06.02 | Episode fourteen, 9PM - 10PM
Oh, George. Poor old George.
At 9PM, I was pulling a freshly-baked lasagne out of the oven, ready to munch it before watching my favourite TV show. George hit 9PM, and had to contend with pulling his plutonium-baked hair out, and fainting.
That fainting scene was one of the best things I've seen Xander Berkeley, the actor who plays George Mason, do. He's had thirteen episodes to do some really dry and sarcastic humour. And now he's got around to some visual slapstick, just minutes before he walks out of the CTU office for the last time. You've gotta love him.
A bigger surprise was seeing Bob Warner pop up again. He's still in that CTU interrogation room. Is there any chance that he could actually form some connection between his daughter Marie and Second Wave? I guess so, because he would have been allowed to leave if he hadn't. I bet that he's the next character to undergone a torture scene.
The part of the episode that pissed me off was when Jack Bauer let Marie off with a particularly weak interrogation. On past performance, she got off lightly. I was rootin' for her to get a shootin'. Still, Jack got the information out of her that he needed.
Let's round up a list of Jack's 'little conversations' for the day:
So that's seven interrogations in 14 hours - and, all in all, they're mostly successes. That must be some kind of record. Jack should write in to 'Interrogation News Monthly' magazine - I'm sure they'd give him some kind of reward. And I'm not even counting Tony talking to Reza and Bob Warner, Syed Ali's second-hand man chopping up bits of Kate Warner's private detective friend, or the people in South Korea extracting - quite literally - information from Jason Park, Syed Ali's associate, which happened right at the beginning of the first episode.8:49AM - Jack interviews Marshall Goren. He gets what he needs - the baddie's head. Result: Successful interrogation.11:57AM - Jack talks to Joseph Wauld, who ends up giving him pictures of his informant. He then shoots himself. Result: Successful interrogation.1:09PM - Jack interrogates Nina, shooting a gun at her along the way. She agrees to help him find Mamud Faheen. Result: Successful interrogation.3:08PM - Jack uses Nina to ask Faheen where they can find the bomb. Result: He fails this time, but probably because he's using Nina as a go-between. If only he spoke generic middle eastern languages, eh?5:54PM - Jack changes tactics and goes 'softly, softly' on Kate Warner to find out what information she knows about Syed Ali. She tells him about hearing the word 'prayer'. Result: Successful interrogation.7:17PM - Jack interrogates Ali in the basement of the mosque, breaking an arm and possibly a jaw. Jack threatens to shoot the man's family - Ali tells him where to find the nuclear bomb. Result: Successful interrogation.9:28PM - Jack presses Marie Warner to find out where the real bomb is. He squeezes a bullet wound in her arm to cause her pain. She cracks and lies to him, but Jack finds out what he needs to know, anyway. Result: Successful interrogation.
I bet one of the writers is a sado-masochist.
But anyway. Kim looks to be getting smarter. She knows how to turn on a TV! And how to change the channels - without a remote control! Well done, that girl. She can twist my knob any time. No, seriously - Kim even managed to grab a knife, only to hold it out so Lonnie could grab it. Where did he learn that knife-fight-style techniques? I thought he had no contact with the outside world?
Then he had the nerve to ask "D'ya think I'm psycho?". I mean, duh. D'ya think I'm here to amuse you? The lone, tough survivalist, deep down, has a heart of gold. He probably keeps it refrigerated, down in his basement bomb shelter, and he probably got it from the last blonde stupid enough to follow him down there.
Tony has not only settled himself into Mason's office, but into the teary, tender, provider of 'human' moments. "That was a beautiful thing you just did," says Michelle Dessler. Tony looks longfully back into her deep brown eyes, like someone out of a cheap porn movie. Ugh. Give me George Mason's one-liners any day. Still, at least Carlos Bernard, AKA Tony Almeida, used to have a porn star beard.
Finally, Jack gets another high-speed chase through the airfield, along with the unveiling of yet another nuke. I started getting deja-vu at this point. It's like I'd seen it before - almost a week before, in fact. Ever get the feeling you've been cheated? This episode, though high on action and cool scenes, advanced the plot precisely nowhere. This time, though, the bomb was in the back of a truck. It's almost as if this series is sponsored by an automobile company. Or a bomb company, I can't tell which.
