Date of airing: February 5, 2002 (FOX)
Nielsen ratings information: 9.25 million viewers, 6.0/9 in Households, 4.5/10 with Adults 18-49
written by: Larry Hertzog
directed by: Davis Guggenheim
This was the episode of many disturbing and emotional phone calls. The entire middle part of the episode was just one long phone call between Jack, Teri, Milo, and Nina, with Tony hopping in every once in a while to deliver story points, and Kim also joining, so that Jack can say a few words just in case the Bauer family will not make it through the day. And I would consider Jack speeding away from the police and hiding under a car to be part of the phone call as well, since there was one amusing moment of seeing Jack under the car, looking for the policemen while he holds the phone to his ear. It was a shot that showed Jack from the distance, but it was still noticeable. Besides the police not even thinking about dropping to the ground and looking under the cars, it was also quite amusing that Jack was able to talk in his normally regulated voice without anyone in the parking lot able to hear him. That not only makes Jack a superhero who can make himself invisible, but it also makes the cops incredibly unsuited to do their jobs, when they cannot even find a fugitive among a sea of parked cars. Also, did the police not lock up the parking lot? Otherwise, I cannot explain to myself how Jack was able to steal another car and ... just drive away unchallenged and unnoticed.
Some elements from the long-ass phone call were great, however. The family moment between Jack, Teri, and Kim was quite nice and delivered the emotional punch it needed at that moment. An emotional moment was necessary anyway, considering how deep Jack currently is in the narrative, running away from the police, and being considered part of the assassination attempt against David Palmer – he needed something to get his hopes back up, and talking to both of his women seemed like the best option. I only did not like the fact that Milo needed more than 20 minutes to trace the phone. This is 2002 television, and to trace the phone to a location almost needed half an episode when there already were shows on the air and movies in the theater doing that stuff in 30 seconds or less. It was a whole lot of hilarity, and the fact that Milo needed more than 20 minutes is just because the writers needed this incredibly long phone call, and were not allowed to reveal Teri and Kim’s location to Jack and the CTU. Sorry, but this is the Counter Terrorist Unit, and when they cannot trace a phone call within one minute or two, they kind of suck at their job or they need an upgrade on their tech to trace calls much quicker. What I also did not like is that Evil Rapist Villain needed to come back to the shed twice to look for his phone, and came back in absolute anger the second time around, stereotypically ready to kill someone. That was pretty dumb behavior for a rapist and supposed killer who is hired by Gaines. Gaines did not hire the best people.
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| The women have a phone call with their soon-to-arrive savior. |
By the way: Gaines has not been smart either in this episode. He is trying to contact Jamey and he does not even think about the possibility that something might be wrong and that his contact at CTU is burned. At least his story finally established a connection between Jack and David Palmer, even if the backstory is still missing. However, the phone call from Mr. Drazen established that both Palmer and Jack are the targets, that it is personal for them, and that Gaines is not the main villain here and instead just a hired gun to keep the characters busy while Mr. Drazen is still on his way. That is quite a lot of exposition in this episode, and it is pretty much certain that all of it is being used for the second half of the season, though I do not know how far along the writers were at this point when the show was picked up for the entire season. Did this development come after the back-11 episode order? Personally, I do not think so, because the turnaround time between writing an episode and seeing the episode aired on television should be quite a few months.
In the meantime, the soap opera in David Palmer’s life is continuing, and it becomes a little more annoying with each new development. I am starting to understand that Carl is another big butthead in this show, and that he would love it to erase problems for Palmer in a “permanent” way (killing someone?), and I get that Palmer is about to lose his closest contributors who may be jumping ship one by one, as soon as they figure out what is going on in Palmer’s life (although it seemed a little convenient that his biggest contributor also happened to sit in a conversation with Carl that had Keith’s murder as a topic). But it is noticeable how Palmer’s story is currently being carried by his daughter’s past as a rape victim, how his son allegedly killed the rapist, and how the writers are still dancing around whether to have Palmer release this story to the press or to keep quiet and cover it up.
Two episodes were wasted on that before the assassination attempt happened, and now Palmer is dealing with it again after the assassination attempt happened. While the writers managed to move the story along in Jack’s case, they were not able to do that with Palmer’s story at this point of the show, dragging his character along, and waiting for him to learn that his connection with Jack runs deeper than expected (including his “I know that name” from the previous episode, not to mention the look they kind of shared two episodes ago, almost by recognition). What I do like about his story though is that Palmer is getting flak from every direction now. Maureen is sitting on a huge story that could derail his run for the Oval Office, Sherry does not like him that much anymore because of what he thinks about doing today, Carl is going against Palmer’s wishes, and one of his biggest donors is now jumping off the Palmer train, all while his son disrespects him and his daughter — I actually do not know what Nicole is up to, because she has not had screentime in a while.
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| The presidential candidate has a phone call he did not like. |
And finally, some things happened at CTU. Jamey died from her wounds, but Jack asked the question if it *really* was suicide, opening up the possibility that Jamey might have not been the only mole working in the agency and that she was killed. After all, Gaines had a couple of men at the plant during the assassination attempt, so it is reasonable that Gaines would have more people working for him in a few more places, maybe even among Palmer’s staff. That begs the question of whether or not Gaines’ disadvantage when it comes to having eyes on CTU may not be a disadvantage for much longer, because he could just ask his theoretical second inside person to turn the cameras back on. Let’s just see what Alberta Green is bringing to the table, because a new addition to the character pool who does not like Jack very much usually means trouble.
