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24 goes into Episode 5 with Jack Bauer playing pass the parcel (i.e. the flight key) to Kate Morgan, and somehow, just by plugging this key into another random computer, so the upload immediately continues to Chloe’s machine, despite all manner of implausibilities there.
Labouriously, CTU London finally realise that Lt. Tanner was telling the truth all along and that the drones were taken over by the bad guys. Hence, this proves Bauer is in the right, and it sticks in the craw of Boudreau who hates Bauer with a passion for what he did to Audrey many moons ago. However, by grounding all the drones, it means that while Margot won’t be able to commit worldwide domination, she can still strike at those where they have already established some form of control.
Stupidly, these drones are so technically advanced, that once in enemy hands, they can’t be detected by their own government. That’s a bit of a schoolboy error, surely? I hope that isn’t possible in real life.
Margot wants Heller’s head for past governmental misdeeds, in order for her to call off her own drone strike. Bauer, and us, know that the only way to stop the bad guys (and women) is for our hero to be released from U.S. government custody and sent out do it all his way. However, all these years and the bigwigs still don’t quite get this, thinking he’s going to pull a fast one, even though, as Heller confirmed earlier, Bauer has never ever lied to him.
Unfortunately, once again while the episode tries to build tension, whatever is set up to happen has an outcome which you can spot coming a mile off.
And as for the supposed cliffhanger being brought about from a number of CTU staff being killed in an explosion, most of the ones we saw had long since all disappeared up their own bottoms, so the ‘24‘ world was much better off without them.
And, unfortunately, for Naveed, that term comes round to haunt him too, since Simone proves that what John Lithgow said in Cliffhanger – “Do you know what real love is? …Sacrifice” – was true all along.
Dammit count: 0
Score: 5/10
Director: Omar Madha
Producer: Iain Smith
Screenplay: Sang Kyu Kim and Patrick Somerville
Music: Sean Callery
Cast:
Jack Bauer: Kiefer Sutherland
Chloe O’Brian: Mary Lynn Rajskub
Naveed: Sacha Dhawan
Kate Morgan: Yvonne Strahovski
Margot Al-Harazi: Michelle Fairley
Ian Al-Harazi: Liam Garrigan
Steve Navarro: Benjamin Bratt
Mark Boudreau: Tate Donovan
President James Heller: William Devane
Erik Ritter: Gbenga Akinnagbe
Simone Al-Harazi: Emily Berrington
Adrian Cross: Michael Wincott
Jordan Reed: Giles Matthey
Chris Tanner: John Boyega
Chell: Mandeep Dhillon
Audrey Raines: Kim Raver
Prime Minister Alastair Davies: Stephen Fry
General Coburn: Colin Salmon
Belcheck: Branko Tomovic
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.