24: SEASON EIGHT EP 19 IF Magazine Review 10am-11 am

24 - SEASON EIGHT - '10 a.m. to 11 a.m.'

Jack races to unveil the truth while Taylor (and Chloe!) race to stop him

Grade: B+
Stars: Kiefer Sutherland, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Annie Wersching, Freddie Prinze Jr., Cherry Jones,
Release Date: April 26, 2010

By EMERSON PARKER, Contributing Editor
Published 4/27/2010

Jack (Kiefer Sutherland) in 24 2010 Fox

Is it bad that I was hoping the private security team would actually kill off Dana Walsh (Katee Sackhoff) on 24?

I’ve had enough of her this entire season and to finally see her actually get either water boarded or killed might just be the pay off my soul might agree with. See Dana has been one of the big reasons that up until about the last three episodes, 24 has been a subpar season for the action series. Now, even a down season for 24 is better than have the schlock on TV, but when you are used to getting a certain quality, it is hard to swallow.

Now, Jack (Kiefer Sutherland) is in a race against time to get to Walsh before she is either killed or tortured into submission. See she’s the one key that is holding up the chance of peace in the IRK from happening. And President Taylor (Cherry Jones) is willing to risk it all in order to not only keep Jack from reaching her but ensure the peace process she’s been working toward happens.

What’s even more interesting is that for the first time ever, we see Chloe (Mary Lynn Rajskub) and Jack face off in a battle of wits and outmaneuvering. Her ploy to trap Jack was good, but Jack sniffed it out at the last minute luckily for him. I don’t think any of us ever really imagined the two of them on such opposite ends of the spectrum. For that matter, this is the first time really Jack and Taylor have been such at odds.

See, the thing that Taylor doesn’t understand is this: You don’t f*** with Jack Bauer. See regardless of who you are, if a terrorist attack or plot happens against the U.S., even if it is for the betterment of the world, Jack will want it uncovered. Because in his mind, there is no breaking the rules in order to seek a longer-lasting venture.

He is single-minded in some ways to a fault. Would the fictional Earth where 24resides be better off if an Islamic state agrees to peace? Are the people of the U.S. better off knowing the true extent of the plot against the country and the exposure of those in their government? Tough questions. But for Jack, it isn’t. Justice and truth are the only forces that drive him. He doesn’t look at the bigger picture or the ramifications of the truth and the justice, he just wants them delivered. I suppose he believes that by doing so the world and the U.S. are somehow better off and perhaps they are, but you gotta imagine having lasting peace in a region that has known none for generations might be a good thing too.

But you could always look at the other side that peace might eventually happen in the IRK as Ethan Kanin (Bob Gunton) says, but not in Taylor’s presidency as a result of the Russians killing off President Hassan (Anil Kapoor) and plotting this entire terrorist insurgency in the U.S. from the beginning. But for Taylor, she isn’t willing to risk her own legacy on it and is taking these extreme measures of covering up the Russian involvement and taking former President Charles Logan’s (Gregory Itzin) advice to ship Dana Walsh to a secret internment facility through a private security firm. This, of course, leads to Kanin handing in his resignation having had enough of Taylor’s abuses to the truth and justice. Kanin, like Jack Bauer, believes the truth is the ultimate weapon and should be used at all times and is unwavering in his beliefs.

And in some ways we are seeing the similarities of the Taylor presidency mixing with that of the disgraced Logan presidency. Sure Taylor never had an ex-president assassinated or former CTU members killed and then plotted terrorist actions on his own country in order to “protect it” but she’s fallen into the trap of letting her ego dictate her judgment. Much the same way Logan in his final days as president proclaimed to Jack and others that he did it for his legacy and for the betterment of the country (probably in that order).

It is a hard nut to crack which way you go with this … yeah, you always want to cheer for Jack because he’s the main dude and such a badass. Plus, truth is always a goal for not just ourselves but our hopes for our government. But on the other hand, you can see where Taylor is coming from as well as a long-term benefit to the world.

Either way, it adds up to good TV and the 24 we’ve all grown to know and love.

Source: IFMagazine