So, is Jack Bauer cursed for real, or is it just James Heller being a bit peeved at him, for letting his daughter get all brainwashed? Will Heller or Audrey even show up tonight on Fox’s ‘24’?
Jack’s still in his holding cell, when Nadia walks in. She informs him that Heller left with Audrey. So…they brought Kim Raver back to say, like, two lines? Great job, writers. Nadia does say that the Bloomfield mention turned out to be real, that it’s a copper facility somewhere in L.A., and may be where the Chinese had their base of operations. Jack wants in on the mission, since he knows Cheng best. After much arguing and Nadia having a stick up her ass, she denies him access to the mission. He walks over to the guards, looking like he wants to pull some kind of move, but he says that he could help from CTU. Nadia says that Division is sending in a replacement, but she’ll take it up with the new section chief when they arrive.
On the main floor, Morris is looking at some surveillance of Bloomfield, and Milo realizes that he and Chloe aren’t doing too hot, since Morris broke up with her last week. Meanwhile, Nadia briefs Doyle and his men on what their mission is: secure the component and get Cheng. She stresses how serious it is that Cheng not leave the country with the component, then wishes them luck. Doyle commends her on her good job (well, CTU hasn’t exploded, so that’s not bad), and leaves Nadia looking all pensive.
Cheng is back at his base, talking to his technical guy, who worries that the men working with them aren’t the best for such an operation. Cheng talks to the main shooter, an American, and they talk ominously about being ready for…something.
Somewhere inside CTU, Marilyn Bauer and her son, Josh (remember them?), are watching the national news about the bombing in Valencia. Josh can’t believe that his dad and grandfather were involved, and that he wasn’t even part of his “sick family.” Marilyn reminds him that he’s essentially good and all, and they’re good people, blah blah blah. He wants to leave CTU, but Marilyn tells him to get some sleep, as she sees Chloe spying on them. Marilyn walks out to Chloe, who wants her to review the statement she made earlier to see that it’s accurate. Chloe tells Marilyn that Audrey’s still alive. How is that any of Marilyn’s business? Really.
Cut to our Mystery Man in D.C., Mark Bishop, the evil lobbyist talking to the Russians. He’s woken up by a call from his paramour, Lisa, the aide to the acting President, Noah Daniels. She’s being watched by Daniels and Tom Lennox, but tries to convince Bishop that they should shack up as soon as possible. She manages to be supremely uncomfortable, for many reasons, but Lennox says it was genuine. He tells Lisa to, at some point, excuse herself from the room and check Bishop’s PDA to get some info. Also, she’s to give some info to Bishop that will get the Russians to call off the attack. Lisa’s not sure about going through with it, since she’s nervous. Daniels reminds her, skeevily, that she was able to lie to him, so how hard can it be?
In his holding cell, Jack ponders life in general, when Chloe and Marilyn walk in (OK, must not be a real holding cell). Marilyn wants to make sure he’s all right about Audrey, and apologizes about saying Audrey was dead, and all that jazz. Jack says that things are out of his hands, thanks to Heller. Though she tries to push, Jack’s very anti-talking about the Audrey situation. Marilyn says that in the morning, she and her son are free to go, but she wants Josh to see Jack before they go. She also says that she’ll be there for him if he wants. I like Rena Sofer, as Marilyn, and all, but every time she’s on a show, the show seems to decline in quality. And this time, it’s not even her fault. Bad luck.
In the Chinese base of operations, at Bloomfield, Cheng and his men are preparing their attack on…something. Outside, Doyle and his team arrives and gets into their positions. Cheng orders his men to do what they have to, as the CTU agents bust past the fences and draw nearer to ridding the audience of Cheng, who is telling his lead man to obtain a package and not cause casualties. I wonder if all this delicate language is meant to surprise us in any way; is the package an actual package? Anyway, the CTU agents enter the base of operations, as Cheng watches his men go below ground, in a large hole. The CTU agents find no people, but one agent shows Doyle an arsenal of weapons that’s unattended. Interesting firepower. Doyle calls CTU, and tells Nadia that Bloomfield’s been evacuated except for empty weapon crates, and that the Chinese may be launching a major assault on…something. Hopefully, the something will be revealed, so I can give the ellipses a break. Cheng, meanwhile, gets a call from his lead man, and tells him that within about 150 meters, they’ll be right below CTU’s entrance point. Ah, good, the ellipses can relax. They’re only attacking CTU. Oh, wait. Damn.
Morris tells Chloe he’s scanning some images, and she couldn’t care less, since because they broke up, she’s now a heinous witch. Great! Then she apologizes for being a heinous witch, he tells her she was right to say what she did, and on and on, and does anyone care? Morris says he didn’t break up with her because of what she said, but because of what he did earlier in the day. Oh, good, he’s proud. His defense is that he’s never wrong. I wonder if that would stand up in any court in the world.
Outside Bishop’s apartment, Lennox goes over the game plan again with Lisa, who’s scared. He reminds her that if things don’t work out, she’s going to be charged with treason. Well, it may have only been light treason. Anyway, Lisa goes into a car so she can be driven over to Bishop’s place, as Lennox sets up a communication station. While Daniels sits in the Oval Office and stews, Lisa goes inside and prepares for what may be her best acting ever! Lennox and Daniels talk about her going in, and Daniels thanks him for doing something pretty damn dirty. Inside, Lisa goes to Bishop’s apartment, he opens the door, and they kiss. She walks in, and Bishop notices that she’s a little tense. He talks a little dirty, and they start to do the mating dance of politicos. She wants to go to the little girl’s room to freshen up, but Bishop stops her and they kiss again. She then says the crisis made her feel grungy; Bishop points out the crisis is over so she should be fine, and then makes another comment about doing it. She takes off her shirt, and they start to…well, do I have to draw you a map?
Back in the sewers, Cheng’s men are right below CTU, setting up some charges, which let Cheng and his techie into CTU’s systems. Two minutes from now, everything will be shut down. Up on ground level, Milo and Nadia are going over what’s been going on, and he wonders if Doyle’s checked in. For some reason, he seems suspicious of their conduct, and realizes that her feelings of him have changed, and she may like Doyle now. Seriously? They’re wasting our time with this? Can’t Jack blow somebody up? Nadia says she doesn’t know how she feels. She tries to get in contact with Doyle’s unit, but all communications are down, as Cheng’s men have gotten into CTU. Chloe, meanwhile, is trying to get a visual on Cheng and his vehicle, but Milo breaks in that all visuals from security are down. Nadia orders a lockdown. Before security can get on it, Cheng’s men start shooting. OK, maybe she’s not doing that great of a job anymore.
Jack’s in his cell, as the stupidest guard alive chooses to ignore Jack until the last possible moment, when the guard is shot after letting Jack out. Jack gets on the ground, grabs the guard’s gun and shoots him. Finally, some action! Cheng’s men order all cell phones be given up and alarms be turned off. Jack, meanwhile, goes about killing the baddies, trading his gun up for a bigger piece. The lead baddie asks who’s in charge, and after some trepidation on Nadia’s part, Milo steps up to the plate. As we will soon see, this was not a wise move, as he’s shot in the head. Well, goodbye to Milo!
No one aside from Nadia seems even remotely disturbed that Milo just got killed. Jack’s watching the scene from the second floor, and Marilyn and Josh wonder what’s going on, as some of Cheng’s men arrive, saying that they found Josh. Ah, so the package was a person after all. Jack comes in to save Marilyn and Josh, shooting the baddies. Jack’s surprised that Josh is what they’re after, but leads them out of the area, heading upstairs. As they go along, we see two more villains heading upstairs after them. Jack, Marilyn and Josh go into an equipment room. Jack puts one of the guns into a large fan, stopping it. Josh goes up through the fan, followed by Marilyn, who’s stopped when the villains arrive, ordering them to their knees. The gunman tells Cheng’s lead man that he has Marilyn and Jack, who are brought down. In the ventilation shaft, we see Josh crawling his way through.
Cheng’s lead man tells Cheng what’s happened, while Doyle continues to call in, to see what the hell is up. The lead man shouts for Nadia to stand up, and after a lengthy pause, she does so. For once, the acting makes sense: she looks like she’s gonna puke. Cheng’s lead man points out that, according to the roster, she’s the head of the place. He orders her to talk to Doyle, but not to give anything up, or else she’ll die. Awfully nice of him to be like that now. Nadia talks to Doyle, who’s confused about what’s taking so long, but Nadia uses her forceful tone and gets him to back off. She’s ordered to sit back down. Jack and Marilyn are brought down, and Jack wants to know why Josh is the target. The lead man does nothing, except talk through the PA system directly to Josh. He tries to convince Josh to come down, and that he’ll be taken to a safe place. If Josh doesn’t come back down, Marilyn will die. He’s got ten seconds to show himself, and at the count of nine, Josh does so, giving himself up to one of the gunmen. Cheng’s thrilled to have gotten his package, as Marilyn’s thrown into a chair next to the very dead Milo. Josh is brought downstairs, as Cheng calls…Phillip Bauer, to let him know that his grandson, daughter-in-law and son are all alive. Phillip says that he’ll return the circuit board that he’s been repairing, when he’s given his son. Oooh! Interesting. With only three hours left, what else does ‘24’ have up its sleeve?
