Watching 24

This poor guy was a terrorist, but still Jack had no idea who he was and he just gunned him down. I thought that was pretty funny:

Right when this guy turned the corner he was toast:

So I’m sure everyone out there would like a free copy of 24 Season 5 on DVD right? I know I would, I’m kind of mad I can’t win this.

But, here’s the deal. Starting today, and ending next Tuesday (after the Character Countdown) we will be holding a comment contest. Now this doesn’t mean that the best comment wins, what it does mean is that next Tuesday I will run a program that will randomly pick a comment that has been left between those times and that person will win Season 5 on DVD.

There are only a few rules:

-You can comment on any post as many times as you want between now and next Tuesday.

-Your comment must be beneficial to the group as a whole. Meaning your comment must add something to the conversation. In other words comments like “Great post,” or “That episode was so cool,” won’t be counted. But, pretty much all of you that do leave comments does a pretty good job of that.

-Since this will be a random selection, consequentially the more comments you leave the greater a chance you have at winning. So feel free to discuss posts with each other in the comments, just make sure that it’s relative to 24.

-Please leave your CORRECT email with the comments. That is how I’ll contact you if you won, so make sure it’s on there.

Other than that good luck. This is really a way that I am rewarding you faithful readers, and the people that already leave comments.

You have a week so start commenting

Also, if you haven’t already and you are a faithful reader of the site please think of adding Watching24.com to your RSS feeds by just clicking on this: www.watching24.com/feed

24, Comment Contest, Watching24.com

Tom Lennox (15)
-Showed us that he is against the VP’s plan (+5)
-Tripped over Karen’s “ineptitude” HA that was funny (+5)
-Let Karen see the doubt in his eyes. He should learn how to hide that doubt better (-3)
-Tried to talk the VP out of launching the nuke after the drone was stopped (+7)

Net Gain/Loss: +14
Current Total: 29

President Wayne Palmer (51)
-Is the best coma actor I’ve seen in a long time, Kudos (+7)

Net Gain/Loss: +7
Current Total: 58

Bill Buchanan (116)
-Recapped last episode for the VP (+2)
-Told Doyle he was out of line (+7)
-Had the LAPD set up a PERIMETER, oh yeah CTU perimeters always work (-4)
-Didn’t ever tell Jack about Audrey (-4)
-Let Jack run point on the mission to find the drone pilot (+7)

Net Gain/Loss: +8
Current Total: 124

Nadia Yassir (118)
-Got caught being a traitor (-5)
-Didn’t look so hot while being interrogated (-6)
-Stood up to Doyle (+10)
-Got choked by Doyle (-5)
-Told Milo to leave, because it appeared that Milo didn’t believe that she wasn’t involved, REJECTED (+5)
-Will most likely be cleared of all charges (+5)

Net Gain/Loss: +4
Current Total: 122

Jack Bauer (402)
-Has floating rib fragments inside him that could cause internal bleeding. Jack’s bones break? He is human after all? This is quite the shock (-5)
-Turned away Marylin’s kiss, REJECTED (+3)
-Found out that Audrey is dead (-6)
-Almost hyperventilated when he found out (-3)
-Stared down Bill who was in the conference room (+5)
-Has some really awful scars (+3)
-Still wants to help with the mission in recovering the pilot (+5)
-Plans on going after Audrey’s murderers (+7)
-Killed someone without even knowing who it was (-5)
-But, did add two more people to his kill count (+6)
-Shot the pilot before he could release his grenade (+5)
-After two years in a Chinese prison Jack is still able to fly a state-of-the-art unmanned military drone, and safely land it without it exploding (+9)
-Did however land it in a fiery mess (-6)

Net Gain/Loss: +18
Current Total: 420
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By far the best episode since the 4th hour of this season.

As you can tell I really, really liked this episode. I was utterly shocked when we were told that Audrey had been killed in China while she was looking for Jack. That adds a great twist to the overall aspect of 24, and I couldn’t help but think that that would be a fantastic plot for next season’s 24. Could you imagine, Jack travels to China to take out everyone that wronged him and those that killed Audrey? Oh, man that would be a great twist. 24 solid hours of Jack at his vigilante best.

Sorry, I’m getting off track, okay back to the episode at hand. So we’re being led to believe that Nadia is the one responsible for leaking the terrorists the information. Personally, I don’t think she’s the one responsible and this storyline will serve as a sort of moral telling us all that we shouldn’t judge people because of their nationality. But, what I am clueless about is the person that is actually feeding the information to the terrorists. Is it Milo? He’s the one that let Nadia log in under his password. I’m really just not sure, and don’t have any really good guesses to who it could actually be.

In D.C. things are getting crazy, and for some reason that Presidential bunker is like a cave. I mean, seriously, can’t someone put in a few more light bulbs in that place? When those people walk outside when this day is through they’re going to burn out their retinas, there is no light in that place at all. Maybe all that darkness is fumbling around with VP Powers Boothe’s head because he’s not budging with his nuclear response against the unnamed Middle Eastern country. Even when the drone was found and lives were saved except for those poor, poor people that arrived at the bomb site before HazMat crews came and were exposed to the radiation.

Speaking of drones, not only can Jack fly helicopters (which we’ve learned in past seasons) but, even after spending two years in a Chinese prison camp Jack is still up to date on his drone piloting abilities. He successfully navigated the drone and landed it with out it blowing up. When Jack retires (which will NEVER happen) he always has a future as a video gamer, did you see how he controlled that joystick? WOW!

This was a great episode. The only down side was we found out that Sandra Palmer will be reappearing. She actually showed her face in this episode (which will get her some negative points in the Character Countdown) but no doubt she’ll be whining all the way through next week’s episode.

On the bright side though, Jack killed two more people (he’s up to twelve now), Chloe kissing Morris was hilarious especially when she told him point blank that it was to “check his breath,” and Rick “Mikey Doyle” Schroder is a punk, a real big punk and I’m half tempted to call him “Scrotum Face” from here on out…he really hasn’t aged well at all.

Oh and stay tuned for a contest that will be announced tomorrow…

24, Jack Bauer, Kiefer Sutherland, TV, entertainment, Fox

I think we all remember last week. Jack finally added a few more people to his kill count, Fayed finally stopped riding in his truck, and ex-President Logan got stabbed in the shoulder by his completely insane ex-wife. We were left wondering if Logan was going to pull through. He flatlined at the very end of the episode, and his very last word just might have been “Martha” now that’s just too bad. Rick “Mikey Doyle” Schroder appeared on the scene looking like life had taken a toll on him since his child star days. As always it seemed like the new guy at 24, apparently is in charge of everything, and is a real pain in the batookie.

In short last week’s episode was vintage 24.

Now lets take a look at the preview for this week’s episode, and talk about it after the jump:

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Lets just review Jack’s Kill Count for all of you that are keeping track at home, hoping to win that 500$ that we’re giving out to the one who correctly guesses the number of people Jack will kill.

After this last episode Jack is now up to 10. He’s finally hit the double digits. There were a lot of people that guessed in the 30’s and 40’s. I don’t know what to think about those guesses. At the rate Jack is going he’s going to end up somewhere in the teens, but I hope he picks it up soon.

Good luck to everyone that entered!

Jack Bauer, 24, Jack’s Kills

Stupid guy tried to kill Jack Bauer, THE JACK BAUER, with a pocket knife. Yeah, that’s gonna work:

Chalk another one up for Jack:

And another:

All of these are casualties of the CTU team and Rick “Mikey Doyle” Schroder:

Markov is probably dead, he was shot a few times, but you never know they may just keep him alive. But, I’m guessing he’s dead:

This is the MIGHT be dead category. Charles Logan flatlined right at the end of the episode, we’ll see if they can revive him for the next episode.

A ton of people were killed this week, too bad they all weren’t rubbed out by Jack. But, he did add three people to his Death Toll, which now stands at 10. I think Jack’s back!

24, Graveyard, Death, TV, entertainment, Jack Bauer

Before we start the Countdown I just want to address a few things. I’m really in a hurry today and didn’t have time to add new characters. Mike Doyle will be added later this week. I’m hesitant to add Martha Logan and Aaron Pierce because I don’t see them having much more of a part in the rest of the season, so I’ll play it by ear. For now I’ll keep those two in the Special Awards section.

Tom Lennox (35)
-Is willing to look the other way on the assassination details (-9)
-Eventually wants the truth to come out (+10)
-Will most likely never follow through with that (-11)
-Agreed to lie to the Ambassador (-4)
-Lied to the Ambassador (-6)

Net Gain/Loss: -20
Current Total: 15

Bill Buchanan (131)
-Even this episode was a little too much recapping from Bill (-7)
-He recapped to the VP (-1)
-He recapped to Nadia (-1)
-He recapped to Aaron (-1)
-He recapped in a meeting (-1)
-All that was left was for him to recap for was a fox in a box, or a mouse in a house zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz (-4)

Net Gain/Loss: -15
Current Total: 116

Nadia Yassir (117)
-Has the keys to the “main servers” good for her, she’s moving up in the world (+1)

Net Gain/Loss: +1
Current Total: 118

Jack Bauer (375)
-Pulled the belt off of a dead guy (+3)
-Actually pulled that belt off the wrong way, that must have been hard (+5)
-Used the belt to kill the Russian that was going to “terminate” him. What was that guy thinking? You never get that close to Jack (+8)
-Pulled the old hiding in the ceiling trick (+4)
-Tried to call out to CTU (+2)
-Shorted the building’s power with one swipe of his gun inside the fuse box (+3)
-Shorting the building’s power seemed to actually have no effect except for the momentary lights out scene right before the commercial (-5)
-Found the Russian lovers, how lucky (+5)
-Twitched and breathed extra heavily throughout the episode like he was back on the heroin he was addicted to in season three (-4)
-Killed two more Russian guards before the episode was through (+6)

Net Gain/Loss: +27
Current Total: 402
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Tonight’s episode was another one of those Jack-less ones that we’ve come to know. Jack was in the beginning and the end, but no where really in the middle. The biggest story of tonight’s episode was Charles going to visit his ex-wife Martha, to see if Martha would be able to talk to the Russian President’s wife who in turn would talk to her husband who would make Markov surrender.

At first I thought the whole plotline was a ploy just to bring Martha into the picture. I was surprised by the twist they added on to the end which had the Russian President sanctioning the attack on his Consulate. That part caught me off guard, and I really liked how that turned out.

Now for Martha stabbing Charles…When they showed her chopping up the kiwi I was sitting there saying in my head, “Oh man she looks pissed, I bet she stabs him,” and she did. It still took me by surprise though. Oh, and I was extremely glad to see Aaron Pierce again. One of the few people that have lived and been in every season, he’s a great character and probably one of the most stand up men on 24, besides Jack of course.

We also were treated to our first glimpse of Ricky Schroder’s character, and surprise he’s a real punk. What would CTU be without a mouthy, power hungry character coming in during the middle of the season? That’s always been one of the mainstays of 24. There’s always someone who just has to act like a jerk because he can. I can tell you Ricky’s going to be losing a lot of points on the Character Countdown.

I know I say this over and over, but Powers Boothe sure is frightening isn’t he? When he was threatening the Ambassador, I mean wow, that guy really knows how to get his point across. I’m not sure that I believe just yet that he didn’t have something to do with the assassination. He sure is playing along with it to his own benefit, but I think that there may be something that he isn’t letting on. He must have had a hand in it somewhere.

Oh and before I finish this review, it sure has been a long time since we’ve seen old Fayed. Am I the only one or did it seem like it took Fayed the same amount of time to reach the “Shadowlands” as it took for Assad to fly to D.C.? Seems like Fayed has been driving for the past three episodes I’d almost forgotten about him. I think Fayed’s hours are numbered, and then the rest of the season will focus mainly on Gredenko, unless we haven’t even seen the real bad guy yet.

I liked tonight’s episode, but it wasn’t as good as last week’s. I hope from here on out we get a lot of Jack Time, because it’s surely lacking right now. Let’s not forget that 24 is Jack Bauer and Jack Bauer is 24, so hopefully the rest of the season realizes that.

(Sorry if this review was a little incoherent. I’ve had the flu or something all day and I’ve barely been able to move. But, I gotta watch 24 right? Anyway, the Character Countdown should be up tomorrow, plan on it, unless I get sicker then it’ll be a couple days. Thanks everyone!)

24, Jack Bauer, Kiefer Sutherland, FOX, entertainment, TV

I’ll tell you what, these weeks are just flying by. Spring is in the air, and 24 is starting its home stretch. We’ve hit the halfway point, but in perfect 24 fashion we still haven’t seen exactly what the terrorists are capable of.

Last week were we left with Jack tied to a chair inside the Russian Consulate, his Russian Bluetooth buddy that he got to believe him was shot in the head, and we have no idea if Bill and Vice President Powers Boothe are going to storm the Consulate and try and rescue Jack.

Like I said last week’s episode was one that was sorely needed. The past few episodes have been all build up and little payout. But, it looks by the preview, that tonight’s episode will not only be exciting, but will help out all those people that had higher guesses in the Jack Bauer Kill Count Contest.

So, check out the preview for next week’s episode and we can talk about it after the jump…

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We found out on Monday that one of the recurring characters on this season of 24, Assad, was actually killed by the bomb.

I wanted to start a discussion about this. I want to know what you think from the standpoint of just looking at 24 as a TV show, and from the standpoint of looking at it as real-life.

What I mean by looking at it from the TV show standpoint is this. Do you think that Assad being killed was a good or bad thing for the show in general. I know he was becoming a fan favorite, I thought he was a nice enough guy. He was also played by a very good actor who did Assad very well. So, what do you think this means for the show? Do you think that they can do without him? Or are you like me and think the show killed off one of its best actors, and that it better not kill off Powers Boothe or Charles Logan, or we’ll be back in the acting stone ages?

Also, what about if this were real-life? Did the man get what he deserved according to what he had done in the past? We never saw Assad as a bloodthirsty terrorist, only as a reasonably helpful guy with good manners. But, what if we knew of him because he was one of the most prominent terrorists the world has ever seen? Would you feel sad for his death? And even if you learned that he wasn’t the one who actually tried to kill the President, would you even care? I guess what I’m asking is does his punishment fit his crimes? Is VP Powers Boothe right in thinking that Assad was behind this attack, and even if he KNOWS Assad wasn’t behind the attack is he right in framing him for it anyway for the good of the country?

As much as I liked Assad’s character and the depth that he added to the show, I can’t help but think that he really was a horrible terrorist in the past and that he did deserve what happened to him.

24, FOX, Kiefer Sutherland, Jack Bauer, Assad, Season 6

It didn’t happen during this episode, but it was confirmed, Assad is no more:

The other person to die this episode was Jack’s Russian Bluetooth buddy that oddly didn’t use his Bluetooth headset when he called Bill:

24, FOX, Kiefer Sutherland, Jack Bauer, 24 Graveyard

Tom Lennox (16)
-Pulled the absolute weirdest faces while he was tied up and had duct tape over his mouth. (-4)
-Pretended to go along with Reed’s plan so Reed would untie him (+3)
-In complete Un-Tom-Lennox form he gave up Reed and his henchman without even batting an eyelash. BRAVO! (+25)
-Acted like a complete weenie while being interrogated (-5)

Net Gain/Loss: +19
Current Total: 35

President Wayne Palmer (49)
-I just noticed, while Wayne was lying there in bed getting surgery that he bears an uncanny resemblance to Gary Payton (+2)

Net Gain/Loss: +2
Current Total: 51

Bill Buchanan (120)
-Welcome back the Good Ol’ Bill who recaps everything from the last episode for us. The only thing missing from his recapping speeches are “Previously on 24” (+4)
-Ordered Nadia to put together a task force that will most likely contain Rick “Ricky” Schroder, to go and rescue Jack. I can’t wait (+7)

Net Gain/Loss: +11
Current Total: 131

Nadia Yassir (112)
-Got a close up (+5)

Net Gain/Loss: +5
Current Total: 117

Jack Bauer (361)
-Still doesn’t trust Logan at all (+3)
-Has some giant cajones going back into a consulate illegally. I mean some really, really giant cajones! (+15)
-Speaks Russian, who knew? (+5)
-Let Markov push the panic button (-3)
-Didn’t check Markov’s office for cameras (-5)
-Threatened to cut off Markov’s fingers (+5)
-Actually did it! (+8)
-Got the information out of Markov (+9)
-Didn’t call Bill right away when he was standing in front of Markov (-10)
-Acted like he was going to walk right out the front door, and then got blown back by an explosive planted on the door. How did Jack not see that coming? Poor form Jack (-12)
-Got one of the Russian agents to believe him (+5)
-Too bad the dude got a bullet in the back of the head before he could warn CTU (-6)

Net Gain/Loss: +14
Current Total: 375
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Wasn’t this episode just what this season needed?

After a few lackluster, tired episodes, this one really got this season back on track. Jack is back, and was in this episode enough to make it exciting. Charles Logan is doing a great job at actually helping and not being offended by everyone in the world not trusting him. Powers Boothe is doing a fine job scaring the pee out of me, and Morris is doing things with computers that have never been done before, oh yeah 24 is back.

The first thing that really blew me away was how fast Tom Lennox gave up Reed and his henchman. I gained a new found respect for Tom at that moment. Although he was an idiot by not reporting the entire thing sooner, but he still did the right thing and he’ll sure earn a lot of points on the Character Countdown for that one.

Doesn’t Jack ever learn? Foreign consulates are like Jack Bauer’s kryptonite. We all know what happened to him when he stormed into the Chinese consulate, and now Jack’s tied to a chair in the Russian consulate. He got the information he needed but for some reason let down his guard and was so easily caught it made him look like an amateur. He did end up convincing one Russian man inside the consulate to help him out, but as we all saw that man got a bullet in the head by a shadowy figure, wouldn’t have been great if it was Jack’s Dad (I know it was just some other Russian crony but still wouldn’t that have been a great twist?)

Just for further notice I will not refer to the Vice President as Noah. To me, that name just doesn’t convey the utter scariness that is Powers Boothe. I know I say that over and over, but it’s true, especially in this episode. He’s finally getting some scenes that are longer than one minute at a time, and he’s making good use of them. He has added much needed acting ability to this season’s cast.

So, we have two hours before Gredenko releases the drones of death, and Jack is still tied to a chair. His Russian friend is lying in a pool of his own blood and there seems to be no hope for Jack. Bill is putting together a task force which may or may not take the consulate by force. It’s all up in the air now, which is the way 24 should be. Maybe Jack can perform another vampire escape.

Like I mentioned above, there was just one thing that really bothered me about this episode. Jack Bauer, special agent extraordinaire, gets all the information he needs, but doesn’t realize that after he steps away from the consulate that they are going to come in after him? He didn’t even get to put up a fight at all. It was almost as if he thought he’d walk out the front door, I have no idea what he was thinking. The Jack Bauer I know would’ve picked up the consulate and drug him outside the door with a gun to his head the entire way until he was back on American soil. Tell me what’s wrong with that plan?

All in all this was one of the stronger episodes of this season, and has set a new tone for the rest of it. I can’t wait to see what happens next…

24, Season 6, Episode 12, Jack Bauer, Kiefer Sutherland, Review

Well, can you believe it? This season is almost half over. It’s gone by way too fast. But, being half over means that only the best parts are yet to come.

Last week we were left wondering if President Wayne and Assad were killed in the bomb blast, what was going to happen to Tom Lennox, if Charles Logan is being sincere in wanting to help and Jack was planning on invading another consulate. I guess Jack just doesn’t learn his lessons.

As always here’s the preview for tonight’s episode, via YouTube and we’ll talk about it after the jump:

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