The Third Season of 24

Well this is was intriguing, because I had very fond memories of Day 3 that didn’t match the rewatch. Chalk that up to my love for Chloe O’Brian and Chase Edmunds. It’s nowhere near as bad as the later seasons will get, but there are some strikingly horrific subplots that muddy the waters throughout the day. That is added to the patchwork style of the main plot that kept stalling any momentum that was being built up by the hour. That being said … Chloe!

So what did Jack Bauer bring to the table in the third season? Heroin. Well, heroin for the first half of the day then no heroin the rest of the way. Jack Bauer’s willpower is strong enough to just remove the addiction whenever he wants. Kiefer dove into the withdrawal scenes headfirst but it still ended up feeling like a shock idea to start the day off. Even with the heroin coming in and out of the plot, Jack had great chemistry with Ramon Salazar that held the Mexican adventure together. Then he was handed off for a few hours to the returning evil Nina. And after making out and making threats, Jack finally put nails in her coffin. In cold blood even, which was a fitting end. After that, Jack even gets the job of Ryan Chappelle’s executioner. Finally the plot got around to the main idea and Jack had to catch the surviving member of the Drazen mission from years ago. Jack wrung a few more classic moments out of Saunders; Jack and Tony arguing over Michelle, Jack threatening to toss Jane into the hotel, and finally Jack taking an ax to Chase wrist then crying about it. The flaws of the season did not deter to what Kiefer did as Jack Bauer in the third season.

Since I’m not blaming Jack, where did Day 3 fall short? The main flaw was the absurd nature of what the Palmers were doing outside of the Cordela virus. It started with the innocuous Dr. Anne C-plot that was just mildly annoying and pointless. If that is where it ended, no harm done. But we were not so lucky. Once Alan Miliken appeared on screen, every second of Palmer screen time not dealing with the virus was torturous. It kept getting worse. Sherry reappered and killed an elderly cripple. David lies to the police to cover is psychotic ex-wife. Sherry decides that she is willing to go to jail in order to get David out of the White House. And finally Wayne is witness to a double murder effectively ending David’s run as the President on 24. It sucks that Dennis Haysbert and D.B. Woodside were wasted with this shit material. This becomes evident in the little moments when they went back and forth about the real crisis. It is a small consolation that both of them will have other opportunities to show their skills. The Palmer crap would be enough but there was also Chase’s baby and just the idea that Kim now works at CTU. Chloe hiding a baby at work was beyond stupid and a waste of Rajskub. Going forward they will write better plots for Chloe, I like to think as an apology for this nonsense. We’ll get to Kim later.

Outside of Jack Bauer, my favorite aspect of Day 3 was the introduction of my second favorite character of all-time Chloe O’Brian. Her blossoming was a real slow burn throughout the day. She started as Jack’s quirky analyst but with each significant amount of dialogue “quirky” does not do her justice. Chloe was an outlet for humor on a super serious television show. Chloe would continue on but this will be the only chance to see Chase in action. After 2 seasons of different people filling the role of Jack’s wingman, Day 3 starts the day with an official partner for Jack in Chase. This worked because it was structured as a mentor/pupil relationship. Later on people will show up who are in awe of Jack, but Chase was literally there to learn from Jack and it was fun to see. To my everlasting annoyance, Chase will never return and only get a passing mentions in the next couple of seasons. The third man that I was glad to see introduced was Wayne Palmer. I may be in the minority here, but I liked David’s younger brother even if he was rarely given decent material to work with. I dread Day 6 more than anything else. The only other new person worth mentioning would be Adam Kaufman and in the long run that is only because he would go on to be Sylar and Spock. Before all that he was a bitchy CTU analyst who disappeared without explanation. There were 2 solid actors in the villain roles because Ramon Salazar and Stephen Saunders kept the plot moving. Joaquim de Almeida was born to play villains so that was no surprise but Paul Blackthorne was an unknown to me and I was surprised at how well he pulled it off.

There was the usual handful of returnees not named Jack for the third season. Tony and Michelle were given a bunch to work with throughout the day. Tony got to be the boss, shot in the neck, rise from the dead for the first time, then be put to the test in the final hours, so it was good to see that Carlos Bernard was up to the task. Michelle was thrown into just as many different situations starting as a CTU suit, dealing with her husband’s near death, exposure to the virus, and finally being captured. As I already mentioned earlier, no matter how much I love seeing Haysbert in action he had barely anything to work with. And without a decent reason for being onscreen, even the best actor becomes tiresome. So say goodbye to David Palmer as a permanent part of the cast. We also had to say goodbye to some of the best villains of the earlier seasons. Evil Nina had to be killed or Jack would look weak if every year he would end up working with his wife’s killer. So for one last ride, it was nice to see Sarah Clarke make Jack feel uncomfortable. In a shockingly strong death, Ryan Chappelle was removed from the chessboard. I call him a villain because he was the epitome of the suit getting in the way of CTU but he somehow pulled it off without becoming a caricature. And Paul Schulze saved his best acting for his last moments on screen. The third death would be Sherry Palmer and the less said the better. Her entrance into Day 3 was a complete downward spiral and by the end it was a positive that she was killed so that she would never show up again.

That leaves Kim Bauer. I said at the end of Day 2 that 24 would solve half of the Kim problem in Day 3 and they did. Instead of us being stuck with a horrendous Kim on her own plot running parallel to the crisis of the day, she was just stuck in CTU and incorporated into those scenes. The fault here is that it is completely unbelievable that Kim would have the skills to be a CTU analyst. And the idea that Jack could use nepotism to actually get her hired is tough to swallow. But if you can get over that, her presence is much more palatable this season. She is still stupid and a magnet for shit storylines but at least they are vaguely in the sphere of what is important. The real good news is that this experiment failed so 24 would fix the other half of the Kim by just removing her from the show altogether. It's only cameos from here on in.

I had fonder memories of Day 3 then what I just wrote down. Having to sit through all the Palmer nonsense was horrendous. Add the barely connected main plot to that and the season falls to the bottom of the better season. It's not top 3 but at the same time it's not bottom 3. Enough, it's time to get to the apex of 24.

Day 3: 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Characters Introduced:

No time

Returning Characters:

No freaking time

Key Moments:

• The broken Saunders is helping Chloe identify the courier.
• While the subway patrons are being lead past an imaging station, Saunders is giving the yea or nea to each face. Oh yeah, Gael’s wife walks right past Saunders pulls a gun and shoots him.
• Through tears, Wayne tells David about the deadness of his ex-wife.
• While setting up another way to find the courier, Jack and Chase share a down moment. Chase tells him that he is leaving the field because he doesn’t want to be detached from the people he loves. Jack is bemused at the whole idea because Jack is a super soldier and he needs the field to be alive.
• Jack looks right at the courier, turns away, and when he looks back he is gone. Jack flips out and everyone goes running. They find a path of dead bodies leading to a carjacking.
• Michelle thinks of some bullshit excuse to get Hammond to put Tony back in play.
• In the continuing escalation of 24 finale craziness, here we go. We get a solid car chase with lots of squealing tires that ends with the courier running into a school. Jack sends all the CTU agents throughout the school. Jack sweetly points his gun at a classroom of scared kids. He also walks past a conspicuous glass refrigerator. Chase gets jumped in a chemistry lab. He gets his ass kicked but Chase locks the virus to his wrist. The courier sets the timer and goes to shoot Chase but Jack puts many bullets in him. Jack gets bomb disposal advice and starts working on Chase’s new wrist accessory. Jack cuts a wire but the timer doesn’t stop. He is told to look for a green wire but doesn’t find one. In one of my favorite moments in 24 history, Jack’s eyes lock on something over Chase’s shoulder then looks away. Chase follows his gaze and spots the fire ax. He tells Jack to do it. Jack won’t but Chase says it’s okay. Chase ties off his own arm and Jack breaks the glass to get the sweet sweet ax. Jack makes the chop, Chase passes out, and Jack takes the device, calls for medical help, then runs back to that fridge we saw, he puts the bomb in allowing us to watch it goes off ruining a bunch of people’s lunches.
• Tony gets hauled off to the clink.
• David calls Jack to personally thank him and to tell him that he won’t be seeking reelection. He says they should be friends as private citizens … I WANTED TO SEE THAT!
• After hugging Kim, Jack heads out to his SUV for some alone time. We get his famous breakdown where he cries, bangs the window, and cries some more. He is given all of a minute before he is called back to duty.

Ridiculousness:

• What the fuck is Gael’s wife doing inside CTU during the middle of a grave terrorist threat? And how the hell did she get a gun into CTU?

Running Totals:

Jack’s body count: 1 (58)

• Jack saves his little buddy’s life before maiming him for life.

Jack the Butcher: 1 (5)

• Ax v wrist

The healing power of Jack tears: 1 (7)

• Jack has had a hard day.

Day 3: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Characters Introduced:

Finishing time

Returning Characters:

I just said we're in finishing time

Key Moments:

• Saunders tells Jack that he will provide the vials locations if he is allowed to leave the country.
• Tony is very publicly arrested by the order of Brad Hammond.
• Jack brings Saunders to the Chandler Plaza Hotel. Saunders says he is ready to die and Jack mumbles “I know.” He calls Chase and things get interesting. Chase is bringing Jane with him. Saunders doesn’t believe that Jack will sacrifice Jane. They argue some more but Saunders isn’t caving, so Jack orders Chase to toss her in. In a truly bananas sequence, Jane is slowly dragged through decontamination while Jack and Saunders scream at each other. When she reaches the door to the hotel, Saunders cracks and you can actually hear his voice go higher. He provides the GPS codes to the other couriers.
• 10 of the couriers are taken down with little trouble. Of course, the LA could not be traced. Saunders gives them the name of the courier.
• Hammond has Tony do the walk of shame through CTU. He then tells him that he is being charged with treason. Shit really? Tony may get the death penalty!
• Adam and Chloe located the LA courier and Jack and Chase head out. They track him to a subway station and Jack shuts it down.
• Jack, Chase, and swarm of CTU agents are tracking the GPS signal but it leads them to a pack of cigarettes. Jack realizes that they are gonna have to search every single person in the station.

Ridiculousness:

• Wayne and Foxton break into Sherry’s house looking for Sherry’s evidence. Why is this on 24?
• Sherry shows up while they are doing their b & e. In the only redeeming moment, Foxton punches Sherry in the face. The evidence was taped to her back.
• In the only way this plot could die, Julia arrives to shoot Sherry and turn the gun on herself while Wayne watches. This is just an abysmal plot.

Running Totals:

Torture doesn’t mean you can’t be creative: 1 (18)

• Jack tossing Jane in death’s hotel makes the list.

Day 3: 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM

Characters Introduced:

• Bruce Foxton (Mark Rolston): Wayne’s cleaner. Thankfully, will provide one of the better moments of an atrocious storyline.

Returning Characters:

None

Key Moments:

• I feel better every day; CTU has no problem tracking down Tony by traffic camera and satellites.
• Tony admits to Jane that he is giving her back to her dad in exchange for his wife. Jack runs him off the road. Jack disarms Tony and they argue over Tony acting exactly like Jack. Eventually Jack convinces him to trap Saunders.
• Keeler shows up to blackmail David out of the presidency. Thanks for that.
• Jack listens in on Tony’s call with Saunders. Tony declines the first location on Jack’s orders. When Saunders starts threatening, Jack hangs up the phone. Tony flips out and mistakenly brings up Teri, which leads to Jack getting violent. Before Tony can drive off, Saunders calls back and sets up the exchange for under the Sixth Street Bridge.
• In a phenomenal scene, Jane asks Jack why her father is doing this. Jack uses the moment as an opportunity to lecture Tony about the job. It all comes down to the sacrifices that need to be made for the job. Saunders couldn’t live with it and Jack is wondering about Tony.
• Michelle fakes a nosebleed to terrify her guard. She breaks out and steals the guard’s gun but can’t find an exit or a clean signal. How the hell was Saunders making his calls?
• While Jack and Chase are setting up the Saunders’ ambush, Michelle calls and says that she is free. In a classic moment, Jack tells her to give herself up so they can trap Saunders. Tony reacts poorly and screams bloody murder at Jack. Jack has enough of this and tosses Tony to the ground and pulls his gun. Michelle agrees to the plan.
• Saunders’ crew arrives at the bridge site. Michelle is lead at gunpoint towards Tony. Tony sends Jane out even though Saunders hasn’t shown himself yet. Jane realizes what she is walking towards and freaks out. Saunders jumps out of the car to call to Jane and Jack sends CTU in. Crazy ass shootout goes on, while Jack chases down Saunders. The chase ends up in the same spillway that Jack had his heart attack in last season. Saunder’s helicopter pins Jack down, so Chase calls in an airstrike. Chopper goes boom but getting the location of the vials out of Saunders will not be that easy.

Ridiculousness:

• So Kim tells Chase that he can’t be in the field if he wants to continue having relations with her. That sucks. There are no CTU field agents with families? So pretty much if you want to be like Jack Bauer don’t impregnate chicks or get knocked up.
• Jack never really explains how Tony’s actions differ from anything Jack did during the first season.
• Wayne is going to get his burglary on to save David’s presidency. This shit is asinine.

Running Totals:

Jack and Tony are friends?: 3 (13)

• Jack and Tony scuffle after Jack runs him off the road.
• Tony plays dirty pool and tells Jack he won’t sacrifice his wife like Teri.
• Tony is not happy that Jack is putting his wife in jeopardy.

Day 3: 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM

Characters Introduced:

Skip

Returning Characters:

Pass

Key Moments:

• Jack gets nervous and sends CTU into the building. Baker shows up and Jack gets pissed off when he finds out that Tony moved him. Chase says there is no Saunders. Jack yells at Tony. Tony acts squirrelly. He moves off the floor to erase the evidence of Saunders’ escape. Saunders calls and says he will trade Michelle for his daughter.
• Chloe discovers that there is missing footage from the satellites that cover Saunders’ escape.
• Tony moves Jane into an interrogation room so he can speak to her alone. Saunders calls and Tony gets to speak to Michelle. Jane gets to hear her father not deny that his about to kill a large percentage of the American population.
• Adam discovers that the footage was deleted from his side of the CTU house. At the same time, Chloe receives a call about Michelle not arriving at National Health Services. Adam and Chloe update Tony on both of their findings. Tony lies through his teeth and sends Chloe to the tech room. He also gives her a scrambled version of his call with Saunders to try and trace it.
• Jack and Chase arrive back at CTU. Jack gets the update on all the crazy shit going down and immediately sees through Tony’s answers.
• Saunders threatens Tony about the trace he has Chloe running. Tony yells at Chloe to shut down the trace. Jack confronts Tony and takes over CTU. Tony is becoming very desperate.
• Tony makes his move by locking Chloe in the tech room and taking Jane out of CTU. Jack gets into the tech room and Chloe tells him that she descrambled Tony’s phone call from Saunders and found out that Michelle was kidnapped. Tony is driving away from CTU as the hour ends.

Ridiculousness:

• I have no interest in Sherry's willingness to go to jail in order to screw over David. This took the soap opera Palmer bullshit to the next level and it sill has a deeper hole to dig.

Running Totals:

Jack and Tony are friends?!: 2 (10)

• Jack rips Tony a new one for moving Baker. In the field, Jack is in control and the world needs to respect that.
• Jack has enough of Tony’s shit and takes his job away from him.

Damnit!: 1 (8)

• Jack is not happy with Tony

Chloe drives a sane man crazy: 1 (5)

• She stands over Adam’s shoulder until he hangs up on his dying sister. We don’t have 5 minutes!

Day 3: 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM

Characters Introduced:

Nope

Returning Characters:

Nope II

Key Moments:

• Jack works his calm voice magic on Jane. He shows her pictures of the Drazen mission, plays a recording of Saunders threatening the President, and puts the cherry on top by showing her video of the dying folks in the hotel. Jane cracks and said her father contacted her 4 years ago and gave her an emergency number.
• Jack and Tony tell David that they will not locate Saunders by his deadline to release the identities of covert operatives. David says he will not give in this time … what about Chappelle?
• Jack convinces Jane to call her father so they can trace his location. Saunders is about to release the virus when his secret phone rings. Osterlind lets him know that the phone is being monitored. Saunders tells Jane to put Jack on the phone. Both parties utter threats and Saunders ends the call. Thankfully, CTU has stepped their game up and are able to trace the call and have a location.
• Michelle’s acceptance letter from college arrives and she is not going to die. Today.
• Saunders kills Osterlind for trying to leave before Saunders is ready. He calls another henchman and gets a status on some woman that he is watching.
• Chloe finds out that Adam’s sister is infected.
• Jack and Chase have Saunders’ building surrounded.
• Saunders calls Tony and directs him to a website that shows Michelle being threatened by knife to eye. Saunders wants Tony to open a hole in CTU’s perimeter so that he can escape.
• Tony makes a bs call to Baker and tells him to move his men to another area. Saunders takes the opportunity to just stroll on out without a care in the world.

Ridiculousness:

• Macer tells Michelle her results are on the way … by carrier pigeon? Why are they written on paper?
• Jack tells Chase that the trace on Saunders phone was untraceable … what? Double secret probation?
• I would be okay with Michelle surviving if they didn't make it seem like she was the only survivor in the hotel.
• After Saunders calls about some target he is tracking, we immediately switch to Kim getting a car. You sneaky 24 bastards; I thought Kim was going to be kidnapped again!
• This will not be the only time that, although only thousands of people are affected, a CTU agent’s relation will sadly die without them having the ability to do anything about it.
• Hey Tony! Call Jack for help! You dumb motherfucker…
• I also despise the idea that every single man in Baker’s unit would move. Someone would have been left behind to guard the area.

Running Totals:

Chloe drives a sane man crazy: 2 (4)

• Tony says, “Chloe, I’m getting tired of your personality.”
• Chloe tells Adam that she doesn’t think he should be working and that she will be watching him. She has no time for grief.

Mole: 1 (9)

• Tony dives into the mole hole.

Day 3: 7:00 AM - 8:00 AM

Characters Introduced:

• Jane Saunders (Alexandra Lydon): There is always an innocent on 24. She just doesn’t understand the world that Jack Bauer lives in.
• Agent Forrester (Maria del Mar): Just another CTU agent who just stands around while Jack runs things.

Returning Characters:

Nothing to see here

Key Moments:

• After the masked men in the van take Chappelle’s body, Jack calls Tony and can barely say the words. Tony tells him that they have found Saunders’ daughter. Jack says that they will have to do a plain-sight swap so Saunders won’t be alerted.
• Chloe provides Tony a list of CTU agents that can pass for Jane Saunders, when none are close enough she provides a second list. Of course, Kim Bauer is at the top of the list. Chloe tells Tony to ask Jack but Tony goes straight to Kim. She agrees.
• Chase geared up in his alien suit interviews Cole’s wife, quick cut to Cole bleeding all over a local pharmacy.
• Jack arrives back to CTU and has no interest in hearing Tony out on his plan. Jack physically assaults Tony and threatens everyone else in the conference room. Kim professionally cries and pleads to her father that it is her choice. I did like that Jack’s admission that Kim works there because he is keeping her safe not that she is qualified.
• Cole takes his bloody nose to an emergency room. While filling out forms, he sees a newscast about the hotel that informs him of his imminent demise. He starts yelling and is quickly isolated.
• Saunders next job for the President is a list of all the identities of foreign nationals working as American spies in the Middle East.
• Jack, Forrester and Kim are heading to Jane’s job. Kim gets fitted with a sweet wig.
• Jack quarterbacks from the CTU mobile center, while an agent spills a drink on Jane. When she goes to clean herself in the bathroom, another agent drugs her and Kim walks out of the stall. She changes into Jane’s clothes and heads out into the library so she can do what she does best, pretend to work.
• Jack uses some sweet smelling salts to wake Jane up. He starts by saying they need her help to get in touch with her father. She claims this is illegal … HA! You don’t know 24 Jane. Jack leans in and breaks down the situation to her. She asks for a lawyer and Jack just laughs. Jack smirks when she says she doesn’t have a way to contact her father. He knows she is lying. She cries out for help, but Forrester interrupts Jane’s screaming because a sketchy dude is trying to talk to Kim. Jack instructs Kim to walk over to some bookshelves to get away from him. Kim hangs out in an aisle but the camera pans away from her and CTU loses sight of her. When a guy asks Kim for help, she starts talking to him and turns her back. He pulls a gun and drags her away. Jack breaks out of the room. Kim disarms him. She tries to pull her gun but there is a struggle. Eventually the gun goes off and the guy falls to the ground.

Ridiculousness:

• Really? We needed to find a reason to put Kim into the field and this is the best they could come up with?
• Why did Jack give Kim the gun before they got on the chopper? Was he so used to Kim getting into trouble that he thought he should arm her sooner rather than later?
• Adam identifies all the potential people that Cole infected. I only mention this because after this it will only be mentioned in passing whether the crazy ass virus was kept under wraps. So if you want to, you can believe that the 24 universe turned into The Stand between season 3 and 4.

Running Totals:

Jack and Tony are friends?: 1(8)

• Jack takes Tony down for enlisting his daughter.

Day 3: 6:00 AM - 7:00 AM

Characters Introduced:

• William Cole (Patrick Fabian): Cheating infected husband played by a man who has been a douche on camera since Saved by the Bell: The College Years.

Returning Characters:

• Agent Baker (Last episode of the second season)

Key Moments:

• Jack returns to CTU and gets to work with Chappelle on the MI6 data. He is interrupted by a call from David relaying Saunders’ demand. Jack gets all the easy tasks. He tells Chloe to start running her own search without Chappelle’s permission.
• Jack takes Chappelle into a conference room to tell him about his imminent death. Ryan is appropriately horrified but Jack keeps him in line and tells him that his investigation must have spooked Saunders.
• We get a phenomenal moment where Chappelle has a freak out moment and he looks at Jack and says the he will be his executioner. Jack doesn’t deny it.
• After Phillips starts nose bleeding and Michelle shuts down any chance of him saying goodbye to his family, she tells everyone that suicide pills will be arriving soon. What a beautiful angel of death.
• Ryan tries to get out of CTU but Jack heads him off at the door. Chappelle says he was just going outside for a smoke, dude, Jack’s got some heroin if you want to relax in your final moments.
• Michelle gets told that a chick is missing her one-night-stand partner. We then get a fantastic play-by-play of how they got down until Michelle realizes they can get a print from her belt buckle.
• Chloe finds an address for Saunders. Jack and Chappelle share a hug before Jack ruins the moment by saying that they still have to head to the train yard.
• Before Jack and Chappelle can reach the chopper, Chase interrupts to complain about Jack not being in on the mission. Chappelle awesomely steps up to the plate and takes the blame so Chase rips him a new one. Go out the way you came in.
• Chase and Baker are outside the address planning their entry.
• Chase uses a street sweeper as a distraction to take out the 3 guards on the outside. He and Baker move in, while the rest of the team scales the building. More guards are taken out as Chase and Baker reach the door. Baker blows the door and they rush in. There is no Saunders just a switching node. While Jack and Chappelle ponder the next 10 minutes, Saunders calls Jack with final instructions.
• Suicides begin at the hotel.
• Cole is indentified and starts dealing with his bloody nose at home.
• An ominous van pulls into the train yard. Jack helps Ryan out of the chopper. Chappelle’s nerves are palpable. A real depressing moment when Jack asks if there is anyone he wants to speak to and Chappelle admits that there isn’t anyone. Jack puts him on his knees. Holy fuck this scene is incredible. Ryan pleads to allow him to take his own life. Paul Schulze goes to a different level here. Jack hands him the gun with 1 bullet. Ryan puts the gun to his head but can’t pull the trigger. Jack takes the gun and handles his business. Jack says, “I’m sorry we let you down; god forgive me.” Bang silent clock.

Ridiculousness:

• Holy shit on stick, Chase arrives at the location in less than 5 minutes. I haven’t been tracking the wacky LA drive times but this has to be one of the worst offenses. How did he get from the CTU helipad all the way to his SUV then drive to the location in less than 5 minutes?

Running Totals:

Jack loves America not Americans: 1 (8)

• RIP Ryan

Jack’s body count: 1 (57)

• RIP Chappelle

Day 3: 5:00 AM - 6:00 AM

Characters Introduced:

• Trevor Tomlinson (Simon Templeman): Jack’s MI6 contact. I list him only because of my love of English accents.
• Osterlind (Joe D’Angerio): Saunders p.a.

Returning Characters:

Move along

Key Moments:

• The gas-masked soldiers allow Michelle to maintain calm as she tells the hotel patrons that they are all probably infected with a deadly virus.
• Jack wants a description of the unknown man from Alvers. Michelle sits with Alvers to get the specifics and Chloe feeds them into the database. It spits out a bunch of mugshots but none of them ring any bells for Alvers. Jack tells Chloe to add presumed dead to the list. Saunders pops up and Jack doesn’t take the news well. He was in on the Drazen mission where everyone else was supposed to have died.
• Saunders calls the President and tells him that there is a package waiting for him outside.
• Saunders has been off the grid for 6 years and was on loan from MI6 for the Drazen mission. Jack calls Tomlinson at MI6 for help. The British give Jack the address of a LA madam that had a relationship with Saunders.
• Michelle steps up to the plate to get tested for the Cordela virus.
• Saunders present was an untraceable phone. His next task is that he wants David to hold a press conference and use the phrase “the sky is falling.” David tells Wayne to inform the media.
• Jack and Chase are up for a little bit of B & E at the address MI6 gave them. Jack goes in first and is fired upon. He calmly talks her down until Chase can sneak up and take her down. She asks to change and pervy Jack returns as he follows her into the bedroom and watches her get naked before putting on a sweet powder blue tracksuit. They all head to MI6 for some legal next level interrogation.
• Michelle comforts Gael during his last minutes. She even reaches her inner-Jack and offers Gael her sidearm so he can go out with less pain. God would prefer Gael to suffer so he declines.
• Palmer uses the phrase during a pointless press conference.
• Jack and Chase are walking through the MI6 office talking to Tomlinson. Before they can get into motion, a freaking helicopter shows up and takes out the entire floor. The woman is hit and Tomlinson is dying but tells Jack where their intelligence is stored. Jack and Chase fight their way to the server room and when Jack finds the hard drive he gets a bomb thrown in free of charge. Jack grabs the drive and he and Chase dive out of the room before the bomb destroys the server room.
• After seeing Gael’s body wheeled out, Michelle calls Tony and requests they offer the patented CTU suicide pill to the infected. Chappelle signs off on the mass suicide.
• Saunders is informed of the MI6 hit and is told that Chappelle has been looking into his finances. Saunders has an answer for this; David’s next task is to have Ryan Chappelle killed by 7am.

Ridiculousness:

• When Jack and Chase showed up at the MI6 offices, I thought they had filmed at my job. I know it’s a satellite office but can’t the British fancy the place up a little bit?
• CTU has 1000s of suicide pills on hand at all times? Christ! What are they preparing for?

Running Totals:

Jack’s body count: 2 (56)

• 2 of Saunders’ men fall to Jack’s bullets on his way through MI6.

Day 3: 4:00 AM - 5:00 AM

Characters Introduced:

Ignore

Returning Characters:

Ignore

Key Moments:

• Alvers tells Michelle that there are 11 more vials in play but he doesn’t know where. Tony calls for an update but wasn’t prepared to hear that Michelle is inside death’s hotel.
• Jack continues to be stonewalled by Amador. He updates Chase about the vials in front of Amador then cuffs him to the radiator. Jack and Chase leave Amador alone.
• Amador is easily manipulated so he pulls the pipe out of the wall and makes a break for it. Kim tells her father that they are tracking his movements.
• Amador calls Saunders for help interrupting his handing the briefcases of death to his couriers.
• Jack informs Tony that the virus has been altered, but Duncan doesn’t give Tony much hope for Michelle’s survival.
• Gael’s nose is already bleeding.
• A hotel staffer witnesses Gael dying in the dark so he pulls the fire alarm. There goes keeping the hotel patrons calm.
• Michelle lies to the gathering crowd in the lobby. They can’t leave the building because the virus is outside … yeah that’s the ticket.
• If it seems like I’ve been ignoring the Palmer storyline, I have. David lies to the Chief of Police so Sherry doesn’t go to jail for the death of Alan. He then reads Sherry the riot act and tells her to get the hell out of his face. This in no way will come back to haunt him.
• Amador reaches the car that Saunders sent for him. When he opens the briefcase that is supposed to be his traveling cash, a bunch of bricks of C4 are waiting for him. Boom! Saunders calls Jack to get in a bit of taunting.
• With bleeding noses everywhere, a guest grabs a garbage can and tosses it through a window. Michelle warns him but he makes a break from it and Michelle puts him down.
• Jack transfers Saunders to the President. It is simple; follow my instructions or the virus will be released everywhere.

Ridiculousness:

• The whole hotel subplot approaches ridiculous multiple times but I’m going to give it a pass for now. For now.

Running Totals:

Who are you working for?!: 1(4)

• Jack needs to know Amador’s org chart.

Day 3: 3:00 AM - 4:00 AM

Characters Introduced:

• Stephen Saunders (Paul Blackthorne): All the best villains should have English accents. Does the majority of his evil sitting at a desk making calls.
• Craig Phillips (Doug Savant): Poor hotel security guy who was just trying to pick up a check to feed his family. Hopefully he has a nice life insurance policy.

Returning Characters:

Blank

Key Moments:

• Jack tells Chappelle that his shooting of Nina was justified … where was Raylan Givens?
• Saunders meets up with Amador and Alvers. He delivers the detonating device for dispersing a vial of the virus. He gives Amador shit for going behind his back to do the deal in Mexico plus hints at having knowledge of Jack Bauer. The second half of Amador’s payment will be received after the virus is released at the “hotel”.
• Chloe finds a lead on Amador and Chase interrupts Chappelle’s reaming of Jack to get things in motion. Chase defends Jack and Jack gives his word to Chappelle and off they go.
• Alvers walks into the Chandler Plaza Hotel.
• Jack and Chase reach the club that Amador is hanging out in. The undercover cop gives them the room that is guarded before being caught. Jack and Chase fly into the club. Amador kills the cop. Jack knocks down Amador and has Chase move him into a room because they have work to do.
• Jack and Chase work on Amador. He reveals that the man he works for knows Jack. When Amador starts taunting, Jack holds him down and Chase takes a knife to his hand. Amador passes out from a cut on the palm! Jack tells Chase to do it again when he wakes up.
• Jack updates CTU on the hidden man knowing Jack and that Amador’s computer has the blueprints for the Chandler Plaza Hotel. Tony locks the hotel down and Chappelle sends Michelle to lead the team heading to the hotel. Gael reappears out of thin air to join her.
• Michelle arrives at the hotel but Tony tells her to wait for Hazmat before entering. Gael accesses the security cam for the hotel and locates Alvers walking through the door. Michelle decides to go in and tells the rest of the team that it is voluntary to join her.
• Alvers sets the virus bomb near the air conditioning fans in the basement.
• Michelle finds and quickly arrests Alvers. He gives up the bomb’s location with little coersion. Gael finds it but is separated by a fan … just get into the room where the bomb is set! Instead Gael tries to reach under the fan and fails. The vial is shattered and the powder blows right into Gael’s face.

Ridiculousness:

• Holy shit General Juma moonlighted as a LA detective in his spare time. See you in 4 years Tony Todd!
• What the hell was Alvers doing for 45 minutes inside the hotel? Who taught him how to set bombs?

Running Totals:

Jack’s body count: 1 (54)

• Jack goes through a guard to get to Amador.

Torture doesn’t mean you can’t be creative: 1(17)

• Jack and Chase’s knife game on Amador was a sweet bit of teamwork.

Day 3: 2:00 AM - 3:00 AM

Characters Introduced:

Not this hour

Returning Characters:

• Brad Hammond (6am – 7am of season 2)

Key Moments:

• When they arrive back at CTU, Chloe tells Chase about his baby drama and Chappelle has words with Jack about the Big H.
• Nina’s interrogation begins. Tony takes the lead with Michelle watching the feed with a tech. Fantastic scene follows with Tony stoically letting Nina go on the attack before he makes his move. When he tells Nina about Alvers being HIV positive, the tech says she reacted poorly to the info probably due to lots of unprotected sex with that sexy chemist.
• Amador meets with and hands the virus over to Alvers.
• Chappelle doesn’t allow Jack back to work. First he has to explain his actions to the legal counsel.
• Tony sends in the CTU pain giver to the stonewalling Nina.
• Jack gives us the Bauer scream after he gets tired of having his actions questions, but when Chappelle moves in to cover his ass Jack doesn’t agree to this and wants the truth on the record.
• Wayne tells David that Alan is dead. They both come to the same conclusion. David confronts Sherry and after a denial she comes clean.
• Nina’s secret plan is to stab herself in the neck with Agent Richard’s big ass needle.
• Tony leaves Nina to the doctors and goes to update Jack. Jack freaks out that Nina is not being watched and his paranoia comes to life when the alarm goes off. Jack finds a horror show of dead doctors in medical. Kim starts wandering the halls and, of course, finds Nina ripping shit out of wall in one of the server rooms. Nina is so awesome that she is exasperated and asks Kim to leave before she has to shoot her. Kim refuses to leave, Nina raises her gun, and Jack puts one in Nina’s shoulder. After sending Kim out of the room, we get an all-time scene with Jack telling Nina that she has no more information and uses her weak grab at her gun as an excuse to put 3 more bullets in her. RIP Nina Myers.

Ridiculousness:

• Chase’s baby was literally left on his doorstep by her mother. Does this shit really happen? And what if Chase wasn’t home and on assignment? Would the baby have starved to death?
• Fuck yeah CTU Medical! There is nothing ridiculous about it but it will bring so much ridiculousness next season that I wanted to shout out its introduction.

Running Totals:

Torture doesn’t mean you can’t be creative: 1 (16)

• CTU pain juice is used on Nina.

Jack’s body count: 1 (53)

• Jack finally ends Nina’s life.

Day 3: 1:00 AM - 2:00 AM

Characters Introduced:

• Marcus Alvers (Lothaire Bluteau): Amador’s chemist and a man who likes dirty dirty sex with naughty people.

Returning Characters:

Move along

Key Moments:

• Nina tricks Chase, holds him at gunpoint, and has him send a false message to Jack. Instead fooling him, Jack smashes her in the face out of nowhere. He sends Chase back to the Delta unit so he can question Nina. By question he meant kill but Nina pleads her case that she can get him to Amador.
• Jack, Chase, and Nina board the plane Delta is flying back to LA.
• Nina gives up the name Alvers and Jack sends the name to Tony. We then get a phenomenal conversation between Jack and Chase. Jack’s way of apologizing is to say that decisions need to be made in the field and he believed Ramon wouldn’t have handed him a loaded gun. Chase asks what if he had and Jack just looks at him. It doesn’t matter because they are boys again.
• After CTU confirms Alvers, Jack questions Nina some more. Eventually she tells him how to contact Alvers. She gives him a number to dial and after Jack completes the sequence all of CTU’s computers go haywire. Nina gleefully gloats about what she’s done.
• Tony tells Jack what’s happening. Jack tells him to get Chloe on it and he doesn’t give a shit why she has been sidelined. Nina wants the plan turned around back to Mexico.
• Chappelle frees Super-Chloe the computer whisper.
• Sherry shows up at the Miliken household to get the phone numbers Alan has called tonight.
• When Chloe calls Jack with an update, Chase uses the distraction to share a quick moment with Nina. Chase is awesome because all he says to Nina is that if she keeps playing Jack he is going to kill her and then he just smiles at her and leaves.
• Sherry yells at Alan until he has a heart attack then she prevents Julia from bringing him his meds.
• Tony overrides Jack’s orders and has the plan turn around and head back to Mexico. Jack fixes this problem by putting his gun to the pilot’s head. Chloe sees through Nina’s traps and cleans the system. Jack pauses and tells the pilot that he can file a report on him. In about the happiest Jack has ever been, he smiles and tells Nina that they are back in control.

Ridiculousness:

• Chappelle is still dealing with Chloe’s unknown baby. Now he threatens her with testing the baby to find out her identity.
• Jack dials the number that Nina tells him to. No questions asked. Really Jack?
• They play lip service to it, but it’s been over 3 years now and with the advancing of technology I find it hard to believe that Nina was able to hide a virus in the CTU computers undetected.
• Since it’s now pure soap opera, Sherry straight up murders Alan. Well that is how some cleaners fix problems.
• Chloe finally cracks under Chappelle’s pressure and reveals that it is Chase’s baby.

Running Totals:

Jack and Tony are friends?: 1(7)

• Tony goes behind Jack’s back to turn the plane around and Jack responds by pulling his gun to get what he wants.

Jack loves America not Americans: 1 (7)

• Jack puts a gun to the nice soldier’s head piloting the plane.

Day 3: 12:00 AM - 1:00 AM

Characters Introduced:

Skip

Returning Characters:

Skip

Key Moments:

• Ramon talks shit to his dying brother. Since it will be impossible to bring him to the hospital with the deal happening, Ramon puts a second bullet in him to end things for good.
• When they are setting up camp for the meeting with Amador, Nina convinces Ramon to send out men looking for the CTU spotter (Chase).
• Ramon calls his 2 men for an update, 1 responds but the other does not. Before Ramon turns on Jack, Chase forces the other thug to call in and report that there is no problem. Ramon threatens Nina about wasting anymore time.
• Sherry meets with some guy whose daughter was killed by Alan Miliken’s car.
• Nina heads to the meeting alone. Amador arrives. Nina wants the virus verified before transferring the money.
• After verifying the virus, Amador pockets the virus until the money is transferred. He hands Nina the briefcase and they go their separate ways. Tony orders Delta to move in. Nina hands Ramon the case and he takes the vial out and pockets it. He pulls a gun on Jack and Chase is forced to sniper him in the shoulder. All hell breaks loose. Nina makes a break for it and Jack stabs a bunch of guys. Jack chases after Ramon.
• Jack meets up with Chase and the Delta unit after the shootout. They chase down Ramon and have a standoff with Ramon holding the virus as hostage. Jack tries to negotiate but when Ramon moves to put the vial down, it freaking explodes. Jack calls Tony and says move on Amador.
• Delta catches up to Amador but it’s a trap! Amador’s men slaughter the Delta unit and Amador destroys his phone and reveals that he had the real vial in his jacket.
• Jack changes the plan to hunting down Nina.

Ridiculousness:

• After finishing off Hector, Jack waits 5 seconds to tell Ramon that they have to move to make the meeting. Okay fine but what the hell was Nina thinking? 5 second after Jack says that, Nina tells Ramon that his brother was right to not trust Jack. Where were you 5 minutes ago when Hector was still breathing and not full of holes?
• So the baby is not Chloe’s! Kim becomes obsessed with this and demands that Chloe explain. Chloe lies, Kim goes to Tony to get Chloe removed from CTU, Tony appropriately tells her to fuck off.

Running Totals:

Jack’s body count: 3 (52)

• Jack takes out 3 thugs in the shootout following the deal.

Day 3: 11:00 PM - 12:00 AM

Characters Introduced:

None

Returning Characters:

None

Key Moments:

• Jack and Nina are still making out 10 minutes later … Jack is either really selling it or passed out in horror somewhere in the middle. Nina’s not feeling it, um sorry about that, and doesn’t think Jack is being honest with her. Jack responds by head butting her, breaking out of the chair, and choking Nina with a chair leg. He says the deal stands and he doesn’t care what she thinks.
• Hector finds Claudia’s dead body that Chase left behind when they went with the Delta unit. Hector calls Ramon to say the deal is off; Ramon says their reputation is on the line and they are moving forward.
• Sherry meets with David and we find out that David kept her out of prison after the events of the second season.
• Amadar receives the case with the Cordela virus. You know it’s bad because the vial is neon green and there are chunks floating in the liquid.
• Nina tries to manipulate Ramon but all Ramon sees now is money.
• Hector arrives with all the goons, but immediately bitches about how they need to call off the deal. Jack uses the distraction to call CTU and leave his cell open so they can hear where and when the deal is going down.
• Even though he has a hole in his hand, Chase volunteers to be the Delta unit scout.
• Before Jack can get Ramon to move out, Hector picks up the argument anew. Jack and Nina’s expressions while watching this take place are fantastic. Hector moves to take his men and leave, but Ramon’s response is to shoot his brother in the back. That is why you cast Joaquim de Almeida.

Ridiculousness:

• Well someone found a use for Kim’s skills; Chloe has Kim babysit so she can do some actual work. Kim wasn’t doing anything anyway. She just milled about whining about Nina being in Mexico. Later on when Chappelle hears the baby crying again, he agrees to let Chloe work on the comms for Jack’s operation and dumps the baby back with Kim. That is all she is good for.

Running Totals:

Kim does something stupid: 1 (24)

• In a scene where Adam is supposed to feel bad about bringing up Nina to Kim, he starts it by asking if she read the update. Kim says no she didn’t. What does she analyze?

Day 3: 10:00 PM - 11:00 PM

Characters Introduced:

No newbies

Returning Characters:

• Sherry Palmer (Last episode of season 2)

Key Moments:

• Hector calls Gael to update him on Nina and Chase. Tony waves off Gael from answering any of Hector’s questions.
• Chase’s torture continues with Hector taking over and eventually putting a bullet through the palm of his hand.
• Gael gets Jack Amador’s location using his satphone. Ramon doesn’t allow Jack to go alone, so both of them head out to find Nina.
• Claudia has her father disable all of Hector’s trucks before taking out the first guard watching over Chase.
• Claudia walks in while Chase’s torture continues with the use of gasoline. She hands Chase a knife then tosses the bucket of gasoline at the torturer. Chase finishes him off with many stabbings. He cauterizes his wound. They meet up with Sergio and her father, jump in a truck, and try to escape. Chase kills 2 guards alerting the rest of them. Chase and Claudia are ducking down in the back of the truck but that doesn’t hide Claudia from the bullet that passes through Claudia’s brain.
• Chappelle hates babies.
• Jack leaves Ramon at the SUV as he goes in alone to talk to Nina. He hears the end of her conversation with Amador where he finds out that the final exchange will happen in a half hour. Jack is caught by one of Nina’s guards and by caught I mean Jack kills 4 of her guards and catches Nina. But he doesn’t hold her for long because there was a 5^th guard that distracted him allowing Nina to knock him out.
• Chase calls CTU to arrange a Delta team pickup.
• A tied up Jack pitches his deal to Nina, which she finds interesting enough to kill her remaining guard.
• David enlists Sherry's aid to take down Miliken.
• After confirming that Jack broke Ramon out of prison, Nina needs to confirm Jack’s intentions. The only way to do this is to make out with Jack. Makes sense to me.

Ridiculousness:

• I don’t know if something changed with this season, but every time Tony learns something new we then watch him update every other person inside CTU and or the president. He has 3 separate conversations about the call from Hector.
• Alan is using his influence to kill Palmer’s healthcare bill … holy shit black presidents love universal healthcare!
• Since 24 still didn’t know how to use Chloe, she brings a baby into CTU. There is some mindboggling shit this season.
• I love that Sherry just happens to be living in LA and can meet David at the drop of a hat.

Running Totals:

Torture doesn’t mean you can’t be creative: 3 (15)

• Chase gets the cattle prod for his troubles.
• Hector decides that shooting Chase in the hand will change his mind.
• Christ Chase has a bad day as his injured hand has gasoline poured on it.

Battlefield medic: 1 (4)

• Chase closes his own bullet hole by pouring alcohol on it and cauterizing it with a branding iron.

Jack’s body count: 4 (49)

• Jack runs through most of Nina’s guards with little problem.

Day 3: 9:00 PM - 10:00 PM

Characters Introduced:

• Alan Miliken (Albert Hall): Douchey old guy in a wheel chair with heart problems threatening the Palmers.
• Julia Miliken (Gina Torres): Alan’s unfaithful wife. What a waste of Gina Torres.

Returning Characters:

• Nina Myers (5pm – 6pm of the 2nd season)

Key Moments:

• The Salazars move to another location where Jack receives Amador’s call. The meeting is in 15 minutes. Ramon gives Jack some meds for his withdrawal; this will effectively end any ill effects Jack will exhibit from chasing the dragon. Ramon and Hector share a fantastic look about how pathetic Jack is acting. Jack excuses himself and goes straight to Claudia and enlists her help in freeing Chase and getting him a phone.
• Alan calls David and wants a meeting with the President sans Wayne.
• Jack and the Salazars meet with Amador and attempt to make payment but Amador says there is a second buyer. This second just happens to be Nina Myers. What a small world?! Nina immediately moves to have Jack shot but Amador calms the waters and is such a smooth motherfucker that he keeps Nina at the table.
• Alan wants Wayne fired cause he slept with his wife. When the hell did this turn into General Hospital?
• Claudia distracts one of the guards so she could sneak in and tell Chase what Jack is up to and that she will free him when she gets the chance.
• After hearing Michelle’s worries, Chappelle brings Tony into a conference room and tests his skills. Not only does he pass with flying colors, he completely exposes Kim as a worthless analyst.
• The auction goes down with Nina outbidding Jack 240 million to 225 million. Everyone parts ways and Jack is heading to his execution. The Salazars pull over into a secluded spot and prepare to finish their deal. Jack starts pleading before he even gets out of the SUV. He works the desperation magic and convinces the Salazars to stay his execution. Ramon ends the hour saying, “the man has more lives than a cat.”

Ridiculousness:

• The entire Alan Miliken storyline can rot in hell. This plotline was so awful that it single-handedly removed the presidential storyline from the 4^th season of 24.
• Why would Claudia tell her baby brother that they are leaving Hector? Did she think he would be great at keeping secrets and not freaking out?
• Michelle takes the word of Kim that Tony shouldn’t be in charge. Michelle should be fired and executed for making strategic decisions based on the word of Kim Bauer.

Running Totals:

Torture doesn’t mean you can’t be creative: 1 (12)

• Salazar’s men like the basics, you know, beatings with shovels.