FBI Rodent

Sean Hillinger.

He's not just a strange adulterer anymore.

The Mole revealed

So I heard/read that last nights episode revealed who the FBI mole is.....I happened to be in bed and asleep last night at 9:30p so unfortunatley I am still blissfully unaware.

The plan is to watch tonight and report in to anyone who might actually care tomorrow.

I'll bet you can hardly wait.

24 Day 7 3pm to 4pm

I apologize if this week’s effort comes of as a bit underwhelming. While I thoroughly enjoyed the hour, when it came time to recap I just felt like I came up empty. I guess it’s up to you to decide…


Day 7 3:00pm - 4:00pm

President Taylor makes a speech to the nation about the terrorist attacks and she pledges her commitment to Sangala. Meanwhile, Vossler brings Henry to Dubaku. Henry accuses Dubaku of murdering his son.

GOTTA GIVE THE MAD PROPS TO HENRY. AFTER A SLOW START THE MAN IS SHOWING SOME SERIOUS SPUNK.

Jack, Buchanan and Renee bring Matobo to the White House. Renee and Matobo assure the President that Jack is on her side. Jack explains that there is a mole inside her Administration working with Dubaku and he needs to go around the FBI and Homeland to uncover the source. Dubaku calls President Taylor and tells her that he has captured her husband. He demands she withdraw her forces in Sangala and deliver Matobo to him. He starts to cut off Henry's finger to get her to acquiesce. Ethan learns that Gedge helped abduct Henry and killed Samantha. This confirms Jack's story, and he pledges to try to bring Henry back himself. Taylor is unsure if she can trust him. "With all due respect, Madam President, ask around." Jack says. She agrees.

THIS WHOLE SCENE IN THE WHITE HOUSE WAS PRICELESS…AND WAS A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF WHY PRESIDENT TAYLOR ANNOYS THE HECK OUT OF ME.

SHE’S ALL HAPPY TO SEE MATOBO – ALL CANDY CANES AND BUTTERFLIES – THEN ONCE HE IS GONE THERE IS NO THANK YOU TO THE BAUER BUNCH FOR GETTING HIM BACK….SHE’S ALL – NOW I WANT TO KNOW WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE…..WELL – DUH! OF COURSE THEY’LL EXPLAIN EVERYTHING TO HER. MADAM PRES - HOW ABOUT YOU KNOCK OFF THE ATTITUDE AND SHOW SOME GRATITUDE!

AFTER THEY TELL HER THE STORY SHE “FINDS IT ALL HARD TO BELIEVE” AND STARTS GOING AFTER JACK AND TONY LIKE IT’S ALL THEIR FAULT THIS IS HAPPENING.

AFTER ALL THAT – SHE GETS THE CALL FROM COUNT DUKU. HE HAS HENRY. JACK VOLUNTEERS TO DO ALL IN HIS POWER TO GET HIM BACK AND SHE HAS THE BALLS TO SAY SHE’S UNSURE IF SHE CAN TRUST HIM?

THE PROPER RESPONSE TO THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN – “F-U MADAM PRESIDENT. YOU CAN GET YOUR DAMN HUSBAND BACK YOURSELF.” THE ALTERNATIVE - "WITH ALL DUE RESPECT MADAM PRESIDENT, ASK AROUND." REALLY WASN’T HALF BAD.

Jack asks Renee to search Gedge's phone records, and she says she will need Larry to do it. She calls Larry's cell and begs him not to tell anyone she is alive because the FBI is corrupted. Yet Larry wants to meet her in person to prove that she is not under duress.

I CAN’T BEGIN TO EXPLAIN HOW MUCH LARRY ANNOYS ME. HE ANNOYS ME MORE THAN PRESIDENT TAYLOR – SO YOU CAN TELL IT’S A HELL OF A LOT.

WHEN RENEE CALLED I THOUGHT HE WAS GOING TO START CRYING RIGHT THERE IN THE HALLWAY.

At the FBI, Sean doesn't understand why the President is ignoring the fact that the CIP is still out there. He thinks they are being kept out of the loop. Janis realizes that Sean is having an affair with Erika, and he confesses that it is true.

THE FBI WHISPERER HAS RETURNED….I SURE AS HECK HOPE THE REASON THAT SEAN AND ERIKA ARE HAVING AN AFFAIR IS BECAUSE ERIKA IS THE MOLE AT THE FBI. THERE I SAID IT….CAN YOU THINK OF ANYONE MORE USELESS SO FAR. IT MAKES PERFECT SENSE….WHICH PROBABLY MEANS IT’S NOT EVEN CLOSE TO TRUE...AND IF THAT’S THE CASE – THEN WHY THE HECK EVEN HAVE THE SEAN/ERIKA AFFAIR STORY??

Renee and Jack go to Lafayette Park to meet Larry, who says that Gedge spoke to Vossler and that Vossler used to be Special Forces in Sangala. Jack questions whether Vossler has a family, and wants Renee to go to his house. Larry thinks that forceful interrogation is not the way to go, but Jack is insistent because it is "necessary." Larry faces off with Jack about Renee turning into a torturer like him.

I WOULD THINK THAT SECRET SERVICE AGENTS WOULD BE A LITTLE BIT BETTER VETTED BEFORE GETTING PLACED ON THE WHITE HOUSE DETAIL….OR HAVE I JUST READ TOO MANY POLITICAL THRILLERS??

SIDENOTE: AGENT VOSSLER – THE PRESIDENT OF THE HORRIBLE TV HAIRCUTS CLUB CALLED. IT’S YOUR TURN TO BRING COOKIES AND PUNCH TO THIS WEEKS MEETING.

QUITE THE LOW BLOW BY LARRY GOING OFF ON JACK LIKE THAT. DO YOU THINK HE WOULD EVER THINK THAT FORCEFUL INTERROGATION IS THE WAY TO GO?? PERHAPS IF IT HAD TO DO WITH RENEE HE MIGHT…AND LARRY – DON’T GO BLAMING JACK FOR RENEE’S ACTIONS. SEEMS LIKE SHE’S BEEN STANDING PRETTY CLOSE TO THAT LINE FOR A WHILE NOW AND JUST NEEDED THE RIGHT MOTIVATION TO TAKE THE STEP. IN THE END SHE IS THE ONE MAKING THE DECISION.

Dubaku gets a call from his girlfriend Marika and claims he will not make dinner because he has a "stack of shipping requests." Marika's sister Rosa accuses her of not knowing anything about "Samuel" the importer. Although Rosa is trying to protect her, Marika will not listen.

UMM – WE CARE ABOUT THIS WHY? THIS SEEMS TO BE ONE OF THOSE POINTLESS TANGENTS THAT THE WRITERS LOVED TAKING US ON IN SEASON 6.

MOVE ALONG PEOPLE – NOTHING TO SEE HERE.

Renee arrives at Vossler's house and takes his wife and baby hostage at gunpoint. She handcuffs the woman to the table, not allowing her to tend to her crying child.

ADD THIS TO THE LIST OF UNCOMFORTABLE SCENES WE’VE HAD SO FAR THIS YEAR. AT NO TIME DID I EVER THINK THAT FRECKLES WAS EVER GOING TO HURT MRS.VOSSLER AND THE BABY BUT BEING A FATHER, I COULD IMAGINE MRS.VOSSLERS FEAR AND HELPLESSNESS IN THE SITUATION. FRECKLES DID A GREAT JOB OF CONVEYING THE INNER TURMOIL SHE WAS DEALING WITH. NICE ACTING.

Larry searches Vossler's location and Jack follows, crashing into Vossler's car. Vossler will not give up Henry's location, and Jack calls Renee who puts her phone on speaker. Vossler speaks to his wife, who is frightened. Renee goes to the baby out of the woman's eyesight with her gun, and Vossler is forced to confess to Jack where Henry us. Renee has tears in her eyes as she gives the woman her baby. When Vossler attacks Jack with a knife, Jack fights back but Vossler is stabbed in the stomach. Jack leaves him and hijacks a car on the street. He calls Renee and tells her about Vossler's death. She admits that she cannot handle this, and Jack asks if she wants out. She is determined to stay.

ABOUT 10 MINUTES OF MAJOR INTENSITY HERE. AGAIN – NO REAL THOUGHT THAT THERE WOULD BE ANY HARM DONE TO THE VOSSLER’S (AT THE HOUSE) AND NO REAL FEAR THAT JACK WOULD BE TAKEN OUT BY THE KNIFE (HE IS JACK BAUER AFTER ALL).

BRAVO TO RENEE FOR KEEPING HER INNER DEMONS AT BAY AND DOING WHAT IT TAKES TO GET THINGS DONE.

ENJOYED WATCHING JACK STOP THAT GUY AND STEAL HIS CAR. THAT’S WHAT I CALL A CAR—JACKING!!! COME ON PEOPLE – I HAD THE SHOT SO I TOOK IT. I’LL BE HERE ALL WEEK. DON’T FORGET TO TIP YOUR WAITRESSES!

Ethan and Buchanan devise a plan to send a Matobo look-alike to Dubaku in order to buy time.

NOT THE WORST IDEA I’VE HEARD SO FAR TODAY….

Sean asks Larry why Homeland is lowering their security level when the CIP device is still at large. Larry brushes him off. Renee calls Larry and asks him to keep Vossler's death quiet. He is furious that she is going against the rules like Jack.

SO FUNNY WATCHING LARRY GET ANGRY…HIS FACE TURNS ALL RED AND SCRUNCHY AND HE STARTS HUFFING ABOUT. IT’S LIKE WATCHING A 7 YEAR OLD FREAK OUT BECAUSE HE CAN’T PLAY WITH HIS PLAYSTATION 3……OF COURSE HE AGREES TO DO IT BECAUSE IT’S FRECKLES AND HE CAN’T SAY NO TO HER.

Rosa calls "Samuel" and says that she knows that no one with his name has emigrated from Sangala. She threatens to tell Marika the truth unless he breaks up with her.

LOVED THIS CONVERSATION….COUNT DUKU ASKING HER – HAVE YOU TOLD ANYONE ELSE ABOUT THIS??? I’M YELLING AT THE TV – YES – TELL HIM YOU TOLD THE NEWSPAPERS, TELEVISION, ALL YOUR FRIENDS, THE MAILMAN…..EVERYONE!!!! NOPE – AND WE KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS….ROSA IS DOOMED.

When the Matobo decoy arrives at the meeting site, Dubaku gives the order to blow up the car. Taylor watches in horror over the satellite.

SHE’S 2 FOR 3 NOW……TWO PLANES DOWN AND OUT AND THE SECRET SERVICE AGENTS AND THE DECOY OUT. SHE WOULD HAVE BEEN 3 FOR 3 IF NOT FOR THE BAUER BUNCH TAKING OUT COUNT DUKU’S LAIR…..OH YEAH – SHE’S NOT SURE SHE CAN TRUST JACK……(SHAKING HEAD)……ANY OTHER BRIGHT IDEAS MADAM PRESIDENT??

Jack and Renee meet at the location Vossler gave up behind a grocery store. Dubaku calls his men at the hideout and order them to kill Henry. Before they do anything, Jack and Renee raid the premises and a gunfight ensues. One of the guards shoots Henry in the chest. Jack rushes to his side and has Renee call for an ambulance.

OH DEAR. POOR HENRY. HE’S BEEN A REAL PUNCHING BACK FOR THE TERRORISTS SO FAR. AT LEAST THEY DIDN’T ENGINEER LATHUM HIM AND BLOW HIM UP. NOW THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN PRETTY HARD TO SURVIVE…

I'm sorry folks but that's all I've got for ya this week. Hopefully the entertaining creativity will return in the coming weeks. I hope you are all around to find out. :)

24 Day 7 2pm to 3pm

I’m sorry but after having my doors blown off for the first 6 hours – this week’s episode was a bit underwhelming. Yes – lots and lots of neat stuff happened but it seemed to be more of a transitional episode than a game changer. Maybe I’ll be inspired as I make my way through the re-cap.

And off we go…


Day 7 2:00pm - 3:00pm

The Matobos are brought to Dubaku's hideout inside an office building. Meanwhile, Renee helps Jack, Tony and Buchanan infiltrate the building where they have tracked Matobo.

COMMENT: I’m liking Freckles as part of the team. I think she thrives on living on the edge. The question is how will Larry feel about her when she eventually returns as a changed FBI agent? I can’t wait for that exchange…”Time to grow a set Larry!”

At the FBI, Janis looks for potential firewall breaches and she sees weird activity over Kidron, Ohio. She calls the plant manager at a chemical plant there, and he mentions that his he has lost control of safety valves on toxic insecticide tanks. When he tries to shut down the tanks, they do not respond. Janis tells him to evacuate the premises. The President is briefed that half the town of Kidron would be killed by the plant leak.

COMMENT: In a shout out to Star Trek, the plant manager should have been wearing a red shirt since he’s not going to live past the 2nd commercial break…..

Janis pulls up the operating procedures of the tanks and walks the plant manager through releasing pressure on the valves. Unfortunately, it leaks the insecticide into the sealed room where the plant manager is. He sacrifices himself to save his workers.

COMMENT: Is it just me or do you think when they designed the place they should have designed the plant so that the manual pressure release valves weren’t IN THE SAME ROOM where the pressure FROM THE TOXIC GAS gets released? And if that’s how it is set up – how about a haz-mat suit somewhere REALLY close by just in case someone needs to manually release the pressure? If you want to have the plant manager die saving the town of Kidron, OH, can you come up with something a little better than that? Sheesh. Plant Manager Dude – we hardly knew ya!

Also – Janis seems to be taking it all so personally….oh yeah – I forgot….she’s weird!

Dubaku sees Jack and Tony entering his building. Fearing he will be caught, he orders the CIP module to be disengaged so that they can escape. At the FBI, Sean sees the firewall breach close. Janis notifies the plant manager, who says that the tanks are shutting down. Yet he is already infected and dies on the scene.

COMMENT: Doesn’t seem like Count Duku had a very good escape plan in place just in case his lair was discovered. He struck me as someone who is usually a bit more prepared for stuff….oh well.

As for Plant Manager Dude – bummer.

Btw – that is some SERIOUS insecticide. What exactly is it supposed to kill (besides plant managers)? Yikes.

Jack, Tony and Buchanan raid Dubaku's hideout in a shootout. Renee rescues the Matobos. The CIP device is destroyed. Dubaku grabs Latham, the captured engineer who built the CIP device, and rigs him with explosives. When Jack and his team find Latham, Dubaku sets off the bomb and escapes from the building.

COMMENT: Talk about a guy who has been bumming since the start of the day – poor Engineer Lathum. He and his daughter get hit by two trucks, he gets kidnapped and beaten, he builds this device that takes down two airplanes and instead of being let go when he is no longer of any use, Count Duku BLOWS HIM UP to cover his escape. Today would have been a good day to call in sick eh?

Ethan Kanin is annoyed because he cannot get in touch with Agent Gedge or Henry Taylor. With the national security threat still in place, Ethan reluctantly tells the President that her husband is missing after trying to drudge up information on their son's death.

COMMENT: My GOD – President Taylor annoys me. Not quite in the sniveling incompetent way that Charles Logan did but rather in the way she reacts to everything that happens like she’s 12. She tries to sound all serious and in control but it never works. I hate to say it (because it’s the ultimate insult) but actually – she IS like Logan - Charles Logan-lite.

Agent Vossler hears the Secret Service radio alert for Gedge and tries to call him. The ringing wakes Henry. Vossler holds Henry at gunpoint. Dubaku calls Vossler and orders him to bring Henry to him alive.

COMMENT: It’s about time Agent Vossler woke up and went to check on Gedge. How long did he think it was going to take to kill Samantha and frame Henry??? I mean – Hank (I refuse to refer to him as the First Gentlemen) and Gedge were out for quite a while after their tumble off the 2nd floor loft (Gedge much more so than Hank). You’d think he would have gone up for a quick looksie.

So now Hank’s been kidnapped and about to be turned over to Count Duku….Wow – the Henry storyline just keeps twisting and turning.

Jack convinces Buchanan that they need to bring in help from the feds to find Dubaku. He believes that Matobo can help them access President Taylor because they don't know who else they can trust. Matobo calls the President and asks to meet her privately at the White House. She is confused, but agrees.

COMMENT: “She is confused, but agrees.” Truer works have never been written. I have to admit to being a bit leery of Ethan. So far he’s given us no reason to think he is secretly a mole and that usually makes him the perfect candidate for that kind of thing. We’ll see.

Jack is surprised when Tony leaves instead of accompanying him with the Matobos.

COMMENT: No Tony? Why do I get the idea he somehow ends up back in the mix very soon? Because he's one of the main characters that's why!

Dubaku arrives at his apartment and there's a knock at the door. It is his girlfriend, an American woman named Marika, who calls him "Samuel." He hides his gun. She reminds him that he is supposed to come to her place for dinner. When she leaves, Dubaku calls Vossler to arrange for Taylor to be brought to him.

COMMENT: WHOA….A girlfriend for Count Duku. What a nice little twist. You know she’s going to end up in the middle of this mess when she comes by looking to borrow some sugar or something. Give the woman a red shirt!!

Just how long has he been in the country that he has a girlfriend and seemingly a whole life here?? Hmmm – that Count Duku is quite the evil dude.

So – looking back I have to admit there were some interesting moments this week. What’s going to happen when Jack/Bill/Chloe/Tony/Freckles (there’s gotta be a better name for them --- I'VE GOT IT...THE BAUER BUNCH!) get President Logan…ooops sorry……Taylor involved with their little group outside the government?

Although the episode seemed a bit FBI lite, we were treated to Larry going off on Sean for something trivial as he gazed longingly at a photo of Freckles on his computer as well as Janis bonding uncomfortably with the Plant Manager Dude. We can only hope for more of the unintentional comedy that is the FBI under Larry’s command.

So what’s next??

Two words – Hostage Henry!!