User Reviews

To me, the greatest thing I can say about 24 is that the best episodes of the show's history don't always have to be action-oriented or violence-driven in order to have a compelling plot or be interesting. Rather, I think that the best episodes focus not just on the action, but also on the everyday happenings of the characters when they're not on the job, and this show (episode 4.8) manages to capture the personal lives of some of the customers quite skillfully, as well as providing an enjoyable episode.

Continuing from the previous episode (in which Tony Almeida arrived in the nick of time to save Jack and Audrey at the security office after they were ambushed by Marwan's thugs), Tony decides to take the pair back to his house to retrieve some information about Henry Powell, a suspected felon. When Jack and Audrey arrive at Tony's place, however, they find out just how far he's fallen since being released from prison.

I think the reason why this episode works so well is because of the established chemistry between the two lead actors (Kiefer Sutherland and Carlos Bernard). We see that Tony has fallen on hard times since Michelle left him, and as a result, he is unemployed and living with a woman he doesn't really love, which causes Jack to be resentful that Tony didn't come to him for help. Indeed, there is also a nice mixture of action (at the end) and comedic elements, as well as a couple totally surreal moments. Watching Tony sitting on his couch drinking beer out of his Chicago Cubs mug and watching soccer while Jack explains how far Tony has fallen to Audrey is definitely one of the more memorable moments from the season. In addition, there are also scenes of unintentional humor (such as Jack accidentally pulling a gun on Tony's girlfriend) and a couple hilarious jokes as well (such as Tony's remark about being unemployed).

The split-screen effect was also used to a somewhat greater degree in this episode, which I also enjoyed.

There were a couple minor gripes I had with this episode. The cliffhanger at the end with Powell's death feels unnecessary and tacked-on, and only feels like a way to have a cliffhanger at the end of the episode. Another problem I had was that there were a lot of supporting characters who were introduced here (Jen Slater, Marcy, Henry Powell) who kind of showed up, and then never appeared again (except for Jen, but she appeared for a few seconds in another episode). It would have been nice to find about more about these characters (especially Marcy, who seemed to have inside contacts in Washington). Then again, it's a minor gripe, and it didn't really affect the episode that much.

Bottom Line: I think this is one of the highlight episodes of the fourth season, and definitely representative of the feel and look of 24. I am giving this episode a 9 out of 10. A real winner.

Well, we get the usual twists and turns, adventures and surprises and new nasty people. Not wanting to give away anything, you'll pardon me if I just rant about a few things during these episodes. As entertaining as this show is - and it's definitely entertaining - it's also extremely frustrating at times. Anyone agree?

Why is it so many people, especially women, are pictured as ultra-nasty? Do the writers have something against women or are young women that brutal, that sharp-tongued and mean- spirited today? Or, is it just that perverted world of Hollywood writers, who wouldn't know a wholesome person if they smacked in the butt? A good example is the girl friend of "Tony Almeida," who is introduced in here. She's nasty, with no reason to be, unless it's just to show how far Tony has fallen, to be with a slime-ball like her. Whatever, but the same goes for most of the women in the C.T.U. None of them are portrayed as nice, cooperative human beings. Oh, well. At least it's good to see a familiar face helping Jack again. Almedia was a key C.T.U. guy in last season's series.

Back to the ladies, it was interesting to see them nab the wrong one as the mole. How bad is that? Watching it, and the poor woman ("Sarah") being interrogated (can you say, "Don't taze me, bro?"), I was wondering how long it would be before the real office villain, "Marianne" is caught? . By the way, Aisha Tylor does a nice job of playing her. I say that because I hate that woman's guts, so she must be doing a good acting job.

Well, I didn't have to wait long to get my answer about Marianne. We have a stunning turn of events at the end of this episode, thanks to some good detective work by "Edgar."

In fact, this was the best ending of the season - the kind of shocking ones I was used to seeing last season.

When they start remotely shutting down 30 nuclear reactors across the US by running a "protocol", it's just too much. Technically, that would be very difficult. It would be easier to disconnect the plants from the network and do a controlled shutdown locally. Of course you'll have rolling blackouts (if not one big blackout) when you do this. This is 8th grade writing.