24: Day Four, 4-5 p.m. First of all, a bit of self-congratulations. I called it weeks ago that Audrey's ex-husband would somehow be tied to the terrorist plot.
OK, shameless patting self on the back is done. Let's move onto the episode.
Sometimes I don't understand everything that happens on
24. Such as--why was CTU quick to go to the torture of the president's son and then Sarah but yet Mary Anne is not instantly tasered the minute they tried to get information out of her. Does that make a lick of sense of anyone else? Also, MaryAnne tries to use the fact that she is one of two thumbprints that can unlock the computer system...but yet CTU has the other one right there on a body. If you're looking to keep her contained and not allow her a chance to escape, then why not (and this is grim, but follow me here) remove the hand of the guy who is already dead and take it along with you to by pass the fingerprint security system? Does the fingerprint also have to be warm? I don't think we said anything about that, but I could be wrong.
And boy it sure does not pay to be a bad-guy this week. MaryAnne dies as does TerrorDad. As soon as TerrorDad's gun hit the floor, we knew that Behrooz would shoot him. It would just be too easy if Jack took him alive. I think just for that blunder that Behrooz must now hang out with Kim for a couple of episodes and be chased by a cougar. That'd be an appropriate punishment, I think.
Meanwhile, things become almost "As CTU Turns" with the re-instatement of Tony Almada, Driscoll's concern that she is being kept out of the loop on some things and needs allies and Sarah's coming back to work after being tortured. You know, I love my job but I think if they arrested me and then tazered me I'd be a bit hesistant to dive back into the job right away. Also, I get more and more annoyed that Heller can get Tony reinstated but it's too much of pain to have him pick up the phone and save Edgar's mother last week. And you know, I think Edgar deserves at least a five minute break to mourn the loss of his mother. Also, I think I know why the deficit is getting out of control--it's all the overtime we're paying CTU people. Can you imagine the time and a half these people are making?
Also, was it just me or was the whole idea of finding the override within a certain window of time dropped a bit quickly in the final twenty or so minutes. We see Audrey headed across town to find out some info about it and Jack is following up a lead. But suddenly, info on Paul's possible connection to the terrorists comes up and everyone diverts away from finding the override and saving our collective bacon and goes after Paul. And while I understand that this may all play out that he is a bigger piece of the puzzle, it doesn't make sense to divert two of your primary operatives to something that may or may not yield any results in finding and stopping the terrorists. I will also go out on a limb here and say that Jack and Audrey's relationship will be so strained by all that's going on that by the end of the day, they will not be as happy as they were at the start. Face it--Jack's been looking for a reason to point a gun at Paul and threaten him since he returned on the scene. And Jack went to the hitting a bit fast--especially when he knows full well Audrey is having some doubts about the marriage that were placed there by Paul earlier in the day. I have a feeling that Jack's usual tactic of smack a supsect around, ask questions later is going to come back to haunt him. Audrey is seeing a whole new side of Jack and it may not be one that she's particularily fond of.
Stargate Atlantis: Before I SleepFrom what I'd heard about this one via the previews and on-line rumors (I knew months ago that the aged woman they find in the city turns out to be Weir), I was kind of expecting a re-tread of
Next Generation's "Time Squared." Instead, what we got was an episode that delved into the paradoxoes of time travel. Follow me here if you can. In one reality, Weir and company come through the Stargate to Atlantis where nothing goes right and everyone but Weir dies. She finds a time ship that sends her back in time a couple of thousand years. She sets up things so the next time the crew will be successful and everyone will live a bit longer. She then goes into cryogenic storage to wake up every couple of thousand years to make sure the city is still running. OK, now as nice as that all sounds, there are still some huge gaping holes. First of all, if back-in-time Weir wakes up and something is broken how does she know how to fix it? We've seen that Rodney is more the guy who fixes stuff in the course of the show and not Weir. I guess basically she's doing the equivalent of starting the engine every few years so the car doesn't rust out in the front yard.
That said, the episode was interesting enough and one that at least tried to have some fun with the whole meeting another version of yourself angle. Honestly, the first half was far better than the second, when the flashbacks of Weir back in time weren't nearly as interesting as seeing her interact with the usual Atlantis crew. I liked seeing the first mission fail so miserably and how Weir goes about dealing with that. It also brings up some questions of--a few weeks ago on
Stargate, our crew tried to head out to Atlantis because they hadn't heard from the crew there in a while...so which time line will they make it out to? The one that we are seeing or the one that originally played out?
Oh man, time travel shows make my head hurt somtimes...
Stargate SG1: Citizen JoeI'm really of two minds about this episode. Part of me really liked the self-aware nature of this show--from making fun of itself ("How many times can they save the world?!?") to the fandom as a whole. But then, there's a part of me that says--you know, we only get 20 episodes a year, so why are we spending an hour here with flashbacks and filling in the backstory when there is a whole lot more interesting stuff we could be doing. I would have far preferred we have some movement forward with the long-term plot lines of the season rather than just a fluffy hour that didn't do much more than give the regular actors a week off.
posted by Michael Hickerson at 2/22/2005 08:21:00 AM |
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