Date of airing: May 7, 2002 (FOX)
Nielsen ratings information: 7.56 million viewers, 4.8/7 in Households, 3.8/9 with Adults 18-49
written by: Joel Surnow, Michael Loceff
directed by: Paul Shapiro
This was a hostage-taking episode. Kim was taken hostage and barely seen in this hour (thank the heavens), Jack has been a hostage almost all the way through and a very desperate man when he attempted to fight his way out by also turning into a hostage-taker, and in a way, Alexis was a hostage in this episode as well, but at least he got better treatment than the Bauer family. Alexis got some of the oh-so-perfect American healthcare that has been keeping him alive, so he got a better deal out of it than everyone else. I am also wondering if everyone at Victor’s hideout was a hostage as well, considering the way Victor likes to “make business” (by shooting anyone he does not like, except for Jack Bauer, whom he hates but still keeps him alive for some reason). And with Victor’s decision to put a bullet in Mila’s head and ruin everyone’s day, everything that made him an intriguing character in parts of the previous episode and the one before that has now flown the coop.
Victor is now just another villain in a television drama, and the grounded anger that was part of this character during his interrogation with Jack made like a tree and got out of here. It is probably still a good thing that Victor is being portrayed by Dennis Hopper, because the man is the only hope the character has two episodes before his ultimate demise. Or will he survive and become an even bigger problem in the future? I do not mind Victor killing people for the shock value, as well as probably traumatizing Jack (I mean, he shoots Mila in the head *like that*, and Jack is not supposed to feel anything about it?), but his character is nothing but a generic killer now. One who is evil for the sake of being evil.
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| When Jack is desperate, he turns into a lethal danger for women. |
It’s noticeable how the writers were already repeating specific storylines. Not only the kidnapping of Kim, who probably holds the world record for the number of kidnappings a fictional person had to go through in a day, but also the way it is being kept secret in front of one of the Bauers. After the safe house was attacked, Mason lied to Jack about it, and now that Kim has been kidnapped again, Nina is lying to Teri. This time it is a shame that Teri has not learned anything about her daughter’s kidnapping, because if she would have learned about it in this episode, her character had been thrown into a world of turmoil, giving Teri an emotional war for the final three episodes of the show – which is a whole lot better than walking around and asking what CTU is doing with Jack and if she can talk to Kim on the phone. Since Teri is safe at CTU, she is unable to do much and the writers were uninterested in involving her in the larger things. Teri was just walking around and asking questions for the entire episode.
I was kind of happy though when she showed up in front of George Mason, ready to argue with him about Jack’s safety, but he shot her down quickly and she walked away quietly and defeated. That is a realistic part (there is no way Teri could have held her own against Mason), but I would have loved it for Teri to grow some courage like Kim had done in jail in the previous episode.
Jack as a hostage was boring. The only time he did something about it was when he had a knife at Mila’s throat, but in the end, it looked like it was just another plot device for Victor to be bad-ass evil and play the “our enemies did that” card while the gun he shot Mila with was still in his hand and smoking. Although, for a moment I was glad that Mila’s father was cursing at Victor for killing his daughter, because it could have given Jack another option to break away while the Drazens and Mila’s father were busy cursing and threatening each other.
But the story was dull. Jack had no chance of winning against a handful of people who could easily shoot him dead, and when he saw Kim again, it was almost like his world broke to pieces once more. Only Jack was not terrified after he saw Kim. He continued to be Jack Bauer. The notion that he saw Kim did not seem to bother him at all in the later stages of the episode. Not that I was expecting him to do a Bryan Mills “I will find you and I will kill you” speech, but ... something should have been done with Jack’s rage.
CTU trading Alexis was also an okay-ish scene. Not much happened there either, except Mason trying his best to get Jack back, even if just for a promise of a better job in nine months. Does this mean the season is set in April, since nine months from now, it is January, which is when a new president usually starts their job? And Super Tuesday in 2000’s California was early March, so it would almost fit. Anyway, it was a bit stupid of Mason to pull a gun on one of the goons though – he does not even know what the Drazens would do to get their family back together, and he did not even expect Drazen’s goons to eventually pull their guns as well and starting a shootout. It is almost like Mason was ready for that shootout, as well as ready to die for practically nothing. He did not want the hostage exchange to happen, he was literally thrown into it because of David Palmer. And then he draws a gun like he is in a Western movie?
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| You have won Super Tuesday, but the election process is still not over. |
And as I always end these reviews, there is something more to be said about the Palmers. First of all, what is Patty doing with this new haircut of hers? Did she go to a barbershop between the previous episode and this one? Secondly, I had to laugh when Patty and Sherry were in cahoots with one another, as the latter told the former to flirt with David and give Sherry something to work with (no one knows why because the writers did not get into it here). Now I am wondering if Patty was flirting with Palmer in the previous hour because Sherry already planned that whole thing out with her way before that, or if there may have been something “real” between the two (otherwise, David would not have reciprocated with that delightful moan). She is his speechwriter, most likely a person who connects with him on a deeply political basis, so why would she align with Sherry for this dubious plan of creating a case of infidelity against David? Patty has not gotten any character depth throughout the season, but even without this seems like something Patty would not even dream about doing.
And one final thought: It is intriguing how David is able to do counter-terrorism business while celebrating his Super Tuesday victory. First a speech to the crowd, then maybe a speech to the nation, carried by cable news networks, then a bit of champagne, and then he disappears into a dark corner and makes phone calls to negotiate a hostage situation. David Palmer is my president!
