out later that there is an antidote? Not that I think there is one of course, I just mean that's the sort of thing that would go through my mind. Maybe I'd feel differently once the pain of it set in.
Anyway, an older couple finally come forward with as much dignity as they can muster and they take the capsules from Sunny. We cut over to Cole, who is thinking he's caught a bug of some kind. His face is ashen and sweaty. he tells his wife he has to get to work.
And that's enough of everyone else. I want to concentrate on the end of the episode. Jack and Ryan are still in the chopper as a black van pulls up and waits. Jack phones CTU and has Adam position a satellite in an attempt to track the van after it leaves. He's sure Saunders will have counter-measures in place but he wants to try anyway. Jack tells Ryan it's time to go and gets out of the helicopter. He comes around to Ryan's door and when he opens it, Ryan says, "My legs are shaking." He says it in an almost perfunctory manner. Almost as if he's outside of the situation and clinically reporting the sensations he's feeling. His voice didn't shake, that I could tell, but just looking at him you can see the fear in his eyes.
"I've got you." Jack says as he helps Ryan out of the helicopter. Gutting.
They walk toward a spot between two trains and Jack asks Ryan if there's anyone he wants to talk to. But Ryan, sadly has no one. He says he has a brother that he hasn't spoken to in years. And he looks at Jack with such a look of.. I don't quite know but it was touching. He tells Jack that he didn't have many friends. So there's no one for him to say goodbye to. I think that's so sad. Jack has Ryan get down on his knees and this shapes up to be a classic execution pose. But with a single tear slipping down his face (an image I haven't been able to get out of my head all day today), Ryan pleads with Jack to let him have some dignity and take his own life. He swears he will not run all the while confessing that when Jack caught him before at CTU he had been prepared to bolt. But now he won't. He couldn't be responsible for the deaths of millions.
Jack concedes and hands Ryan his gun. After an anguishing minute watching Ryan hold the gun to his temple as Jack stands in front of him as witness to this atrocity, Ryan takes it away. He's unable to go through with it. I believe Jack understands. I believe Jack hoped Ryan would be able to do it himself, but he understood when he couldn't go through with it.. He takes his gun back, walks behind Ryan...
"God forgive me."
Jack fires and shoots Ryan in the head. Ryan falls to the ground with a sickening thud. And we see the silent clock tick down the end of the hour.
Earlier in this post I said that Chappelle's death was different. It was in that he wasn't killed by a baddie, he wasn't taken out in the line of duty... He was summarily executed by one of his own at the bidding of a terrorist. Here's a man who, an hour ago, was dinking around on a computer going blind from looking at endless numbers. Suddenly he's given less than an hour to reconcile himself to his own death. I can't even begin to imagine what that would feel like and like I said, the tear slipping down Ryan's cheek as he plead with Jack remains stuck in my head today.
We begin with Wayne and David discussing Saunder's latest demand. Wayne attempts to justify it, Palmer angry at feeling powerless. But there's no way out. He has to continue to string Saunders along by giving in until CTU can find him and stop him. But it's hard for David to justify killing a top level government agent. How can David be above the law himself and order the execution of an innocent? Why does Saunders want Chappelle dead? We're led to believe from the last episode that Saunders knows Chappelle is following the 'bank trail'. So is he ordering the President to kill him merely as a way of using Palmer like a puppet? 'Look what I can make you do?' Or is he truly worried about what Chappelle may find? He did say that he knew Chappelle... I don't know. I hope all becomes clear soon.
Anyway, back at CTU Jack and Chase arrive with the hard drive from MI-6. He hands it off to Tech for analysing and then goes to see Chappelle. At this point, Jack doesn't know about Saunder's latest deman, and so he and Chappelle basically just catch each other up on what they're doing. They're interrupted by Chloe who tells Jack the President wants to speak with him in private. Palmer then proceeds to tell Jack that he has to deliver Chappelle's body to a trainyard downtown by 7am. I think Jack is stunned by this - stunned and confused. Why Chappelle? He's just a beaurocrat. What possible connection could the Suit have with an ex-MI-6 agent? Jack quickly realises that Palmer has no choice on this one. He knows there are eleven vials of virus out there in the world and after the Hotel, he knows Saunders has no qualms about releasing them. His only hope is to find Saunders before 7am.
Jack hangs up with Palmer and goes off to sort out the information Chappelle is working on. He puts Chloe on it. It was kind of nice to have some Chloe moments this episode. She was in rare form because Chappelle's mad at her for like, twelve things you see :) So while Jack's doing that Tony speaks to Michelle about the suicide capsules he's sending over. He's losing it, I can tell. The quivering chin, the swollen voice, the beads of sweat. The day is taking its toll on Tony and despite Chappele's harsh words the hour before, Tony can't forget his wife may be dying. As he hangs up with Michelle, after promising not to 'say their goodbyes' because the time isn't right, Tony struggles to regain control over his emotions when Jack walks in.
The power of a look says it all really. Jack knows what Tony's suffering through. You could see it in Jack's eyes - sympathy, strength... But there's business at hand to deal with and so they get on with it. Jack asks Tony if he knows of any possible connection between Chappelle and Saunders. Tony can think of none. Nada. He wants to know why Jack is asking. 'Because Saunders wants him dead.' He explains Saunders' demand to a bewildered Tony who then decides he needs to downgrade his security clearance because he's now a flight risk. Jack realises he's going to have to tell Chappelle the truth, but he and Tony decide to keep the info from everyone else.
As he walks back into Chappelle's work area, Ryan asks him what the President wanted. Rather than dance around the issue, Jack tells him flat out. Ryan is of course, visibly shaken. He staunchly denies ever even hearing Saunders' name before this day (which blows my theory that Chappelle might have had a hand in Operation Nightfall...) He's clearly confused about why he's on the chopping block all of the sudden. He's just the Suit. Jack deduces that it has to be because Ryan is on to something as he followed the money trail. He tells Ryan to give everything he's been working on over to Chloe so she can begin digging. I think Ryan, despite being shaken and disturbed by this, holds onto some hope that Jack the miracle-man can somehow find Saunders before 7am. As he tries to carry on working he comes up with an offshore bank account and tries to access it. But of course it's encrypted. "Another brick wall!" shouts an exasperated Ryan. Jack has him send that over to Chloe to break.
As Jack and Ryan work hard to track Saunders we go back to the Chandler Plaza Hotel in time to find Michelle looking upset to see Phillips, her stoic head of Security at the hotel come into the isolation area for those infected. His nose is bleeding profusely, and to see him like that seems to hit her hard. Phillips asks with quiet dignity if he can phone his wife. He just wants to hear her voice one last time. He says they can listen in and he won't say anything about the virus. But Michelle is forced to refuse his request. Man that was heartbreaking. I know she couldn't let him but still... *sniffle*
She turns to face everyone gathered behind plastic curtains. Michelle takes a moment to gather herself and then she tells everyone, in as direct a manner as she can, that they are going to die. She lays out the time frame, the symptoms, and that it will be extremely painful. She then offers them the alternative of the suicide capsules that will be arriving shortly. She wants them to know that they have to make the choice themselves, but that an alternative to a painful death is available. The pain and sympathy in her face is evident and it almost overwhelms you. To have to tell so many people they're about to die in a horrible way and they did nothing to deserve it... What a terrible burden but Michelle handles it well, with professionalism and dignity.
When she's done telling them about the capsules, she's informed by Sunny (I think) that there is that a possibility of an infected guest has escaped the hotel. The guest was a man who was there for a one night stand with some chick he met in a club. He was exposed but left before the hotel had been fully locked down and is apparently unaware of the happenings at the hotel. Michelle speaks to the woman who had come forward once she learned the gravity of the situation and Michelle orders her room to be dusted for prints by a forensics team (one of which was apparently Ed Miller whom you'll remember from Season 2 as the agent Jack drugged in the van with Nina :)
Meanwhile back at CTU, Chloe's a little short with Jack when he asks her to work only on breaking the encrypted account but won't tell her why. Chloe Chloe Chloe... Never question Jack. You just do as he says :) Kim offers to help Chloe and as Jack heads back over to Ryan, he notices Ryan has left the area. Ruh-roh. We then see Ryan trying to head out of the building, but jack was too quick for him. He had alerted security not to let Ryan out of the building and he confronted him in the hall flanked by two more security guys. Ryan claims to have just been going for a smoke. Jack asks Ryan to show him the pack of cigs. Ryan just looks at him. Jack then orders Ryan back to a holding room under the authority given to him by the President. Ryan gives him one of those 'you idiot' looks and holds up a pack of Camel Lights as he heads back with security.
Tony lets Jack know that Chase will head up a strike team to snatch Saunders when the info comes in and that he's ordered a helicopter for him and Ryan to take the to the trainyard. He then gets a call from Michelle letting him know that a possible infected victim has gotten out of the hotel and into the general population and they are working on identifying him. As they're pulling prints from the bar babe's room Michelle asks her to go over exactly what happened as they came into the room. She tells Michelle they began to kiss, they did not turn on the lights but headed for the bed. She says he began taking off her clothes, first her shirt, then her pants and it's then that Michelle notices the woman's belt. It has a metal, flat buckle and after examining it, they were able to pull a partial thumb off of it that did not belong to the woman.
She sends the print back to CTU and as Adam begins attempting to match it, we switch over to some guy sneaking back into his room at home, trying not to awaken his wife. At first I was like, 'Who the hell is this?' before it dawned on me that it's the infected hotel guy. His name is William Cole. Anyway Cole's wife wakes up anyway and questions him, but he just says he's been in meetings or whatever lame lie cheating husbands usually come up with and he heads into the bathroom. As he's washing his face, of course his nose begins to bleed. Dum da dum dum.
Chloe does it again! She decrypts the bank account and it shows that its been accessed as recently as 45 minutes before from a location not far from CTU. Chase is given the go ahead to hit the location. Jack tells Ryan the news and relief emanates from him like cheap cologne. He hugs Jack and begins to feel safe again. And I have to say the hug this time wasn't nearly as awkward as his hug with Michelle earlier in the day :) But the feeling of elation passes quickly as a grim Jack tells Ryan that they still have to go to the trainyard, just in case Chase's mission fails. He tries to assure Ryan by saying it's just a precaution, but there's still a sense of finality to it that forces Ryan to feel a returning sense of dread.
As they head for the roof, we go visit Palmer and find out that his press secretary is beginning to get 'feelers' from the press about what's happening at the Chandler. He tells the President that he appreciates that there are things he can't know but if what's happening at the hotel is connected to the red alert the President ordered, he should know. Wayne agrees and tells him about the virus. Clearly this disturbs the press secretary but he shoulders the info well for now. Palmer doesn't want him going public with anything until the virus is contained.
As Jack and Ryan prepare to board the helicopter, Chase stops them and asks why Jack's not going with him to get Saunders. Ryan tells him that he's ordered Jack over to Division to answer more questions. Chase kind of loses it and unleashes a bit of vitriol at Ryan, saying he's always putting obstacles in their way etc etc.. I think if 24 were on HBO we'd have heard a bit of strong profanity there :) But it was almost bittersweet because we know, and Jack and Ryan know that Ryan's probably never going to see CTU, or fly in a helicopter or anything ever again. He has to put his life in Chase's hands right now - well his hand anyway. It's kind of sad.
So Jack and Ryan fly off in the chopper, Jack at the controls, and Chase heads off to get Saunders. Adam pulls up 300 potential matches on the partial thumbprint and they have the woman at the hotel begin going through them until she finally identifies the guy. We see Saunders in his flat speaking to a flunky. He discovers only three of his operatives were able to reach their target cities before everything got grounded by the red alert. His casualty list has diminished. But this seems of little importance to him. 5 million dead, fifty million dead, it doesn't seem to matter. The flunky also seemed a bit worried about the possibility of the virus spreading beyond 'the Americas' but Saunders assured him that he was safe.
As Jack and Tony land at the trainyard, Tony patches them both into the realtime relay of Chase's operation. In a fakeout worthy of Silence of the Lambs, Chase and Agent Baker (whom you might also remember from Season 2 as the agent who helped Jack with Kate, Syed Ali and the bomb at the airport) take out, I think, five guards around the address Chloe got from the bank account, only to burst into the apartment to find nothing more than a switching node. The apartment is otherwise unoccupied.
Jack's cell phone rings as Chappelle quietly tries to disappear into his seat. With tears in his eyes, Jack answers. It's Saunders calling to gloat and to remind Jack that he expects Ryan's body to be left with his thugs who will be arriving in a van shortly. Ryan's face is pale. I can't imagine the things that might be going through his mind right at this moment. He knows he's doomed, and he knows Jack *will* carry out the order. God...
As they await the arrival of Saunders' thugs, we go back to the hotel and Dr. Sunny Macer grimly announces that the capsules have arrived. At first, the people are reluctant to come forward. What a decision to have to make. If it were me, I would be so torn between holding out hope that it's either all a dream, or that there is a cure because how tragic would it be to take your own life only to have it come out later that there is an antidote? Not that I think there is one of course, I just mean that's the sort of thing that would go through my mind. Maybe I'd feel differently once the pain of it set in.
Anyway, an older couple finally come forward with as much dignity as they can muster and they take the capsules from Sunny. We cut over to Cole, who is thinking he's caught a bug of some kind. His face is ashen and sweaty. he tells his wife he has to get to work.
And that's enough of everyone else. I want to concentrate on the end of the episode. Jack and Ryan are still in the chopper as a black van pulls up and waits. Jack phones CTU and has Adam position a satellite in an attempt to track the van after it leaves. He's sure Saunders will have counter-measures in place but he wants to try anyway. Jack tells Ryan it's time to go and gets out of the helicopter. He comes around to Ryan's door and when he opens it, Ryan says, "My legs are shaking." He says it in an almost perfunctory manner. Almost as if he's outside of the situation and clinically reporting the sensations he's feeling. His voice didn't shake, that I could tell, but just looking at him you can see the fear in his eyes.
"I've got you." Jack says as he helps Ryan out of the helicopter. Gutting.
They walk toward a spot between two trains and Jack asks Ryan if there's anyone he wants to talk to. But Ryan, sadly has no one. He says he has a brother that he hasn't spoken to in years. And he looks at Jack with such a look of.. I don't quite know but it was touching. He tells Jack that he didn't have many friends. So there's no one for him to say goodbye to. I think that's so sad. Jack has Ryan get down on his knees and this shapes up to be a classic execution pose. But with a single tear slipping down his face (an image I haven't been able to get out of my head all day today), Ryan pleads with Jack to let him have some dignity and take his own life. He swears he will not run all the while confessing that when Jack caught him before at CTU he had been prepared to bolt. But now he won't. He couldn't be responsible for the deaths of millions.
Jack concedes and hands Ryan his gun. After an anguishing minute watching Ryan hold the gun to his temple as Jack stands in front of him as witness to this atrocity, Ryan takes it away. He's unable to go through with it. I believe Jack understands. I believe Jack hoped Ryan would be able to do it himself, but he understood when he couldn't go through with it.. He takes his gun back, walks behind Ryan...
"God forgive me."
Jack fires and shoots Ryan in the head. Ryan falls to the ground with a sickening thud. And we see the silent clock tick down the end of the hour.
Earlier in this post I said that Chappelle's death was different. It was in that he wasn't killed by a baddie, he wasn't taken out in the line of duty... He was summarily executed by one of his own at the bidding of a terrorist. Here's a man who, an hour ago, was dinking around on a computer going blind from looking at endless numbers. Suddenly he's given less than an hour to reconcile himself to his own death. I can't even begin to imagine what that would feel like and like I said, the tear slipping down Ryan's cheek as he plead with Jack remains stuck in my head today.
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Sunday, April 18, 2004
....
I don't even know where to begin on this episode. I think I might just be in a bit of shock. Even though some idiot on the FOX board spoiled everyone, the emotional impact of the final scene still had a few tears running down my face.
Wow.
I'll recap tomorrow, I'm emotionally drained right now.
In case anyone missed it, Fox affiliate (sister network?) network F/X will re-broadcast tonight's episode tomorrow night as well as Tuesday evening (before primetime begins.) Check your local listings. And yes, a new episode of 24 airs at its normal time Tuesday night barring and presidential BS.
Wow.
I'll recap tomorrow, I'm emotionally drained right now.
In case anyone missed it, Fox affiliate (sister network?) network F/X will re-broadcast tonight's episode tomorrow night as well as Tuesday evening (before primetime begins.) Check your local listings. And yes, a new episode of 24 airs at its normal time Tuesday night barring and presidential BS.
Digg this de.licio.us Fark it Add to Netscape