Writers: Joel Surnow, Robert Cochran.
Director: Jon Cassar.
Cast: Kiefer Sutherland, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Kim Raver, Tate Donavan, William Devane, Yvonne Strahovski, Michelle Fairley, Emily Bennington, Giles Matthey, Benjamin Bratt, Michael Wincott.
Synopsis: Taking place between 5pm and 6pm, Jack and President Heller endure the unthinkable to thwart the terror attacks of Margot Al-Harazi. Meanwhile, Jordan faces a life-or-death struggle and Kate takes drastic measures to get information from Simone.
Jacks back! It’s hard to believe I know, but it has been a whole four years since we watched Jack, now a wanted man, bid Chloe farewell and disappear from our TV screens. You can’t keep a good man down though and everyone’s favourite rogue agent has this time set-up camp on British soil. Though not quite 24 this time around, with only twelve episodes, 24: Live Another Day promises to be crammed full of just as much action. THN will be here every step of the way in our new episode-by-episode Bauer Blog.
Well it’s got a little bit dark on 24: Live Another Day both literally and figuratively as night fell and we lost an iconic character. Ladies and gentleman the President is dead. In a touchingly sad end we watched Heller trot out to the middle of Wembley arena, a lonely figure in the midst of all that green. He got one last look at the night sky and then boom, bye bye Wembley arena, and bye bye Heller.
The reason for his surrender was simple, he wanted to save British lives. He brokered an arrangement with Margot such that if he gave himself to her, all the drones would be handed back over. Surprisingly Margot appears to be a woman of her word. She doesn’t want to be another double-crossing terrorist, she is a lady of principles. If she goes back on her promise to Heller then she will discredit herself. She’s still a cold hearted creature to the core however, as when asked about Simone her response was – we have to assume the worst, that Simone is alive and has turned us in. That’s right, her worst case scenario is that her daughter is alive.
Not everyone is happy with this decision and Margot may have to watch her back as son Ian looks likely to try and take over soon. Up until now he’s been lurking in the shadows, slowly planting ideas in his mother’s head. He was the one who gave Margot ideas about Navid and Simone. He doesn’t sound happy with his mother’s plans to destroy the drones after Hellers demise.
Agent Reed is onto Navarro and took on his attacker, managing to shoot and kill him. Unfortunately his attacker managed to stab him in the chest and Reed’s fate seems uncertain at this point. Given that no one but him knows about Navarro, or is likely to stumble across the information, I imagine that he is still with us for now.
And what of Jack’s lady friends? Kate arrived at CIA headquarters and began pressuring medics to revive Simone. Their reluctance meant her metamorphosis into Jack continued as she forced medical staff at gunpoint to revive the comatose Simone. The revival worked and Simone told Kate about the disc hidden under the floorboard by Navid.
Meanwhile Chloe is still working out of the pub, though its starting to get pretty rowdy. It is the end of the working day after all. Adrien is a little put-out after his call to Chloe, letting her know he thinks he’s found somewhere safe, was brushed off. She was in the middle of trying to hijack the stolen drones and prevent Heller’s death so he really should let her off. Honestly, look at Jack getting in the way of all these couples.
Heller’s last hour was a sombre affair, his goodbye to daughter Audrey brought a tear to the eye. It was even more tragic as Audrey had no clue that this was the last time she would see her father, ushering him out of the office so she could focus on work. His remark that today was the worst day of his life passed her by completely and misinterprted his need to see an old family photos as worries about his Alzheimer’s.
What’s now for Mark and Audrey? The couple were already a little shaky at the start of the series, and with the revelation that Mark was in on Heller’s suicide plan, it doesn’t look good for the couple. Lets face it, the situation is a tad more intense than the usual spousal arguments about toilet seats being left up and all the milk being drunk.
Jack and Heller’s escape was a thing of beauty, of course the technology failed at the most crucial moment. This led to a wonderful rare moment of comedy as the pair differed in their tactics of distracting an unexpected secret service agent, Heller wanted to chat, but Jack thought it best to just give a bop on the head. They made it to their helicopter and took a moonlit ride. Doesn’t London look lovely at night, the helicopter ride beautifully displayed our lovely lit-up capital. Did you all see the red moon? Wonder when they shot that?
As Heller and Jack parted ways forever Heller had one last gift for Jack, a full Presidential pardon. The pardon covered his past ‘crimes’ as well as any he may have/still-might break today. This obviously opens the show up to a full America-set revival should the audience want it. It also puts a rather big fly in Mark’s ointment, he’s promised Jack to the Russians but they can’t send an exhonorated man to face charges.
So night has descended on London which can mean only one thing in 24 world, the best bits are about to happen. Jack operates best under a cloak of darkness, and after watching an old boss and friend sacrifice himself for his country you know he’s out for blood.
CIA Blunder: Navarro gets a call telling him agent Reed is on the line. Navarro of course cant believe the man he just ordered a hit on would be calling and so asks the operator if he was sure. The operator replied with “he said his name was Reed, and it sounded like him”. That’s a real tight ship they’re running on the switchboard.
Badass Bauer Moment: Simone is in really bad shape – hell she needs her skull drilling into, and that’s never good. If she is woken from her induced coma she will more than likely die, if she doesn’t talk though Jack will miss out on Margot’s location. Jack’s response to Kate’s statement that she will die if woken? We need Simone to talk, if she dies so be it. As the Heller situation escalated, Jack called Kate and told her to “wake the bitch up”. Lovely.
‘Damnit!’ Counter: After spoiling us last week, today we were back down to the one solitary damnit.
[usr=5] 24: Live Another Day airs on Sky One Wednesdays at 9pm.
