The following takes place between 11 am and 12 pm.
We are in hour six of 24 we have reached that stage of 24 that weighs so heavily upon every loyal viewer: soap opera subplot land. It is usually around this time every year that the plot slows down a bit and the minor characters get some development. Sometimes it is good; sometimes it is more painful than the torture. This season is a mixed bag and we got it all this hour with very little Jack and even less terrorist.
Subplot number one is quite good and could be a show unto itself. This plot involves the President’s two senior advisors squaring off over how best to defend the nation. One is a full martial law type of guy and the other is a civil liberties girl. I side with the civil liberties side, but martial law did make one very valid point tonight. He said something like “when the founding fathers wrote the Constitution the worst weapon could only fire three times a minute. Today you can kill thousands in a second and the Constitution never expected to have to deal with that.” He makes a good argument, but I still must always default to retaining what it is we are fighting to protect. I never understood those people who put plastic on their sofas. Why buy something and be afraid to use it?
Subplot number two is decent, but is barely a worthy distraction from Jack and the nukes. This one involves a suspected terrorist cell in a detention camp and an informant wearing a wire who just became part of the circle. It is bringing up some very important issues that are relevant in today’s world. For the last two episodes the group has appeared very suspicious and I was convinced they were up to something. As today progressed and the informant began to actually get information it turned out they were just people talking about what was happening. They had current news because one of them had a cell phone the guards did not see and was checking the news. The writers tricked us into supporting the infringement of another’s rights because they fit our profile of a terrorist. Curse them and there cleaver moral lessons!
Subplot three is more of subplot number two, but from another perspective. This one involves a CTU agent of Arab descent who is on a watch list now because of her heritage. Every move she makes in doing her job is now monitored and every request must be double checked. This subplot is just slowing everything down and I get the point. I got it from subplot number two. Now the writers either think we are idiots and must be spoon fed an important point or they just have nothing else to fill our time with. Where oh where is that damsel in distress of a useless daughter Kim when we need her?
On the bright side of everything we did get to meet Daddy Bauer and we did get to see Brother Bauer turn on Jack and Daddy. Brother Bauer has revealed it was he who was behind it all without the maniacal evil laugh and had Jack and Daddy taken away. The last ten minutes were a decent pay off for an otherwise painful hour.
Sorry for the lame summary, but the episode did not give me much to work with. It was mostly set up for what is to come later and we are in for a few hours of subplot intensive episodes I fear. Let’s pray they concentrate on subplot one and leave it at that.
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