2x24: 7:00am-8:00am - An Ending...And a Beginning
7:00am-8:00am
Originally Aired 5.20.03
2.24 - An Ending...And a Beginning
2.24 - An Ending...And a Beginning
7:00
Jack sits unconscious in the crashed SVU. The airbag has deflated. He comes to with a start and asks Sherry if she’s okay. She says yes and Jack coughs and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. Jack tries to start the car but it won’t turn over. He gives up and says that they have to get out of there. He tries to undo his seatbelt but it’s stuck, he can’t get out. Sherry notices and takes the opportunity to get out of the car, she grabs a case out of the back and Jack realizes she’s trying to get away. Jack begs her ‘Ms Palmer, please don’t do this.’ Sherry says that she has to take care of herself, when she’s free she’ll call an ambulance for him. Jack says that she can’t do this, Sherry answers “I don’t have a choice You’re a very impressive man Jack, but you see everything as either good or bad, just like David, and the world is much more complicated than that.” Jack, still struggling, says ‘no, it’s simple. There’s a war about to start and you have to help me stop it.’ Jack asks in desperation to her retreating back ‘what about the president?’ Sherry pauses and says bitterly that ‘he turned away from me…after 25 years of building a life and a family together.’ Jack reminds her that they will connect her to this bomb and Sherry loses it. Voice cracking she yells that ‘that bomb wasn’t supposed to go off, none of this was supposed to happen this way.’ Jack reasons that if she helps him, he’ll get his presidency back…that will be because of her, Jack begs ‘Ms Palmer, please.’ This isn’t enough for Sherry, she walks away leaving Jack stranded. He is very frustrated and still hurting, he leans his head on the headrest and closes his eyes, muttering to himself. Sherry has come back to the passenger side door and asks shakily ‘what do you want me to do?’ Jack says there’s a knife in the glove box, he tells her to help cut him out.’
Brian the lawyer enters the room where Mike is meeting with some men. He needs to talk to Mike, Mike says 5 minutes but Brian says that it’s important, Mike relents and dismisses the others. Once they are alone Brian hands him a file, saying that he just pulled it up a few minutes ago, its on Peter Kingsley. It shows phone calls as little as 6 hours ago with a man named Jonathan Wallace, a member of the Coral Snake brigade, he killed his own men. Mike says that he knows who Wallace is.
President Prescott is getting briefed on the fact that there will be more civilian casualties than originally planned in the attack. Prescott asks if there’s any way to avoid them, but the answer is no, Prescott decides that ‘that’s just something we’re going to have to live with.
Mike calls Chapelle at CTU, Mike explains that he knows that there’s been some confusion today about the veracity of the Cypress Audio, Ryan says that there is no confusion, all the experts came to the same conclusion, it’s real. Mike asks if Jack is still looking for proof against it, Ryan answers yes, but he’s out of their authority. Mike instructs Chapelle to find him and give him all the help he needs. Chapelle protests, he thought that this issue was over but Mike won’t hear of it, he snaps that ‘you have a direct order, report back to me in 30 minutes.’
Kingsley is talking on the phone with Max. After some prodding he admits that they still have to take care of Hewitt. Max thought that he would have taken care of Hewitt by now, Kingsley says that he wasn’t able to find him but he will take care of it.
Chapelle comes into the room with Michelle and Tony and tells them to sit down. Tony immediately says that he doesn’t need Michelle there, she was acting under his orders, Michelle pipes up that she can defend himself. Chapelle doesn’t care, he tells them to sit. They do and Chapelle admits that he needs them to get him in contact with Jack Bauer. Tony, coolly says ‘oh…I see….Jack got some support above you and now you’re being squeezed. Chapelle says that he needs to find him, Tony asks what’s going on. Chapelle admits that there might be some relevance in what Bauer was doing, Michelle concludes ‘so we were right.’ Chapelle snaps, “no, you damn near put me in a coma, that’s assault.’ Tony bargains, he says that if he drops the charges they’ll help him. Chapelle doesn’t like this but Tony urges him, ‘come on Ryan, you of all people know that’s you’re best move.’ Chapelle says ‘fine.’ Tony wants it in writing. Chapelle agrees, but he doesn’t like it.
Jack sits unconscious in the crashed SVU. The airbag has deflated. He comes to with a start and asks Sherry if she’s okay. She says yes and Jack coughs and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. Jack tries to start the car but it won’t turn over. He gives up and says that they have to get out of there. He tries to undo his seatbelt but it’s stuck, he can’t get out. Sherry notices and takes the opportunity to get out of the car, she grabs a case out of the back and Jack realizes she’s trying to get away. Jack begs her ‘Ms Palmer, please don’t do this.’ Sherry says that she has to take care of herself, when she’s free she’ll call an ambulance for him. Jack says that she can’t do this, Sherry answers “I don’t have a choice You’re a very impressive man Jack, but you see everything as either good or bad, just like David, and the world is much more complicated than that.” Jack, still struggling, says ‘no, it’s simple. There’s a war about to start and you have to help me stop it.’ Jack asks in desperation to her retreating back ‘what about the president?’ Sherry pauses and says bitterly that ‘he turned away from me…after 25 years of building a life and a family together.’ Jack reminds her that they will connect her to this bomb and Sherry loses it. Voice cracking she yells that ‘that bomb wasn’t supposed to go off, none of this was supposed to happen this way.’ Jack reasons that if she helps him, he’ll get his presidency back…that will be because of her, Jack begs ‘Ms Palmer, please.’ This isn’t enough for Sherry, she walks away leaving Jack stranded. He is very frustrated and still hurting, he leans his head on the headrest and closes his eyes, muttering to himself. Sherry has come back to the passenger side door and asks shakily ‘what do you want me to do?’ Jack says there’s a knife in the glove box, he tells her to help cut him out.’
Brian the lawyer enters the room where Mike is meeting with some men. He needs to talk to Mike, Mike says 5 minutes but Brian says that it’s important, Mike relents and dismisses the others. Once they are alone Brian hands him a file, saying that he just pulled it up a few minutes ago, its on Peter Kingsley. It shows phone calls as little as 6 hours ago with a man named Jonathan Wallace, a member of the Coral Snake brigade, he killed his own men. Mike says that he knows who Wallace is.
President Prescott is getting briefed on the fact that there will be more civilian casualties than originally planned in the attack. Prescott asks if there’s any way to avoid them, but the answer is no, Prescott decides that ‘that’s just something we’re going to have to live with.
Mike calls Chapelle at CTU, Mike explains that he knows that there’s been some confusion today about the veracity of the Cypress Audio, Ryan says that there is no confusion, all the experts came to the same conclusion, it’s real. Mike asks if Jack is still looking for proof against it, Ryan answers yes, but he’s out of their authority. Mike instructs Chapelle to find him and give him all the help he needs. Chapelle protests, he thought that this issue was over but Mike won’t hear of it, he snaps that ‘you have a direct order, report back to me in 30 minutes.’
Kingsley is talking on the phone with Max. After some prodding he admits that they still have to take care of Hewitt. Max thought that he would have taken care of Hewitt by now, Kingsley says that he wasn’t able to find him but he will take care of it.
Chapelle comes into the room with Michelle and Tony and tells them to sit down. Tony immediately says that he doesn’t need Michelle there, she was acting under his orders, Michelle pipes up that she can defend himself. Chapelle doesn’t care, he tells them to sit. They do and Chapelle admits that he needs them to get him in contact with Jack Bauer. Tony, coolly says ‘oh…I see….Jack got some support above you and now you’re being squeezed. Chapelle says that he needs to find him, Tony asks what’s going on. Chapelle admits that there might be some relevance in what Bauer was doing, Michelle concludes ‘so we were right.’ Chapelle snaps, “no, you damn near put me in a coma, that’s assault.’ Tony bargains, he says that if he drops the charges they’ll help him. Chapelle doesn’t like this but Tony urges him, ‘come on Ryan, you of all people know that’s you’re best move.’ Chapelle says ‘fine.’ Tony wants it in writing. Chapelle agrees, but he doesn’t like it.
Sherry has managed to get Jack out of the SUV and they are making their way up the embankment. Jack is carrying a case, leaning heavily on Sherry for help. As they move Sherry, though questioning Jack, establishes that they will get no help from CTU for this operation, as far as they’re concerned, Jack doesn’t exist. When they make it to the top there is a citizen there, he wants to know if they are okay and if he can help. Sherry says that ‘he’s hurt’ motioning to Jack, Jack asks breathlessly if he can get them to a hospital. He says yes so Jack says ‘Ms. Palmer you drive.’ The man that owns the truck starts to protest a bit but Jack pulls his gun and points it at him and says ‘sorry, we need your car.’ At the sight of the gun he completely backs off and says for them to just take it. Jack turns to go around the other side and says ‘thank you.’ They pull away.
7:13
Kate and Kim show up at CTU, Keri greets them and knows who they are. She tells them that Jack is still in the field but she’ll tell Ryan Chapelle that they’re there. Tony comes over and says that he’ll handle this. Keri looks very surprised to see him and mutters ‘I thought you were in custody.’ Tony replies that he was released. He turns to Kim and says that he heard what happened to her, he asks if she’s okay. Kim says yeah, she just wants to talk to her dad but Tony again says that he’s in the field. Kate says that he asked them to call as soon as they could but she is assured Jack is unreachable. Tony says that they should go with Keri, she’ll make the comfortable. Kim just stands there, apparently sizing up the situation, Tony reassures her that it’s going to be okay. As they go Tony stops Kate. He explains that after they let her dad go from custody he came back to CTU. He wanted to talk to Marie before she was taken away. Kate wasn’t expecting this and asks ‘they brought Marie back here?’ Tony confirms this.
Bob Warner is talking to Marie. She is sitting in a chair, chained and handcuffed, she looks like she’s not really all there. Bob, on the other hand, is quite emotional. He questions her from behind plexi-glass “You lied to me? You killed Reza…you tried to kill your own sister…you were willing to set of a nuclear bomb in a city with 10 million people…tell me why because I need to understand. Tell me they brainwashed you, they forced you to do it, tell me that you didn’t know what you were doing. I need a reason.’ Kate comes from behind and says that ‘there is no reason, dad.’ Bob can’t accept that, Kate says she couldn’t either ‘until I looked into her eyes and she pointed a gun at me and she started to pull the trigger. Trust me dad, she’s not going to give you any answers, she can’t… at least nothing that we could ever understand.’ Bob puts his hands to the glass again and Marie stares blankly back. Kate puts her hand on Bob’s shoulder and says that they should go. Bob sighs heavily and looks at Marie again, they leave. Before they completely leave the room, Marie finally speaks, she calls to Kate. Kate turns around and goes back to Marie who very deliberately stands up, chains rattling, and walks across the room towards Kate. She almost makes it to the glass before the chains stop her. She says to Kate “Do you think you’ll be safe out there? You won’t be.” Kate pauses for a second and then turns and leaves.
Jack is on the phone to CTU. He’s talking to Tony, he still sounds rough. He asks Tony if he’s back in play, which he is. Tony informs Jack that Kim is there at CTU, she’s safe. Jack wants Tony not to tell her what’s going on. Chapelle identifies himself to Jack saying that he’s there too. Jack says ‘Ryan, you son of a bitch, you stopped the chopper from landing and how Hewitt’s dead, I’m holding you personally responsible.’ Ryan takes this from Jack and says that he wants the profile of his mission. Jack fills him in, Sherry has agreed to meet with Kingsley and wear a wire. Ryan wants them to wait until backup arrives but Jack says no, Kingsley is expecting them soon. If he wants to help he can get voices for Sherry and Kingsley so they can match them and also Ryan can get him a live feed to the White House. Ryan asks if he wants an audience with the president, Jack says yes. They hang up and Ryan instructs them at CTU to get SWAT to that location.
Jack and Sherry are at the coliseum, he gets out of the SUV and tells Sherry to wait. Jack looks around and decides that it’s safe, he gets Sherry. He opens the case he was carrying and says to Sherry “Let’s get you wired.” He instructs her to take off one shoulder of her jacket. Sherry complies, Jack explains that this is a wireless transmitter, they won’t know to look for it. Sherry is worried about this, she questions if they should be doing this alone. Jack says that they don’t have a choice, they’re expecting them now Jack is finished with the wiring and tells for her to say something, and Sherry’s test is “I’m scared.” Jack looks at her and then says ‘okay, it’s working.’
Mike is on the phone with Prescott, he is saying hat he is against any delay in the military action, he always has been, but there is a good chance that this will be conclusive evidence that the Cypress Audio was false. Prescott says that they know Second Wave was behind the attack and they are sponsored by these countries. Mike says that Peter Kingsley is involved in this, he explains who he is. Bauer is claiming he can get a confession from Kingsley.
They have matched Sherry’s voice at CTU but Jack is told that the teams are 11 minutes out still. Jack says it’s too long, Ryan wants Jack to wait. Jack says that they are already 10 minutes late, they have to go now. Sherry asks Jack tentatively, ‘what’s to stop Kingsley from shooting me the minute he sees me?’ Jack answers that he won’t do anything until he gets Hewitt. Sherry says that when he realizes that she doesn’t have Hewitt…Jack says that he will be covering her back. Sherry, looking Jack over, says that in his present condition that’s not much of a comfort. She concludes that ‘I may not make it out of this’ and Jack, saying that he’s not going to lie to her, admits that that’s a possibility. Sherry wants Jack to pass on the message that she is doing this for David, Jack assures her that he will and tells her to go. He watches her go into the coliseum and then is taken with more pain.
They have finished setting up the feed, Prescott says that he hopes this isn’t going be a waste of his time. Palmer comes into a room with the monitors, Mike tells him that ‘the president thought you should be a part of this.’ He continues to explain that the president and the attorney general will be listening to a live feed of a sting operation on Peter Kingsley. It looks like he was behind the recording. Palmer says calmly ‘so Bauer found Kingsley.’ Mike says yes, but he won’t be talking to Kingsley, Palmer asks what difference it makes as long as they get him to incriminate himself. Mike starts to pace a bit and Palmer asks what’s going on, eventually Mike says that it will be Sherry that will be talking to Kingsley. Palmer admits he doesn’t understand, Mike says that it seems that Kingsley recruited her some months ago. Palmer doesn’t believe what he’s hearing, he asks if Sherry was working with this man, Kingsley. Mike confirms that it appears so and Palmer says ‘to detonate a nuclear bomb and start a war…no.’ Mike replies that it’s unclear how much she knew, Palmer cuts in ‘now she’s working with Jack Bauer to bring down Kingsley.’ Mike says yes, and at considerable risk to herself.
Sherry walks out into the open coliseum, a sniper above her takes aim. 7:30
7:34
Sherry is still waiting for Kingsley, he finally appears and has quite the entourage with him. As they walk towards Sherry he sends them off in different directions. He gets on an intercom he’s holding and says “Scott, don’t do anything until I tell you, we need Hewitt.” Jack is wandering out of the way in a corridor, he opens the case again and sets it up. Kingsley finally makes it to Sherry and before saying anything he circles her and checks for a wire transmitter box. Once he’s satisfied he faces her and asks ‘where’s Hewitt?’ Sherry says ‘he’s safe’ but Kingsley asks again, where is he. Sherry accuses him of lying to her, ‘you wanted this bomb to go off all along. You used Roger Stanton and you used me.’ Kingsley admits it, ‘yes I did.’ Sherry says that now she’s tied to him and the nuclear detonation, she wants safe haven. Kingsley says that’s her problem, Sherry says she just made it his. He won’t see Hewitt until she’s safe, Kingsley is angry, he tells her not to horse trade with him and Sherry says not to insult her intelligence. At CTU they have a match on Kingsley. Kingsley tells Sherry that she’s not going anywhere until he has Hewitt, that doesn’t work for Sherry. She holds out a phone and says that she’ll call him on this line and give him the location of Hewitt after she’s safely away, he doesn’t need to know where she’s going. Now there’s the matter of the recordings. Kingsley says that there right there, one of his people hands her a few tapes. Kingsley says that they’re every phone conversation between them. Sherry says “No, I want all of them, including Cypress.” Kingsley asks “Why would you want Cypress? You had nothing to do with that.” Sherry says insurance, Kingsley repeats it. He continues “Once the country goes to war the governments not going to let that be exposed. Alex Hewitt was the only one that could hurt us.” Sherry says “because he created the Cypress Recording.” Kingsley answers “that’s right.” The higher-ups listening have decided that that is enough to indict Kingsley. Prescott was the most hesitant, finally giving them the go. Kingsley says ‘so that’s it.’ Sherry says that when she lands, she’ll call him. Kingsley, suddenly, doesn’t believe Sherry, he says “you don’t have Hewitt, do you?” Sherry, slightly less composed, insists she does, Kingsley catches on and says ‘no you don’t.’ He gets back on the intercom and commands “Scott, take her out.”. He looks up and sees nothing. Sherry is standing there, Kingsley turns to the man beside him and says “kill her.” He pulls his gun out and levels it at Sherry but shots ring out from overhead. The man with the gun has been shot by Jack who has, assumingly, killed the sniper, Scott. He yells over the return fire “Run Sherry!” and as she runs away he shoots Kingsley’s men. The fire can be heard on the calls with everyone, including Palmer whose eyes are wide with fear. Kingsley manages to get under cover before Jack shoots him but Jack manages to take down all but one of the men. Sherry is running flat out but finds she must stop just inside one of the gates, the pain from her knife wound has stopped her. Jack comes running to find her and grabs her by the hand, they start to run. The last man that came with Kingsley has found them, he hits Jack hard against the wall. Jack yells “Ms. Palmer, get out of here,” after she hesitates he yells, “GO!”, so she does. Jack is left to fight the man, hand to hand. After they both land a few punches Jack grabs a gun out of the thugs ankle holster. They bang his arm on the cement, sending the gun flying off into the seats, but not before it fires a few times. After a few more seconds Jack uses the wall in the narrow gateway to climb up and give him enough leverage to break the mans neck. He falls in a heap to the ground but Jack is in serious pain now. He leans on the wall for support and then gasps his way out of the gate and up a few stairs, finally collapsing heavily on the stairs leaning against the wall. Peter Kingsley appears out of the next gate over and walks slowly towards Jack. He sees him coming and spies the gun that belonged to the man that he killed, it’s nudged in between one of the seat rails. Jack tries to loosen it but he is very weakened and every move seems to cause pain. He gets a hold of the gun and points it at Kingsley, hand shaking horribly. Jack pulls the trigger, but nothing happens. He pulls it again and again, but the clip is empty. “Jack Bauer,” Kingsley says, looking him over, “you’ve caused me a lot of trouble today, Jack. You’re not going to give me Hewitt, are you.” Jack is unable to answer, Kingsley raises his gun at Jack who can’t do anything to stop him. Before he can get the shot off, a chopper comes over the top wall of the coliseum and shoots Kingsley dead. Jack continues to sit there breathing heavily, he looks around and then closes his eyes, going unconscious. From the point of view of another chopper overhead we see 4 agents descend on Jack as the others swarm the coliseum.
Prescott is told that the bombers are 3 minutes from their targets, he stands and looks at Palmer. They’re asking if the attack is a go, after some silence Prescott says “Abort the attack.” Palmer can’t suppress his smile. 7:43
7:47
Max is on the phone with, who we assume is his boss, Alexander Trepkos. Upon hearing what happened he says he warned Max not to use Kingsley. Max says that they did use him and they failed, once the war starts they’ll be okay. Trepkos says that there is now war, the president found out about the Cypress Audio and called off the attack. Max says that they’re going to have to do this another way. Trepkos asks what he means, Max says he’ll find out, it’ll start today. They hang up and Max makes another call, he says “It’s me…go ahead.”
Prescott tells Palmer that the cabinet has annulled their previous actions and he has instructed Secret Service to resume its charge of serving him as president. Prescott says that ‘I have tendered my resignation, those that voted against you have also offered to resign. Palmer takes this well, he says ‘Jim, gentlemen, ladies, we came dangerously close to a war today, all of us reacted emotionally to a nuclear attack. Understandably, leaders are required to have patience beyond human limits. The kind of action that we almost took should be exercised after all other avenues are exhausted, after the strictest standards of proof have been met. By casting me aside so quickly you effectively lowered those standards and that was a profound mistake…but it was not kind of mistake that you’re likely to make again. Therefore, I do not accept your resignations. We have a nation to heal today and all of you play a crucial role in that process.’ Prescott stammers, ‘Mr. President, I don’t know what to say.” Palmer answers that there is nothing to say, we have work to do. He dismisses them. Palmer turns to Jenny and asks her to set up a press conference as soon as she can, the people need his assurance, she agrees and then leaves the room. Palmer and Mike are alone now, Mike looks like he’s dreading this. Palmer starts positively, he wants to thank him again for calling CTU in the 11th hour. Mike answers ‘of course, Mr. President.’ Palmer turns to face him, “but you should have been with me until the end. That’s what I expected of you…that’s why I appointed you. I’m relieving you of your post, effective immediately. Instead of looking at Palmer, Mike looks at the table and says “Yes, Mr President.” Palmer leaves him sitting there and gets up and leaves. Mike is unhappy with himself.
Chapelle is on the phone in his office. He is telling the person on the other end that he can’t take the credit for what CTU did, it was a great team George Mason put together here. Tony comes in the room and stands there, Chapelle hangs up and says that was the department of defence, they’re so happy they don’t know where to start. Tony, unenthusiastically says ‘that’s great.’ Chapelle reclines in his chair and asks “So what’s up my friend?” Tony answers, walking towards Chapelle, “Well, it’s like this…either fire me or get out of my chair.” Chapelle looks around for a minute and then, deliberately, starts to clean up, putting his pen away and closing his file. He stands up and turns to Tony, “chairs all yours.” Chapelle leaves the office. On the way out he passes Michelle, she tells Tony that the new shift is there, they’ve been brought up to speed, she was thinking she’d get her brother and go home. Before she goes Tony starts a thought, “Michelle…um…there’s a handful of people that made a big difference today and you’re one of them. You made the right choices and went up against me and I want you to know that you were right.” Michelle says ‘thanks’ with a smile, Tony tells her to go home and get some rest. She turns to leave but Tony calls her again, “see you tomorrow.” Michelle finds this quite amusing and smiles broadly, looks at the floor and then leaves. Tony smiles and turns away.
Kim and Kate have arrived at the coliseum in an SUV. Kate is stopped and asked for ID, she digs it out but Kim has seen her dad, he’s on a stretcher outside an ambulance not far away. He’s already hooked up to an IV bag and some wires. Kim makes her way across the lot, her last pause for a stretcher with a body, she finally can get to Jack who is reaching out his hand to her. He greets her ‘hey honey,’ Kim is crying, with his hand on her face she says ‘daddy.’ Jack tells her weakly that “it’s going to be alright.” He runs his hand over her hair, she says “I know.” Jack tells her “I love you,” Kim cries some more and says “I love you too.” Kim is watching Jack closely, he looks at her and smiles, then closes his eyes and takes his hand back. Kim says “Dad, I’m gonna take care of you.” And she kisses his forehead, Jack smiles.
Palmer is talking to the people outside, he has quite an audience. He says for them to know that they are all safe “ and that we will continue to be safe. The most patriotic thing that we can all do today is to keep living our lives…so I urge you all go back to work, go back to school…because the freedom that we enjoy, the freedom that we earn every day is the very thing that will defeat our enemies and will keep us strong. God bless America!” The crowd cheers and Palmer makes his way down to his waiting limousine shaking hands along the way. There is one girl who calls out to him “Mr President, hi! Excuse me, Mr President!?!” It is Mandy.. He sees her in the crowd trying to desperately to get his attention, he goes and shakes her hand. She puts both hands on his one and he says kindly “God bless you.” Mandy says thank you and lets him go on his way.
The screen splits and we see Sherry being led away, Kim and Jack, Jack looking extremely happy.
Mandy goes down some stairs and, using tweezers, pulls of a thin plastic coating on her hand. She puts it in a cigarette case, closes it up and puts it in her bag. She pulls out her cell phone and dials. Max is holding his, waiting for the call. He answers ‘yes.’ She says ‘it’s done.’ Max thanks her.
Palmer is almost at his limo, he turns to the crowd and waves, but he’s stopped, he’s having trouble breathing. He looks at his right hand, the skin has blistered and is scabby-looking. He’s breathing hard and then falls to the ground. Jenny is calling for medical assistance, the crowd is screaming and the secret service agents are pointing their guns at invisible targets. The shot from above, we see Jenny kneeling over Palmer, 7:59:58, 7:59:59, 8:00, the sound is of Palmers heavy breathing and heartbeat.
7:13
Kate and Kim show up at CTU, Keri greets them and knows who they are. She tells them that Jack is still in the field but she’ll tell Ryan Chapelle that they’re there. Tony comes over and says that he’ll handle this. Keri looks very surprised to see him and mutters ‘I thought you were in custody.’ Tony replies that he was released. He turns to Kim and says that he heard what happened to her, he asks if she’s okay. Kim says yeah, she just wants to talk to her dad but Tony again says that he’s in the field. Kate says that he asked them to call as soon as they could but she is assured Jack is unreachable. Tony says that they should go with Keri, she’ll make the comfortable. Kim just stands there, apparently sizing up the situation, Tony reassures her that it’s going to be okay. As they go Tony stops Kate. He explains that after they let her dad go from custody he came back to CTU. He wanted to talk to Marie before she was taken away. Kate wasn’t expecting this and asks ‘they brought Marie back here?’ Tony confirms this.
Bob Warner is talking to Marie. She is sitting in a chair, chained and handcuffed, she looks like she’s not really all there. Bob, on the other hand, is quite emotional. He questions her from behind plexi-glass “You lied to me? You killed Reza…you tried to kill your own sister…you were willing to set of a nuclear bomb in a city with 10 million people…tell me why because I need to understand. Tell me they brainwashed you, they forced you to do it, tell me that you didn’t know what you were doing. I need a reason.’ Kate comes from behind and says that ‘there is no reason, dad.’ Bob can’t accept that, Kate says she couldn’t either ‘until I looked into her eyes and she pointed a gun at me and she started to pull the trigger. Trust me dad, she’s not going to give you any answers, she can’t… at least nothing that we could ever understand.’ Bob puts his hands to the glass again and Marie stares blankly back. Kate puts her hand on Bob’s shoulder and says that they should go. Bob sighs heavily and looks at Marie again, they leave. Before they completely leave the room, Marie finally speaks, she calls to Kate. Kate turns around and goes back to Marie who very deliberately stands up, chains rattling, and walks across the room towards Kate. She almost makes it to the glass before the chains stop her. She says to Kate “Do you think you’ll be safe out there? You won’t be.” Kate pauses for a second and then turns and leaves.
Jack is on the phone to CTU. He’s talking to Tony, he still sounds rough. He asks Tony if he’s back in play, which he is. Tony informs Jack that Kim is there at CTU, she’s safe. Jack wants Tony not to tell her what’s going on. Chapelle identifies himself to Jack saying that he’s there too. Jack says ‘Ryan, you son of a bitch, you stopped the chopper from landing and how Hewitt’s dead, I’m holding you personally responsible.’ Ryan takes this from Jack and says that he wants the profile of his mission. Jack fills him in, Sherry has agreed to meet with Kingsley and wear a wire. Ryan wants them to wait until backup arrives but Jack says no, Kingsley is expecting them soon. If he wants to help he can get voices for Sherry and Kingsley so they can match them and also Ryan can get him a live feed to the White House. Ryan asks if he wants an audience with the president, Jack says yes. They hang up and Ryan instructs them at CTU to get SWAT to that location.
Jack and Sherry are at the coliseum, he gets out of the SUV and tells Sherry to wait. Jack looks around and decides that it’s safe, he gets Sherry. He opens the case he was carrying and says to Sherry “Let’s get you wired.” He instructs her to take off one shoulder of her jacket. Sherry complies, Jack explains that this is a wireless transmitter, they won’t know to look for it. Sherry is worried about this, she questions if they should be doing this alone. Jack says that they don’t have a choice, they’re expecting them now Jack is finished with the wiring and tells for her to say something, and Sherry’s test is “I’m scared.” Jack looks at her and then says ‘okay, it’s working.’
Mike is on the phone with Prescott, he is saying hat he is against any delay in the military action, he always has been, but there is a good chance that this will be conclusive evidence that the Cypress Audio was false. Prescott says that they know Second Wave was behind the attack and they are sponsored by these countries. Mike says that Peter Kingsley is involved in this, he explains who he is. Bauer is claiming he can get a confession from Kingsley.
They have matched Sherry’s voice at CTU but Jack is told that the teams are 11 minutes out still. Jack says it’s too long, Ryan wants Jack to wait. Jack says that they are already 10 minutes late, they have to go now. Sherry asks Jack tentatively, ‘what’s to stop Kingsley from shooting me the minute he sees me?’ Jack answers that he won’t do anything until he gets Hewitt. Sherry says that when he realizes that she doesn’t have Hewitt…Jack says that he will be covering her back. Sherry, looking Jack over, says that in his present condition that’s not much of a comfort. She concludes that ‘I may not make it out of this’ and Jack, saying that he’s not going to lie to her, admits that that’s a possibility. Sherry wants Jack to pass on the message that she is doing this for David, Jack assures her that he will and tells her to go. He watches her go into the coliseum and then is taken with more pain.
They have finished setting up the feed, Prescott says that he hopes this isn’t going be a waste of his time. Palmer comes into a room with the monitors, Mike tells him that ‘the president thought you should be a part of this.’ He continues to explain that the president and the attorney general will be listening to a live feed of a sting operation on Peter Kingsley. It looks like he was behind the recording. Palmer says calmly ‘so Bauer found Kingsley.’ Mike says yes, but he won’t be talking to Kingsley, Palmer asks what difference it makes as long as they get him to incriminate himself. Mike starts to pace a bit and Palmer asks what’s going on, eventually Mike says that it will be Sherry that will be talking to Kingsley. Palmer admits he doesn’t understand, Mike says that it seems that Kingsley recruited her some months ago. Palmer doesn’t believe what he’s hearing, he asks if Sherry was working with this man, Kingsley. Mike confirms that it appears so and Palmer says ‘to detonate a nuclear bomb and start a war…no.’ Mike replies that it’s unclear how much she knew, Palmer cuts in ‘now she’s working with Jack Bauer to bring down Kingsley.’ Mike says yes, and at considerable risk to herself.
Sherry walks out into the open coliseum, a sniper above her takes aim. 7:30
7:34
Sherry is still waiting for Kingsley, he finally appears and has quite the entourage with him. As they walk towards Sherry he sends them off in different directions. He gets on an intercom he’s holding and says “Scott, don’t do anything until I tell you, we need Hewitt.” Jack is wandering out of the way in a corridor, he opens the case again and sets it up. Kingsley finally makes it to Sherry and before saying anything he circles her and checks for a wire transmitter box. Once he’s satisfied he faces her and asks ‘where’s Hewitt?’ Sherry says ‘he’s safe’ but Kingsley asks again, where is he. Sherry accuses him of lying to her, ‘you wanted this bomb to go off all along. You used Roger Stanton and you used me.’ Kingsley admits it, ‘yes I did.’ Sherry says that now she’s tied to him and the nuclear detonation, she wants safe haven. Kingsley says that’s her problem, Sherry says she just made it his. He won’t see Hewitt until she’s safe, Kingsley is angry, he tells her not to horse trade with him and Sherry says not to insult her intelligence. At CTU they have a match on Kingsley. Kingsley tells Sherry that she’s not going anywhere until he has Hewitt, that doesn’t work for Sherry. She holds out a phone and says that she’ll call him on this line and give him the location of Hewitt after she’s safely away, he doesn’t need to know where she’s going. Now there’s the matter of the recordings. Kingsley says that there right there, one of his people hands her a few tapes. Kingsley says that they’re every phone conversation between them. Sherry says “No, I want all of them, including Cypress.” Kingsley asks “Why would you want Cypress? You had nothing to do with that.” Sherry says insurance, Kingsley repeats it. He continues “Once the country goes to war the governments not going to let that be exposed. Alex Hewitt was the only one that could hurt us.” Sherry says “because he created the Cypress Recording.” Kingsley answers “that’s right.” The higher-ups listening have decided that that is enough to indict Kingsley. Prescott was the most hesitant, finally giving them the go. Kingsley says ‘so that’s it.’ Sherry says that when she lands, she’ll call him. Kingsley, suddenly, doesn’t believe Sherry, he says “you don’t have Hewitt, do you?” Sherry, slightly less composed, insists she does, Kingsley catches on and says ‘no you don’t.’ He gets back on the intercom and commands “Scott, take her out.”. He looks up and sees nothing. Sherry is standing there, Kingsley turns to the man beside him and says “kill her.” He pulls his gun out and levels it at Sherry but shots ring out from overhead. The man with the gun has been shot by Jack who has, assumingly, killed the sniper, Scott. He yells over the return fire “Run Sherry!” and as she runs away he shoots Kingsley’s men. The fire can be heard on the calls with everyone, including Palmer whose eyes are wide with fear. Kingsley manages to get under cover before Jack shoots him but Jack manages to take down all but one of the men. Sherry is running flat out but finds she must stop just inside one of the gates, the pain from her knife wound has stopped her. Jack comes running to find her and grabs her by the hand, they start to run. The last man that came with Kingsley has found them, he hits Jack hard against the wall. Jack yells “Ms. Palmer, get out of here,” after she hesitates he yells, “GO!”, so she does. Jack is left to fight the man, hand to hand. After they both land a few punches Jack grabs a gun out of the thugs ankle holster. They bang his arm on the cement, sending the gun flying off into the seats, but not before it fires a few times. After a few more seconds Jack uses the wall in the narrow gateway to climb up and give him enough leverage to break the mans neck. He falls in a heap to the ground but Jack is in serious pain now. He leans on the wall for support and then gasps his way out of the gate and up a few stairs, finally collapsing heavily on the stairs leaning against the wall. Peter Kingsley appears out of the next gate over and walks slowly towards Jack. He sees him coming and spies the gun that belonged to the man that he killed, it’s nudged in between one of the seat rails. Jack tries to loosen it but he is very weakened and every move seems to cause pain. He gets a hold of the gun and points it at Kingsley, hand shaking horribly. Jack pulls the trigger, but nothing happens. He pulls it again and again, but the clip is empty. “Jack Bauer,” Kingsley says, looking him over, “you’ve caused me a lot of trouble today, Jack. You’re not going to give me Hewitt, are you.” Jack is unable to answer, Kingsley raises his gun at Jack who can’t do anything to stop him. Before he can get the shot off, a chopper comes over the top wall of the coliseum and shoots Kingsley dead. Jack continues to sit there breathing heavily, he looks around and then closes his eyes, going unconscious. From the point of view of another chopper overhead we see 4 agents descend on Jack as the others swarm the coliseum.
Prescott is told that the bombers are 3 minutes from their targets, he stands and looks at Palmer. They’re asking if the attack is a go, after some silence Prescott says “Abort the attack.” Palmer can’t suppress his smile. 7:43
7:47
Max is on the phone with, who we assume is his boss, Alexander Trepkos. Upon hearing what happened he says he warned Max not to use Kingsley. Max says that they did use him and they failed, once the war starts they’ll be okay. Trepkos says that there is now war, the president found out about the Cypress Audio and called off the attack. Max says that they’re going to have to do this another way. Trepkos asks what he means, Max says he’ll find out, it’ll start today. They hang up and Max makes another call, he says “It’s me…go ahead.”
Prescott tells Palmer that the cabinet has annulled their previous actions and he has instructed Secret Service to resume its charge of serving him as president. Prescott says that ‘I have tendered my resignation, those that voted against you have also offered to resign. Palmer takes this well, he says ‘Jim, gentlemen, ladies, we came dangerously close to a war today, all of us reacted emotionally to a nuclear attack. Understandably, leaders are required to have patience beyond human limits. The kind of action that we almost took should be exercised after all other avenues are exhausted, after the strictest standards of proof have been met. By casting me aside so quickly you effectively lowered those standards and that was a profound mistake…but it was not kind of mistake that you’re likely to make again. Therefore, I do not accept your resignations. We have a nation to heal today and all of you play a crucial role in that process.’ Prescott stammers, ‘Mr. President, I don’t know what to say.” Palmer answers that there is nothing to say, we have work to do. He dismisses them. Palmer turns to Jenny and asks her to set up a press conference as soon as she can, the people need his assurance, she agrees and then leaves the room. Palmer and Mike are alone now, Mike looks like he’s dreading this. Palmer starts positively, he wants to thank him again for calling CTU in the 11th hour. Mike answers ‘of course, Mr. President.’ Palmer turns to face him, “but you should have been with me until the end. That’s what I expected of you…that’s why I appointed you. I’m relieving you of your post, effective immediately. Instead of looking at Palmer, Mike looks at the table and says “Yes, Mr President.” Palmer leaves him sitting there and gets up and leaves. Mike is unhappy with himself.
Chapelle is on the phone in his office. He is telling the person on the other end that he can’t take the credit for what CTU did, it was a great team George Mason put together here. Tony comes in the room and stands there, Chapelle hangs up and says that was the department of defence, they’re so happy they don’t know where to start. Tony, unenthusiastically says ‘that’s great.’ Chapelle reclines in his chair and asks “So what’s up my friend?” Tony answers, walking towards Chapelle, “Well, it’s like this…either fire me or get out of my chair.” Chapelle looks around for a minute and then, deliberately, starts to clean up, putting his pen away and closing his file. He stands up and turns to Tony, “chairs all yours.” Chapelle leaves the office. On the way out he passes Michelle, she tells Tony that the new shift is there, they’ve been brought up to speed, she was thinking she’d get her brother and go home. Before she goes Tony starts a thought, “Michelle…um…there’s a handful of people that made a big difference today and you’re one of them. You made the right choices and went up against me and I want you to know that you were right.” Michelle says ‘thanks’ with a smile, Tony tells her to go home and get some rest. She turns to leave but Tony calls her again, “see you tomorrow.” Michelle finds this quite amusing and smiles broadly, looks at the floor and then leaves. Tony smiles and turns away.
Kim and Kate have arrived at the coliseum in an SUV. Kate is stopped and asked for ID, she digs it out but Kim has seen her dad, he’s on a stretcher outside an ambulance not far away. He’s already hooked up to an IV bag and some wires. Kim makes her way across the lot, her last pause for a stretcher with a body, she finally can get to Jack who is reaching out his hand to her. He greets her ‘hey honey,’ Kim is crying, with his hand on her face she says ‘daddy.’ Jack tells her weakly that “it’s going to be alright.” He runs his hand over her hair, she says “I know.” Jack tells her “I love you,” Kim cries some more and says “I love you too.” Kim is watching Jack closely, he looks at her and smiles, then closes his eyes and takes his hand back. Kim says “Dad, I’m gonna take care of you.” And she kisses his forehead, Jack smiles.
Palmer is talking to the people outside, he has quite an audience. He says for them to know that they are all safe “ and that we will continue to be safe. The most patriotic thing that we can all do today is to keep living our lives…so I urge you all go back to work, go back to school…because the freedom that we enjoy, the freedom that we earn every day is the very thing that will defeat our enemies and will keep us strong. God bless America!” The crowd cheers and Palmer makes his way down to his waiting limousine shaking hands along the way. There is one girl who calls out to him “Mr President, hi! Excuse me, Mr President!?!” It is Mandy.. He sees her in the crowd trying to desperately to get his attention, he goes and shakes her hand. She puts both hands on his one and he says kindly “God bless you.” Mandy says thank you and lets him go on his way.
The screen splits and we see Sherry being led away, Kim and Jack, Jack looking extremely happy.
Mandy goes down some stairs and, using tweezers, pulls of a thin plastic coating on her hand. She puts it in a cigarette case, closes it up and puts it in her bag. She pulls out her cell phone and dials. Max is holding his, waiting for the call. He answers ‘yes.’ She says ‘it’s done.’ Max thanks her.
Palmer is almost at his limo, he turns to the crowd and waves, but he’s stopped, he’s having trouble breathing. He looks at his right hand, the skin has blistered and is scabby-looking. He’s breathing hard and then falls to the ground. Jenny is calling for medical assistance, the crowd is screaming and the secret service agents are pointing their guns at invisible targets. The shot from above, we see Jenny kneeling over Palmer, 7:59:58, 7:59:59, 8:00, the sound is of Palmers heavy breathing and heartbeat.
Miscellaneous Thoughts:
-I have a feeling that Kiefer Sutherland drools in his sleep. Just from watching in pretty much any work I’ve seen him do, when he ‘wakes up’ the first thing he does is wipe his mouth with the back of his hand. Since there are quite a few ‘Kiefer-isms’ that come from things he does in real life that we see him do in the show, I think that this is probably one of them. This is the second time in 24 that he’s done the same thing, here and in season one, 8:00am-9:00am, he falls asleep in a chair at the construction site. When he wakes up he immediately checks for drool. J
-Sherry is wonderful. That is really like her to take off and leave Jack out there, on his own. I’m also glad that she decided to come back. It wasn’t an out-of-character move for her, but I wouldn’t have been surprised if she didn’t come back either.
-I’m giving the writers the benefit of the doubt that either the seatbelt had permanently locked itself in a really tight position or that Jack was incapacitated enough that he couldn’t manoeuvre himself enough to get into the glove box. I know with the seatbelt on in pretty much any vehicle I’ve been in, you can get to the glove box from the drivers seat, under normal circumstances.
-Line of the week contender: Sherry to Jack – “You’re a very impressive man Jack, but you see everything as either good or bad, just like David, and the world is much more complicated than that.” Then Jack’s reply, “No, it’s simple.”
-If Wallace corresponded with Kingsley 6 hours ago, that puts him in on the phone during the gunfight and escape when he was with Jack, Auda and Kate. Something tells me that this was an oversight. Unless they talked while he was with Jack, the last time they could have possibly talked was when Kate and Jack were on the way to the warehouse, between about 11:45 (when he called Jack) and 12:15 (when Jack got to the warehouse). That, by my calculations, is 7 hours…
-what better way to humble Chapelle then have the Chief of Staff phone him and tell him to get on what he’s been trying to prevent for the last few hours. I love it.
-The entire CTU scene with Kim and Kate was quite a bit reminiscent of last season. It kind of creeped me out.
-So Bob Warner was released from CTU…did Jack not know this, obviously not? Why would he suggest that she can go back to CTU to be with her dad if he wasn’t there? Although, this would explain why Kate took the time to have a bath instead of going to CTU, but I still think that she’d want to be with her father after everything that happened.
-Jack asked Sherry to say something to test the mike and she says, “I’m scared.” This is really a good insight into Sherry. She always seems almost rock-hard and ruthless, this and when she went off about David leaving her were very nice and shows that she does have feelings too.
-I agree with Sherry, we know that Jack is a very determined person at times, but even with sheer will and determination, if you’re going to die, you’re going to die. I wouldn’t feel to comfort by Jack having my back either.
-It’s a good thing that Kingsley and his men aren’t up on the latest technology. Then they would have known to look for the wireless.
-Kingsley has more suits with him then the president. They reminded me strongly of secret service, silent and intimidating.
-It really made me smile when Jack took Sherry’s hand and they started running together. The camera work was great, they reminded me of children.
-That was a really cool move with Jack running up the wall and snapping that guys neck. The hand fighting was also something that is new to the show, conventionally it has just been guns. Jack did a great job, I think he could have kicked some serious butt if the wasn’t having a heart attack.
-So, Jack’s having a coronary and manages to kill a sniper, take out a bunch of people and also killed a guy with his bare hands, but Sherry can’t run with a little knife wound? She practically had a picnic next to Jack today. He nearly died about 4 times.
-I nearly had a coronary myself when we saw Jack go unconscious and then we had a giant break with no Jack until Kim showed up. I thought he might be dead. What ever would we do?
-I liked the camera angle after the shootout where we saw them go to Jack from the chopper. The only bad thing was that we didn’t get to hear what they said or see what they did. I can live with that, it’s a good trade.
-For the second season in a row Jack is the last man standing after a huge fight in the finale. At least this time he had a little bit of help, but he’s in worse physical shape this time, last time he was just a mental wreck.
-If I was Palmer and was told that the attack was called off I’d be jumping up and down in happiness. I guess Palmers a bit more composed than I am.
-I love how Prescott never said he was wrong or that he was sorry, just that secret service has resumed the charge of protecting him. A lot of good that did Palmer in the end.
-I think it shows a lot of character for Palmer not to accept the resignation of Prescott. I would think there may be a little bit of tension in the future though.
-It’s really sad that Palmer fired Mike but Mike deserved it. There is a lot of history between those two, but instead of Mike going out on the line for Palmer it was Lynn. Look where that got her. I think once word got out about what really happened to Lynn, Mike would have been fired anyway.
-Mike, who was totally gung-ho about the war doesn’t seem so hot on it now, huh?
-So, what would have happened if Palmer had fired Prescott? Who would be next in line? if P had fired Prescott?
-Line of the week contender: Tony to Chapelle: “Well, it’s like this…either fire me or get out of my chair.”
-Do we think that Sherry will try and reconcile with Palmer after this (assuming Palmer survives?) she said she was going in there for him but I don’t think she’s concrete on Palmers side.
-I liked the fact that we, at least, got closure somewhat for the Bob/Marie/Kate story, I wonder if Marie is still in the loop about another attack.
-I like how they changed up the commercial times for this episode as well. Usually we have one around one commercial in the first half and then 2 in the second. This time it was switched, I guess that gave them time to play out those longer scenes with Palmer and Sherry’s meeting.
-Tony and Jack are the amazing healing men, they should have their own circus act. Tony, Mr. I-really-hurt-my-ankle-and-I-need-crutches, managed to shed those in about 6 hours. Then there’s Jack, Mr. I’ve-cut-my-own-head-been-in-a-plane-crash-and-then-was-killed-and-brought-back-to-life, got away alive and relatively unscathed. He didn’t even have any visible marks from the torture, granted his shirt wasn’t open all the way when he was on the stretcher, but I couldn’t see anything. The two of them can drive the Chevy Beretta from the 11:00am-12:00pm episode that managed to fix it’s own window and get washed in about 15 minutes, the amazing self-fixing car.
-I think Jack might need a mental health day after this. I think I might be a bit traumatized if I was him, but he probably would bottle it up inside and find a way to blame himself. That is, after all, what Jack does.
-So, how did Kate and Kim know where Jack was? How did Kate manage to take Kim there in a CTU SUV? She had her own car, she picked Kim up in her Toyota Echo.
-When Kate was stopped and asked for ID, would she get cleared to be there? It’s not like she has government ID or something, she’s just a regular citizen. Also, she got stopped but Kim was allowed to go through? Just because she says she’s Jack’s daughter doesn’t mean she is.
-Other than the glaring inconsistencies, I liked this scene. It was good closure for the Jack/Kim story and although Kate was there, she didn’t really interfere, she just stood there with her one expression and stayed out of the way.
-Mandy. Mandy, Mandy, Mandy. The return of everyone’s favourite Gaines hench(wo)man. For those of you that don’t remember, Mandy first appeared in the first episode ever. Played by Mia Kirshner, she joined the mile-high club with the real Martin Belkin, stole his wallet with his ID in it, then proceeded to blow up the 747. She had a lesbian lover that hid the ID and demanded another million, which Gaines agreed to deliver. After they went and picked the ID up, her lover was killed by a sniper that belonged to Gaines, Mandy was given an ultimatum to either help out ‘next summer’ on a job. She agrees and she goes back to the compound with Gaines. Hereafter she disappears, not showing up at the compound and also not being killed by Andre Drazen with the rest of Gaines’ men.
-Gaines originally asked Mandy if she was in for a job next summer. At first she turned it down saying she was going away for a while. She was pressured into agreeing after her lover, Bridgit, was killed, but eventually Gaines died too. I can’t help but wonder if this is the same job. The idea that there’s some sort of connection isn’t that far fetched, Nina was involved in both. Using the date that the book A Day in the Life gives the first season, it happened in early March. The second season happens ‘about 18 months after the first’ which makes season 2 late August or early September of the next year. “Next summer.”
-I really hope that Palmer survives this attack. He’s great, Dennis Haysbert is a great actor and I love the way be portrays Palmer. What could happen next season? It can’t be too soon after this one, Jack needs some time to recuperate after all…
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