24 is not the first to use the EMP. Ocean’s 11 did it with Don Cheadle. And in 24’s 4th season, with Habib Marwan as a threat, and Jack and Paul Raines (Audrey’s ex) hot on their trail, a corporation (McLennen-Forster) set off an EMP to destroy all their own files*. So while I was surprised to see it again, I wasn’t shocked. And this time, the EMP was actually used by terrorists instead of some corporate execs trying to avoid a slap on the wrist.
*Side Note: Then the corporation took the impending blackout as a chance to send a private militia after Jack and Paul which resulted in Jack having his one nice moment with Islamic people in the first 6 seasons of the show (when he had to take over their ammunition shop to cover from the militia). It also resulted in Paul getting shot and Audrey ridiculously switching allegiances from Jack to Paul even though Paul had been stalking her life since the separation (and refusing to give in to a divorce) and Jack and her had fallen deeply in love—and Jack had just risked his life by going solo against a base full of terrorists and blown them all up to save Audrey and her father. Audrey, you are an ungrateful bitch.
Let’s review how we got there, shall we? Chloe was told by Bubba to liaise with NYPD, but Chloe referred to Denny’s experience (my guess is that she didn’t know what “liaise” meant). This confuses Arlo The Horndog who now needs to know why he’s reporting to not one, but two women, yet sleeping with none of them. Poor Arlo just needs a hug at this point. But Chloe tells his to do his job. Methinks putting Chloe in charge of all of CTU and just telling people to “do their job” would be a lot more efficient than having term after term of incompetence (but I digress).
The lead tactical for the NYPD is Sergeant (Famous) Amos who is played by Joe Torre (or at least looked exactly like him). Except Sergeant Joe Torre takes this whole “lead tactical” thing to heart and decides to run his own operation, going in after Tarin and Hassan’s daughter despite the pleas of Jack and CTU. That doesn’t work out too well as Tarin spots the team coming, knocks down the door to the bathroom in his hotel room (I think he’ll have a nice charge on his credit card over that one) and tells Hassan’s daughter that the last thing he wants to do is hurt her—but he will if he has to. So of course she stops putting up a fight and goes with him.
Tarin the decides the only way out is to shoot himself out so he starts taking out NYPD officers*. Tarin's accent disappears (24 Season 8: The Season of Accents) as he tries to impersonate an NYPD officer and send them on the wrong trail. But Jack has been fooled
*Side Note: Except he shoots all of them in the vest. These are heavily armed
*Side Note: So Hassan can’t turn this file over to the terrorists because they’ll know where our nuclear defense system has weaknesses. But we’ve had Russians smuggle nuclear material into the country and terrorists transport these nuclear rods all along the outer boroughs of Manhattan. So I’d say they have a pretty good idea already where our weaknesses lie.
Meanwhile, in the underground vault, we get an interesting conversation between Tarin and the not-yet-named (as far as I know) lead terrorist which eases any fears that Tarin may have had about himself or his lover by revealing he was, in fact, ready to die in Hassan’s limo earlier in the day so why not now? Good point. But you sort of felt that he was going to rescue her anyways.
And he does, ushering her out of the building and getting her into a getaway car but he gets shot dead trying to save her. Or we think he does. In a great plot twist*, Tarin was not really dead, but had just enough time to tell Hassan’s daughter to go to CTU. And of course, now CTU can track the cellphone and finds out she’s at 1st and 5th (again, the NYC geography has me confused). So they tell her exactly how to get to CTU—and of course, she can find it and enter the tunnel to it without problems. But as she gets to CTU, Jack realizes something is wrong. And they find an EMP bomb in the car. One brave CTU officer tries to drive it out but it’s too late as the bomb blows up and CTU is knocked out. For the third time in eight seasons, CTU is attacked (and since there was no CTU last season, it really is the 3rd time in 7 seasons). I repeat, CTU is attacked.
*Side Note: There was one big problem with this plot twist: the previews from the week before made it obviously clear that something was going to go wrong. I loved the “next on 24” from last week but that really gave away that something was coming through CTU’s tunnel that was going to fuck shit up.
Can Someone Please Kill Denny Already?
They kill Kenny on South Park, can't they kill Denny on 24? There was less Denny and the Dangerously.Close.To.Worst.Sideplot.Ever. but it was still in this episode. Probation Officer Milton arrived this episode* and had questions for Denny. So Denny reveals she does know who Kevin is and that she met him at a bar and had sex with him but never saw him again. She says she wants to keep the story quiet so her fiancé doesn’t find out. It sounds like a good lie--and she’s a good liar-- but Milton ain’t buying it.
He decides to stay around and she tells him that he has to stay in the conference room. I thought this was ominous for CTU, but it end up just being ominous for Denny as Milton seems to know more than he’s letting on. He knows where that stapler is dammit and he’s going to get it back! Or something like that. He really gets to her when he talks about how Kevin and his buddy broke into an evidence locker and he wants video of the scene. Hmmm. This sends Denny into panic mode which means she has to call FP jr. (who, amazingly, kept close to one accent this episode) and has to go back into Jenny voice (which was disappointing because she came close to one accent as well until this slip up). I was waiting for Milton to kill her as Denny was panicking about what to do*, when an EMP came down from heaven and erased all the files. Denny is definitely down with EMP.
*Side Note: OK, Denny. You should have learned your lesson the first time: just get rid of people who are threatening your well-being. This is a highly classified government facility in the middle of a huge crisis and you’re letting him run around? Just kick the dude out or lock him up if he won’t leave. They’ve locked up people on CTU for lesser crimes. What is the guy going to do? He’s a probation officer from the South. There’s no way he has any power or jurisdiction here. He can’t touch you. Just boot him and get on with your life. I wished the bomb would have taken out Denny or Milton, but I guess that would have been too easy, I guess.
Conclusion
It’ll never be what the first five seasons were, but this eighth iteration of 24 has turned into a pretty good season overall. The EMP sets up a great plot twist: CTU defenses down*, Denny saved for now, and only one defense left: Jack Bauer. This is where the show excels. Maybe he’ll have to finally reactivate Freckles now who has been disappointingly out of commission for too long now. Maybe, with surveillance cameras down, Denny can strangle Milton in the basement and no one would know. But one thing is certain: there are nuclear rods coming into Manhattan and we have Jack vs. the nukes again. And exactly halfway through this season of 24, I’m starting to get excited about what will happen next.
*Side Note: Why wasn't NSA or some government agency backing up CTU already? Isn't a nuclear threat on New York City enough reason to protect the files of CTU? I hope we find out they had been doing it all along, but I fear they weren't.
Season grade so far: B+/B. Not quite B+ yet but better than B. My 9th grade English teacher used to never give straight As or Bs, it was always grades like this. This would be considered a “high B” and basically, that’s where I feel 24 is at right now when you take in the season as a whole.
Best line of the week: “Most unrealistic part of the season: a girl got away in a car” – Jon. It wasn’t said in the show, but it was one of those comments that you hear from someone you’re watching with that just worked. As Hassan’s daughter drove away in the car, I heard “most unrealistic part of the season” and we all turned to see why it was so unrealistic. And we got a women driving joke! Awesome! If I had to pick one from the episode I would pick: either Milton saying (to Denny about Kevin and Nick) "A crowbar is about as high tech as these two get", Jack saying to Hassan's wife "With all due respect madam, your family brought this threat to my country" or Jack yelling at the end of the episode "We need to contact NSA. Terrorists just took out CTU." I still think Jon's won out, though.
Best moment of the week: The plot twist with Tarin showing up alive and the EMP bomb in the car. It was exciting, somewhat unexpected, and very 24-esque, setting us up well for the rest of the season.
Ari's body count: 43 total. We're going with 5 NYPD officers and one confirmed CTU security guard who tried to drive the car out of the tunnel.
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A few thoughts. First, I definitely enjoyed the episode and thought it moved this season in the right direction. Second, I wonder that if this were 24's first season, wouldn't we be raving about it? Meaning, we are giving these episodes and this entire season a B-/B/B+ because we have been influenced by how freaking awesome season 1-5 were? Not that we're wrong for doing so, but perhaps we have been spoiled by how amazing and novel and unique those first five years were. There's just no way we could enjoy Season 8 as much as we enjoyed past seasons.
ReplyDeleteThird, I know we are going to tire of these Milton jokes. Eventually. But not right now. When Denny spotted him wandering alone through the hallway, I couldn't help but imagine that he was mumbling "excuse me, but I believe you have my stapler..." I love that Milton is trying to play a parole officer.
Finally, the Milton/Denny subplot itself. I think we can stop calling it the "dangerously close to the worst sideplot ever" because it clearly is the worst sideplot ever. Right now. But I think this Milton character could turn out to be huge. Let me explain....everyone watching the show, and everyone involved in the show, knows that this sideplot sucks. So how do they improve it? Tie it into the main plot. Here's how.
I happen to work with parole/probation officers, and they have very little power. I mean, it's doubtful they could get out of a parking ticket. So why is this guy, coming from the South, who simply "has a friend" in the NYPD, able to get to CTU, track down Denny, and harass her with an "interagency data request" or whatever that form was?? I don't think he's a parole officer AT ALL. He has never flashed a badge or shown any form of proof of I.D. What NYPD friend would track down all the security footage and data at 3:00 in the morning?!? Let alone give it to a random parole officer friend who happens to be driving from the South to NYC?!?
Answer: all of that's impossible because Milton is a terrorist, or at least working for the terrorists. He used their advanced terrorist technology to find out what Denny did. He's going to use it against her THE SAME WAY KEVIN USED DENNY'S BACKGROUND AGAINST HER. It's fantastic leverage for the terrorists. She is going to be their mole inside CTU.
And you're right, Andrew. NSA or the DOD or some other agency must have been backing up CTU. That data will be recovered. And still-alive Milton is going to hammer Denny with it. Prepare for the worst sideplot ever (it's official for now!) to improve substantially...
Great point about the NYPD officers going down so easily. They were supposed to be highly trained NYPD tactical ESU (emergency service unit) officers. These guys are close to the most elite (right behind the secretive intel agents) members of the NYPD. They wear military grade tactical gear, complete with level 3+ body armor. Sure, nothing is bullet proof, be Tarin popping off a couple shots from a handgun (max .45 cal) directly into the back of their vests would not have killed them - in fact, it might not even have dropped these guys - they are generally seriously large, seriously strong, and seriously scary. Why do the not-main-character good guys always have to be so inept?
ReplyDeleteGood point Jay. Except I think it goes further. I think Denny was targeted from the start. Milton knows everything because the terrorists are the ones behind the ex showing up in the city in the first place. This is just one of 24's classic relying to much on a not-so-certain situation in order to make a grand plan work in the end moves.
ReplyDeleteI think Ari's right in that Denny was targeted from the start. She has a ton of baggage (how many other CTU employees have that many skeletons in their closet? changed identities with an accessory-to-murder criminal background, really?) which makes converting her into a terrorist mole extremely easy.
ReplyDeleteThe Kevin project didn't work thanks to Cole's intervention, so now the terrorists are advancing to Plan B, which is Probation Officer Milton.
Jay, you are definitely right that we can't compare this Season of 24 to the first 5. Since they've really done everything already, everything going forward is just a derivative of the past plotlines. But comparing it to the last two, I think it's--so far--the best of the bunch. But Season 7 crumbled so quickly towards the end that I'm holding out final judgment.
ReplyDeleteAnd the reason Season 7 crumbled down the end? Because a ridiculous "long-con" plotline involving Tony which was highly unrealistic and improbable that it would work out in that way.
So, Ari and Jay, good point about the Kevin/Milton plot being one stretched from the beginning. I think it's also highly ridiculous that Denny doesn't stop and think that maybe, on today of all day, that all this happening is sort of out of place. But again, she doesn't really think much, it seems. Let's just hope, if this is really the case, that it ends better than Tony's did last season.
I decided to check out EMP on Wikipedia and found this "The United States EMP Commission was authorized by the United States Congress in Fiscal Year 2001, and re-authorized in Fiscal Year 2006. The commission is formally known as the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack."
ReplyDeleteThe commission released the Critical National Infrastructures Report which concluded: "Russian and Chinese military scientists in open source writings describe the basic principles of nuclear weapons designed specifically to generate an enhanced-EMP effect, that they term "Super-EMP" weapons. "Super-EMP" weapons, according to these foreign open source writings, can destroy even the best protected U.S. military and civilian electronic systems."
It seems that once the Cold War ended, we stopped caring about protecting ourselves against EMP attack, though I'm guessing a brand new facility like CTU would have provisions to protect against it. That being said, I guess the whole idea of using an EMP as a weapon is not as impractical as I previously thought.
Jay - a little late here but good pt about Denny. It seems there has to be something up but then again, you never know. 24 has had bad sideplots just be, well, bad sideplots. We shall see. I actually think it is a little more interesting now in a sense of seeing Denny freak out that she is about to be caught.
ReplyDeleteI thought this episode was great, classic 24. The fake getaway was great. This can be a really good season now so I hope they don't screw it up. Keep in mind President Logan comes back for 8 episodes, I imagine in regards to File 33, should be interesting!
I forgot about Logan! Thanks Troper!
ReplyDeleteThat will be a good twist.
You guys are way ahead of me - all I could think of when the EMP went off was that now Denny is safe becaues the evidence was destroyed.
Here's my issue with CTU/24 in NYC - Granted, I've only been living here for a few years - but being the largest media market in the country - I think they would want to be a little more accurate with the area they are working in. I know I should be suspending realtiy when watching a show like this, but come on, no traffic on the LES? Even if it's 3am on a weeknight...and come on Denny, who says 1st ave and EAST 5th?
Where is Aaron Pierce?
ReplyDeletePerhaps with President Logan (or Martha Logan!) we will see Aaron Pierce.
ReplyDeleteThere is no way his streak of 24 appearances -- 7 seasons and counting -- will end with the last season.
As it took me an hour and a half to drive from Hoboken to Queens this morning all I could think about was how much more efficient they must have made roads in the future to facilitate the types of travel times CTU pulls off in the show.
ReplyDeleteWhat Paul (Troper) brings up is interesting when I read it again. I thought all along that President Logan would be in this season because of the Russian connection earlier on (remember, he seemed to do well with the Markovs). But now, maybe he's like Nina Myers in Season 2 of 24 and selling our nuclear difficencies to the Fake Islamic Republic? Hmmm. That would be an interesting twist. Maybe he orchestrated all this to get back at the country that betrayed him and the wife that left him for dead.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe I'm totally off, but I wonder...
Also, I once made it 68 blocks without hitting a red light (personal record) so it is possible to go a lot of blocks in NYC without stopping, especially at 3 AM. But I understand all your points about the traffic.
Bring back Aaron Pierce!
The EMP wiped out everything - so CTU has no functioning ability right now. They will have to move to another "undisclosed location" to get back up.
ReplyDeleteUsually, data center like this will remove their back up systems off site - just in case something like this happens. They learned this after 9/11.
But it may not be gone -- perhaps it will still be around - but Denny will tell Milton that it got wiped out.
There has to be a reason why the plot shows Milton wandreing around CTU - maybe when they come back to life he will a steel beam through the middle of his chest or something crazy like that. There has gotta be a reason why they wrote the script showing him - walking around a secured building -- like he was doing a self directed tour.
So Denny could tell him it was wiped out -- even if it's not.
of course they "fix" everything with black magic as usual even though the emp should of destroyed everything electronic beyond repair as well as anything connected to ctu like the telecom company :/.
ReplyDelete