4.13: 7:00pm - 8:00pm - Debts

4.13: 7:00pm - 8:00pm
~ Debts ~ 
2005.03.14

7:00

At CTU they discuss exactly what an Electromagnetic Pulse Bomb (EMP) is. Curtis knows that any electric devices except those that run on a basic battery are now fried. The EMP took out 8 square miles of power right downtown. Audrey asks if they’ve heard from Jack or Paul and finds they have not, they’ve lost all contact since the EMP went off. The last thing CTU heard is that they had found something and based on the reaction that McLennan-Forster has had it’s safe to say that it was incriminating to them. Curtis agrees but that is not proof. Audrey wants to know if there’s a chance that Jack or Paul could be injured by the EMP going off and Curtis assures her that the electronics are just effected but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they will be safe either.

Paul has been caught by some of the McLennan-Forster thugs led by Conlon, the head of security for the company. Paul is punched and they are trying to find out where they put the document that Jack and him printed before the EMP went off. Paul doesn’t answer so Conlon gives Paul the power to decide when the pain stops. He turns and leaves the room asking his thugs to call him when Paul talks. As Conlon leaves to the next room the camera pans and Jack can be seen hiding behind a nearby wall. Paul is held by a thug and they force his hand over the edge of a cabinet drawer and kick it shut. Paul refuses to tell them what they need to know so the action is repeated. Jack has seen enough. He emerges from the shadows and shoots two of the thugs. The last one has Paul and is using him as a shield. He wants Jack to put his gun down or he will kill Paul. Paul looks like he’s thinking, Jack still has his gun ready to go. Jack watches carefully and then, surprising the thug, Paul turns his head off to the side and Jack shoots the thug dead. Jack hurries to the injured Paul and helps support him pretty much holding him up. Paul tells Jack that he hid the printout in an office down the hallway. Jack knows Paul is hurt and they are just going to get it and get out of there. The two of them slowly make their way out of the room and seconds later Conlon reappears and finds all his men dead, he heads off on a search. Paul tells Jack that they are in the right place, the paper is in the drawer under some binders. Paul hid it because he thought he might be captured. Jack finds what he thinks is the print out. He holds it up looking slightly puzzled and asks if this is it. Paul confirms it and says that it’s code and he can’t make any sense out of it. Jack folds it and stows it in his pocket, they need to get that back to CTU, Paul says quietly that he doesn’t think he could have held out much longer. Jack says that he did great, he checks around to make sure no one is there and then is ready to go.

On the main floor of CTU Heller calls attention to himself, Michelle and Tony. He introduces Michelle Dessler and openly thanks Tony, he appreciates him carrying the ball until Michelle could get there. He asks Tony to bring everyone up to speed. Tony gives a quick briefing on the Marwan situation, he has been employed by McLennan-Forster. His alias is Harris Barnes and they are not sure yet how he got through the McLennan-Forster security checks. They can assume that whatever he did at McLennan-Forster was important, Jack and Paul went to check the company out and that’s when the EMP went off. Michelle enquires as to if they found anything but they haven’t been in contact but McLennan-Forster must think that they found someone. They will send CTU teams in but there’s nothing they can do until they find Jack. Michelle takes over and tells CTU that they will to what they can to find Jack and Paul but their priority right now is the information they retrieved from McLennan-Forster. Tony takes off away from his ex-wife but she calls after him. Michelle needs the access codes to CTU and Division. Tony pulls them out of his pocket and hands them over sulkily. Tony asks what he can do, Michelle wants him to go over the contact list and see if there are any that have been flagged by other agencies. Due to the other things that are going on at CTU right now, Tony doesn’t think that that is the best use of his time. Michelle would like him to do it. Tony doesn’t understand, Jack and Paul have information vital to ending the threat, he should be helping them. Michelle has made her decision but Tony stops her. She doubles back on him and says dangerously, “The last time I saw you, you couldn’t stay sober enough to keep a job.” Tony reminds her that it was six months ago. If Tony doesn’t like it he can resign. He agrees to stay but will need a security clearance. Michelle assigns him a level three. Tony questions her, ‘3? I used to have a 6.’ She says that all he will need is a 3 and leaves him.

Michelle comes into the conference room where Audrey is. Audrey asks if there is a problem between her and Agent Almeida. The Secretary is very sensitive to personal issues and they know that Tony and Michelle used to be married. Michelle assures Audrey that it won’t be a problem and it won’t effect her work, she won’t let it. If the Secretary has a problem with that he can talk to her.

Edgar, Curtis and Sara are looking at images over the blackout area. The shots may be the same people that are after Jack. Curtis thinks that anything Jack finds now will be insignificant unless it proves that McLennan-Forster helped Marwan plan the days attacks.

Marwan arrives at a place that looks kind of like an underground casino. He makes a call to a man named Mitch Anderson. Marwan gives the go to Anderson who is worried because Marwan’s face is all over the news. Marwan assures him that things are going as planned and they are ready to go. It will take less than 30 minutes and Marwan will inform the others. Anderson hangs up and walks to his closet. He pulls out a carefully stored pilots uniform and unzips the protective cover.

7:11

7:15

Jack and Paul have made it outside the McLennan-Forster building and are coming down the street. Paul is still leaning heavily on Jack for support, he is in pain from his beating still.

At CTU they see a chopper coming into the area. Sara reports it and tells the others it is not responding to any of their id requests. Curtis calls Michelle over and tells her, it is not one of theirs and not the police. Michelle asks if it might be a rescue chopper but they would have identified themselves. Tony has been listening in and tells them that it is a search and destroy mission. A chopper that size holds 20 men and McLennan-Forster has been training mercenaries for years. Michelle wants the police contacted.

Jack leans l up on the outside of a building and checks to see what he hears coming. A chopper lands as Jack has a look. He returns to Paul and helps prop him back up so they can continue on. Paul has doubts that he can do this but they don’t have a choice. They get out of the area as the commando’s arrives. Conlon comes out of and joins the commando’s. He gives them photos of Jack and Paul taken from the security cameras. The instructions are that both of these men are to be erased. Conlon warns that one of them is a CTU Field Agent. The head commando clarifies that he wants him to kill a Federal Agent but Conlon wants to handle it himself. The agent went bad and started working with the terrorists. Commando’s have spotted 2 men heading east and the team is distributed.

Jack supports Paul through the looters and fires in the street. Jack spots something that piques his interest, they move towards a sporting goods store specializing in weapons and ammo. They are nearly at the storefront when Jack abruptly shoves Paul off to the side yelling for him to get down. Jack takes cover on the other side of the front as a shot rings out. Jack is crouched at the front and says that he’s a federal agent. The voice from inside doesn’t believe him but Jack needs help. Jack stands up and claims to be leaving. He shows his hands and moves towards Paul but instead of making it all the way he pauses and runs at the door to the store knocking the man with the gun back. He lands next to another man and Jack yells for the other gun to be sent over to him. Next he calls Paul in and tells him to pick up the gun. Jack introduces himself and confirms that he is a Federal Agent, he shows his badge. One of the men wants to know where he was when the looting was happening. Jack brushes it off and asks if they have any rifles of if the looters got them too. They are behind the counter, Jack wants to be shown. As they walk one of the men starts to talk saying that they were looted first because people know that they are Arab-American owners. The other man says that ‘he’ (as in Jack) doesn’t care. They give Jack the okay to take everything but leave them 2 rifles. They chased off the looters once but they’ll be back. Jack asks for keys to the cabinets and Paul is to watch the men. One of them asks what Jack is doing there, Jack explains that they needed to take cover. They are here to do with the terrorist attacks, Jack has critical evidence that he needs to get to the office. Jack explains about the pulse bomb and one of the men concludes that everything that’s happened is all because of the terrorists. Jack confirms this and says he has evidence that can prevent further attacks. Paul is starting to stress out and wants Jack to hurry, the commandos will be there any minute. One of the owners asks about if and Jack encourages them to go, it is not safe here. They suggest that Jack leave instead but here they have weapons and shelter. This is where they need to be. One of the owners wants to talk to his brother, Jack warns them to stay where he can see them. As they talk Paul takes the opportunity to lean on the counter for help and ask what the plan is. Jack says that CTU can view the area on satellite. CTU saw the chopper land and if they can initiate a firefight the commandos will be forced to use radios to communicate with one another. CTU will pick that up. Paul can’t believe what he’s hearing, he asks Jack, and ‘You want to engage the McLennan-Forster army, just the two of us?’ Jack says that they only have to hold them until CTU gets there. The owners have come back to Jack and they have decided to stay. Jack looks at Paul and says that he can not force them to leave their own property but these are not just a bunch of looters. They are dangerous people and Jack cannot guarantee their safety. They say that Jack doesn’t understand. This country is their home and they are blamed for the things that happen. If Jack is fighting the people that caused today’s bloodshed then they will help Jack and Paul fight them

7:22

7:26

Heller is on the phone with what sounds like a Presidential advisor. Heller says that if the President wants to speak to the nation he can do it from Air Force One. Heller wants to be kept informed. Audrey has an update on the San Gabriolla rector. It’s not as bad as they had feared. Heller sees that his daughter is distraught and wants her to sit down and tell him about it. There has been no word from Jack and Paul and Heller can’t imagine how hard this must be for Audrey. Heller watches her reaction and says that there’s something else, isn’t there. Audrey slowly starts the story for her father. A couple of hours ago when they thought that Paul was somehow involved, Jack questioned him. Paul has his pride and so he resisted. Heller finishes the sentence for Audrey; Jack was pretty rough. Audrey says he was very rough but Heller reminds Audrey that that is his job, he had to make sure. Heller advises Audrey that she has to believe that Jack had no choice. Audrey admits it was a shock to see and now he seems like a different person. Audrey is beginning to choke up now and says tearfully that Jack is an incredible man. Heller spares her from saying that now she’s not sure she feels the same way about him now. Audrey admits “Something like that.”

Michelle is working on a computer on the main floor and Sara comes over to her. She wants to speak to her for a moment, it’s important. Michelle agrees but doesn’t have much time. Sara makes sure Michelle is aware of the false accusation against her earlier and Michelle has seen the report. Sara seems to think that Driscoll should have talked to her about it but Michelle quickly defends her saying that her daughter died today. Sara has things that need to be worked out still, her arrest was to be expunged from her record and she was supposed to be bumped up two pay grades. Michelle will look into it but not today. Sara is angry and snaps that what happened to her was an outrage and if Michelle doesn’t do something she will go to Secretary Heller about it. Michelle says that Heller doesn’t run CTU, she does and Sara is to go back to work. Sara will not until her demands are met so Michelle picks up the phone and calls security down there. Sara doesn’t get it and Michelle tells her that she needs people here with their minds on their jobs, hers obviously isn’t. Sara protests that Michelle can’t fire her, she is on an active protocol but Michelle will manage. Security has arrived and Michelle wants Sara escorted from the building, they need to get her access card as well. As Sara is led out she calls back to Michelle ‘You’ll be sorry for this, I promise you will!’

The commandos are searching for Jack and Paul and inside the store Jack, Paul and the owners get ready. Jack is finding more guns and ammo and he tells the brothers to find hunting vests and put empty clips in the pockets.

Michelle tells Curtis that that Ms. Gavin won’t be working with them any more and he and Edgar need to share her workload. Curtis is up to his neck as it is and he is not qualified to be an analyst anyway. Maybe Michelle should rethink her decision but Michelle doesn’t trust her. Curtis spots Tony working alone in the corner on his assignment and asks Michelle about Agent Almeida. They can use his help and he has already proven himself useful today. Michelle looks and then calls Tony over on a speakerphone. Tony gets up and saunters over to a waiting Michelle who tells him that he will be working with Curtis and Edgar for the rest of the day. Curtis will tell Division about the change but Michelle wants an update first. Curtis says that there is no sign of Jack or Paul and right now they are spreading their men out on the perimeter to wait for any sign of Jack. Tony pipes up that that is a mistake. They need to consolidate their teams and meet strength with strength. Place the men at the McLennan-Forster building because Jack won’t be far from there. He knows CTU won’t be able to find him without help and he’s going to start a fire fight to do that. Tony claims to know the way Jack thinks. The commandos will use radios to communicate and Jack knows CTU will be watching. Curtis is in disbelief that Jack would engage the McLennan-Forster army but Tony stands by that it’s the most effective way to be found and Jack is going to expect them to be ready for it. Michelle hardly considers it before saying they are to stick with their original plan. She starts to leave and Tony looks angry. If Michelle is wrong Jack and Paul won’t have a chance. Michelle argues that if they cover more area they have a better chance to save them. Michelle says to do it, Curtis phones Agent Castle to have them maintain a perimeter, contrary to Tony’s plans. Tony walks off defeated.

Jack is preparing for the firefight and Paul looks on. He has a single eye telescope and he sees a commando with it. He says that it’s time. He goes to the owners of the store and tells them that no one fires until he gives the order. Jack goes back to Paul and looks some more. He readies his gun and watches the commando come out from around the side of a building. Jack aims the radical directly at the head of the commando and then backs off to the side. He takes a shot at the wall next to the commando and he does exactly what Jack had intended, he radios to the rest of the team saying that he’s being shot at. He gives his location. Inside, Paul observes that he is not returning fire. Jack says he’s alone, he is calling for backup. When Paul asks what to do Jack says to wait for them to come full force. Stay ready.

Michelle comes over to Audrey and she asks her to tell DOD that they are on law enforcement channels so they don’t need the DOD feeds anymore. Audrey says that’s not a problem but her voice is cold. Michelle takes the opportunity to apologise for being confrontational before but when you walk into a hail storm you have to be decisive. Audrey thinks that Michelle is making the right choices but she thinks that Michelle should re-evaluate her professional opinion of Tony. Michelle asks why so Audrey tells her the story of earlier on today. Jack had nowhere to turn and he called the one person that he knew would come through for them. Tony saved their lives. Michelle wasn’t aware of this information and looks surprised. He could be of a lot of use on a day like today to CTU. They look at Tony working across CTU and Michelle says that’s fair enough. Audrey adds that business aside, he still cares about Michelle. They evaluate him again from a distance and Michelle then comes towards Tony who is still working. He has some information ready to go and Michelle just wants to tell him that just because she overruled him once doesn’t mean that she doesn’t value his opinion. Tony warns not to patronize him but Michelle isn’t. Tony ran CTU for 2 years and anything he has to say she will consider seriously. Tony, not angry but impatient tells Michelle, “Don’t worry, I’m gonna tell you what I think whether you want to hear them or not.” Michelle says that’s good and leaves Tony.

Jack goes to his little army, the owners of the store. He asks if they’re scared and if they are sure that they want to do this. One of the brothers says that they are angrier than anyone about this and they are going to stand up and try and be a part of the solution. Jack apologises about their store and they tell their story to Jack. Their father left them this business when he died. He gave his whole life to the community and if he were alive he would be standing next to Jack, just as they are. Jack advises them to just stay low and do what he tells them. They are set up and ready to go and Jack arrives next to Paul. He looks at Jack and says, “Thank you, for saving my life.” Jack doesn’t really respond and he watches out the window. He sees more commandos outside and says “They’re here.”

7:39

Audrey asks Tony if she can help in the search for Marwan. Tony asks her for her to sign in for him on a server, he doesn’t have an access code and it would save him time. Tony thanks her, this should tick off some more names. She can help him when it’s done. Tony backs off from the computer and asks Audrey if she told Michelle what happened today. Audrey admits to telling her that Jack called him. Tony wants to know what else she said and Audrey smartly answers that she didn’t say he living with anyone if that’s what he meant. Tony with a sigh says dimly that he is sure that she already knows and that she couldn’t care less. Tony broaches the subject of the two of them and their relationship now that Jack is out in the field. Audrey says that it’s different, a lot different than it was. Tony agrees that it’s different, to tell her the truth he couldn’t believe it when he heard that Jack had taken a desk job in DC. Audrey thinks that he’s happy there, Tony gives a sceptical “Mm-hm” and says that she saw him today in the field. Does she really think that he’s going to go back to wearing a suit? Audrey can’t believe it, he went through hell today. Tony grimly says, “Some people are more comfortable in hell.” Audrey clarifies if he is talking about Jack or himself. Tony doesn’t answer.

Edgar has found the McLennan-Forster army. They have used their radio frequencies to communicate, they are planning an attack and are going to converge on a location. Curtis admits that Tony was right, they are drawing them in.

Jack sees a commando getting ready and takes aim at him. They ready themselves and wait patiently for the commandos to move. The rest of Jack’s little army is ready as well. Conlon arrives and is told by the head commando that they are in a sporting goods store across the street. He has a look with his scope and tells them to move. The head commando moves in shooting, Jack shoots back. Jack takes out 2 of them outside, the others shoot as well.

CTU can see that they have fire at Jack’s location. Audrey looks worried asking when they will be there to help. Curtis says the ground teams will make it first, 5 or 6 minutes. Tony, more frustrated than anything, leans over a desk and looks down. He was right.

The commandos ask who is helping Jack, the decide it has to be civilians. They need to end this quick and get the document. One of the brothers is hit by a bullet and he falls back into the store. The other is over him asking if he’s okay. He doesn’t respond but plays with the hole now in his shirt. His brother is near panic before the owner says that it hit the clip, he’s fine. Jack orders them all to fall back and as they do the commandos use a small bomb to open the door and then rush the store. Jack takes out another on and then gives his shotgun to one of the owners and gives them a tip about the night vision. If the are coming towards them and get within 10 feet they should shine the flashlight directly at them and it will blind them. Jack heads off and Paul takes out another commando. Things are quieter now and the brothers have a chance to try the tip that Jack gave them getting a hit of their own. Paul calls out to Jack in the silence and there is no response. Edgar tells CTU that the shooting has stopped but there are no teams in sight. McLennan-Forster could have taken the location, Michelle says they also could have the information. She is going to update Division. Audrey tentatively enquires if McLennan-Forster won the firefight what about Jack and Paul? Tony says grimly that there’s no way to tell.

7:50

7:53

Edgar lets them know that CTU is arriving on the scene. Lee Castle is on the line and there are 6 men down outside. Tony gets on and asks quickly if Jack and Paul are alive. They don’t know yet. Tony reiterates that the commandos cannot be allowed to leave with the information that Jack was carrying. Lee will do the best he can but Tony won’t hear of it. He snaps “Listen, failure is not an option.” This information is what this has all been about.

Inside the store the lead commando is walking. Jack appears out of the darkness and quickly shoves a knife into the back of his neck, the man falls and is dead. Jack reloads his gun and a chopper can be heard off in the distance. Jack shoots at Conlon and is ready to return fire at anyone. Conlon still waits for Jack but CTU arrives and the first agents in see Conlon and shoot at him. Conlon is hit and goes down and then CTU calls for Jack. He says yeah, he’s here. The agent asks if he and Raines are safe. Jack says yeah. All the hostiles are down and Jack heads over to see Lee but pausing to pick up Conlon’s gun. As he walks away the hand belonging to Conlon moves ever so slightly. Castle wants to talk to CTU and Curtis asks for his status. They are secure, Jack and Raines are safe but they are unknown on the information that Jack and Paul took. CTU will keep the line open. Curtis says that Jack is okay and the area is secured. Audrey asks about Paul and is told that he is safe as well. They don’t know about the information yet and Tony goes upstairs to tell Michelle. Curtis instructs Edgar to get ready for anything that they might find out there so he can work it up.

Tony arrives in Michelle’s new office and lets her know that Jack and Paul are okay. They still don’t know if they have recovered the information and even when they do get it they don’t know if they know the information will bring them any closer to finding Marwan. The leads will be worked up at CTU and Michelle offers to let Tony head that up. Tony bluntly says no, he doesn’t. She should probably let Curtis do that so Michelle agrees. Tony stands with his arms crossed and looks at Michelle. He studies her and Michelle takes the chance to apologise. She should not have said what she did about his drinking earlier, it was out of line. Tony says that she doesn’t owe him an apology. He starts almost in a whisper, “My life right now,” after a pause he continues, “let’s just say, I’ve been better.” He starts to struggle keeping his voice and says slowly and deliberately, “and uh, quite frankly seeing you here today has only made things worse.” He fights to maintain his composure as he makes the decision that he is going to leave and get out of Michelle’s hair and let her do her job. He has a hand on the door before Michelle stops him. With more emotion than usual she tells him that “We can’t afford to lose you, not today.” Tony checks that she is sure so Tony agrees to stay. He starts his descent down the stairs and looks through the glass into Michelle’s office. She closes her eyes after he is out of sight and takes a breath.

Jack goes to the owners of the store who are working to put it back together. Jack really appreciates everything they did and he thanks both of them with a handshake. He promises to have people stay and help put the store back together. After Jack leaves one of the brothers playfully ruffles the hair of the other, they are pleased with a job well done.

Conlon is still alive and musters the strength to grab an abandoned handgun sitting partially hidden under a shelf. He lay on the floor in the dark waiting. Jack arrives and standing with his back to Conlon hands the McLennan-Forster printout to Lee saying him that this has to get back to CTU. He also wants a security detail on this store made up of the best men they’ve got. Paul shows up and joins in the men talking, listening to what Jack has to say. He is facing Jack and behind him he sees Conlon who has now raised himself up to get a good shot on Jack. Paul yells for Jack to move and shoves him out of the way just as Conlon shoots. Jack lands on the floor, gets turned around and fires right at Conlon, this time he’s dead. Jack turns his attention to Paul who is standing still. Jack calls his name and Paul just stands in shock and then falls holding his midsection. Jack calls again and hollers for a medic. While on his hands and knees Jack crawls over to Paul, more panicked then usual Jack wants Paul to look at him, stay with him. Paul is having some trouble following these orders but manages to tell Jack “I owed you.” Jack seems to be in disbelief at this statement and tells Paul with a hint of a smile creeping across his face, “You don’t owe me anything.” The medics have arrived and they are starting to work on Paul. Jack doesn’t move, holding Paul’s head up and continuing to hold eye contact with him. Castle, at Jack’s back, tells him to let the medics do their work. He pulls Jack away and finally he relents and waves his arms to get Castle’s hands off of him. They start to work on Paul and Jack watches anxiously.

In the split screen we see Jack watching the medics, Michelle, Audrey and Anderson. He picks up the phone and makes a call to Marwan. He asks if there are any problems and is told that everything’s fine. Anderson is on schedule as is Marwan. Anderson is leaving now, “The President of the United States is on a tight schedule.” Anderson hangs up phone.

8:00

Miscellaneous Thoughts:

-Some help Curtis was to easing Audrey’s conscience. Yeah, they’re safe from the EMP BUT they are probably gonna get killed anyway.

-Talk about corporate torture, shutting his hand in the filing cabinet? They couldn’t come up with anything better than that?

-That was good foresight of Paul to hide the printout.

-Audrey’s right. Paul is not like Jack, especially if he was about to tell the goons where the paper was.

-Also, the whole thing about giving up? Definitely not like Jack.

-Jack looks a little ticked when he sees that printout. “We’ve been going through all that for THIS little printout? It’s not even English for crying out loud!”

-Tony looks none too pleased that Michelle has arrived.

-Michelle immediately has strikes against her in many 24 fans’ eyes by saying essentially that Jack is expendible and they are just after the printout.

-Hey, why doesn’t Michelle get Tony to just alphabetize the filing cabinet? That might be better use of his time.

-Brilliant of Tony to question Michelle. Great to see.

-The security clearance fiasco was wonderful. He doesn’t seem to care really about his assignment or anything but the security clearance? He looks like he’s going to cry.

-Strike two against Michelle, her cutting Audrey’s head off for no reason. She was just helping Michelle out and she just got snapped at.

-When Curtis says that the information that Jack is getting will be insignificant unless it proves McLennan-Forster guilty either sets it up to be completely useless or completely helpful. I’m leaning towards the useless side but that’s just me.

-So, Mr. Anderson. I wonder what he’s up to. I have a few guesses and I think one is right. I just hope we don’t have Jack saying a Matrix-like “Mis-ter And-er-son”

-Paul looks really rough.

-How did Tony know about McLennan-Forster’s army? Did he run into it previously at CTU or what? He seemed to access it pretty fast.

-Paul saying that he doesn’t think he can do this, well, what’s the other option there, brainiac? Lay down and wait for them to come and kill you? We all know Jack would never intentionally leave a man behind.

-These men are to be “Erased”, like they’re just something on a paper somewhere.

-Nice story that Conlon concocted about Jack going bad. Too bad it’s the other way around.

-I can’t say as I’m surprised that they came across a guns and ammo store in downtown LA. I was surprised, however, when shots came out of it aimed at Jack and Paul.

-Looks like Jack actually saved Paul’s life twice, once at the office and once outside the store.

-Is Jack really a Federal Agent still? Where did he get the badge? Remember he was working in DC, not LA at the start of the season. Or is a federal agent like, once an agent always an agent thing?

-After all this fuss about the portrayal of non-Caucasians on this show I was happy to see that they have shed some good light on Arab-Americans. Next time, though, could we just tone it down a little? The scenes were so hokey that I thought Jack was going to cry and give them a hug when they were done. They created a pause in the rhythm of the show that was kind of uncomfortable but the point got across: not all people of Arab decent are evil, but I think that if you needed the TV to tell you that, you need to get off the couch and read some more books.

-For someone who is not like Jack, Paul looks pretty comfy with the gun Jack gave him.

-How does Jack know that the EMP took out 8 square miles? CTU said that it did but they haven’t talked to him, unless all EMP’s take out that much space, but I imagine that there would be different sizes and types of EMP’s so how did he know?

-Line of the week contender: Paul to Jack: ‘You want to engage the McLennan-Forster army, just the two of us?’

-I’m sure that the President is still on Air Force One is about to come into play.

-The fact that Keeler is still on the plane just proves how much of a different president he is to Palmer. There’s no way David Palmer would still be up there, he’d be down on the ground with his people.

-Audrey, Audrey, Audrey. While Jack was just doing his job I can see where she’s coming from. She still shouldn’t be having feelings for Paul but at the same time, she probably shouldn’t want to see him tortured, either.

-I can’t see Jack winning either way here. If Paul dies from the gunshot wound he got while saving Jack, not only will it devastate Jack but Audrey won’t forgive him. If Paul lives, he will need care and nurturing, Audrey will probably be there to help him out leaving Jack alone.

-I tend to agree with Michelle canning Sara. If she’s thinking about money at a time like this, she needs to go.

-Words most likely to haunt CTU: ‘You’ll be sorry for this, I promise you will!’ No good can come from this.

-It took one of the store owner brothers to get shot in the empty clip before I realized why Jack asked them to do that.

-It’s great how Tony just skulks around CTU. He looks so out of place. It’s wonderful.

-No kidding, Tony knows how Jack thinks… did he send him a cell phone text message or something? That was crazy.

-The ultimate ‘Tony belongs here’ moment was when Michelle found out that he was right about Jack’s plan.

-Michelle is just making amends all over the place, first Audrey, then Tony. Wow. De-icing really fast there.

-Some agent Tony is, Michelle and Audrey watched him for a good couple minutes and he didn’t even notice. On the other hand, he may have known and chosen not to look.

-Line of the Week contender: Tony to Michelle: “Don’t worry, I’m gonna tell you what I think whether you want to hear it or not.”

-It was really nice to see someone appreciate Jack’s work instead of second guessing it all the time. Judging by Jack’s reaction, he’s not used to it either.

-I’m wondering if Michelle really doesn’t know about Tony’s bitchy girlfriend, also, if she will be there when Tony gets back. After that exit, I wouldn’t be sticking around.

-Line of the Week: Tony to Audrey: “Some people are more comfortable in hell.”

-Jack really does seem to thrive off of his misery. He may be actually happier in situations like this than anything in DC.

-Paul is still wearing his wedding ring.

-Paul got good with the gun really quickly. He even got a kill,

-Audrey needs to take a second during the firefight and ask herself who she is more worried about losing, Jack or Paul. That will give her a good indication as to how she really feels.

-I really thought Paul was going to shoot Jack at one point there. Until the end of this episode I didn’t completely trust him, although now I do. Too bad it will be too little too late.

-Those two store owner brothers played quite big roles for characters who weren’t given names.

-Does Audrey really need to ask what would have happened to Jack and Paul if McLennan-Forster won the firefight? There’s no way Jack wouldn’t go down shooting.

-Tony not only still cares about Michelle, but he still does care about Jack. Just look how nervous he was before they found out that Jack was alive. Also, how insistent he was that they find that printed document. That way, if Jack is dead, at least the document would still be there; his death would not be for no reason.

-I gotta say that while Jack killing that commando with his knife was very impressive it was also pretty gross.

-How could Conlon not hear CTU coming?

-Hearing Michelle say ‘We can’t afford to lose you’ seemed to be a bit deeper than just CTU letting him go.

-The scene in the office with Tony and Michelle. I don’t know what I can say about it except that I loved it. You can see that Tony is still struggling with his problems and his previous actions but he seems to want to make things right. Michelle comes into CTU all tough but then shows her soft side to Tony wanting him to stick around. These two have more things to deal with yet and I look forward to more scenes like this one.

-Jack seems to have grown very attached to Paul since a few hours ago he had just met him. Concerning is the effect the death of Paul would have on Jack’s already problematic psyche. Especially if Audrey blamed him for it, which she is likely to do. Remember, everything with Jack is personal and everything is his fault. To have someone give their life to save his would be mental torture for him. It’s also a switch: Jack is usually the one putting himself in harms way to save someone, not the other way around.