24 News and Notes / 4am-5am

In the words of the near immortal Rod Stewart…”Tonight’s the night!..” As has been my M.O. the last few weeks I am waiting until only hours before the latest episode to do the recap…Sorry. So – how about I just blast through this so you can all be ready for the big battle tonight 20,000 leagues under the sea…


4:00 A.M.
Chloe sets up a feed to the Attorney General and to Congress. Yet when she tests the recording, there is nothing but white noise. Chloe remembers that Miles came in, claiming that Karen had him check up on her.

COMMENT: Oh dear....Maybe Jack should have played the thing for SOMEBODY!!!!!! As for Miles – he has been placed on a tee and is all set to be slammed! Let's get to it now shall we?

4:02 A.M.
Jack heads to the bullpen, and Karen calls for security to stop him. Jack punches the guard. He then grabs Miles by the throat and accuses him of obstructing the case. Karen orders Jack to let him go.

COMMENT: LOVED the shot to the solar plexes. When are they going to realize what it takes to bring down Bauer…Come on Karen - let Jack strangle the life out of him!!! Or at least draw blood…We’ve been waiting weeks for this confrontation!!

4:03 A.M.
Miles says that he has been transferred and Karen asks where. “The White House,” Jack sneers. Miles’ silence serves as an admission. Karen threatens to investigate, and Miles informs her that he now works for the President. Karen slaps him hard on the face. He leaves CTU.

COMMENT: Come on Karen you can do better than a little slap to the face…Ball up that fist and punch him!! Or even better would have been a nice swift kick to the old bait and tackle!!

4:05 A.M.
Karen sends Chloe to try to restore the tape.

COMMENT: Yeah – good luck with that Chloe…Have fun..

4:06 A.M.
Logan quizzes Karen about a conference call with the Attorney General, but she claims it was a mistake. Logan wants to suspend the arrest for Jack because the evidence he has is “inconclusive.” Jack knows that Logan intends to make him an unobstructed target.

4:07 A.M.
CTU gets word that Bierko escaped from the transfer to District. The one agent who survived the attack on the van heard Bierko mention a nerve gas canister and tell his men that they “are not finished.” CTU had assumed all the canisters were destroyed in the gas plant explosion. Karen makes finding Bierko the new priority.

4:08 A.M.
Bierko’s man shows him the one canister kept in reserve.

4:13 A.M.
Martha gives Pierce’s cell phone to an agent on duty in hopes that it will be returned to him in Washington where he was transferred.

4:14 A.M.
Logan comes to see Pierce in the stables at the retreat. Pierce has been beaten and his hands are bound. Logan tells him that the tape recording no longer exists. Logan threatens him to save his own career in the Secret Service. Pierce calls Logan a traitor and a disgrace to the office.

COMMENT: Perhaps the finest line of the entire season…”You’re a traitor and a disgrace to the office. Is there anything else CHARLES??” CLASSIC!!! This is why we LOVE Agent Pierce.

4:16 A.M.
An agent named Adams tells Logan that Pierce is loyal to Palmer. Logan doesn’t say anything, and Adams understands what to do.

COMMENT: Wait a minute – Agent No-Neck is really going to whack Aaron?? NO WAY JOSE!

4:17 A.M.
Logan calls Graham and lets him know that the recording has been destroyed and Pierce is being taken care of. The arrangements to take out Jack have been put into motion.

COMMENT: Isn’t the Putz just little Mr. Efficient…

4:19 A.M.
Novick brings the President news that Bierko escaped and is planning another attack. Logan is furious.

COMMENT: It’s soooo funny watching him react to this stuff. He’s like an 8 yr old – wait that would be an insult to the 8 yr old…but I think you get the point.

4:20 A.M.
Chloe cannot find any trace of Bierko on satellites or security cameras. Karen and Buchanan suggest offering a deal to Henderson in return for information on Bierko. Jack is adamant that they don’t because Henderson killed Palmer. Yet with no other option, Jack relents.

4:21 A.M.
Jack goes to Henderson in the holding room and tries to appeal to his patriotic sense. Henderson can tell Jack is not happy to be offering full immunity. Henderson’s only protection was that tape and now it’s gone. He will be killed if he is set free. Henderson offers to help Jack catch Bierko if they allow him to go underground with his wife

COMMENT: Jack and Henderson eh? Never thought that would happen…this should be interesting as Jack fights every fiber of his being to stop from shooting him somewhere vital.

4:29 A.M.
Henderson gives up fourteen names that he thinks Bierko will contact. Jack has Chloe run a search.

4:30 A.M.
Jack tells Audrey that Henderson is helping them find Bierko. Audrey is angry that the man who tried to kill her father was offered immunity. Jack apologizes to her.

COMMENT: Come on – let Audrey at him!! She’s like a Bengal tiger these days…!

4:31 A.M.
Chloe finds that Victor Malina, one of the people on Henderson’s list, just got a call from a payphone in Van Nuys which was then called by a GSM satellite phone. Henderson warns them that it will take too long to roll Malina. He suggests that he go and talk to Malina himself. Jack knows Henderson can’t be trusted, but Karen and Buchanan decide that they have no other choice. Karen orders Jack to accompany Henderson. Jack threatens to kill Henderson if something goes awry.

4:33 A.M.
Martha is outside smoking a cigarette when she sees a government sedan pull into the stables.

COMMENT: Martha the Sleuth is IN DA HIZZY!! Let’s see what she uncovers shall we?

4:34 A.M.
Agent Adams exits the sedan with a gun. The trunk of the car is lined in plastic. He takes the bound Pierce from the stable, but Pierce fights back. Martha walks in and surprises Adams with Pierce. Adams cannot shoot the First Lady, and this allows Pierce to kick him. Adams loses his gun. Just as Adams is about to hit Pierce with a tire iron, Martha grabs the gun and shoots Adams. She is in shock and drops the gun.

COMMENT: Everybody run…the medicated First Lady has a gun!!...and she doesn’t appear to be afraid to use it…Quick call Logan!!

4:40 A.M.
Curtis drives Jack and Henderson to Victor Malina’s loft. Henderson won’t wear a wire because Malina will find it. Jack gives him only ten minutes to get information. Curtis sets teams around the perimeter.

4:41 A.M.
Henderson goes to the building and Malina lets him into the heavily-secured complex. Jack hoists himself up to the roof.

COMMENT: Heavily secured?? HA…Jack climbs on the roof (easily) and there are no sensors or anything up there to indicate he is there!!! What’s it with security this season?? First they don’t look on the top of the truck at the airport. Now Jack has easy access to this “heavily secured” living space by climbing on the roof and going in from there? Come on!

4:42 A.M.
At the door, Malina x-rays Henderson over the Backscatter monitor. There is nothing on him, and he is allowed entry.

COMMENT: Cool x-ray gadget…too bad Jack’s on the roof!!!!

4:43 A.M.
Jack affixes a sonar device to the skylight over Malina’s loft. He hears Henderson tell Malina to secure-cache his files because Jack and CTU are outside. Jack radios Curtis to move his teams in because Henderson welched on his promise.

4:44 A.M.
Malina starts crashing his own system as Curtis’s teams blast through the building entry. Jack breaks in from the roof. Henderson takes Malina’s gun and ducks. Malina fires at the TAC team, hitting Curtis in the shoulder. Jack shoots Malina and he makes Henderson come out from hiding.

4:46 A.M.
Jack accuses Henderson of trying to play him, but Henderson says that he was getting Malina to drop the firewall and download all his files onto a flash drive. Jack came in too soon and now the files are all decrypted on the mainframe. Jack doesn’t know what the truth is, but sends Chloe the files from Malina’s computer.

COMMENT: Ooops…good job Jack. Not that I trust Henderson but give the guy a break. You had the whole building surrounded. Where the heck was Henderson going to go even if he was playing you?

4:52 A.M.
Pierce tells Martha that Logan ordered Adams to kill him. Martha says she knows about the whole plot, but she can no longer remain silent. Pierce needs Logan to believe that he’s dead, so he has her go back inside and pretend nothing is different. Pierce asks her to tell Novick.

COMMENT: Great!! They’re finally going to get Sherlock Novick involved??...and good luck trying to get Martha to act like there’s nothing wrong. I think you’re going to need much more medication!

4:54 A.M.
Chloe uncovers Defense documents on Malina’s computer for a Russian submarine that is in America for inspection by the Navy. Karen explains that the Logan treaty called for the sharing of technology. Henderson confirms that the sub named Natalia would have multiple, non-nuclear warheads.

COMMENT: A Russian submarine eh? Hmmm – let the Hunt for Red Bierko begin!!

4:55 A.M.
Jack has Audrey contact the ranking U.S. officer on the Russian sub. Jack takes Henderson with him in a helicopter. He needs Henderson because he knows the weapon systems.

4:56 A.M.
Audrey connects Jack to the U.S. Navy officer aboard the submarine Natalia. Jack orders the Lieutenant to lock down the weapons system because the Natalia might be under siege by terrorists who will try to apprehend its missiles.

4:57 A.M.
The Lieutenant goes through the top hatch and Bierko shoots him. Jack hears the gunshots and has Audrey warn Defense.

COMMENT: What part of LOCK DOWN THE WEAPONS SYSTEM means open the hatch to the outside of the sub?? Come on!!! Seal the damn sub up and don’t allow anyone access to the darn thing….Nah – I think I’ll just go topside and take a look around…AND don’t even get me started as to how Bierko and his band of flunkies are able to just wander in and end up on top of a NUCLEAR SUBMARINE!!!!!!! I don’t care if it’s Russian or not. Those darn things are guarded like Fort Knox…because they have NUCLEAR WEAPONS on board!!!!! I’m very disappointed at the little plot twist. Not very well thought out…Thank god the end is near…I can stop yelling at the tv!

4:48 A.M.
Bierko drops a Sentox canister into the hatch of the sub and releases the gas. The crew of the submarine falls to their deaths.

COMMENT: Of course they do…so disappointing.

4:59 A.M.
Bierko and his gas-masked men board the sub. Bierko plugs a code that he got from Malina into a console. This allows him to take control of the sub’s weapons system.




So WADDA YA THINK folks??? Things look interesting for the season finale??

So many loose ends to tie up…I’m sure they will come up with something.

Questions -

Will someone important die?
Will Aaron and Martha end up happily ever after?
Will Jack and Audrey?
Will Bill and Karen?
Will Chloe ever get to punch out Miles?
Will we ever find out who the heck the Bluetooth Group are??
Will they face justice or will the end up getting away to wreak havoc another day??
Will Brother Wayne ever show his face again? We last saw him being dropped off at Bill’s place – then nothing.
Will we get to see Toonces the Secretary of Defense to confirm he is actually alive?

I expect answers to all (or maybe some) of these questions this evening. Should be one hell of a two hour ride to the finish!!!

Chat soon – y’all!