Blow by Blow Review: "24" April 4th, 2005

For those of you wondering which of the many hours of television you're watching needs to go - I can't help you there. What I can do is tell you that there is one 42-minute span of television that should be viewed at all costs - That's right! "24" is it! This episode holds not only action, adventure and to-the-hilt action, but holds the ultimate question:

What other show do you know will shoot down AIR FORCE ONE!?

With that, let's get to this episode's edition.

Blow by Blow Review: "24" April 4th, 2005

-- A Hidden/Overlooked Clue - Marwan Speaks: For the last four hours or so, we have been introduced to "The Pilot" and have never really figured out what his "goal/target" was. This episode holds the answer to that secret, but if you listened in the LAST episode, Marwan actually gave it up. He says: "the American people will forever be afraid to let their leaders appear in public." It was something that not only Jack missed but something I think we have ALL missed.

-- Drive Thru Cajones: I would like to officially order a stout pair for this President. Complaining that he's been "flying for 20 hours" - Uhh, that's not a cessna, Mr. President. If you happen to be abducted and brought aboard Air Force One, my guess is you'd have to imagine you were in a hotel room and wouldn't know you weren't in one.

-- Where the Hell is Edgar? Is Edgar in the bathroom? Suddently, Chloe has taken up the phone-answering desk. ??

-- "Heading 55-2": Does anyone know if the coordinates given as "55-2" mean anything? What does this mean to someone that's in a helpcopter? Send your input in the comments section.

-- Flashing Wire = Problem: Marwan sees that there is something significant going on with the flashing wire: Why doesn't he alert his cohorts to this? Wouldn't that cause even more stir that would assist in his escape?

-- Storming is Outstanding: The assault of the warehouse that Marwan and the superphreak terrorists are using is spectactular. Kudos to the special effects/stunt team here.

-- Deleting Files - Convoluted Programming Vs. a Bullet: At our office, one of the end all/be alls of computer hard drives is a drill press. If the people were in a bind to get data gone quick so that it wouldn't be (perhaps every but surely not quickly) retrievable, why not shoot the boxes full of bullets? Surely a bullet round is at least as destructive as a drill press making the drive inaccessible for most of the series season.

-- Jack's Kickass Knife Prowess: Rambo has nothing on Jack - two quick slits and it's all over for one of the unfortunate terrorists.

-- Note to Badguys: Don't Reload Your Weapon in the Open: I think there were three guys in this and last episode that stood in an open area to reload their weapon, and are summarily taken down.

-- Bombs With Little Red Lights: Why is it that all bombs either have a ticker/blinking light or a counter? I thought for sure we would have this series evade this at this point. What happened?

-- Does Tragedy Offer Audrey Solid Potential for a Reuniting Effort for Her and Paul? Just like exchanges in television, the relationships born of/fostered by tragedy do not usually work out. I know this because I learned it in the movie, "SPEED." :)

-- Supersniper Turned Scanner Boy: Castle, the ultimate headgearless Sniper from the last episode has now been relegated to scanning documents and sending them to CTU: Wouldn't his skillset be more useful hunting down the nations top terrorist threat as he flees the scene?

-- FBI Sends One Agent to Check Apartment: The FBI sends ONE agent to check this giant-ass apartment where the Pilot and his dead cohort were previously staying. Why is this? The place is HUGE, and I was under the impression that all FBI agents run in pairs? When the door is open, why is it she doesn't call anyone for back up?

-- The President is a Dick - My Dad Told Me So: Sadly, after this most recent episode, and this one, I have come to the conclusion that this President in this season of "24" is a dick. Father, I agree. ;)

-- Terminal Cliche' for the President: As the President takes his CTU calls, he asks for his son to step in: is this the terminal cliche' for his son, or for the President? Surely one of them has to now die.

-- Painting Sordid Pictures: The President rattles off "the truth" for the son, and sure: that is exactly what could be portrayed to the American public. But there is always some ray of hope or being positive that can be added in to almost any information that is passed on. That this isn't what happens is disturbing.

-- Jack and Agent Hart Arrive on Scene: Jack and Agent Really Expendible arrive at the residence. After a quick unholstering of weapons all around, the "Fake Drake FBI Agent" stands in the middle of a doorway with her gun drawn! Does this seem like the patterned establishment of identification that you see from a seasoned or even new FBI field agent?

-- Anderson (The Pilot) Wants Assurance: Anderson wants to know that Marwan has established his cover because after "this is done the whole world will be looking for him." Marwan assures him that it's all taken care of. Since when is the word of a terrorist that's responsible for the death of at least thousands today and the nuclear scorching of a very large piece of American soil worth anything? What a fundamental jackass.

-- Chloe's Continual Inappropriateness: Chloe informs Edgar that the teams in proximity to the area that Edgar's mother was in have reported that her body will be inrecoverable for potentially months or more.





The silence shown above is indicative of the time it's taken me to go to Dark Jedi Knight school, learn "force choke" and preparing to kill Chloe remotely the next time I see her on television. How ridiculously inappropriate is she to say something like this and how does it not jeopardize Edgar's ability to think clearly at a time when he absolutely need to?

-- Tony and Michelle Being Married: I can't stress how much I don't care to hear anything about Tony's dislike for the potential relationship that Michelle and Buchanan may have had. I have no interest in hearing any details about it - for the love of god writers, please write the relationship out!

-- Chloe Viewing Edgar's Goings-On? The camera shows us that Chloe is seeing, in real-time, what Edgar is doing. Why is this? How is this helping to keep data secure and also helping to make the most efficient use of the time that they have?

-- Division and CTU Don't Use the Same Sorting Process: Isn't this kind of like the round peg in the square hole theory that nearly killed the astronauts of Apollo 13? How does this make for a more efficient use of time and help to lessen potential problems because someone turned in a report in the wrong format that would "bring a server to a crawl?"

-- Edgar Delivers the Wrong Goods Intentionally: Is this a harbinger that Edgar is on the "wrong" side or that he wishes to not be part of the stress-laden job any longer here at CTU? Is he a grief-stricken son, or a cog in the machine of villainy?

-- Fake Drake and the Hard Drive: Fake Drake collects the recently found hard drive from Agent Hart's corpse - why doesn't she haul ass out the front door with it? Isn't the point to make sure that the "copy of the disk" isn't found by CTU or any other agency that might piece together what is going on? I don't understand the reasoning there.

-- Locked Files on the Hard Drive - There's No Need to Fear - Edgar is Here: I have seen a great many freakish feats in the world of geekdom, and so I'm not all that amazed, but how in the hell does Edgar know the particular code for that external hard drive? I mean come on now.

-- Secret Agent Men and Evasive Action: There is a Secret Service Agent that enters the Conference Room on Air Force One and informs the President and son and everyone else in the room that the Air Force One pilot is preparing for evasive action. Why is it that there are still 6 people (the Prez, his son, and four other Secret Service people) still standing when this announcement is made? Evasive action will KILL EVERYONE IN THE ROOM if they are not strapped in - period. Get your Presidential ass into a chair and belt it down, Mr. President.

-- Maverick Moment Gone Awry: If any of you are TOP GUN fans, you'll remember the moment when Tom Cruise (Pete Mitchell, "Maverick") is searching for answers from his internal "Goodse" holding dead Goose' dog tags, contemplating the past and future and his life in general. This scene occurs once again, but guess what? Rather than standing down and finding a semblence of humanity to save the day - The Pilot snaps up his breathing gear and in true Darth Vader fashion, SHOOTS DOWN AIR FORCE ONE! Take that, Young Skywalker! :)

-- Balls, Balls, Anyone? While I have already stressed this above, I just wanted to reiterate: Show me another show that has the balls to shoot down Air Force One!

With flames, calls of mayday, blinking icons on a radar screen and mass-wreckage everywhere in the trailer for next week, I simply cannot wait to get my eyes on the next episode!