3x05: 5:00pm-6:00pm - Singer Wanted

5:00pm-6:00pm

Originally Aired 11/25/03

~ 3.5 - Singer Wanted~

David Palmer and John Keeler are getting introduced to the crowd and on TV at the debate. The man in charge says that Palmer gets to go first. Backstage Anne asks David how he feels while she touches his arm. Palmer asks if she means medically or personally. He assures her he is fine. Wayne is watching them quite closely. Keeler is introduced and comes out onto the stage to applause. Anne tells David that she's sorry he has to deal with her ex-husbands lies. Palmer smiles at her and says that 'we have the truth on our side.' Palmer is introduced and comes out onto the stage. Wayne leaves the area as on stage Palmer and Keeler shake hands. David begins his speech and we are suddenly watching from a TV and something glass hits it and shatters.

There is a riot happening at the prison. People are yelling and running around, there is a small fire and one of the guards is getting kicked around on the floor. Jack and Ramon are trying to find a way out and Jack realizes that they have to go through the prisoners; it is the only way out. Ramon seems doubtful but Jack says they will have to fight their way though. He unlocks the cuffs on Salazar and instructs him to; when he tells him, start fighting with him over the gun. They need to pull off two guards. Jack prepares himself and draws his gun then gives Ramon the okay. As about half a dozen troops pass in riot gear Jack yells for help. Two of them pull off to help but soon Jack and Ramon have knocked them out. Jack has his guard in a chocker hold while Ramon has gotten a hold of a nightstick and is beating the other one. Jack yells for him to stop. After he desists Jack tells him to put on his gear. They start to take the gear.

The warden, Kevin, is with Chase. He is trying to convince Kevin that Jack and Salazar are on E block and they need to concentrate men there. Kevin resists but Chase says they need to be kept alive. Kevin asks how real the threat is so Chase takes him aside. He quickly tells him that Hector may release a deadly virus if Ramon is not returned safely. The death toll would be in the hundreds of thousands. Kevin gets on his walkie talkie and gives Chase control of some of the troops. Chase's phone rings and it is Michelle at CTU. She asks Chase what is going on and he tells her that Jack has started a prison riot. Chase thinks that in Jack's 'own twisted way he thinks he's going to get Salazar out and deliver him to Hector.' Michelle says that he's going to get himself killed, and Salazar as well. Chase answers, "I know, I'm trying to protect him." He asks Michelle that as soon as they get Kyle Singer to let him know.

Kyle and Linda are being held in their clear-sided cage. The thug Gomez gets some coffee from another thug. They are not really watching Kyle and Linda. Kyle looks and her and tells her he is sorry. She is sitting and just looks ahead of her. Kyle crouches down and says her name. She looks at him and asks if she is going to die and she starts to cry. Kyle answers that it depends. He says that if they find them in time and Linda asks what he means. Kyle says that the government agent told his dad that he still had a couple of hours before he is contagious, maybe they will find them before that. Then they would be okay. Linda says maybe. Kyle gets up and starts to look around. He moves a chair into the middle of the room and stands on it. He starts to pull on the pipes and when Linda questions him he says there must be some wires in there. Linda asks what for and Kyle just says to get her out of this. He grabs the other chair and starts to hit the poles with it.

Kim is working on her computer and grabs Adam. She shows him a picture from the traffic camera and there is a truck with a blue shirt in it. Adam asks to send it to his screen. Michelle asks to talk to Kim and she steps away from her workstation. Michelle informs her that her dad is trying to break Salazar out by force. Michelle says that it looks like he started the riot. She wants to know when the last time Kim talked to him was, Kim answers about half an hour ago. She did a transfer order for him. She asks Michelle if she was lied to, Michelle confirms it. He asked Kim to do it because anyone else would know he was violating protocol. Michelle encourages Kim to find Kyle Singer that is the only way to get Jack out of this.

Jack and Ramon start to move out towards the prisoners. They hear gunshots as they move in; Jack goes at one of the men, as does Salazar. Fighting ensues and Jack gets kicked in the back and taken down, Salazar is quickly on the ground as well. Jack is beaten with a nightstick and starts to curl up into the foetal position. He is hit a few more times and then dragged off by the arms semi-conscious. The guards and Chase are on the other side of the wall and the prisoners have to pass by an open space. One of them goes out and there are shots fired at him. The others stop and hide behind the cover, one of the prisoners yells for them to hold their fire, they have hostages so back off. The man that yelled emerges first with Jack as his hostage, hands on his head. He comes face to face with Chase and their eyes meetChase watches anxiously as, now that the others have passed the last prisoner starts to back away pulling Jack who is wincing in pain. They close the door and through the little window Jack can be seen.
5:11

5:15
Adam asks Kim about the filter for the files, Kim says she forgot to send it; it's in her outbox. Adam is angry and asks how she could forget since it is the only thing she is working on. Kim, now at her workstation, tells him to relax, she is doing the best she can. Adam says that in this office things are either done or not done but she asks why he is lecturing her, it's in his system. Adam's phone rings and he goes and answers it. Michelle is on the other end asking if there eis a problem. She tells Adam that there is a situation at the prison that her dad is involved in and she asks him to cut Kim a little slack. Adam understands and Michelle reiterates that they must find Kyle Singer.

Kyle is still working on the cords and now has them tied up in a knot. Linda asks what he is doing and he tells her that there is no way out of this. He says that if he dies then the virus dies with him. He has created a noose out of the cords which he puts his head through and then kicks the chair out from under him. Linda is up trying to save him. She tries to put the chair back but he is kicking. Instead she stands on it herself and grabs on to the poles on the roof. She hangs from them and pulls until finally they break and both of them fall to the floor. He is still alive and she goes over to him holding his head in her lap.

Hector is setting up a party. Claudia comes out and asks why he is throwing a welcome home party, he shouldn't be doing this. Hector wants to know what she is talking about. Claudia says that he has been running things and he needs to show Ramon that he is going to be his partner not his caterer. He asks what she cares, she is not involved in his business. She says that she cares about him and she wants him to get what he has earned. His phone rings and it is Gael. He tells him that there is a riot going on and he will be getting out soon. Hector instructs Gael to just make sure that they don't find Singer.

Kim and Adam are still working at the pictures from the traffic cameras. They enhance the photo and find that it was indeed Kyle in the truck. They enhance another portion and find a man with a gun. They conclude that someone has got him. They can't get the plates on the truck from the shot but Kim will check out the ones further up the road. Adam calls Michelle with the findings.

At the prison they are watching the cameras. Chase wants them to redirect one of them so that they can see the hostages. Kevin thinks they will see it move, Chase doesn't care. They move it and all of the hostages can be seen side-by-side, Jack and Ramon included. The prisoners shoot out the camera. Chase says that they have to get in there before they start killing everyone.

Inside the hostages are held and one of the prisoners wants to start 'wasting guards'. The prisoner that seems to be in charge says no, they won't care because they just want to keep the prisoners in. He says to put them on their knees in a line. The order is followed and the guy asks, "Who wants to live?" No one moves except Jack who chances a glance a Salazar. The prisoner is pacing around them and when no one answers he shoots a guard on the end. He says that he will try again and asks, "Who wants to live." One guard who seems to be going to pieces says that he does. He instructs the others to put him in a chair. There is a table there and two chairs are on either end. Jack again looks at Salazar and this grabs the attention of the prisoner. He grabs Jack by the hair and pulls him up higher asking him if he's ever seen him before. Jack says that he is new here and the prisoner says to put him at the table. Once Jack is placed across the table the prisoner pulls out a small gun and very deliberately unloads all of the bullets and then puts one back in. The gun is placed in the middle of the table and he announces that there is a one in six chance. He moves it to in front of the guard and says that he is first. The guard is near tears and says 'please don't make me do this.' The prisoner says that there is nothing to it. Jack just looks at the table. The prisoner picks up the gun and holds it to his own head, he explains that all he has to do is smile and pull the trigger. He demonstrates and as the empty chamber clicks the guard nearly jumps out of his skin. He puts the gun back down and says now it is one in five. Jack looks away as the guard waits and waits not wanting to go through with it. The prisoner yells 'lets go!' and puts the guards hand on the gun. Slowly the guard lifts the gun up and puts it to his temple but then says he can't. The prisoner says that it is a waste of time and tells the others to shoot him. Jack starts to yell for them to wait and they do. Jack pleads with the guard to just do it. "This way at least you've got a chance." This strengthens the guard and he decides to do it. He slowly raises gun and Jack looks upset. Finally the guard pulls the trigger and through the vantage point from behind we can see that this was the bullet. He falls to the floor the prisoner is excited and says 'lets hear it for the new guy!' Jack just stares and looks upset.
5:24
5:28
Kim is working at her station, she got a shot from the next intersection but they have to wait for it to download. Adam tells Kim that he just saw a report come over and they are questioning the transfer order that she generated for her dad. He offers to say that she didn't know what Jack was planning if he wants. Kim thanks him but says she can handle it. An error pops up on her screen, it is 402, which Adam recognizes as trouble with an internal router.
Gael is in the back room working on the system. He checks where the others are in a monitor and continues to work. Kim comes in and asks what he is doing. Gael explains that he is fixing the problem Kim asks why he doesn't call a tech; Gaels says it's fine. It must have been a line surge. He closes it up and tells Kim to let him know if there are any more problems. Kim says she will and after Kim leaves he shakes is head.
Kim asks Adam if a line surge can knock out the computers. Adam says not from his side but she can ask Chloe about hers. He gets the last location on the truck and the plates from the photo that downloaded.

Michelle tells Ryan Chapelle that she is back and he asks if Jack was working alone or with someone else. Michelle has no idea; she is trying to figure that out. She will get back to him and Ryan says coldly that she do that. Michelle hangs up with Ryan and video-calls Chloe. She asks her to go into Jack's office and see if she can figure out why he is doing this. Chloe asks if Michelle is sure she really wants her snooping around in Jack's office? Michelle says yes. They hang up and Michelle is left sitting. She looks like she is forming an idea and then picks up the phone again. She calls surgery at the hospital and asks if Tony is out yet. The girl checks and then says no, she will be contacted when he is rolled into recovery. Michelle asks what room he is in and told 4. She quickly calls a guy that identifies himself as Evan at Networking and she asks if they have feeds from the hospital. He checks and answers yes. She asks him for the video documentation of OR 4 sent to her desktop. They hang up and Michelle just looks for a second and then pulls up the screen. She sees her husband surrounded by doctors and other personnel. He is wearing a oxygen mask and is unconscious. This immediately upsets her. We move to the OR where the doctor asks for the 4 by 4's and extracts something from Tony's neck. He asks for a clamp. Back at CTU Michelle is crying and she puts the window away turns and tries to gather herself.

Chase is walking with the other guards and they are heading in a back way. He says that they will get an exact location for the explosives when they get in there. They open up the door to a dark looking room and they flash a light in there. One of the guys passes him some glasses and calls him 'sir' saying they are ready for him. He puts them on and they contain a camera. Chase tells them that he wants radio silence while he is in there or they might hear them and kill everyone.

The prisoner announces round 2. Jack is still sitting at the table looking pretty worried. The prisoner picks Ramon who quickly explains that he is a prisoner, not a guard, and his name is Ramon Salazar. Jack says calmly that it is true and that he is a Federal Agent who was escorting him out of the prison. That is why he hasn't seen Jack before. The prisoner asks for Jacks name and he tells him. He announces all right, it will be Agent Jack against Ramon Salazar, a battle to the finish. Chase is outside with a tiny camera bug that he slips in the grate. Through the camera he can see Jack and Ramon sitting at the table. Jack gets the gun first this time and as he hands it over the prisoner says 'come on Jack, show this foreigner how it's done.' Jack looks at him and then at Ramon who looks pretty bad himself with a swollen lip. Jack looks at the gun and then picks it up. He looks down and then holds the gun up. With little hesitation he pulls the trigger and blinks as it clicks: the chamber is empty. He quickly puts the gun down and the crowd starts to cheer. Ramon gets the gun now and he turns to the prisoner and says 'if I die my brother will find you.' The prisoner turns away like he doesn't care and a chant starts of 'do it' Jack watches intently as someone starts to change the chant to 'die.' Ramon pulls the trigger and nothing happens again. The gun is again passed to Jack who gets a quick glimpse of the light in the vent of Chase's attempt to free them. Jack averts his eyes so as to not draw attention to it. The prisoner says that it looks like Jack might lose his title. Ramon gives him a little nod and Jack takes a breath and brings the gun up to his temple for a second time. This time he levels it at the prisoner at the last second and pulls the trigger, there was a bullet this time but the prisoner is now shot. At the same time the explosives go off and gunfire ensues. Jack yells for Ramon to stay down. The two of them start to run away. After the gunfire ceases and the all clear is given Chase calls for Jack. There is no answer and Chase, somewhat panicked calls for Jack again.
5:38
4:43
Chloe is going through Jack's stuff and she finds a few things. She is at the end of his desk and notices some papers in the garbage can. She bends down and picks them up and then starts looking through the rest of its contents. Soon she finds the broken needle and the vile that Jack put in there earlier in the dad. She looks around and then gets up obviously thinking hard. She eventually picks up the phone and identifies herself as Chloe O'Brien, she is in Jack's office and she needs someone with a drug kit.

Keeler and Palmer are still at the debate and Keeler is getting to the Anne issues. He says that people don't elect the platform, they elect the man. He says that the personal choices that Palmer has made and continues to make are questionable. There are allegations and indictments against his ex-wife Sherry and now he continues to associate himself with people of questionable moral standards. He accuses Anne of fabricating results in a study that killed three people. Palmer interrupts him and says that this is outrageous. The man in charge tells David that Keeler still has thirty seconds. He continues asking if the President knew about this and is ignoring it? David stands tall and says that he can tell Keeler with complete confidence that the senators' accusation is false and it is the senators' way of avoiding the issues at hand. Anne and Wayne are watching and Anne mutters, 'oh God.' Wayne asks from behind her, 'now do you get it?'

The drug tech is in Jack's office and finishes testing the contents of the vile. After he is finished he tells Chloe that it is positive. She looks kind of shocked and then says that she'll go tell Michelle. He closes up his briefcase and leaves. Chloe starts to gather the stuff in a box and heads out but Kim wanders over. Chloe tries to get away but Kim asks what she was doing in her dad's office. Chloe says that Michelle wanted her to go through it. Kim asks why but Chloe doesn't really answer. Kim asks if a line surge could knock down a server and Chloe says not from her side. Kim asks Chloe if she found anything in Jack's office but Chloe says she can't talk about it. Kim offers to help but Chloe snaps that she can't so she needs to go. Kim looks mildly insulted and asks what's in the box. It is stuff for Michelle and Chloe accuses Kim of acting really inappropriate. Kim is trying to help but Chloe asks her to just leave. Kim will not until she sees what's in the box. Chloe says that she thinks her dad's been using drugs. Chloe pulls out the bag and continues that he has also been acting really weird. She leaves Kim standing there as she starts to walk away. She turns back and snaps that it's really not fair of her to make her do this. It's really uncomfortable. Chloe finds Michelle and says that she didn't find anything in the office but there is something that she needs to see. Chloe pulls out the tubing, needle and vile and announces that it came back positive for opiates, probably heroin.
Adam says that they found the truck. Michelle comes around and sends everyone there and says to assume they are contagious. She says, "let's get 'em" and leaves Chloe standing there.
5:50
5:54
Kim is crying silently at her workstation. Michelle is on the phone with Adam and says that they are approaching the complex. Michelle asks for him to narrow down where the truck might be. She wants it up on satellite. Adam turns to Kim and asks her to do it. He asks her to log onto her server and see if there is a satellite in position. Kim looks away and finally turns and says okay, wiping a tear away. Adam is immediately concerned and asks what's wrong. Kim says it's nothing, she's fine.
Jack is ready to leave the prison with Salazar. Outside, Chase goes to Kevin and says that there is no sign of Jack and Kevin says they can't do a proper search until it is all locked down. Jack turns to Salazar and says that if he wants to get out of this thing he is going to have to do everything he tells him to. Jack draws his gun and gets Ramon in front if him. He goes outside and yells to Chase. All of the officers out front draw their guns and level them at Jack and Salazar. Chase asks 'What are you doing, Jack?' Jack yells to get the people to move back or they will have to take him out. And, they need the chopper. Chase pleads not to do this. He says he just spoke with Michelle and they're getting close to finding Singer. Jack yells back that 'close 'ain't gonna cut it this time.' Chase says that he's not letting Jack go. Jack is starting to panic a bit it seems and asks how long it is going to take to get Singer? Half an hour, an hour? He has got to get him in the chopper. Chase seems to agree and turns to Kevin asking that he instruct them not to shoot. He can't have anything happen to Salazar. Kevin says fine and he gets on the radio to all the teams. Jack watches as Chase and Kevin get everyone organized, they agree they can track the chopper. Jack starts to yell from behind Salazar looking slightly crazy. He is pointing and saying to get the men to back off and to holster their weapons. He points out more and yells as him and Salazar start to move to the chopper. Chase watches and helps out with the commands; some of the guards back away. Chase goes to different groups and relays the order. Jack and Ramon make it to the chopper unharmed and Jack puts him in first and then gets in the pilots seat. He meets Chases eyes from inside the chopper.
Kyle and Linda and there are people breaking in. There is gunfire and they both flinch as people are shot. The guys tell their radios that they have "Singer plus one."
Jack has the chopper started and he reaches down and pulls up a bunch of cords. Kevin asks Chase what he's doing, Chase explains he has disabled the com and the locator. Chases phone rings but when he answers he finds he can't hear Michelle on the other end because of the noise from the chopper. After a few repeats he finally understands, they found Kyle Singer. Chase runs over to the chopper, which is now in the air, and he starts to wave his arms and yell but Jack doesn't respond and keeps going.
After the split screen Salazar gives a bit of a chuckle to Jack who looks down. Ramon says to him, "Congratulations, now you are an even bigger enemy to your country than I am." Jack just looks back at him.
6:00

Miscellaneous Thoughts:
-I really liked the camera work with Palmer on the TV. I really thought someone was throwing something at David Palmers face, not David Palmer on TV
-I was also remotely impressed that Ramon showed the restraint he did with the beating of the guard. It wasn't very nice of him to do it but he did stop.
-Jack's choker hold is getting a lot of use. First Chase and now the guard.
-Interestingly enough, the man who plays the prison guard, Kevin, is also the guy who played the coast guard in Season One when Jack thought Kim was dead and he was trying to claim the body.
-Line of the week contender: Michelle to Chase: He's going to get himself killed. Get himself killed indeed. Maybe not now but maybe in the future.
-Did Chase just say he is trying to protect Jack? Someone is actually trying to protect Jack for a change instead of the other way around?
-Those thugs that were supposed to be watching Kyle are fired. I mean really, how could they NOT hear that?
-Who wants to live?!?! I DO! I mean really, what kind of cruel question is that?
-What are the odds of the guy wearing a blue shirt being Kyle? How many people in that time frame probably drove by there wearing a blue shirt? This is LA we're talking about. I'm thinking lots.
-Jack has had 2 brilliant ideas in a very short time. One is the riot and two is trying to fight through the prisoners. Brilliant. So when, exactly, Jack did those seem like a good idea? While he was illegally breaking Ramon out or when he was looking at a hallway full of hardened prisoners. Guaranteed a good number of them are killers. I mean they are in prison for a reason.
-I love how Michelle talks to Adam about Kim with her sitting right there. It's pretty obvious what is going on, she may have well come over and told both of them instead of calling.
-I also really liked Adams Keannu-matrix-esqe "whoa." I really got a good laugh from that.
-I know we probably all thought of this but how good would it have been if the chamber the prisoner used to demonstrate was the one?
-So if the guard hadn't chickened out and required a demonstration then the second shot would have been Jack's meaning that he would have been, well, dead.
-Trying to take himself out was really noble of Kyle, but I think, logically, in about 3 hours when they finally noticed something had happened, they probably would have killed Linda anyway.
-Chase just doesn't look like a 'sir' to me. Just my opinion though.
-Something is up about Claudia. She continues to question Hector about Ramon. Maybe she has interest in seeing Ramon dead? Or at least not in power. Why? I know this is a big logistical stretch but could she be an agent as well?
-Where can I get a copy of that serious software that Kim and Adam are using to enhance those images? Dude that is some clear resolution from some really blurry images.
-Russian Roulette was an interesting idea. I keep thinking back to what they said in the special features of season two while planning the ending. Kiefer turns and says that now we know how they come up with ideas, they just rip off other movies. Kiefer has played a character that played Russian roulette before. It was a cop, too. The movie was called Dead Heat and Kiefer was a washed out cop. It wasn't quite as dramatic as this, though.
-It really did scare me to see Jack/Kiefer do that. To play that game, even though it is all staged it really just left me shaking.
-Kim, Kim, Kim. What are you thinking? She really really needs to bring up the suspecting Gael thing. I'm sure it would be in her best interest.
-Aaahhh, the return of Chapelle. I knew it would happen sooner or later.
-I know Michelle just wanted to make sure Tony was still alive blah blah blah but did she really think that seeing him like that would make her feel better?
-I'm no doctor but I have watched a lot of ER in the past, so answer me this. Why is Tony only in a mask and not tubed? Especially when working on the neck. Weird.
-What is up with Chloe??????? It is just really really frustrating. I will likely ask this many more times but is she just a REALLY bad actress or is she supposed to be that awkward and wrong. It's really weird.
-There seemed like there was some hesitation when Chloe found the drugs like she maybe wasn't going to report it? Right now she is in a position to make all the evidence go away, being left there with it as Michelle does other stuff.
-And Michelle's little spiel, "Lets get 'em!" Cute.
-Besides the fact that Adam was a real jerk in the beginning I think he could be a nice guy. He obviously cares for feelings because he totally backs off Kim. It's good; I hope he stays nice because I really like him that way.
-Did anyone else notice the slightly insane look in Jack's eyes when he was taking Salazar out of the prison? Big time crazy stuff there.
-Also, it was pretty cute when Kiefer's voice cracked when he was yelling.
-Yeah, disabling the com seemed like a good idea…until they found Kyle.
-How does Jack not understand what Chase is telling him?
-Line of the week contender: Ramon to Jack: Congratulations, Jack, you are now an even bigger enemy to your country than I am" and then Jack's glare back to him.
-Well, after watching this episode I shook for about 20 minutes. It was unbelievably intense and one of 24's finest hours in my opinion…at least top 5.