24 Recap: 4/2/07

Pia has a shiny, happy new template over at Courting Destiny. It's resplendent. (Seriously, 'Tor, I'm a little jealous.)

Recapping this week's 24, aka Day Six: 9:00 PM - 10:00 PM...

Daniels wants to wield control from Palmer so that he can launch the nuclear strike on Fayed's Country, which I will refer to from hereon as Syraqistan. He challenges Palmer's ability to discharge the duties of the Presidency, so it is decided that the cabinet will hear testimony and then vote. Before the hearing, Palmer asks Doctor Welti for a shot of adrenalin. Talk about cliche. Oh! He means an actual shot, like with needles and stuff.

After a ten minute recess--yeah, that seems like enough time to decide the future leader of the nation--the cabinet votes. It's a tie. And as we all know from baseball, a tie always goes to the President. Except that Daniels claims Karen Hayes' vote is invalid, because she resigned earlier in the day. The Attorney General says the validity of Karen's vote should be decided by the Supreme Court. Palmer grimaces, which he pretty much does this entire episode. Could it possibly be from the explosion he survived about four hours ago, or the coma he was in twenty minutes ago?

Over at As The Counter Terrorist Unit Turns, Ricky calls Nadia into his office and tells her he thinks Milo entered a wrong security code, allowing CTU's system to be infiltrated by the drone pilot. He wants Nadia to check Milo's computer without him knowing. Which I'm thinking Milo is going to like so much less than her checking his breath. With Ricky pressuring her, Nadia does it and finds that Milo had entered a wrong code. She expects Ricky to have Milo fired. Instead, Ricky logs in and changes the data to cover for him. When Milo returns, he spends the rest of the episode casting deep, suspicious glares at Nadia.

In the field, Jack agrees to the immunity for Gredenko, telling Bill it won't be valid if the Presidency is being contested. Gredenko calls Fayed and they agree to meet at the Santa Monica Pier to exchange security codes and plot out more havoc-wreaking. All while enjoying a couple of blue coconut Hawaiian shaved ices, no doubt.

In the bunker, Team Palmer and Team Daniels are going over the arguments they'll present to the Supreme Court. Lisa doesn't think Daniels will win and volunteers to lie and swear that Daniels told her he planned to relieve Karen of her duties. Daniels holds her hand, which was a bit awkward and ambiguous. Later, Tom comes in and asks to meet with Daniels alone. Tom shows him a microtransmitter he had planted in the office, then plays back a tape of Lisa volunteering to lie under oath and the Vice President consenting to it. He then tells Daniels to call and drop his motion to remove the President, which he does.

Arriving at the pier, Gredenko is injected in the arm with some radioactive material which will "go straight into the bone" and allow CTU to track him. He then goes to meet Fayed. When he gets inside, he doesn't say a word as he pulls off the transmitter CTU has wired him with and unplugs it. Fayed, putting on his best et-tu-Gredenko face says, "You led them to me." Jack and the field team move in. When Jack gets into the room where Gredenko is supposed to be, he's not there. Oh, but his arm is! It's lying on the floor. He cut it off so CTU couldn't track him! That's going to cause serious problems the next time he tries to do the hokey pokey.

Fayed and Gredenko stroll into a local pub. All that terror-mongering makes a guy thirsty. Suddenly, Gredenko points at Fayed and says, "That's him. That's the terrorist. I've seen him on TV." Fayed shoots a couple of people before the locals are able to subdue him. Gredenko limps into the darkness before Jack arrives and secures Fayed. We next see Gredenko underneath the pier, where he appears to be getting weaker. He passes out at water's edge.

Back in the bunker, Palmer gets another shot of adrenalin. Karen tells Tom she wants to call a truce. Tom's phone rings and he is clearly disturbed and alarmed by the call. He tells Karen that Palmer has decided to go ahead with the nuclear strike anyway! Tom goes to the war room and tries talking sense into the President. But Palmer says he doesn't want to appear weak any longer and a nuclear missile is launched at Syraqistan from the USS Vickery...

The good:
Twists, twists, everywhere! Tom turning on Daniels. Ricky covering for Milo. Gredenko cutting off his arm, then giving up Fayed, then passing out and maybe dying himself.

Tom bugging the Vice President's office and thwarting his efforts to commit perjury.

More suspicion. What is Ricky up to? What is Tom up to?

The bad:
No Chloe? No CHLOE?! NO CHLOE!!!! What is up with that?

I didn't buy Palmer's sudden 180 on the nuclear strike, after he had fought so hard and risked his life to stop it.

Best scene:
Gredenko's severed arm lying in the floor. You simply cannot overstate the entertainment value of a detached limb.

Best quote:
Tom: "Well, sir, I'm on the side of the United States of America. And if you ever thought otherwise, you were very much mistaken."

Did you know...
Tiger's Blood is widely regarded as the current most popular flavor of shaved ice. It is a combination of red berry fruits and coconut flavoring.

Did you know, part deux...
Grimace first appeared as a McDonaldland character in 1971 as a four-armed milkshake stealing bandit. But was later recast as a lovable two-armed doofus. If you're having trouble keeping up, Palmer grimaced throughout this episode. And Gredenko has one arm.

Questions:
Why did Palmer do a complete reversal and launch the nuclear strike? Is his brain swelling? Or are they blaming it on the adrenaline? I know sometimes when I'm playing football on the Xbox, I'll get fired up and do something really crazy like go for it on 4th and 28 from my own 10.

Is Gredenko dead?

Why no Chloe???

What happened to Martha Logan, and more importantly, Aaron Pierce?

"You put your left arm in. You take your left arm out. You put your left arm in, and you shake it all about. You do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around. That's what it's all about..."