The 24 Blog

Recap

2010-05-24T21:56:00.003-04:00

Dammit= probably 6
Women Proven Stupid/Evil= Hmmm.
Female Heads of State Behaving to Type = 2
Female Heads of States Coming to Fisticuffs = almost 1
Days of our Lives Devoted to 24 = 7-ish
Handsome Dead Black Men =0 (and none this season, even the guy with the GQ cheekbones made it!)
Predictions true = this season, countless!
World Of Pain = constant. Jack, Chloe, Madame President...everyone is in a world of pain.

Open questions: Will someone really make a feature film from 24? "They" say yes. Should they? And who will show up in it? What happened to Tony? (And can anyone else, like Nina, come back from the dead?) Can we please have the 28 year old president wake up from his comatose state? He's the only one we've seen who can bring dignity and honor back to the fictional office of the President. (Not to mention our fictional law enforcement and armed services communities.) And uh, was there even a Vice President this season? And what happened to Jack's Soho based mercenary friend?

Our family members would like to know why we've devoted a week of our lives to 24. On the other hand, there are countless people who have devoted much more time to Dr.Phil and Oprah.

We have to salute some wonderful acting that sometimes almost made things seem plausible from time to time. (Mostly before this season, that is!)

Sigh. "M" will take a look at this tomorrow and weigh in...

Friends, it has been a slice. Sorry that my battle with Time Warner Cable (and real life, including "M"s newborn) wore into our blogging cycle. We're relieved and sad to let this go...

TV Magic

2010-05-24T21:54:00.002-04:00

More soap opera recap.

And that, Jack, looking up at the drone camera at Chloe! Chloe, sob, tears.

Dammit, my friends, what a sappy ending.

Jack, I'm So Sorry

2010-05-24T21:51:00.000-04:00

Madame President, you're an idiot.

Dammit!

2010-05-24T21:48:00.001-04:00

We're logging dammits like mad. That was 5 or 6.

Did Jack's CIA Friend Get Him?

2010-05-24T21:45:00.002-04:00

We hope so. We hear there's going to be a feature film?

WTH?

2010-05-24T21:41:00.002-04:00

Hmm, plot twist!

Another dammit! But sorry, Madame President, I don't think that Logan is going to make it.

Madame POTIR

2010-05-24T21:38:00.001-04:00

Might be about to throw an, um, elbow right where it might hurt Suvarov.

And Tim, you'd better get Madame President's attorney on the phone.

Madame President Grows A Pair

2010-05-24T21:37:00.001-04:00

Now, are you going to save Jack?

"M" says...

2010-05-24T21:35:00.000-04:00

Sign it "Mickey Mouse"!

Attack of Conscience?

2010-05-24T21:32:00.001-04:00

Is Madame President going to scuttle the treaty herself?

Ethan, You Weren't Evil

2010-05-24T21:28:00.002-04:00

We need you back. Why did you leave Madame President to listen to Charles Logan?

Last 30 Minutes!

2010-05-24T21:26:00.000-04:00

This is It!

Heh, we'll see about that one.

Jack Lechter

2010-05-24T21:22:00.000-04:00

Heh.

Ah, The Old Data Card In The Phone

2010-05-24T21:21:00.000-04:00

Chloe, good job.

Change of Plans

2010-05-24T21:16:00.000-04:00

Chloe, better get Cole or Arlo to meet you where you are.

Or you're going to have to shoot Piller. (What a great name, that guy is a Pill.)

And Logan Survives Another Day?

2010-05-24T21:15:00.001-04:00

We'll see.

Maybe Chloe will whack him.

Dammit Chloe!

2010-05-24T21:10:00.001-04:00

Like they are going to believe that Chloe could drop Jack!

Renee Wouldn't Want You to Do This!

2010-05-24T21:08:00.001-04:00

Chloe, Renee wasn't all that noble when she was using that bone saw to remove that Russian mobster's thumb!

Technology

2010-05-24T21:05:00.002-04:00

Even though cell phones work everywhere, and you can send schematics of any building to someone's PDA on demand, Jack still has to hold the microphone bud close to his mouth in order to be heard.

Heh.

Viewer Discretion Is Advised

2010-05-24T21:02:00.002-04:00

If only we had heeded this warning 23 hours ago...

Prediction True!?

2010-05-24T20:57:00.003-04:00

Yes! We knew that Jack wasn't going to let Logan slide.

Hah.

Split Screen Montage

2010-05-24T20:57:00.001-04:00

Sigh, nostalgia. Probably one of the last we'll see...

Not Too Tough To Get The Jump on Chloe

2010-05-24T20:55:00.000-04:00

Sleeper hold.

Third Time is Not A Charm

2010-05-24T20:54:00.000-04:00

That nameless CTU agent keeps on questioning orders...but never really doing anything about it.

Logan

2010-05-24T20:53:00.000-04:00

Jack's gonna get you.

Stupid vs. Evil

2010-05-24T20:49:00.002-04:00

This season has kind of blown the stupid vs. evil discussion out of the water. Are the Madame Presidents stupid, or evil? Infidel girlfriend, ambiguous. Renee, ill-fated (but Jack's love interests have transcended the stupid vs. evil distinction...)

Hmmm. I'd like to see Madame POTIR turn out to be evil. (Her daughter is definitely the Middle Eastern Kim Bauer, and definitely stupid.)

Message From Jack

2010-05-24T20:48:00.001-04:00

A video for Kim? Tell me that we're not going to see Kim Bauer again?

Another Problem With A Perimeter

2010-05-24T20:46:00.001-04:00

Jack breaches the perimeter.

And Chloe, now armed, and uh, gearheady? And going after Jack.

Bugs?

2010-05-24T20:43:00.002-04:00

Is Jack planting little cameras, or incendiary devices?

Ah, cameras. Jack's so tech savvy.

Peace! Or Else!

2010-05-24T20:40:00.001-04:00

Madame POTIR, Madame President insists on peace.

Or else she'll blow your country back to the dark ages!

Madame President!

2010-05-24T20:37:00.002-04:00

Dahlia wants the talking stick. You must listen to her, and how she feels.

Ack, and another improbable Presidential convo creates diplomatic chaos. I'm having a feeling that someone is going to get slapped here.

(Women, this is what happens when we run major world powers.)

Eew!

2010-05-24T20:32:00.003-04:00

Uh, good thing Piller took the home ec class! "M" asks if that's a satin stitch he's doing on Jack's knife wound.

And we're doing soap opera recap after soap opera recap...have to love it when the characters explain the entire season in 20 sentences.

OK

2010-05-24T20:14:00.003-04:00

Chloe is in charge, Jack is injured and on the loose, having killed Bridezilla and the entire Russian delegation for having had Renee killed (not to mention the President of the Islamic Republic) and taken a toady-ish factotum of Evil Ex-Veep Charles Logan hostage.

Logan has been pulling all of the strings, and Madame President is turning out to be a sociopath who will use any means to achieve her end. Madame POTIR and her daughter have an inkling that all may not be kosher with the peace accord, via the unlikely (and traced) phone call placed by the late POTIR's infidel girlfriend, who has received evidence from Jack.

We're hanging in...not being fans of Lost, we are staying here to see Jack through to the bitter end.
Unlike any other woman who loves Jack, we plan on surviving the evening!

Tai, We're Here, Too!

2010-05-24T20:11:00.002-04:00

It's the end of an era! "M" and I are together in Chicagoland to watch the last episode. Tai, we're with you.

(And BTW, you were so right about Battlestar Galactica. I'm in the middle of season 3...thanks so much for the awesome suggestion.)

I'm Miffed

2010-05-04T19:38:00.003-04:00

While I saw it live (streamed onto my laptop screen via MSNBC) I can't find video of NYPD's Ray Kelly invoking Jack Bauer when describing law enforcement response to the attempted Times Square attack.

Seriously, much gratitude to all of our first responders. And to the Vets on the street. (I've been involved in community activities and for some reason, licenses for street vending are given to veterans. Most of the other vendors you see aren't there legally. I've never gotten that one, but it's no doubt an unintended consequences that we've got some good eyes and ears on the street.)

Hope they got the right bad guy.

Previously on 24

2010-05-03T18:14:00.008-04:00

Okay, after 24 had seemed to be springing back to approximate some of the TV goodness we saw in late lamented seasons....sob....last week saw Jack, Chloe, Madame President and the ex-Evil Veep/Discredited Former President Logan riding the shark.

Where to start? Having discovered a mere 10 or 11 hours before that he was madly in love with a woman who would choose to remove a pair of handcuffs from a bad guy by grabbing a bone saw and severing the miscreant's thumb...followed by various law enforcement hi-jinks and a brief (extremely) roll in the hay, Jack has lost his beloved.

He also realizes that Madame President deserves to be the next Discredited President, for withholding the truth about the death of the hair-gel abusing President of the Islamic Republic. It was the Russians who did it.

We don't think that Jack knows this, but Evil Ex-President Logan has assumed the role of all-knowing statesman and advisor/confidante to Madame President. He's able to blackmail the Russians into signing a now-spurious peace agreement, and thus, what, temporarily saving face before the world?

Hmmm.

Jack does know that Madame President isn't living American values. He steals a helicopter, lands it on the roof of a Manhattan building, and disappears into the crowd en route to CTU to get information on Russian culpability from Bridezilla.

Once they find out that Jack's after Bridezilla, Logan and Madame President have her taken off to a dungeon to be waterboarded by bizarrely mustaschio'd members of a "private security firm." (Uh, this guy was obviously drummed out of active duty service based on his bad deployment of facial hair.)

Chloe is still in charge of CTU. (WTH???) She displays her ability to mobilize every sort of tactical operation.

Though to our knowledge, she hasn't called for a perimeter.

And she fails to give Jack credit for being able to call her next move. He calls and asks for her help finding Nina, I mean Bridezilla. She sets him up to head out to an industrial laundry in Queens, where the intrepid CTU team will scoop him up in a sting operation.

Instead, he disables everyone on the team (and whoa, there was an extremely GQ handsome Black man we were very concerned about) and snags Bridezilla's ex-Intended, Cole for his team.

The two of them are going to go rogue to rescue Bridezilla, discredit the President, somehow mend fences with Chloe, and find the Canisters.

Oops, that last one was a typo. Just ruminating on what was a different, and much better season.

RIP: A host of handsome black guys (Curtis, sob), Nina, Teri, Milo, Eggar, that former CTU head who kamikaze'd nucular warheads (or was that what happened to the canisters?) into the desert, Renee...and wait, what did happen to Jack's other main Squeeze, Awwwwdrey?

Unknown: Chloe's family (Morris and Prescott), Tony, David Palmer's 28 year old brother and also ex-President Wayne (last seen, comatose).

Sigh, RIP, 24.

(cool photo by Flickr's Richard Ling, used under Creative Commons License.)

Yoga Pose of the Week: Trataka

2010-04-27T06:30:00.003-04:00

Trataka is the yogic cleansing practice of gazing at a candle without blinking until the eyes form tears.

We don't practice this one in my tradition, so I can't advise you on how to do it. (Similarly unqualified: the 24 writers this season.) I'd advise those who wish to practice this -- and the writers of this season's 24 -- to find a qualified teacher.

We can all safely shed a tear, though, about the late, great 24.

(Tears are tasteless by flickr's megyarsh, used under Creative Commons license.)

Recap, 10am - 11am

2010-04-26T22:10:00.000-04:00

Dammit =2
Different tac/ops modes in which Chloe showed competence = at least 3
Evidence of evil superpowers = 1, Logam
Bauer kills =0
Improbable Convos Between Heads of State and various inappropriate others = 3
Handsome Dead Black Men = thankfully, zero
Micromanagement of the Torture Process = 1

Well. I can barely choke out the words "jump the shark."

All I can do is mourn the earlier seasons. The abuse of perfectly good actors. The failure of the writing staff to check facts on stuff like the distance between Soho and Middle Village, Queens. (If you even know about the existence of Middle Village, you've got to know you've screwed up on this one!)

Sigh. I'm so disheartened I can't even think of a yoga pose for this episode. I'm going to have to sleep on it.

Oh, Please

2010-04-26T21:57:00.001-04:00

They've taken Dana to a dungeon.

Ethan

2010-04-26T21:56:00.000-04:00

Maybe he's going to kill Logan.

Second Dammit

2010-04-26T21:55:00.000-04:00

And a "Nucular"!

You go, Jack.

Ah, a risky move. Have you been able to manipulate Cole?

Yes!

Haven't We Been In This Industrial Laundry Before?

2010-04-26T21:47:00.001-04:00

Ah, Jack knows he's been set up.

(And wasn't there a whole scene in an industrial laundry a few seasons ago? At least we've moved off the food service theme.)

Jack, This One's Gonna Hurt

2010-04-26T21:46:00.001-04:00

Chloe's betrayal is not going to be easy to get over.

Jack, try not to kill any of the guys from CTU. They're acting under presidential orders.

Oh, no. That guy's got to go just based on his sideburns.

Mme. POTIR

2010-04-26T21:40:00.000-04:00

Don't be such a girl. It doesn't matter what people think.

And Faline, now all observant. A few hours ago she was rolling around in a hotel suite with her father's betrayer...

Ethan, You're Going to Have to Take Action

2010-04-26T21:38:00.001-04:00

You're going to have to rat out Mme. President!

Screw your conscience, you can't abandon the American people. Do right thing and get on the horn with whoever you're supposed to call when the President breaks the law.

Beck, You're Too Good Looking To Live

2010-04-26T21:33:00.000-04:00

A Handsome Black Man with cheekbones like that?

Hasta la vista, baby.

It's 10 Minutes From Here -- By Helicopter!

2010-04-26T21:32:00.001-04:00

Back to Queens...which is not 10 minutes from Soho.

(Clack. That was the sound of me slapping myself.)

Chloe!

2010-04-26T21:27:00.001-04:00

She goes from rewiring the server and being pushed around by her boss to exhibiting knowledge and ability to execute a wide range of policing and interagency operations.

We're now riding the shark! (Like this guy is, supposedly...)

Again With The Improbable NYC Address

2010-04-26T21:26:00.000-04:00

Sigh.

Chloe, Do The Right Thing

2010-04-26T21:25:00.001-04:00

Chloe is good with the pouting.

And what???? The ex-President is in charge of taking Dana into custody?

Jack is now responsible for the integrity of our entire country. He's going to torture Dana before the Evil Veep's guys can.

OK, what about jumping the shark? This is like jumping a flotilla of sharks.

Mercer, just south of Houston? That's right near where I practice yoga! Maybe Jack's friend is one of my fellow students.

Ah, Bledsoe's 'stache would definitely get some laughs by some of the service members in my circle.

Ah, poor Starbuck/Bridezilla. You can see the anxiety that being on an inferior TV show is causing.

I Need To Let Go

2010-04-26T21:17:00.000-04:00

25th and Cleveland?

WTH?

Chloe, Breaking The Glass Ceiling!

2010-04-26T21:13:00.001-04:00

You go, girl. Fastest trip from loser to leader ever.

Madame President, you need to let go of the peace agreement as quickly as you let go of your ethics. And Ethan is going to bat for Jack's position? We've been calling him Evil Ethan all these years...

Mme. President, haven't you learned, you can't do the wrong thing for the right reasons!

Are Charles' eyes really that color? Could that be natural? You really see a lot more on the computer.

And yet another improbable convo -- a discredited ex-President advising Madame President -- tith nobody else in the room?

(And Evil Veep has Blackwater in the wings, yet again?)

Dammit!

2010-04-26T21:05:00.001-04:00

Yeah, the Air Force Choppers are going to force him down over midtown. Chloe, still queen of tactical operations at CTU!

Jack looks a little flummoxed.

But no, there's a convenient helipad! And thankfully, he's got his man purse -- will he be able to escape?

That was not an NYPD cruiser! The motto is "Courtesy, Professionalism, Respect" -- although maybe in the future it will be "Honor, Service, Dignity."

Previously on 24, 9am - 10am

2010-04-26T20:38:00.002-04:00

We're down to the last 5 hours. Sadly, I'm still not watching live...though this really is the end of an era, I don't think that live blogging will survive as an entertainment form for the nerdish egghead pop culture fans of bad TV. (And sometimes good TV.)

That said. Renee is dead. Jack moves quickly through his World Of Pain to revenge mode. (This will cost him, it never really works out this way.)

He manages to get into the courtroom where the evil Russian is being processed -- remember Bad Dad, who caused both of his sons to die, the guy with the Rods? yeah, I had forgotten him, too -- and gotten to the bottom of who killed Renee with about 30 seconds of verbal threats. (And geez, the courts work fast on TV; he was just arrested a few hours ago.)

It's the Russian government. And Bridezilla has all of the info.

The Evil Veep, the discredited former president, has gotten the Russians to agree to come back to the table and sign the peace accord, or he'll reveal their dastardly secret.

Jack heads back to interrogate Bridezilla, leading to the inevitably improbable promise of an immunity agreement, which the Evil Veep convinces Mme. President not to grant. In fact, he convinces her to do the wrong thing for the right reasons, and get everyone to smile and make nice on the peace agreement.

Even though the Russians can't be trusted, and Mme. President Hassan will be royally annoyed if she ever learns that she's signing an agreement with the people who killed her husband.

She has shown her ability to be swayed by really bad advice from dubious actors in the past, so we're not really surprised. Mme. President, you're no David Palmer.

After a series of improbable conversations between our Mme. President and various mid-level government employees, where she implores them to understand her reasoning, she shuts Jack down and sends him off to be "debriefed" at an air force base in NJ.

Jack hi-jacks the helicopter (heh heh, hijack), and as things close down, Chloe -- still in charge of CTU -- is standing on the helipad ordering the Air Force to bring Jack down.

Bloop, bloop.

Madame President

2010-04-26T10:00:00.000-04:00

Ethan's going to give her the evil eye.

He's looking a little sweaty. Maybe he'll drop dead.

Split screen montage.

And the mustachio'd guy is going to be the chief waterboarder? I don't even know if I can make it through the last 3 hours of the show...

Doing More Math In My Head

2010-04-19T21:59:00.001-04:00

It's 10 minutes between the UN and CTU?

Hmmm.

Jack, stealing the helo!

Chloe, how did you get these mad tactical skills in IT school?

Chloe, Girl Power

2010-04-19T21:57:00.000-04:00

You've got to go all insubordinate.

Right now!

Improbable Convo Part Deux!

2010-04-19T21:56:00.000-04:00

Or is it part trois?

Mme. President, you're acting like a total amateur.

I'm Doing The Math in My Head

2010-04-19T21:51:00.000-04:00

Jack and Renee hadn't seen each other in how long followed by a one day romance, he doesn't even know who her parents are, and everyone treats him like he's the grieving spouse.

Ack, Mme. President is doing the wrong thing for the "right" reasons. That never turns out well.

Nucular! Jack's going nucular on Mme. President. But she's like the uber-mommy, chiding Jack and sharing far too much information with him...and yet looking to him for affirmation.

Sad.

Mme. President, if you think you can lock Jack Bauer down, you don't know Jack.

Hahaha!

2010-04-19T21:50:00.000-04:00

The President, coming to CTU to take a meeting with Jack.

Ooh, good evil glare from Dana over the CCTV. The poor actress who plays Bridezilla.

Maybe the President will interrogate Bridezilla, slap her around a little bit.

(There's always time for the President to make an inspirational speech to the people on the front lines.)

Improbable Convo

2010-04-19T21:40:00.000-04:00

And yeah, I'm believing that the President will be swayed by the dishonest and evil Veep.

Ethan, you're the moral center. But Madame President, about to do the right thing? Or the wrong thing for the right reasons? Hmmm.

President Has An Office At The UN?

2010-04-19T21:32:00.000-04:00

That ought to ire some on both edges of the political spectrum.

Yeah, That's Unexpected

2010-04-19T21:28:00.000-04:00

Slap her around, Jack.

Ooh, that evil glance -- she's far more evil than you're possibly imagining.

Again With The Cab!

2010-04-19T21:25:00.000-04:00

Cabs are not a seamless mode of transportation. Especially at 9am!

Take the subway, Jack!

What's going on with the ex-President and his assistant? (And that former Marine who gave the Evil Veep the fishy eyeball? I like him.)

Jack, Playing Hardball

2010-04-19T21:15:00.001-04:00

And making deals that he can't possibly come through on...

And, it's back to Bridezilla! Well, I was wondering whether we'd see this again.

Good Soap Opera Recap

2010-04-19T21:15:00.000-04:00

I love it when they have someone describe the action of the last 4 episodes in about 5 sentences.

Mme. President!

2010-04-19T21:12:00.000-04:00

We think you should repeal DADT, especially for your own dealings with foreign states.

I have to salute Cherry Jones. She's gorgeous, age appropriate and clearly has had no work done. We heart her for aging like a human being.

Whoa, that's stock footage of my hood! (And actually, the courtroom looks fairly similar to the place I served grand jury duty.

Jack!

2010-04-19T21:04:00.000-04:00

Jack would so not be at the hospital by himself. (And they'd never move a law enforcement officer along like that!)

Ah, now Jack and Chloe might go mano a mano? haha.

Previously On 24: 8am - 9am

2010-04-19T20:03:00.003-04:00

Ok, I'm still not watching live these days -- it's all on "M"!

Last week. Let's see, the peace agreement is on the verge of salvage, as POTIR's flawless widow has been persuaded to take his place. (His spoiled daughter, Faline, seems to have lost sight of the fact that she's partly responsible for dad's death...)

This starts to unravel the fact that the Russians (hah, those wily and evil folk) are not actually on board, the Prime Minister tells Mme. President that the Russians won't recognize POTIR's widow and won't sign the accord, per the order of Russian President Suvarov. (Remember him?) Apparently Suvarov only person in the universe who isn't on Mme. President's speed dial.

And it turns out that the Russian prime minister is in cahoots with the bad guys. He's got a connection who seamlessly dresses up like an EMT and moves to the scene of POTIR's death and dispatches with Samir, who dies an unpleasant looking death back in the CTU medical suite.

From there, the Faux EMT's plan is to follow Renee and Jack, who have decamped in a cab -- Jack having had yet another convo with Mme. President and once again resigned from CTU -- and kill them both.

Hastings has been removed from his posting as head of CTU. His replacement (wait for it) Chloe, is quick to request a toxicology panel for Samir.

According the resilient and recovering (Evil?) Ethan, Mme. President's only diplomatic avenue to conversation with the rotten Russkies is to engage with the criminally discredited (and then apparently pardoned?) ex-President Logan (formerly known here as the Evil Veep) who has an inside connection with them.

"M" and I predict that things will not go well for Mme. President.

Jack and Renee go back to his place for a (quick, extremely quick) roll in the hay.

The ick factor is high, extremely high.

While Jack is making coffee (WTH?), Chloe calls Jack to check in, and Renee picks up his phone. Chloe quickly informs Renee about Samir's murder (verified by the tox. panel, go Chloe) and Renee realizes that she might have recognized the Faux EMT from her old cover as a Russian mobster's moll and requests to see the files from that case.

But not before the Faux EMT kills the guy across the street from Jack's pad, watches Renee and Jack roll around (eew) and shoots Renee mortally.

Jack runs down to the street, puts Renee into a cab...because hospitals are closing all over NYC, he doesn't get her to a trauma center quickly enough and she dies.

Jack is in a World Of Pain.

Pose of the Week: Vaschistasana

2010-04-12T22:20:00.002-04:00

This photo, "Ivan in Vaschistasana" is a photo of a man learning the pose, so he's not in total alignment at the time that the photo was snapped. But there is something very noble and beautiful about his effort.

He's got a lot of strength. This pose is hard for men -- especially strong ones like Ivan -- because brute muscular strength actually doesn't help...rather than drawing muscularly towards the center, you need to extend away.

Of course, poor Jack is both tough and tender. He probably rocks Vashistasana.

The pose is named after the sage Vashista, who was also a noble. (Nothing silly about him, just noble.)

(When you google this pose, you find an abundance of photos of one woman in the most interesting turquoise outfit with striped legwarmers. Legwarmers? Uh, what a feeling!)

Recap: 8am - 9am

2010-04-12T22:05:00.000-04:00

Dammit=0
Perimeter =0
Women-empowering, but improbable, personnel changes =2
The Return of Creepy Old Friends = Hello President Logan! (you look like you might have had some work done)
Handsome Dead Black Men =0 (Hastings can still buy it during the debrief, though)
Bauer kills =0
Bauer makes a bad choice in female companions =1 (RIP, Renee. You didn't have it easy.)
Improbable Presidential Convos = uh, just about every scene. I'm half expecting Mme. President to take a meeting at Starbucks. (I'm thinking that her drink would be a dark cherry mocha, the frappucino version.)

Speaking of Starbuck, Tai could not have been more right about Battlestar Galactica. I'm completely addicted, what a great show. Smart, fun, great acting, and both noble and silly at the same time.

And maybe that's the thing about 24. It is silly, but noble. We'll miss it.

Aw poor Jack

2010-04-12T21:58:00.000-04:00

I'll give him a hug!! He's got a good sad face :(
Sent from my BlackBerry

Split Screen Montage TIme

2010-04-12T21:57:00.000-04:00

Jack, you don't have the best luck with women.

Poor Renee.

Someone get Jack some scrubs.

Oh, no.

Shark jumpage!!!

2010-04-12T21:55:00.000-04:00

Really?come on now. A cab?
Sent from my BlackBerry

Another Cab!

2010-04-12T21:54:00.001-04:00

And could that sniper be a worse shot?

(1145 W. 18th Street would be somewhere in NJ.)

Wth did I miss

2010-04-12T21:54:00.000-04:00

I missed so much!! Jack and renee? Ugh! Doh That's going to leave a mark. Man, jack can hardly get a break with his women!
Sent from my BlackBerry

Oh, No!

2010-04-12T21:53:00.001-04:00

I don't want Renee to get shot!

Eew!!!!

2010-04-12T21:53:00.000-04:00

Can you fast forward hulu!? Eew.

I feel like I need to take a shower.

Kayla, You Spoiled Brat

2010-04-12T21:48:00.001-04:00

Maybe if you can keep your eyes (and hands) off of the bad guys, your mom will survive her Presidency.

(Uh, taking a car to the UN? During rush hour? With this sort of security issues you've been having?)

Oh, Logan. And that actor from Dollhouse. (Sigh, Joss!)

What kind of leverage could Logan have. (And David Palmer, sigh. I wonder if we'll see his 28-year old brother? Or is he dead, too? I forget.)

Logan, you're a regular yankee doodle dandy. Mme. President, this is not a good idea.

I worry

2010-04-12T21:46:00.000-04:00

That Madam Prez is going to be proven stupid, not evil

And I don't trust the swarmy assistant either
Sent from my BlackBerry

Arlo Looks Suspicious Of The Change In Command

2010-04-12T21:36:00.001-04:00

Hastings, you're not a tool anymore -- you're a real mensch. That's a real turnaround. (Or a total lack of character continuity.)

Ah, buh bye Samir.

Chloe's excellent IT training pays off...a toxicology panel?!

Didn't see that coming

2010-04-12T21:36:00.000-04:00

Chloe in charge?! She wasn't even employed by them, was she??
Sent from my BlackBerry

Interesting

2010-04-12T21:35:00.000-04:00

Ex-Pres Logan has kept a possibly inappropriate relationship with Russia
Sent from my BlackBerry

Ethan

2010-04-12T21:31:00.000-04:00

One tough SOB. Sorry to be checking in late. Hope mobile blogging works
Sent from my BlackBerry

Ah, President Suvarov!

2010-04-12T21:26:00.000-04:00

Remember him? This must be where the old evil Veep comes in.

Ethan, you resilient ba$tard!

(The Women of The 24 Blog might not slow down to gawk at automobile accidents, but we sure do love some Cliffhanger.)

It Doesn't Look Good For This Old Guy.

2010-04-12T21:23:00.000-04:00

Yeah. Wily freaking Russians.

And, eew.

Eew

2010-04-12T21:20:00.001-04:00

I don't want to see any action between Jack and Renee. Eew.

Eeew.

Color me immature. But that's gross.

POTIR Is Dead

2010-04-12T21:18:00.000-04:00

Long live the new POTIR, Mrs. Hassan.

(She has gorgeous skin. You really see this stuff when watching on the computer.)

Wilson, what's your plan? Hahaha! Chloe, an IT professional, is going to run CTU?

Girl power!

Take Some Responsibility

2010-04-12T21:13:00.000-04:00

Faline, you ignorant so and so! You're partly responsible for your father's death. You should have never been dallying with Tarin.

And Mrs. POTIR, you can do this. But don't be anyone's puppet!

The Russians!

2010-04-12T21:10:00.000-04:00

The head Russian...and in cahoots with the Islamic terrorists? And the bad guys tie back to the Russian mob!

I smell a trip to Brighton Beach. (With a detour along Atlantic Avenue...there's an awesome middle eastern deli in Cobble Hill. Stuffed grape Leaves. Yum.)

Uh, Jack and Renee are in a cab? Hah.

Ah, They were in the Bronx!

2010-04-12T21:08:00.001-04:00

Did they make it to every boro, and Jersey City, this season?

(Or did they skip the Island of Staten?)

Improbable Convo

2010-04-12T21:05:00.001-04:00

Mme. President is very motherly with Jack.

"Ma'am, if you give up, it means they win!"

Ah, love the old if-then statements that end with the terrorists winning...

Oh, a Bad guy EMT? I don't think so...the other guys could smell that.

I think that our Mayor's office of film would want to have some conversation with the writers...first the sleeper cop, and now a faux EMT? Our Finest And Bravest aren't being well represented here!

Previously on 24

2010-04-12T17:45:00.004-04:00

OK. I won't be live blogging, but hopefully "M" will chime in.

Last week. First of all, did they get the old writers back? Dammits and perimeters abounded! And it was pretty tight. Stuff blew up. Someone we grew to kind of tolerate, if not love, died. (He predeceased his hairdo.) Hastings grew a pair. A CTU insider gave us a little echo of Nina. Sigh.

So, Mrs. President Hair Gel and her daughter are rustled off to NJ -- via whatever route, helo probably, they should have taken with the POTIR, as opposed to the spurious tunnel thing.

The POTIR is handed off to Tarin, and the bad guy government agent (played by one of the wonderful actors from The Unit, which I've got to get on DVD because of the great David Mamet dialogue in the first season) finds the car bomb with the rods.

Manhattan no go boom, though there is a silly scene where the gov't agent opens up the car with the dirty bomb in it with no backup, protection or anything.

There's a car chase where Jack loses POTIR -- Jack's following Tarin, who drives his car off the roof of a parking garage, having stashed POTIR in the backseat of a car that is allowed to drive through whatever perimeter had, I believe, been set. The bad guys still have POTIR, and Tarin is dead.

However, Jack learns that Bridezilla is the bad apple in CTU, and calls it in to Chloe.

Bridezilla almost escapes from CTU. But she doesn't. Her former Intended takes her down, and with as much emotion as he can muster...he looked about as angry as a Brady brother looked when one of the other brothers broke his guitar. Or something.

Jack alerts Mme. President to the coup attempt by the General and the Rahm Emmanuel wanna be. The President shows appropriate contempt, and rustles Ethan off to the hospital.

Jack makes an improbable immunity deal with Bridezilla to find out where the bad guys have taken POTIR.

It looked like Queens again. And they kill POTIR, who dies without renouncing peace. (Whew.) But not before the bad guys fake Jack and CTU into thinking they have time to rescue him, by asynchronously broadcasting a broadcast of what seemed to be the lead in to the execution...they arrive and find POTIR already dead.

Old school 24.

Good news is that the improbable immunity deal they made with Bridezilla will have to come to naught.

If the first 10 hours had been as good as this episode...we'd be giving another day of our lives for this darn show next year.

Whew.

Until tomorrow, when I view this via Hulu.

Unless there's an improbable convo between a President and me. The President of Time Warner Cable, that is. And I'd be giving them immunity -- their customer service is a crime against all that is good.

Take it, "M"

Yoga Pose of the Week: Seated Twist

2010-04-06T21:29:00.003-04:00

This is one of the Maricyasana poses. I always mix them up.

This yogi shows beautiful alignment, as well as the muscular action required to safely do this pose. (Check the action of her right hand and left foot, both showing some muscular engagement.)

Twists are really good for you, but perilous if done without awareness.

As we've seen with the plot this season.

This week's episode(s) definitely showed some muscular action. 24, while we'll be glad to gain an extra day in our 2011, we'll miss you.

Recap

2010-04-06T21:17:00.003-04:00

Ok, the last 3-4 hours have made up for the entire season. Yes, we had some hair gel moments. Some moments of geographic improbability.

(And I don't know if they actually filmed any of this in NYC, but I swear that some of the scenes looked like they were filmed on W. Broadway below Canal. But I digress.)

Women proven Evil, and then outed = Dana
Dammit = Whoa, at least 7 or 8
Perimeter = It hasn't made up for the whole season, but whoa
24 Cardinal Rules Broken = 2 (handsome black men are all still standing; and Arlo survived his last trip to the server room with a psychopath)
Jack wound up killing a ton of people.
Manhattan? Saved.
The Rods? Secured.
The Constitution? Actually in fairly good shape. That's Obama era 24 for you.
Improbable conversations involving heads of state = at least 3

That's some TV for you. And I'm sorry about President Jack Lord. Really.

And, I'm curious about what can come next. (A first for this season, curiosity!) There's what, another 7 or 8 hours, that's at least 2 full plotline opportunities for the world to come to an end.

Will Dana turn out to be the daughter of the discredited President, Logan? She's got a little bit of Jean Smart in her. Will we see Tony again? Will Jack, Kim and Baby Teri be reunited in LA? Will Chloe get home to Prescott and his babu?

Will Arlo survive the season?

And will we ever stop wanting them to bring back Nina?

What, No Previews on Hulu?

2010-04-06T21:11:00.001-04:00

What do I want for free?

(And actually a better picture than I get on my TV, too.)

Bridezilla, It Looks Like Your Deal Is Off

2010-04-06T21:05:00.002-04:00

And Faline, you're going to have to contend with your responsibility in this matter.

CTU Should Take Down The Internet Feed

2010-04-06T21:04:00.002-04:00

After all, the terrorists would just blame Time Warner Cable, and put the execution on hold.

Perimeter!

2010-04-06T21:02:00.002-04:00

And uh, helmets and vests?

Is Renee going to put herself into a "suicide by terrorist" situation? Why would Jack believe her "promise" to stay back behind him? (It wasn't that long ago that she was taking a bone saw to a bad guys' thumb.)

We Can't Continue This Forever

2010-04-06T20:58:00.003-04:00

You guys have no grit. You've only been at this torture game for like 20 minutes! POTIR is a warrior, it will take a bit longer than an episode to break him.