THEY'RE ALL COMING BACK
'Red Widow' Gets The Axe
24: 3:00am - 4:00am
by Tom Biro, posted May 9th 2006 12:45AM
(S05E21) Shock and Awe was a marketing slogan that our American military had come up with to describe a bombing salvo that would be unleashed in Iraq a few years ago. As it turns out, it could have been a descriptor for what would go down during the 3am-4am hour on this week's 24.In a season that's been well-known for killing off longtime characters on the show, with Edgar, Tony, Michelle, President Palmer, Secretary Heller, oh, wait, we got an update there. As many readers and commenters here have stated, there was definitely the chance that Heller survived his car's plummeting off a cliff, something I wasn't so sure could have happened. Turns out, I either overestimated the abilities of terrorists in a chase helicopter with night vision goggles, or underestimated the smarts of Heller to either dive from the vehicle as it dropped, or his ability to survive once it crashed into the waters below. Well, at least we *think* he's still alive, as no one has officially talked to him yet, we've just heard he was okay. No one's that underhanded to pull a stunt like that, right?
FOX's promos for 24 have begun to get a bit Soprano-like of late, with what you see in the dramatic scenes becoming not quite what they seem, but that's all right. After I was chided in last week's writeup for not thinking the plane Jack had taken control of could pull itself out of a controlled dive and stay together, it turned out that things weren't so impossible, and we never did get to see missiles take Jack out of the sky. But hey, landing on a freeway and managing to avoid two battalions who are setting up a perimeter around a jetliner adds enough drama for me.
Bauer's escape (again) led to what might be the longest amount of facetime for President Logan in one stretch that we've seen since he became part of the show. We get to see him reflect on what he has done, watch him seem to try and apologize to his wife for his actions and how he has lied to her -- only to be completely rebuffed -- and do a little foreshadowing (maybe it was hoping?) of our own when he speaks with his partners about making sure that they are not implicated in the crimes committed on this very long day. Which, before we get to what Logan looks to do, is important to bring up. Do we think that these men, Bluetooth headsets and all, have something else up their collective sleeve, or are they just hiding out to make sure that nothing else happens. And better yet, is Miles somehow involved?
Back to Logan, though. The moment he picked up the box off the shelf, I'm sure we all had the same feeling about what would come next. Of course, we all have now seen what would come of this, but seeing a box with a handgun, locked and loaded, created a feeling of finality for the viewer, probably as much so as what Logan was thinking, but without us having to have a last drink. When his phone rang and Miles was on the other end, promising that he could help the President out, it was amazing that a grin didn't escape the facial muscles of Logan, because he had to realize that his life had, for all intents and purposes, been saved by this man he had never spoken with before. Of course, as long as we're going to follow the "good guys always win" formula, it can't work out well for Logan and Miles, but they'll be lucky to be able to take their own lives.
If we're supposed to believe what has been said about Kim Raver, the actress who plays Audrey Raines, she's probably not going to leave with the most positive of circumstances, since she is expected to be a major part of a show on another network for the upcoming season. Jack has apparently returned to her as far as the woman in his life goes, if this week was any example, which means he'll be a wreck yet again and probably end up bearded and hiding out on top of a mountain somewhere. Logan isn't going to survive as President, at least not if 24 is going to have Jack Bauer -- or anyone else currently living and on the good side -- alive going forward, so we know something big will happen there, and if Logan lives, then will he rat out the men behind what's been going on for at least this whole season, and probably from when Logan took office in the first place?
Love it or hate it, there's no way that you can say what's been going on the last month with 24 has been the least bit boring, and it's only going to get more tense as the morning approaches.
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