It's Monday, and that means that it's time for another installment of the Jack Bauer Power Hour, also known as Fox's '24,' the ultimate action drama. This week, will Jack save San Francisco from a nuclear drone?
Jack, once again, doesn't take center stage this week. Kiefer Sutherland's sure making a lot of money for not doing as much as he's done in the past this year. Anyway, though Jack doesn't have a lot to do this week, what he does do is very important. First of all, we first see him being tended to outside of the Russian Consul, where he's told by Doyle that he needs to get better from his gunshot wound if he wants to get back in the field.
Once Jack gets back to CTU, he's headed off to the medical wing when he sees Marilyn. Marilyn is very quick to hope that the two of them can get back together very soon, but Jack still wants to talk to Audrey (remember her?) and see if the two of them can rekindle their romance. Marilyn, shocked, has to tell Jack some news: Audrey's dead. Apparently she died a few months ago, in China, trying to figure out where Jack was. Jack is very angry about this, and asks for a file detailing this from Chloe. He's still annoyed, and upset at Bill Buchanan for not sharing this.
Meanwhile, CTU is dealing with some other problems. They are now fully aware that Gredenko and Fayed are about to launch a nuclear drone, leaving two left. The problem is that the drone is invisible to all radars. After some confusion, we find out the reason: someone at CTU is giving the drone pilot the information they need to make the drone invisible. Doyle is quick to guess that it's Nadia, the only high-ranking official with a Middle Eastern background. Conveniently enough, it turns out that Nadia's computer is where the info came from. Doyle starts interrogating her viciously, but turns up nothing. Instead, Morris, Chloe and Milo find out the location of the drone pilot from Nadia's computer. Also in the category of "How convenient!" is that the drone pilot is only a few blocks away from CTU.
In Washington, Vice President Daniels, once he gets the news about the drone, is very adamant on launching a nuclear strike against Iran, even though the country has disavowed all knowledge of Fayed, his whereabouts and his plans. Despite Tom Lennox's warnings, Daniels convenes the Joint Chiefs and his advisors, including newly-returned Karen Hayes, to inform them of his planned strike, barring CTU intercepting the drone from its target. Karen, of course, is very much against it and tries to get Tom to speak up, but he refuses. Karen goes to the last chance: President Palmer, who is still under medical care. In fact, there's been some swelling in his brain, but he's stabilized. The doctor warns Karen against waking the president up, but says that if she gets a family member's consent, it can be done. Conveniently enough, sister Sandra (and where has she been?) is there, watching over her brother. Will Karen go to Sandra next week?
At the end of the episode, Jack goes back in the field to the drone pilot's location, and finds out that the drone is headed for San Francisco. In a very tense scene, Jack is just barely able to commandeer the drone away from the main city, and lands it in an industrial park outside of Frisco. Unfortunately, the ground response teams are exposed to radioactive material which dispersed on the messy landing. Though everyone is initially very pleased to hear that the drone didn't detonate, they should be worried: Vice President Daniels still orders the strike on Iran!
So, will World War III begin next week on '24'? Will Jack be able to save the day? Is Nadia really a mole at CTU? Will Jack's dad return this season? And also, am I the only one who holds out hope for ex-President Logan? Hopefully, some of these questions will be answered next week, so stay tuned and read about it next Monday.
