24 Recap: 4/9/07

24. Is. Back. If you see only one episode this year, see this one!

Recapping this week's episode, aka Day Six: 10:00 PM - 11:00 PM...

In the war room, with the missile in the air and less than five minutes from Syraqistan, Karen and Tom try to get Palmer to abort the strike. The Syraqistani Ambassador calls--to inquire about a blip on the radar screen that appears to be headed for his country-- and finally gives Palmer the name of a man inside their government who has been working with Fayed: General Mohmar Habib. Palmer aborts the strike, then tells Tom and Karen the missile was never armed. He bluffed Syraqistan to get them to admit information.

Somehwere around the Santa Monica Pier, Jack is interrogating a bloody-faced Fayed. Fayed reminds him that Jack killed his brother. Bill calls and while Jack is on the phone, Ricky begins to interrogate Fayed and puts a gun to his head. Jack orders Ricky to lower his weapon and says they are going to transport Fayed back to CTU. Ricky remarks to Fayed, "Now we're gonna have some fun." What does that mean? Did he bring the Pac-Man game from Silver Spoons to CTU? Oh, come on, that never gets old!

While transporting Fayed, someone crashes into the CTU UPS truck, causing it to turn over. Several men, who I'm guessing are Syraqistani militants, get out and start shooting. Jack and Ricky try to ward them off. Ricky is shot and goes down. Then Jack is shot! Then... I died. I began to see a bright light and was being drawn towards it... The men take Fayed into their van, which looks a little like a Brink's truck. When the van is out of sight, Jack sits up and yells, "We're clear!" It was another hoax! The men are undercover agents pretending to rescue Fayed, hoping he will lead them to the remaining suitcase nukes.

In the back of the Brink's van, the agents--who for some reason alternate speaking English and Syraqistani to Fayed--say Habib sent them to rescue Fayed and take him where he needs to go. Fayed asks for a gun as a show of trust and is given one. Then he refuses to tell the men where to take him until he speaks with Habib.

In the bunker, Tom apologizes to Palmer for doubting his leadership. They are about to go meet the Syraqistani Ambassador when Palmer nearly falls. Last week, he was grimacing a lot. This week, his hands are shaky. Google: WebMD, symptoms, grimace, shaky hands... click... OK, says here President Palmer may have epilepsy, low blood sugar, acute stress reaction, dementia with Lewy bodies, and/or cocaine abuse. Eww, Lewy bodies, you don't want those!

Meeting with the ambassador, an aggressive Palmer tells him to sit down, and informs him of CTU's undercover plan to trick Fayed. The ambassador says they are questioning Habib in Syraqistan but that he won't talk. Palmer--who now has a little Seal thing going on with the stitches on his face--asks the ambassador if they've tried threatening Habib's family.

At As The Counter Terrorist Unit Turns, Nadia tells Milo, "I need you to upload the propriety channel on Socket D to my terminal." Oh, Nadia. I love it when you talk techy to me. Milo, apparently not turned on by her request, refuses. Turns out he's jealous Nadia talked to Ricky or something. Blah blah blah. What was the point of that little segment?

Somewhere in Syraqistan, we see Habib. With his family being held at gunpoint, he calls Fayed and tells him that he sent the men. Fayed tells the undercover agents to head East. Meanwhile, after the meeting with the ambassador, Palmer starts to pass out and tells Tom to lock the door as he crumples to the floor. Later, a doctor works on Palmer and says his blood pressure has dropped. Palmer asks for a shot of adrenalin, but the doctor refuses, saying another shot would kill him.

Nadia tells Bill she heard Habib mention a guy named Samir during his call to Fayed. When she tried to pull up info on Samir, she found that he's been dead for two years. But really, when you're dead, does time even matter? Nadia thinks Habib was trying to give Fayed a signal that it was a set up. They radio the info out to Jack and Ricky, who are following the Brink's van at a distance. Jack calls one of the agents in the van and warns him it could be a trap. Then he loses signal as the Brink's van enters a tunnel.

Jack and Ricky arrive and find the van stopped in the tunnel. Two men inside are dead and one is wounded. Fayed is gone. Jack goes to find him. He comes up on Fayed making a call and telling someone he's on his way. Fayed gets into a garbage truck. Jack latches on to the underside of the truck and goes for a ride.

Fayed stops at what appears to be some sort of warehouse. He tells his men to load the bombs on the truck and says they are going to finish the job and take out downtown Los Angeles! Jack follows them inside, then starts a shootout, managing to take out all five or six of Fayed's men by himself. Then it's just Jack and Fayed! They both conveniently run out of ammo at about the same time. After a brief struggle, Jack manages to wrap a chain from a cargo elevator or something around Fayed's neck. Just before starting the elevator, he tells Fayed, "Say hello to your brother." BOOYAH!!!!! It was at this point that I somehow sprained my wrist. Seriously. I clapped really hard or something. I don't know.

Fayed is hanged. Ricky and the field team arrive. Ricky calls CTU and says, "The bombs are secure and Jack is OK." As they walk out of the warehouse, Ricky's phone rings. It's for Jack. Jack says hello.

Then... we see Audrey!!!

She looks a little rough, but still cute. She says, "Help me, Jack. Please, help me." Then the phone is taken away from her by Cheng Zhi, who tells Jack if he wants Audrey to remain alive, he will call Cheng back on a secure line...

The good:
Most everything! This is the 24 I've come to know and love.

Jack hanging Fayed.

Palmer's bluff, fooling not only Syraqistan, but Tom, Karen, and the 24 Nation.

The CTU hoax, which again fooled me into thinking Jack had been shot.

Two awesome midseason twists: Apparently wrapping up the suitcase nuke plot and moving on to a whole new storyline. And, of course, bringing Audrey back.

The bad:
The only subpar scene I could find was Milo getting jealous of Nadia and Ricky. I don't see the point of putting that scene in this episode. It was completely out of place.

Best quote:
"Say hello to your brother."

Other Bauerisms:
"Trust me, I haven't begun to enjoy myself."

"The bombs are on the table."

Did you know...
The singer Seal married supermodel Heidi Klum in 2005. They have two children: Henry Günther Ademola Dashtu Samuel and Johan Riley Fyodor Taiwo Samuel, who they just call "J.R." Clearly these two have set the standard for giving your chldren as many names as possible.

Questions:
Is the suitcase nuke threat really over? That didn't take very long. When did the season start, 6 AM? 7 AM? The nukes are secured by 11 PM. So 7-11? Have a slurpee, Jack. You've earned it.

If it is over, what will be the new threat to the country? The whole show can't just be about Jack rescuing Audrey, can it? Although I wouldn't complain.

When will Jack's father, Marilyn, Josh, Martha Logan, and Aaron Pierce reappear. And what will they be up to?

"Well you know I gotta get out. But I'm stuck so tight. Weighed by the chains that keep me hangin' around this town on the corner..."