24 Recap: 04/16/07

OK, here's what we know. Fayed's dead. The nukes are secured. Audrey's back. Jack's going after her. And last week's show may have been the best of the season. Now recapping this week's episode. Also known as Day Six: 11:00 PM - 12:00 AM...

At the warehouse, the Marines are taking over custody of the suitcase nukes, by order of the DOD. That's Department of Defense, not to be confused with D&D, Dungeons and Dragons. Jack sneaks away into an alcove to call Cheng. He speaks to Audrey for a few seconds, who is being held in a big open room which looks kinda like the room Morgan Freeman was always in in Bruce Almighty. Jack offers to turn himself over to the Chinese in exchange for Audrey. But instead, Cheng wants the suitcase nukes, or more specifically, the FB sub-circuit board out of the nukes, which supposedly "holds the key to Russian defense codes."

Jack calls Chloe, who is currently in a Fayed's Dead celebratory meeting at CTU. Seriously, it looked like they were about to break out cupcakes at any second. Anyone for a nice game of Pin The Tail On Morris? She steals away to speak to Jack and is able to get the schematics Jack needs off of Morris' computer, then upload them to Jack's phone. Reason #77 for me to get a new phone: Ability to receive files from Chloe.

In the bunker, Tom tells President Palmer about the recording, aka blackmail, he has on VP Daniels. Karen comes in and tells them Fayed is dead and the nukes have been secured. Palmer wants to go on television and inform the American people. A bit later, Palmer meets one-on-one with Daniels and asks for his resignation. Daniels refuses. Palmer then tells him he knows about Tom's recording and expects Daniels resignation within a week.

Back at CTU, Morris notices someone has hacked into his system. He starts to call security, but Chloe stops him. She confesses. Morris pressures her to tell him what is going on. Chloe tells him about Jack. Morris then pressures her to tell Buchanan, which she finally agrees to do.

Meanwhile back at the warehouse, Jack gets past two guards by telling them he is under Presidential orders to get the circuit board out of one of the nukes. Two nuclear bombs? Yeah, two guards oughta be enough. Send R.J. and Billy Bob over there and have them take turns napping while the other one is on guard. While Jack is removing the circuit board, Ricky and CTU agents storm in. There is a brief standoff, then one of the agents knocks Jack in the head with his gun. Jack falls to the floor and is arrested. Bill calls and tells Jack he can't support Jack's mission. Jack asks to talk to the President.

Speaking with Palmer, Jack requests the President approve a field operation to save Audrey. He assures Palmer he will destroy the circuit board once Audrey is released, even if it means killing himself in the process. Palmer is reluctant, then Jack reminds him that sixteen hours ago the government was willing to give him up for dead in exchange for Assad. Sixteen hours? Wow. It seems like months to me. Palmer agrees and tells Bill to give Jack whatever he needs.

Jack calls Cheng and tells him he has the component, aka circuit board, and gets directions on where to go. Sometime in here, I was pondering how in the world Jack was going to get to China in less than an hour real-time? Oh! Cheng's in California! Gotcha. Jack and Ricky take off in a truck.

In the bunker, Noah tells Lisa he is going to resign and says he wants his resignation in Palmer's hands by the end of the press conference. She appears crestfallen, but Daniels takes her hand and consoles her. And tells her this will give them more time to hold hands. They walk down to the press conference together. While answering questions, President Palmer begins to ramble incoherently. Then he offers the biggest grimace yet and crumples to the floor. Daniels casually folds up his resignation and slips it in his coat pocket.

The doctor tells Daniels, Lisa, Tom, and Karen that Palmer suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, and that he probably won't regain consciousness anytime soon. Daniels prepares to assume power. His first order of business is to have CTU stop Jack's rescue mission. Karen calls Bill. Bill calls Ricky and tells him to re-route the truck to another road where CTU will have a roadblock set up. Ricky makes up an excuse to tell Jack why they have to take another road. Jack isn't buying it. He pulls a gun and forces Ricky to pull over and get out of the truck! Jack hops in and drives off in search of Audrey...

The good:
Jack and Chloe working together again on the down low, if only for a few moments.

Audrey's back! (Did I by chance mention that last week?)

The Tom blackmail/recording thing is a nice little subplot. Although I just keep waiting for someone to whack Tom at any moment.

The bad:
Palmer passing out just as Daniels is ready to resign, if only for its predictableness. It was just so obvious.

I think Ricky is growing on me a little. I actually typed Doyle in the recap a couple of times. Ugh. Maybe I need a shot of adrenalin.

Best quote:
"With all due respect, Mister President, you owe me."

Chloeisms
"We both know that if we do this, it could create an international incident, big time."

Did you know...
Philip Baker Hall, who played Bruce's boss, Jack Baylor, in Bruce Almighty, also appeared in Seinfeld. He played over-zealous library cop Bookman in the episode called "The Library" and also reprised that role for the series finale.

Questions
Why is Jack's trustworthiness even an issue? It's been six seasons, people. I think we can begin to phase out that little storyline.

Will Tom's blackmail recording come into play now that Daniels is acting as President?

How did Cheng know the exact moment Jack had secured the nukes? What I'm gathering from all this is, no matter what is going on in the world or how things appear, China is our real enemy.

"We could have gone all the way to the Great Wall of China, if you'd only had a little more faith in me..."