Day 5: 4:00 AM – 5:00 AM

Original Airdate: May 15, 2006
Writers: Sam Montgomery and David Fury
Director: Brad Turner

While last episode had a more transitional feel, this one was more about setting stage for the grand finale (some may say that’s the same thing). The cat and mouse game between Logan and Jack was really great to watch, but unfortunately, they got to the point where it was completely illogical for Logan to be using his resources to track Jack openly. However, it seems like they may have put too much on the table with Bierko on the loose. With a show like 24, the writers must’ve felt they needed more action, even with the political conspiracies being rich with drama.

The episode starts with them addressing the tape being erased. Unfortunately for the format of 24, there’s little the writer of a new episode can do to work around the shortcomings of certain plot points. I’m not going to fault this episode for that, since the aftermath was quick and it gave us not one, but two Miles smackdowns. Jack throttling him was expected, but seeing Karen get a smack in wasn’t, making it rather satisfying.

Like they did with Nina back in season two, they had to come up with a way to get Jack and Henderson to work together to stop Bierko from striking. We don’t need to go over why Jack wants to kill Henderson, or why the lack of trust between the two would be problematic. But Henderson is a little naïve in his belief that Jack and the cavalry wouldn’t come rushing in as soon as he told Malina to destroy whatever evidence he had if they didn’t know he was putting it on a storage device. Obviously he’s not on anyone’s favorites list, but why not explain to someone who isn’t so personally invested in killing him what he’s about to do?

This gives us a little bit of character for Jack. He’s had to give immunity to someone who betrayed him and killed someone he cared about before, and he wasn’t willing to do it again. Karen wisely reminded Jack of Palmer, and how he would go through with it for the greater good. We saw an instance of that in the season four finale, as he granted Mandy her pardon (speaking of which, where is she?)

Henderson’s demand not only for immunity, but to disappear like Jack did so they won’t find him is a nice nod to his earlier use of the recording as insurance should the conspirators find him not useful anymore. Even if the tape only implicated Logan, there was enough weight on it to possibly topple everything. These conspirators have been proven to be very powerful, with people all over the government that could make Henderson have an accident or “commit suicide”.

Henderson even hints at that during Jack’s offer. Had he not said anything, CTU would’ve been completely clueless as to who appears to be the real masterminds behind the day’s attacks. It would be too risky to have President Logan himself actively getting into bed with the terrorists/conspirators and it wouldn’t fit his character. He needed people like Henderson and Graham doing the dirty work for him so they can deflect responsibility. One can hope that Graham and his co-horts don’t wind up like Max from season two, forgotten after a monster cliffhanger.

Pierce, after being absent a few episodes, comes back in a big way. His forgotten cell phone on the compound lawn was an indicator that something went wrong, but little was mentioned as to what since then. Pierce has been through a lot already, but now he has been beaten and held in an empty room in the stables. However, he is far from out.

While Pierce is known for being professional, respectful of orders and loyal, he is also a man of honor. There’s no way he would accept Logan’s smarmy offer to work anywhere but on his detail. That makes Pierce’s condemnation, capped with the perfect “Charles?”, a cheer inducing moment. This was improvised, but it fits the character. Glen Morshower as Pierce has had a juicy role this season, so he knows this character better than ever.

The botched hit on Pierce shakes Martha out of her heavily medicated complacency. She was willing to stay quiet for the sake of the country, added to her perception that what Logan was involved in seemed to be already done. But with someone she’s grown close to in the past 24 hours in immediate danger, she knew there was too much to ignore. There have been some sparks between Martha and Pierce all season, and this is probably the closest they’ll get to satisfying any shippers. It also finally gives Novick enough reason to side with the counter conspiracy.

At this point, Bierko’s attack on a Russian sub feels like an afterthought. There is evidence of the writers making it up on the fly because Bierko gave no hint that they decided to hold one of the canisters for a contingency plan. Last season, we had about the last quarter of the season devoted to Marwan obtaining a nuclear warhead and sending it flying straight toward LA. Bierko manages to get there in about an hour. As a result, it comes off as rushed, like in the ending where it only takes about ten seconds to contaminate the sub and kill its crew. This nitpick does take a backseat to the high stakes it raises for the two hour finale that would air the following week.

Despite some of the garbled nature of the narrative, this episode does a good job of setting up the players in interesting scenarios for the final act. It has been one of the most devastating days for 24, which has made it very entertaining, and there are still two hours left!

Overall Score: 7/10

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