24 season 7 episode 20 review

Boy oh boy do Jack and side kick Renee feel like a couple of suckers for trusting Tony Almeida. But it is of course only a matter of minutes before Jack gets mobile again. Welcome to episode 20 of Season 7.

Tony meets up with his fellow cohort and of course the old “Where is the Canister?” “Where is the money first?” fall out ensues. Forgot that old “exchange” cliché nugget, but the 24 writers didn’t! Yes a double cross ensues resulting in Tony having to kick the living crap out of the guy, and then finish him off. The mystery lady responsible for Jonas Hodges predicament arrives expecting him to pass it onto their betters, but Tony insists on using the thing now instead of waiting for 6 months. 

Olivia Taylor arrives back at the White House and acts like a spoilt brat.  Amazing how, when playing the political animal, she can be very slimy, but when a personal issue is raised she goes very black and white and becomes the most unprofessional person to ever grace the halls of the big white. So she is not too happy about the idea of the President being lenient to Hodges (who had the President’s son killed) in exchange for information.

Seems there is always a lead; or a break down in bad-guy communication to make things just possible for Jack to save the day in the nick of time.  I’d love to see a show where there is no lead. No lead for a full hour and they are forced to just chill the fuck out and chat for a while, and then maybe generate a lead through hard work instead of a scrap of evidence from the latest beating.

An interesting scene sees Tony’s new sidekick chair a meeting via the net with 12 of their superiors, each unidentifiable to each other or the host. This includes Will Patton from last week who stepped in as possible new villain-in-chief. The result of this discussion is to decide and ultimately go along with Tony’s plan to use the canister as soon as possible.

Jack talks to Hodges, and it’s the Give us your help and info and we’ll make sure your family remain safe routine. It’s a waste of a scene, as we know the outcome will be that despite the amateur dramatics and shouting that Hodges will eventually comply.  But it touches briefly on a moment that could have been developed. Hodges gives Jack his sympathy for him being put on trial for trying to protect his country. It could have been used to elevate the scene to compare the two. Perhaps Jack could have seen his actions as a stepping-stone towards where Hodges is in life now. But sadly it isn’t to be. Not this week anyway. Jack formulates his plan and sends for Chloe.

Tony plans to set off his chemical weapon in an undisclosed location, but first he has to go out and find a fall guy for the crime. Olivia cry-babies her way through the Jonas Hodges thing, and even suggests to Aaron Pierce that he could kill him (which thankfully she immediately apologises for). But then that was only because she saw the look on his face.  Instead she calls an old buddy who looks likes he is going to get to do the job instead.

Then finally… A pure moment of 24 levity. Janice the Rick Moranis look-a-like, with a wig, rubber faced nerd starts to moan and complain about rebooting CTU servers with Chloe; to which Jack snaps at her… Then with a tiny bit of added sarcasm from Janice, Jack launches into full attack and boy does he shout her right down to the ground! Sadly he also drops in President Palmer’s name instead of Taylor’s which shows that the chemicals are really starting to go to work on his brain.

Tony finds his patsy and the clock ticks. This show had some potential and was largely wasted on scrambling around and setting up the next episode instead of being its own entity.

Read Steven’s review of the previous episode here.