24 Recap: Same Old Jack, but Freckles Has Truly Gone Rogue

I know, I know: we've seen it all before. Jack trying to get out but continually sucked back in? Check. A mole within the government/police/CTU/FBI? Check, check, check, check. A CTU woman who works at a desk in love with a CTU male who works in the field? Yup, Season 3. An informant with vital information dying before he can say what he needs to say? Done. Jack says "stay with me" to a guy who obviously won't be staying with him? Yuppers. Chloe and Jack going behind the backs of people to find the real criminals? Yup. An interracial affair between a male head of state and a woman that can ruin the presidency? So Season 2. Jack convincing police officers he really works for CTU? At least once a season. A CTU agent with something in their past that's distracting them from their job? That's Season 4 for you. Jack's even gotten tased a few times before (and has never said "Don't tase me, bro!"). And despite the fact that Jack has saved the country numerous times, he's still unrecognizable and underappreciated.

So why do we stick around? Why do we watch 24? Why does it still have so many loyal fans?

Because it's still awesome, even if it is formulaic. Law & Order is formulaic too and no one complains. Someone dies, the police investigate, they check out some leads, they arrest someone, the lawyers get involved, there's a twist, someone objects/files a motion, and the show ends with Dick Wolf's name. The difference is that 24 was so revolutionary, so unique when it first started that we were surprised when anything happened. Moles in the government? Holy shit. A nuclear weapon in Los Angeles? OMG! It was all exciting because it felt real and it felt like you never knew when the next twist was coming.

Now we know. If they say the file is going to be decrypted within an hour, we know we'll get a twist before the episode ends. If they arrest a woman (who happens to be Jon Hamm's girlfriend--forever to be known as JH's GF) in the second episode, she's probably not the extent of the plot or even involved at all.

But in a way, the writers and producers know all that and sort of winked at the audience this season. Chloe said what everyone who has ever watched 24 was saying watching that episode: it was all to quick and too easy. Chloe's wink at the audience was very LOST-esque and very real (speaking of LOST, how about Horace showing up as a bad guy? I wanted them to bury him far beneath the earth when he was dead. You do not want him coming back alive). They no longer treated us like idiots (a big Season 6 mistake) and let us in very quickly to the fact that JH's GF wasn't the real mole. Even though she was taken into custody by Freddie Prinze, Jr.'s and Bubba's new CTU*.

*Side Note: FPjr. has done a great job so far. I was worried about him on this show but so far, he's acting the part well. Though I'm not sure why they have him being Hispanic. Was being a white guy as the head of field ops not believable enough? I love the admiration he shows for Jack Bauer (someone needs to) and I think that's going to play in big for the rest of the season. The head of CTU? The guy whose head is so heavy he can't seem to keep it upright? Brian Hastings? He's Bubba in Forest Gump and Mike 'Baby-O' O'Dell in Con Air. Thank you, IMDB.

The real mole was shown to be President Omar Hassan's brother: Farhad. And Omar (the judge in Slumdog Millionaire) and Farhad come from a country that is, of course, fake Middle Eastern country, but there's no doubt it's modeled after Iran. I have a real question about this: why can 24 continually name Russia as a country they have troubles with but have to make up Islamic countries that the terrorists come from? Is that PC, even? Farhad has escaped and he's working with Baron Wolfgang von Wolfhausen from Beerfest. Except he's Russian. Because, 24 is stuck in the Cold War. I digress.

And Omar and President Allison Taylor (who I still believe didn't deserve her Emmy) are negotiating a big nuclear agreement (hello Season 5). But this time Taylor seems to have better council. Not only has she gotten rid of her annoying husband (and maybe married Ethan who may be on his way to his death?) and not only has she gotten rid of her daughter, but she also has a secret weapon: Chief of Staff Rob Weiss. Yes, folks, she seems to have a Jew as her Chief of Staff--her own Rahm Emanuel, if you will. So far her one big decision was whether to tell Omar he was being targeted. But do you think those decisions may get a bit harder for her? Do you think that she may be forced to use the angry face again this season? 

Side Note: And one more question for you: where the heck in New York is this multi-billion dollar CTU? Roosevelt Island? Long Island City? Randall's Island? There is seriously continuity issues with how quick they can drive from place to place depending on where the heck it actually is. And for those of us who live in New York, this season is hitting way too close to home.

So how does Jack and co get in with the Russians? Is it because Jack can speak Russian as we learned in Season 6? Nope. So what is it? Boom: Freckles is back! But this time SHE'S gone rogue. Now my great idea for this season of 24 was that Jack had gone rogue and started shooting innocent people and Sarah Palin (now that she's a Republican FOX talking head) says "I thought I was rogue but then I watched this season of 24." But I guess Freckles going rogue will have to do for now.

Though she really hasn't gone rogue. Remember at the end of the episode where she cut off the guy's hand because she's undercover and wants to get this guy to take her to the next guy in command? Remember how Jack thinks she's gone postal? Well that's been done before at 24, and Jack should remember it: he cut off the head of a guy in Season 2 to get in undercover with the next guy in charge. True story. This is actually a recycled plot.

What makes this so much better is that Jack and Frecks have no trust and Freckles could really blow this thing at any moment. The parallels between Freckles this season and Jack in Season 2 (especially with the whole: person you love dying but you're still asked to come back to save the country even though you're not up to it thing) are unmistakable, but for some reason, I'm still intrigued. Is there still some sexual tension there? Does she blame Jack for what happened to her? Does Jack blame himself for how she turned out?

I want to feel a little more hooked than I am now. A brother of a faux-Iranian President is trying to get nuclear weapons out of the country with a Russian mobster (can we just let them leave the country with it for once? and why the heck would Russians bring in Uranium to the US only to ship it to faux-Iran? wouldn't it be easier to just to send it there directly?). There's no imminent threat. Jack doesn't have to save the US right now. But we all know that he's going to have to. Or maybe instead of the US, Jack is saving the world from the threat of a nuclear (and he did pronounce it like George Bush this episode) faux-Iran. I'm faux-excited to find out.

I also feel like JH's GF and Omar's relationship will play a part later on in the season. I mean you don't bring in Don Draper's gf for four episodes! Maybe she gets kidnapped and he has to decide what's more important to him. Maybe she takes her story public and he's delegitimized. All of this, combined with the Redneck, ex-con, ex-boyfriend, plot going on at CTU makes me wish that 24 didn't spend so much of its energy on things we don't care about (speaking of which, how the heck does Dana/Jenny get away with wearing those outfits to work? And Ari pointed out: how did she get past a background check with a fake name/background?). Also qualifies for Kim Bauer being on the screen now that she's not as hot as she once was.

I'm hoping that Jack finally grows as a character this season. Maybe the fact that he's already had his sights set on heading back to Los Angeles (Lord knows why the heck he would want to do that considering all the bad shit that's happened to him there) will make him more cognizant of the ending, more fearful that he won't get to see his granddaughter grow up. Jack already started to do this last season when he was forced to justify his torturing of suspects, but maybe this season he finally makes amends with everything in his life. One hint of this is when Jack is confronted on the basketball court by a bunch of street-tough guys and instead of whooping some ass, he flashes his piece and offers a C-note for anyone who will snitch. But less than an hour later, he's busting up a cop (Entourage's Dom if it was bothering you) and up to his old tricks. 

But maybe this season is different. Maybe it takes Jack on a different path. Maybe he finally has to really rely on other people for help. Maybe he can't do it all by himself. Maybe he will finally become old and unable to do the things he used to do.

But at the very least, Jack has to come to grips with the monster he's obviously created in Freckles. He showed her how to loosen up and smack around a few suspects but she's gone way beyond that: she's completely unhinged. Maybe instead of stopping the bomb plot, Jack's main goal for Season 8, in the end, will be stopping Renee Walker. And maybe in the process he has to stop himself from becoming what he's always become when the nation is threatened. Maybe they have another twist up their sleeves that we still haven't seen yet. Or maybe this will disappoint me as yet just another formulaic season of 24.

I certainly hope not.

Season Grade So Far: B-

Best Line of the Week (paraphrased):  Bubba: "You probably expected him to thank you."
Chloe: "I was actually thinking he should thank Jack, then Cole, then maybe me."

Put your thoughts in the comments below.