4.19: 1:00am - 2:00am - Idiocy

4.19: 1:00am - 2:00am
~ Idiocy ~ 
2005.04.25

1:00

Joseph Proddo is patched up by CTU doctors after his run in with Jack. Buchanan wants to speak to the White House. Audrey comes into the room where Proddo is and pulls the chart out to have a look. She asks what happened to him, knowing all to well what the answer will be. Buchanan says simply that Proddo talked. She asks who did this, she is a representative of the Department of Defence and she has a right to know what happened. When Buchanan doesn’t answer she asks the question, “Did Jack do this?” Buchanan admits it, it was the only way he would give up the information. Audrey asks if Logan has given his authorization for this, he did not. She changes the subject and asks where they are now. Buchanan says they are prepping a team to apprehend Marwan. Audrey leaves.

Jack is speaking to Curtis, they are going to use LAPD to lock down the perimeter. They need to stay invisible. Audrey comes charging to Jack and says she just came from the clinic where they are treating Proddo for multiple injuries. She reminds him the White House did not condone this. Jack now has the information, they know where Marwan is. Logan gave the orders and Audrey tells Jack that she is acting against the president. Jack knows, Curtis comes up and is ready to go. Audrey has seen enough, she threatens Jack, ‘You can’t keep walking outside the lines and not expect consequences.’ Jack knows what he’s doing and says that no one understands the consequences better than him, no one. Jack turns to leave with Curtis, as they walk he questions if Jack is okay. He testily says he’s fine, why? Curtis was just asking. Jack apologises, he’s fine. Knowing what Jack and Audrey were arguing about, Curtis tells Jack, ‘For what it’s worth, you did the right thing with Proddo.’ Jack looks back at Audrey and thanks Curtis.

Still debating if they should allow the torture of Proddo, Logan is mulling over the idea of torturing a citizen versus a foreign national. They don’t know for sure that he has the information but they are not letting CTU do what they need to do. Logan is going to wait for the Attorney General to get back to them with his opinion, Mike urges that they’re running out of time. Logan turns to his advisor, Walt and says that he was the first to raise an objection, what does he think now? Logan needs to make a decision and it needs to be sooner rather than later. They are told that Buchanan from CTU is holding, he’s called twice saying it’s urgent. They will be right there. Logan doesn’t know what they should tell him. Mike starts to try and get an answer but Logan snaps to stop pressing him for an answer that he’s not ready to give. He needs more time. Mikes leaves and takes the phone call from Buchanan. He explains that the president is still working through his decision. Buchanan says that he might not have to make that call because Proddo gave up Marwan’s location. Mike thought that Proddo said he didn’t know anything, Buchanan figures he changed his mind. He admits that Bauer physically coerced him but defends it because they got what they needed. Mike is furious, he should have restrained Bauer. Buchanan wants Mike to get the president to sign off on the action and then in the end they can cheat the timeline. Mike won’t hear of it, remembering past mistakes he says that he made the mistake of deceiving one president, he’s not going to make the same mistake twice. Bill wants to speak off the record, he is worried about Logan and his ability to lead them through this crisis. Mike understands and while pondering what has been said he observes Logan through the glass.

The nuclear warhead is sitting on the back of a truck, the caption reads Central Iowa. The phone of one of the men rings and Marwan is calling. He wants a phone call as soon as they are finished, the payment will be wired to the account. The worker says that they need to reconfigure the trigger mechanism and it might take an hour or less. Another phone rings and a man named Sabir answers. His girlfriend is on the other end and she is upset. She has left him 3 messages already. He calls her Nabila and tells her he is at the hotel. She has done her homework, she knows he never checked in. He will explain tomorrow but she figures it will just be another lie. She found a bookmark on his computer, she asks if he has something to do with the things going on today. Sabir is not a violent man, he says it’s politics, he will explain things tomorrow.

Buchanan asks for the schematics on the night club. They need to set up a staging area. Audrey goes to Buchanan and asks how he could let Jack torture Proddo. Buchanan tries to brush it off, it had to be done. The President was clear when he said he didn’t want him tortured, Buchanan says he was wrong. Audrey doesn’t like that but Buchanan would rather ask for forgiveness than permission. This is not Washington and the politics are not always on the front line. Audrey reminds him that Logan is a politician and she hopes that that doesn’t come back to haunt Buchanan or Jack.

Mike enters the room where Logan is and informs them that CTU has located Marwan. They’ve sent a tactical team to grab him. Logan takes this as good news but wants to know how they obtained Marwan’s location, did they use force? Mike believes that force was used. Mike tries to tell Logan that it was an extremely sensitive situation. Logan doesn’t care, he wants to know who is responsible. Mike hesitates and Logan asks again who did this. Mike admits it was Jack. Logan gets on the soap box and says that the president can not allow insubordination to go unanswered. He wants Bauer arrested. Mike thinks they should wait until they have Marwan in custody. He is heading the field ops mission but Logan won’t believe that Bauer is the only man that can do the job, put someone else in charge. Mike attempts to reason with Logan but he just snaps that they get Secret Service.

Buchanan mentions that Jack and Curtis are still a few minutes out. Buchanan’ phone rings and Mike says he just got out of a room with Logan. He explains the reaction to the news and says that he is not going to leave it alone. Buchanan says that tomorrow they can bring charges against him but right now they have to find Marwan. Mike corrects him, it’s not tomorrow and it’s not Buchanan, Logan wants Jack Bauer arrested. Buchanan can’t believe it, he is heading the team to bring down Marwan. Logan wants it dealt with now and anything less he will take as a personal repudiation of his presidency. It’s not about feelings, they have been sent to take Jack Bauer into custody.

1:13

1:18

Curtis wants to know for sure is Marwan is inside the building. They have a remote camera, a visual. Jack calls Chloe and asks for the air conditioning configuration sent over to his PDA. The snipers are set up. Chloe is called about a woman from LA whose boyfriend has been involved in suspicious activities. Chloe picks up the phone and identifies herself. The woman, Nabila, isn’t sure she is talking to the right person. It’s about her boyfriend and she isn’t really sure that it means anything. She found something on his computer and she thinks Sabir, her boyfriend, may be involved with radical groups. Chloe clarifies she is talking about terrorists. She found a schematic for a microchip and it’s a type she’s never seen before.

Jack is looking around the building with a flashlight. He steps up and unscrews a vent while his radio goes off. Buchanan wants to talk to Jack and it’s urgent. He is patched through and Buchanan tells him that the Secret Service is coming to get him and arrest him. Jack asks what Buchanan is talking about. Buchanan elaborates, Jack violated an order. Jack wants him to stall but he’s already been on the phone for the last 10 minutes. Jack will have to get Marwan before Secret Service gets there. Curtis will run interference. In a few minutes Jack will be ready to transmit.

Marwan shows up and a man tells him that he just talked to Abad in New York. Marwan wants ‘it’ delivered by dawn on the east coast. He prepares himself and a man asks if he wants to cover his face. Marwan says no, he wants the American people to know who did this. He’s ready and the man behind the video camera rolls it. Marwan speaks gravely and clearly. ‘People of America, you wake up today to a different world. One of your own nuclear devices has been used against you. It will be days and weeks before you can measure the damage cased. Remember why this happened to you, you meddle in affairs and follow your government unquestioning to your own slaughter. Today you pay the price for your ignorance.’

Jack is working in the building, he pulls a transmitter and a camera out and places them in the vent. He controls it from where he is and states that the camera is in the vent. Shortly he has a visual on the main room where there are 50 civilians. Marwan won’t be there. Jack gets an image of a man at one of the doors and Chloe runs it through the facial recognition software. She comes back with a match and he is an associate of Marwan. This verifies that the address that Proddo gave them was legit. Secret Service arrive and they are questioned as to if Marwan’s people saw them coming. They came through the rear alley and they haven’t been seen. Jack moves the camera over to the next room. Marwan is continuing his speech and is demanding the renunciation of the policies of imperializing or this attack will be followed by another and another after that. Jack has a visual on people in the room with Marwan. He observes that it looks like a storage unit, there are five of them but they are talking with someone outside of Jack’s sight line which is Marwan.

Secret Service tells Curtis that they have orders to take Jack Bauer into custody. Curtis explains that he is currently trying to confirm that Habib Marwan is in the building and he is in possession of a stolen nuclear warhead. This is extremely sensitive and he is in a concealed position inside. Jack gives his word that he will go with them after he is finished. This isn’t good enough for the agents, they want him to come out now. Curtis makes the decision to replace Jack. He sends Castle in on the south side of the building and as the men move a cab comes around the corner and flashes light on Castle. Marwan’s man sees it from his position inside and radios that the police are there, he’s seen an officer outside. Marwan wants everyone to start packing and he looks around directly into the vent where the camera is. Jack has confirmation that Marwan is in the building. Marwan says something that Jack can’t hear and Jack swears and tells the teams that Marwan knows they’re here. They need to move on the building. Curtis starts calling all agents, the cover is blown, go. Marwan starts to move out, Jack heads up some stairs and around a corner into the room Marwan was in. He goes out the other side. Jack pursues Marwan. Marwan hands out flashlights to his men as they head into a sewer tunnel. Jack manages to shoot the last man but there’s no luck with Marwan. They find the hole they exited through and Tony orders a 2 mile perimeter around the building. Jack hears beeping and whips around to see a bomb. He yells for the agents to run and tells them it’s a bomb. It explodes and agents are thrown everywhere, including Jack. CTU hears the explosion and Michelle calls for Jack. He doesn’t answer, she calls Curtis as well. Jack gets up and he and Curtis are both okay. Jack says to check the men. They can’t follow Marwan, they have blown the tunnel they left in and it’s blocked. LAPD needs to tighten the perimeter. Secret Service is in now and have come for Jack. They ask him to hand over his weapon and Jack complies. They half heartedly frisk him as Jack informs them that they blew this operation. One of them apologises, he was just following orders.

1:30

1:34

Curtis is on the phone with CTU, he doesn’t understand what Logan was thinking. They figure that Marwan is probably past the perimeter by now, Tony says they have to keep looking. Curtis finds a tape on a man that was shot. It’s damaged but he will bring it back to CTU.

Logan asks how Marwan got past the men. Buchanan explains delicately that the men had to move before they were ready. Logan wants to know why and Buchanan continues that Secret Service showed up and it compromised their position. Logan’s tone changes and he starts, ‘I didn’t mean… that’s not what I meant to have happen.’ Logan is reminded, ‘With respect sir, your orders were explicit.’ Mike wants to know about the other protocols they are following. Buchanan says grimly that they have no other protocols, they are essentially without a lead. Mike asks for a few minutes and they will get back to him. They hang up and Mike looks to Logan. Logan cops out that it’s not his fault, this never would have happened if Jack Bauer didn’t disobey him. Mike quietly refutes him, “If you’re asking me to agree with that assessment, I can’t.” If it wasn’t for Jack Bauer they never would have located Marwan. CTU is waiting for them to call back with directions, what does Logan want Mike to tell them? Logan admits blankly that he has no idea. He turns to face Mike and says that’s the problem, isn’t it. It’s his fault that the lost him and this man, Marwan has a nuclear warhead and he allowed him to escape. Mike says, “Mr. President” but Logan cuts him off, ‘I don’t know if I deserve to be called that.’ Mike is unfazed, ‘Whatever I call you you’re still the president of the United States.’ Logan yells, ‘I shouldn’t be!’ He contemplates resigning and Mike tells him that the country is already at its limit and 3 presidents in as many hours will be devastating. Logan just wants Mike to tell him what to do. Mike takes a deep sigh and states that there’s someone that can advise him better than he can and he should consider bringing him in here to help him. Logan nods and asks who it is.

In a living room there is a TV on watching the news. The phone rings and a man who appears to be Secret Service picks it up and tells David Palmer that there’s a secure call coming through. Palmer thanks him and says hello. Mike calls Palmer ‘Mr. President.’ He immediately knows Mike is the voice on the other end of the phone. Mike apologizes for calling so late but Palmer is following the news. He received his last intelligence briefing 3 hours ago. Mike brings him up to speed that Habib Marwan has since then taken possession of a nuclear warhead. They retrieved the football from Air Force One and they have used it to track and steal the warhead. President Logan feels that he needs help. Palmer inquires as to what kind of help, Mike just says ‘substantial.’ Logan is asking for Palmer to be in a position to help him make decisions, by the presidents own admission he feels he may not be up to the task. The country is possibly about to face the worst terrorist act in history and they need Palmer’s leadership. Palmer would like to speak to Logan face to face before he commits to anything, Mike thanks him.

1:40

1:45

Jack is sitting in the back of the car the Secret Service agents came in. They open the door and ask him to step out of the car please. Jack wants to know what’s going on and they explain that President Logan realized he made a mistake and Jack is free to go. They uncuff him and apologize, they are genuinely sorry. Jack mumbles that it doesn’t really help with their situation, they had Marwan. Jack asks the other agents if there has been any sign of Marwan, they searched all the tunnels and found nothing. Jack says in frustration, ‘We had him’, Jack yells this time, “Dammit, we had him!” They aren’t finished searching but Jack knows that if they haven’t found him by now they’re not going to. They have no new leads and decide to load up and go back to CTU.

Chloe asks Edgar to release the system he’s on, she needs to use a sequencer that’s only on that one. Edgar is busy and refuses to move to Chloe goes to Tony and explains that she needs to get onto Edgar’s system and all he is doing is screwing around moving agents that Jack and Curtis don’t need. Tony goes to Edgar and tells him to call most of the agents back in, Marwan’s gone. Edgar gets up and Chloe occupies his spot with a smart smile on her face.

The men are putting a chip into the war heard and they are programming it. It’s alright. A man named Morris calls Marwan and asks if there is a problem. He explains that CTU found out about the club, it must have been Proddo that told him. The warhead has been reconfigured and the timetable remains unchanged. They may have a potential security breach because of the girlfriend of Sabir. She is becoming suspicious but it is taken care of. Marwan would like to know when it’s done. He hangs up and climbs out of a manhole onto the street.

Chloe speaks to Buchanan and informs him of the lead about the woman. It has panned out and he had the schematic of a microchip on his computer that is used exclusively on nuclear warheads. She figures that he may have recently become radicalized and she thinks he is out of state but she has no idea where. It could be Iowa. Most of the information on his hard drive has been locked, they will see what else they can dig up. Buchanan tells Chloe that she is to get a team and go to the house. Chloe stutters that she isn’t a field agent, she doesn’t do that. Buchanan orders her to go, they need to know what Sabir is doing and where he is.

1:50

1:54

Edgar is on the phone with Chloe who is in the back of a CTU car. He has a live link set up when they are on site. Chloe tells him what to do and he obeys. If she can think of anything else she can call him. Edgar knows that Chloe is scared and Chloe doesn’t know why they are asking her to do this, “I really hate it.” Edgar confides in her that while she was being prepped he asked Buchanan if he could go instead but he said no because Chloe was the best analyst they have. Chloe just says, “I know”, she will call him. They pull in the driveway and turn around. They go to the door and Nabila answers. Chloe introduces herself and agents Bergen and White. The computer is inside and they head in. Chloe wants to know if there are records other than on the computer. She says no and talks about the encryption that is used. Chloe looks at Nabila and she explains she has a doctorate in computer science. CTU has a way to get past the algorithm. Chloe instructs Nabila to write down birthdays nicknames and anything else he might use as passwords. They hear a noise but don’t know what it is. Soon shots are fired and they take off with the laptop into the laundry room. A man is on the other side and yells that the men are dead, they need to open the door. Nabila asks Chloe if she has a gun, her response, “I work with computers!” She phones Edgar and says they are being shot at. Jack and Curtis show up and Edgar quickly explains that Chloe is being shot at in the field. Jack gets on the line and Chloe says they are barricaded in the laundry room, she will call back. She hangs up and Jack can’t do anything, he calls for an LAPD response and is told that the tactical team will be 15 minutes. Jack snaps it’s too long.

Chloe has escaped from the house and they run out to the CTU vehicle. Approaching it she whispers for it to be open and so it is. They get in and she starts the frantic search for the key. Nabila sees the guy come out and past the dead agent. Edgar has Chloe on the phone again and Jack says that it will be 10 minutes before anyone can get there. Chloe says that’s too long. Jack encourages her to stay calm and asks where they are now. The man has come to the car and he starts to shoot at them. Fortunately, the glass in the vehicle is bullet proof. They are searching for weapons in the car as the man walks away they find a rifle. Chloe thinks he’s leaving but she can’t get to the rifle, it’s locked and she doesn’t have the combo to get in.

In the split screen we see Chloe, David, Logan, and Jack hanging over the phone.

Jack asks if they have the code yet, they don’t. The man gets in his Jeep and starts to back it up. Chloe sees what’s coming, he’s going to ram them. He backs up further and Chloe panics asking Jack frantically where the code is as the man rams into the CTU vehicle. Curtis shows up with it, it’s 3143. A neighbour comes out of the house next door to ask what’s going on and the man in the Jeep shoots him. Chloe tells Nabila to get out of the car and she does the same standing up and shooting a bunch of times into the Jeep. The man who was attacking them falls out dead.

2:00

Miscellaneous Thoughts:

-After what we just saw about Proddo last episode, he is taking being beaten up by Jack very well. He hardly said a word.

-Audrey picked a good time to pull the ‘Department of Defence’ card.

-Audrey has a lot of guts to take on Jack like that. It’s obvious that he does love her because for anyone else he would have gone snap show and started yelling.

-Well, that’s wonderful, at least Curtis thinks Jack is doing the right thing. Unfortunately that’s not who Jack wants to go home with at the end of the day, although, maybe he should.

-Not surprising but still funny to see Logan WAY behind the times. Still trying to solve a situation that’s already been solved.

-Well, at least Mike learned from his mistake of going behind the president’s back from when he did it with Palmer. For those of you that don’t recall, Mike went behind Palmer’s back in the last few episodes of Season 2 because he believed that Palmer could not make the decisions about attacking another country. In the end Palmer fired him for is disloyalty.

-Nabila is all over this, maybe they can get her a job at CTU after today.

-It just seems wrong to be packing the warhead around on the back of a pickup truck. Nothing specific, just wrong.

-If I’m Nabila I’m not waiting around that house to see just how bad the people that Sabir is working with are. She’s gotta know she’s in danger, she should get the heck out of there as soon as she’s convinced enough to call CTU about him.

-Audrey just can’t let it go, can she? What does she want Buchanan to do about Jack now? He got the information, it’s not like Jack can mend Proddo’s fingers and then he can take back the information.

-Logan was pretty quick on the pick up that force was used to coerce Proddo. See, he does have a brain.
-Well, call me crazy but I think Logan was pretty clear when he said he wanted Jack taken into custody now and he can have someone else do the job. There’s no way that later he should be able to back out of it.

-Nabila takes the possibility that her boyfriend may be a terrorist very well. She’s quite composed on the phone with Chloe.

-Marwan could be reading nursery rhymes and if he used that tone he would still sound scary as all hell.

-At least we get some insight into the reason for the attack with Marwan’s little speech. It’s about time.

-See kids? Remote control cars ARE useful! Jack must have been good at that when he was a kid, he manoeuvred that one in the vents very well.

-Well, we could see the Secret Service screw up of the op coming a mile away.

-Famous last words: “I was just following orders.”

-Yet again the LAPD perimeter serves to be a useless waste of matter.

-Logan was pretty forward about what he wanted, there’s no way he should be able to cop out behind ‘that’s not what I meant.’ What he’s really saying is, “I had my head so far up my ass I had trouble hearing what I was being told.”

-Who else really wanted Buchanan to follow ‘We are without a lead’ with “And it’s completely YOUR FAULT!”

-Mike Novick is just stepping right up the popularity ladder with this episode.

-I could definitely think of a few things to call Logan other than Mr. President.

-*Happy Dance* Palmer’s back! Now THERE’s a president.

-It takes a big man to help out the people responsible for extorting you out of a presidency.

-It takes an even bigger man to do that at the request of the man that nearly brought down your presidency and to be courteous to him.

-Mikes request can be rephrased as: Inept Logan needs you to come on down here and save his and the country’s ass. He’s really screwed it up.

-It’s too bad that Logan’s crummy order made those two Secret Service agents look like jerks. At the same time, they could have just let Jack finish the op.

-Cute little tantrum by Jack there, I expected him to break or shoot something so I was a touch disappointed.

-Marwan: in the sewer like the rat he is.

-I can’t believe Edgar’s bickering about computers at a time like this.

-I also can’t believe Chloe is sent out into the field. Really not a fan of that plot development. I am a fan of her reaction when he asked her to go into the field. Classic Chloe.

-Edgar’s gesture to Chloe was sweet. Even though they don’t jive all the time and she just went over his head for something she still offered to go in her place.

-If it wasn’t even a PC they needed why couldn’t they send some agents over there to pick it up with Nabila (Who obviously would have been in danger) and bring it back t CTU?

-Line of the week: Chloe: “I work with computers!”

-For someone who yelled at Chloe and nearly got her fired last season Jack really seems to care that she gets out of there alive.

-Hmm, although that would have been a good way to get rid of Chloe, what’s that I’m feeling? Is that feeling glad that she’s alive? Wow, I’m surprised at myself.