I’m just going to jump right in to tonight’s exciting episode. Jack and Walker are telling Tony about the President’s halting of the F-18 airstrike and that he’s been ordered to vacate. But Tony is watching a fuel truck pull up and informs Jack that he knows why the President called off the strike (she didn’t make it clear, at least to Jack. Just stated there wasn’t enough evidence.) He says he believes Starkwood has surface-to-surface missiles because the fuel truck is filling up some tanks with a specific fuel just for those kinds of missiles.

Jack puts Tony in a holding pattern and races off to call the president with these new developments.

She gets Jack’s call and begins to tell him that she gave her orders and they need to be obeyed. Jack totally calls her on it. “With all due respect, I don’t think you’re being completely honest with us.” he says. He lays out the fact that he knows Hodges has missiles and has threatened to use them if she doesn’t call off the strike. The President is deflated and spills it all to Jack and Walker.

They dither about the plan to allow Tony to blow up the truck before it finishes unloading the fuel and Jack is, again, begging the President to just try the plan. She’s afraid though because she knows Hodges will launch if he detects interference. Before she gives her answer, she asks Jack how long he has to live. This shakes Jack a little but he answers honestly. he doesn’t know but it has started to affect him.

“Then there’s not much I can threaten you with, is there… I expect you’ll do what you think is right.” she tells him, and hangs up. Walker is confused because the president didn’t give authorization, but Jack tells her she wants them to go in. but she has to be able to swear under oath that jack et. al. were working on their own. Pretty savvy, that president is.

Hodges arrives with his flunky Greg and acts as if he is an honored guest. Meanwhile, Walker tells Moss about the plan and expects him to be Mr. By-the-Book again, but not this time. Moss has had enough of that. He wants back in to take out those Starkwood bastards. Walker tells him to move into position and wait for a big boom (sort of )

Jack gives Tony the go ahead.

Tony moves in, taking one of the fuel tank guys hostage and orders him to take him down to the tanks, and he begins setting the charges. Doesn’t seem very covert to me, but okiedokie.

At the White House, Taylor meets with Hodges. And man, is he seven kinds of crazy or what? The man stands in front of the President and denies every single accusation she utters, knowing full well that she knows each accusation can be backed up with proof. Those are some cajones.

Wow. I’m watching this scene play out with Hodges and am just.. wow. He’s asking for a ’seat at the table’ to shape military policy nationally and globally. Taylor says he’s trying to blackmail his way into a seat. And he’s sidestepping and dancing around his own misdeeds like they’re nothing. And just, wow. Then it’s a staring contest.

Checking back with Tony, he gets all the charges set and leads his hostage back up to the surface. He passes the first guy he knocked out to get his hostage, who turns out was playing possum. He blindsides Tony, and he loses the remote detonator down some grating. Tony tries to stop the guy who was his hostage from setting off an alarm, but too late.

The launch sequence has begun.

Tony tries hard to reach the detonator, while the men who are launching the missiles dither about whether they should check and see if it’s a false alarm. But his arm just isn’t quite long enough to reach it. He stretches as hard as he can.. the missiles begin to fire… and then he flicks it against a sidewall allowing him to brace it and get a grip. He pulls it up just as the missiles are about to launch and blows the crap out of everything, just in the nick. Whoo! That was tense

Meanwhile “negotiations” (AKA, ‘buying time’) continue between the President and Hodges. The “negotiations” are interrupted by Tim, the President’s umm, I’m not sure what he does. Secret Service agent? Anyway, he informs her of the explosion. As they talk, Hodges and Greg pow-wow. “I’m not sure I’m reaching her.” says Hodges.

Then agents burst into the room and seize Hodges and Greg. Hodges, full of indignation as they’re hauling him away tells the President he’s just a small cog in a very big machine. “What are you talking about?” she asks him.

“You’ll find out.” he rasps.

Back at FBI field office, Jack gets a call from the President. He’s shaky. As the President thanks Jack for his actions, Jack instead makes a plea for Tony’s, well his life, really. But in the middle of asking for the President to take Tony’s heroism into account, Jack freezes up. He sits down, unable to remember what he was in the middle of saying. Oh dear.

Jack ends the call, goes to tell Walker Hodges has been arrested then makes his way, quickly, to see Dr. Macer. The President, in the meantime, asks her aide to make sure she has realtime updates on Jack’s condition.

At Starkwood, Moss and his men continue to lock the place down. Tony is brought, in cuffs, to Moss as he talks to Walker and briefs her on the situation there. As they talk, Walker is told her visitor has arrived. It’s Kim. Which was no surprise because they put her name in the opening credits *sigh* plus you just knew Walker would meddle.

The Moss and Tony have a little chat. Moss has totally mellowed out from the anal retentive letter-of-the-law man he was earlier in the day. He tells Tony he doesn’t think he deserves to be arrested but he’s under orders. He asks one of his men to take off Tony’s cuffs.

At the FBI offce, Jack talks to Macer about the memory loss, and something else that’s happening. “I feel like I’m losing some part of myself.” And there’s nothing Macer can give him to help him with that. Disheartened, Jack leaves and runs into Walker who tells him she brought Kim in. Uh-oh.

“I am dying. And I was ok with it. And you put in front of me the one thing, the ONE THING that will make this unbearable…” Ahhh need kleenex *sniffle* what an emotional scene.

Jack yells at Walker for dragging Kim into “this.” But Walker tells jack that no one dragged Kim into anything. She’s been trying to see him all day. The she’d been at the Senate hearing. She’s been leaving messages all day. Jack is visibly struck by this knowledge. Ahhh the angst on his face.. No one does delicious angst like Keifer Sutherland. In a quiet whisper, he asks Walker to show him where Kim is.

Reunion time.

Ahhh I can’t cover this scene, I’m crying. Very emotional. It’s a very good reunion scene, well worth watching this episode for. But at the end of it, jack asks kim to leave, refusing to let her help him live. And she goes. And Jack loses it after she walks out.

Ok, composure regained.

Back at Starkwood, an operative of Hodges is caught trying to smiggle out one canister of the bioweapon that didn’t get blown up. The FBI guy who busted him managed to imform Moss about it but then the operative kicks his ass and kills him, then gets away. Moss coordinates with Walker to close down the perimeter as the guy’s getting away in an FBI vehicle, and he’s going to pursue by chopper (with Tony in tow, btw.)

They track him down, land and a gunfight ensues betweenthe baddie and Agent Moss. Tony has no weapon but has taken cover.

Ohshit. Ohshitohshitohshit.

The baddie gets a good angle and shoot Moss. As he lies on the ground, bleeding (maybe vest took most of the damage?) the baddie approaches and Moss tries to warn Tony… but Tony puts a hand up and the baddie backs off. WTF? Tony then looks at Larry, tells him he’s sorry, and suffocates him. What. The. Fu…

The final split screen is us watching Moss struggle to live, his dying groans as Tony’s kills him are kind of sick and ominous as we also see Jack led to a briefing room to be debriefed while he can still remember things.

Tony and the baddie are working together, for some reason. He tells the baddie to hide while Tony waits for the FBI to arrive and lay a cover story.

Jeez. What a show tonight. It’s been a long time since 24 has made me cry. Well done writers. I lost it.