5.05: 11:00am - 12:00pm - Acceptance

5.05: 11:00am - 12:00pm
~ Acceptance ~2005-01-23

11:00

The man in the yellow tie helps the other team load up the canisters. They are all put on the back of a truck of which the sign on the side is promptly peeled off to reveal the S.W.A.T. identification on the side. The all pile in, close the door and drive out of the hangar.

Jack is being escorted back to CTU in a CTU vehicle. He sits in the back seat while a man drives. The woman sitting shotgun apologises for having to bring Jack in like this. Jack identifies her as Moira and tells her it’s okay, he understands. She comments that it’s been a year and a half, she’s curious how he managed to stay invisible for so long. Jack sighs that he was not as invisible as he thought. She answers her phone “ Tyler” and it’s Curtis calling her, he wants to talk to Jack. She passes the phone back to him and Curtis has questions about the man in the yellow tie. He was hiding with the hostages until the assault which was at about 10:30. They discuss his exit, Jack says the only one without an alarm was between gates 6 and 7. Curtis wants his man to pull up the external footage of that area.

The terrorists’ SWAT truck comes up to the checkpoint and is loosely checked by an agent standing there. He gives them a good to go. In the back yellow tie man is on the phone telling the person on the other end that they are on the way.

Evelyn wanders down the hall towards Martha Logan’s room. She opens the door to find her sprawled out on the bed unconscious. In a panic, Evelyn runs to her side calling for help. She goes back out to the hallway and yells that something has happened to the First Lady, get a doctor now. A Secret Service agent heads away.

Curtis tells an agent working on the video feed from the CTU vehicle that the man they are looking for should have come out between terminals 6 and 7. He pulls up the feed from 10 minutes ago. Curtis wants different angles to try and find him and eventually they find the man in the yellow tie on cam 4. The follow him until he is lost on another camera, they can’t see because of the bad angle. They match it up to another camera and see him going into a hangar double b. It has yet to have been searched because it is outside the perimeter. Curtis moves over to another CTU vehicle and he and the team hang on to the outside preparing to move. The SUV starts towards the hangar and while on for the ride, Curtis calls Edgar where they are going. He briefs him that the suspect that was hiding among the hostages entered hanger double b, they are going in now. Edgar asks as passing Chloe for the channel.

Curtis’s team disperses off the SUV and he gives orders, team 2 covers the rear. Once they go in they don’t find anything other than a big hole in the pavement and the place where the canisters once stood. Curtis stands over the hole and looks down and the other agents join him. He orders one to go down the ladder and check it out and he orders some others to search the building to see what they can find. Curtis also continues the search and finds numerous dead rats along the exit. He crouches and uses a piece of garbage on the ground to get a better look. Curtis orders the forensic team sent down with a full bio-pack and spectrum analyzers.

The non-SWAT SWAT vehicle backs up and the man that was in the yellow tie but is no longer tells the man they are meeting that they had no problems getting the canisters out, they were exactly where he said they would be, everything is on schedule. They load the canisters to the other man’s vehicle and he says that the documents are being finalized at the port; the Russians will understand the repercussions of occupying ‘our’ homeland when they turn Moscow into a graveyard.

Martha Logan has her blood pressure taken by a doctor. She sits on the edge of the bed and appears awake but groggy. Evelyn tells Charles as he approaches that she found her like this when she came back. Charles is angry that she was left alone. Charles goes to his wife and asks what happened. The doctor says she seems to be alright, they will have to do a test to find out why she blacked out. Martha is adamant she didn’t, someone attacked her. Logan is now sitting next to his wife. He is reluctant to believe her but she hugs him and tearfully whispers to him that she had the proof and now it’s gone the proof that David Palmer called her to warn her about today. He wants to know if they are still on this, they were never off it; he just wouldn’t listen to her. Walt approaches the pair asking if everything is okay. Logan waves him off, he thinks so, but Martha says it’s not okay. They have to listen to her, she had a document from the archive room, Logan interrupts and Martha silences him, she is trying to tell them that it’s gone, someone stole it from her. Logan doesn’t seem to believe her and brushes it off that she has been under a lot of stress lately, they all have. He wants to let Dr. Hill examine her so he can figure out how to get her better. She tries to stop him from talking by covering his mouth but to no avail. She is upset that he doesn’t believe her, he doesn’t believe his own wife. Walt and Evelyn look on at the events as Logan asks the doctor to call him if there are any sudden changes; he has an important phone call from the secretary of state. Martha begs her husband not to leave her there but he must. He continues to walk and snaps his hand out of hers leaving the room. Logan and Walt pause outside the door, Logan asks his advice what to do about this. He suggests that they send her to Vermont and readmit her, they should consider it an option for her sake. Logan grimly tells Walt that she said she’d rather die then go back there again. Logan pauses lost for words and Walt suggests that if she is going to continue to persist with her conspiracy theories it’s only a matter of time before someone believes her. Logan wishes there was another way but he doesn’t think there is. Walt offers to handle this while his phone rings. Logan asks him to make the arrangements and not to let his wife find out, he wants to be the one to tell her. Walt confirms this and goes to answer his phone. Stepping outside the building Walt’s phone rings again. It’s Nathanson asking if Walt has handled the problem. He has, Martha Logan won’t give them any more trouble. Nathanson says that Erwich has finished transferring the goods and he is on the way to the port, Walt asks if the government knows if anything is stolen and the do not. The only thing they have left to take care of is Bauer. He is on his way to CTU. Nathanson is concerned; once he is there his hitter won’t be able to get near him. Walt has someone inside that can help them, Nathanson suggest that he use him. It’s done.

11:12

11:16

At the hangar, CTU checks the rats. Edgar is on the phone to Curtis, the reading is 2 thousand parts per million (PPM) and the gas is military grade. Edgar gets up and goes towards Buchanan and McGill. Chloe tries to stop him because she has something for him to do. He rushes past saying not now and Chloe is surprised, he doesn’t say ‘not now’. Edgar briefly presents to the pair of them that Curtis found nerve gas in hangar double b. There were trace amounts in the blood of the rats and it’s definitely military spec, it’s weaponized. They toss around the idea of the terrorists stealing the gas but they don’t know who from, the military got rid of their supplies years go. Lynn wants Edgar to find out where it came from through trace, Chloe is to raise the alert level. Buchanan and he are left standing there.

Walt and Logan are sitting down together going over some paperwork. Walt doesn’t want to tell the press about the First Lady for a few days, they should bring out the successes of the treaty first. Logan agrees. Dr. Hill comes in with an update on Martha. She is sleeping now and he doesn’t know what caused the blackout. Her psychiatrist has not prescribed any medication that would have caused that kind of collapse. Mike enters the room and wants to speak to the president and Walt alone. The doctor leaves promising to keep a close eye on her. After they sit again Mike tells them that the situation at the airport has taken an unexpected turn. Logan makes sure that they did capture or kill all the terrorists. Mike says that they have indications that the hostage crisis was used to cover a theft of a cache of chemical weapons. Anxiously, Mike is asked what kind of weapons. With hesitation Mike answers “Nerve gas.” Logan asks if it is theirs and it is not, CTU is trying to source it now but it was buried in a bunker at the airport. It seems a hostage was working with the terrorists. He escaped and had another crew waiting. They have no idea what they are planning; they haven’t made any demands or threats yet. CTU is running an interagency search and coordinating on the ground. They are keeping everything internal right now and keeping the press out of it. Logan is immediately stressed out, whatever they were ready for an hour ago is nothing compared to what the terrorists are able to do now. Walt is instructed to assemble the proper people to discuss evacuation scenarios.

Chloe is working at her station when Spencer comes up to her telling her that he has finished his last task, what else can he do. She snaps at him that he can check the list, he doesn’t need to ask her every time he needs something new to do. Spencer, angered by her tone, doesn’t care if she is his boss of if she regrets last night, no one talks to her like that. Snidely, Chloe reminds him that she just did. Spencer leaves and goes past Edgar who seems to have been watching. He now gets up and goes to Chloe’s desk. She ignores him for a few seconds and then asks what his problem is. He doesn’t have one so she asks what he wants. He claims to not want anything so she apologises that her private life has not remained private today. Edgar was thinking the opposite, she’s too private. They have known each other for years and today he finds out that she has been keeping secrets from him. She wonders aloud if he has ever taken a psychology class, people lie. He says that she didn’t tell him that Jack was alive, she snaps “National security” so he asks about Spencer, he didn’t know they were going out. She is frustrated and says sarcastically, ‘When we find the nerve gas and the threat level drops we can have some camomile tea and I’ll tell you all my secrets, okay?’ Edgar leaves.

Spencer makes a phone call from a private location asking Walt Cummings, the man on the phone, if he paged him. Walt wants to know if Bauer is at CTU. He is not yet and when he does get there Walt needs Spencer to do something. Spencer has his hands full searching for the nerve gas but Walt needs Spencer to clear an entrance to CTU.

Audrey finishes her phone call and Lynn approaches her, she was bringing DoD up to speed on the nerve gas. Lynn has reviewed the evidence on Jack Bauer, he is inclined to agree with what Audrey said, he didn’t do it. Lynn says that Dianne Huxley is being brought in and needs to be questioned about any information she may have about the nerve gas. Audrey doesn’t understand why, it is because she could have had contact with someone and not known. Lynn wants Audrey to interrogate her. Audrey is not a trained interrogator but Lynn makes a point that Audrey knows Jack Bauer better than anyone in CTU. He knows it’s uncomfortable but he needs her to do it, to see what she can get. Her and her son just cleared security. Audrey watches the pair arrive at CTU, Dianne’s arm around her son. She introduces herself to Dianne and Derek. Audrey tells Derek that the CTU clinic wants to check him out. He claims there is nothing wrong with him but Audrey says it’s procedure. When he is finished the two of them will speak. Audrey asks a guard to take Derek to medical, Audrey and Dianne head the other direction. Audrey puts on an obviously fake smile and reassures Dianne that Derek will be fine. Jack is on his way into CTU and Dianne observes that she had no idea that he worked in a place like this. Audrey, still smiling, says it’s just up the stairs. Dianne asks if Audrey knew Jack before and Audrey answers crisply, “Yes, I knew him.” She attempts to continue to smile.

11:24

11:28

Edgar looks out into the hallway from his desk as he sees Jack and the two agents escorting him. He simply stares and as Jack continues to walk it seems that all of CTU stops to gawk at the man they all thought was dead. Moira, the agent from the car, explains that a lot of people thought he was dead until today. He asks her to excuse him as he sees Chloe. He heads to her station and she seems to be the only one not gawking at him. He says her name and she says hi. He asks if she is okay and she is. He admits that he wouldn’t have made it out the airport without her help, he thanks her. Chloe says he is welcome and Lynn McGill shows up next to Jack. Lynn officially accepts Jack into his custody and excuses the other agents. He tells Jack that he is no longer a suspect and hands him a Level 2 clearance card that Jack stuffs in his pocket. Lynn briefs Jack as they walk into one of the rooms that they were not able to get the man in the yellow tie. He was part of a group that stole nerve gas from the airport. It’s military grade chemical weapons. Jack jumps on the thought process and says that the only way they are going to get to these terrorists in time is to find out who killed David Palmer. Lynn agrees and they think that David Palmer was about to expose what happened today, that’s why he was killed. If Jack can help them identify who framed him they might be able to stop them in time. Buchanan shows up and says a casual hello to Jack. Buchanan updates them that the president has been informed and they do not want the media to find out. Lynn will make sure that Division restrains the information flow. He leaves Buchanan and Jack alone. They exchange a somewhat awkward handshake and Buchanan says it’s good to see Jack again. Jack says he’s very sorry about Michelle; he wanders away from Buchanan explaining, “I never meant to put her in jeopardy.” Buchanan, as if it’s ludicrous, answers “Of course you didn’t.” With his back to Buchanan, Jack asks how Tony is. Buchanan tells Jack that he is still unconscious but the doctor says that he will pull through. Jack runs his hand through his hair and will want to speak to Tony as soon as possible. Buchanan thinks that Jack should know that Audrey has been working for them. Jack clarifies that she is in the building now; Buchanan says she is talking to Dianne. Jack wants to know why and it is because Lynn asked her to.

Audrey and Dianne speak in an office. Audrey is behind the desk and Dianne sits on the couch. Dianne says that Jack said his name was Frank Flynn. Audrey pretends like she is going to write this down but doesn’t. Dianne figures that Audrey knows more about him than she does; Audrey says that she thought Jack was dead for the last year and a half. Audrey asks if Jack has been living with her for 6 months, Dianne confirms this, he was renting a room. Audrey takes it one step further asking if they have a personal relationship, Dianne thinks that’s none of Audrey’s business. Audrey needs to know because they need to figure out of Jack confided in her. Dianne says that Jack was a private person; she knew he was keeping something from her but she accepted him for who he was. She continues that whoever he was before doesn’t change how she feels about him; he was good to her and good to her son. He meant a lot to them and he still does. Audrey understands and continues asking if anyone ever came by to ask about Jack. Dianne isn’t sure what she means, Audrey explains that someone knew Jack was alive, it is critical they find out who it was. Dianne answers that no one ever asked about him or came looking for him. Audrey looks up from Dianne and sees Jack standing there on the other side of the glass. Their eyes meet and Audrey stands there stunned, Dianne sees her reaction and turns to see Jack standing there. Jack seems awkward and after a few seconds abruptly walks away as if he is unsure what he should be doing. Audrey asks to be excused for a minute and before Dianne can say anything Audrey is out the door. Dianne says ‘Yeah’ once she has gone. Audrey chases after Jack calling his name so that he stops. She comes face to face with him and after a few seconds of awkward silence Jack starts, ‘I don’t even know where to begin.’ Audrey looks at him and he begs her to believe him that he couldn’t tell her that he was alive, for her own protection. It seems that this is not what is bugging Audrey, she tells him that it has been hard for her thinking that he died thinking she was angry at him, “That I hated you.” She was not able to forgive herself. Jack says that she has every reason to; he was responsible for Paul’s death. Audrey comforts Jack, he made a hard decision. Jack doesn’t take this well, he looks down to his hands and she becomes emotional, ‘I never thought I’d get another chance to tell you this but I want,’ Audrey pauses and Jack looks somewhat hopeful, ‘I want you to know that I don’t blame you for what happened with Paul.’ She leans toward him and lightly brushes his shirt with her hands. He does not do anything in return except stand there. Audrey continues, “There is so much I want to say to you.” Jack is told that Mr. McGill wants to see him and Audrey has to go. She does and leaves Jack standing rooted in place. He looks sad as he watches her walk away from him.

Evelyn comes towards Martha Logan’s room with a glass of tea. Walt stops her and says that Mrs. Logan will be leaving them; he needs her to collect some of her things. When questioned Walt admits that the president is not going, she needs to pack the essentials to keep the trip comfortable.

Spencer is in one of the back rooms of CTU logging in. Once he does he uses the cameras to see Jack walking. Chloe comes into the room, Edgar saw him come in here, he claims to be opening up a new socket, they are overloaded from NSA. Chloe was looking for Spencer; she needs to get into his utilities volume. She appears to be lying and he calls her on it, why didn’t she message him? She gives up, she wanted to say something to him and doesn’t want to make a big drama out of it. She tells him that she was unfairly harsh to him a few minutes ago. He accepts her apology but she says that it wasn’t really an apology. He simply walks past her out the door and she swears, “Damn it, why do I always do that.” She looks at the terminal that he left open and does a check finding that he was working on a security level 5. She picks up the phone and calls Edgar asking him what security clearance level Spencer has. He asks why she wants to know but she snaps at him yet again that Spencer works for her and she needs to know, please open the frame and give it to her. Edgar complies, it is level 3. Chloe tells him to call Buchanan and tell him that she needs to talk to him now, it’s important.

A man by the name of Hank shows up at CTU security. He claims to be from Division and that he was sent because one of the main frame servers is having a problem. The guard says that he is not on the manifest; he will have to clear it with administration. Spencer shows up and shows his ID getting Hank through. He puts his bag on the conveyor and the contents are scanned finding nothing of interest. Spencer uses his card to get Hank into CTU and once they are alone Spencer says that Cummings told him it would be better to keep him off the manifest. He quickly explains that the classified information that he needs will be on 9 & 12, all the stuff on Bauer should be there. He doesn’t know what Mr. Cummings told Hank but he needs to keep the vector counts down or it will get flagged. He has to get back to his station. When Spencer goes, Hank gets out parts of a gun from his case. He assembles it along with the silencer and cocks the gun.

11:39

11:43

Martha Logan is sleeping when Evelyn opens the door and goes to the dresser. Turning on a light she pulls out some clothes from the drawer. The noise wakes Mrs. Logan who asks what she is doing, why is she packing her things? Walt Cummings asked her to and Martha learns that Evelyn doesn’t know where she is going and she doesn’t know if the president is going with her. Martha asks her to stop and asks what’s going on. Evelyn was just asked to get Martha ready to leave. Martha catches on, they are sending her to Vermont, aren’t they? Charles is having her committed. Evelyn doesn’t know anything else, Martha slowly gets out of bed and says she is going to get dressed. Martha excuses herself to the bathroom and closes the door.

Spencer’s system is locked, he wants to know where Chloe is but Edgar doesn’t know. 2 CTU security guards come over and ask Spencer to come with them. He doesn’t get up and they explain that Buchanan has ordered them to take him into custody. Spencer is in the middle of a critical task, Edgar will be taking over his workload. Spencer asks Edgar if he knew about this, he did just get the bulletin. They leave and Edgar watches. Spencer is taken into holding where Chloe and Buchanan wait. He asks what’s going on as Chloe stands looking offended. Buchanan accuses him of burrowing into classified items without proper clearance. Spencer tries to defend himself and Buchanan cuts him off, he might as well tell them, he has accessed information out of his clearance level at least 18 times in the 4 months he has been there. He claims he didn’t do anything wrong. Chloe starts at Spencer, it was not what he appeared to be when he crawled into her bed just like it is not what it appears to be when he works here. Buchanan grabs Chloe and turns her around asking her to let him handle this. Spencer doesn’t think that Buchanan can trust Chloe, she is angry with him. He asks for a lawyer, Buchanan says there are lives on the line, tell them what he is doing here and tell them now. Spencer says nothing and sits back.

Logan walks and thinks aloud that he hopes this goes better than it did last time. Walt has Dr. Hill on standby in case she reacts. They enter the First Lady’s suite and ask Evelyn where she is. Directed at the bathroom Logan knocks on the door calling his wife. She doesn’t answer and he asks Evelyn if she is sure she’s in there. Evelyn assures him that she is, she was getting changed. Logan opens the door and doesn’t see his wife. He heads across the bathroom and finds a bottle of pulls knocked over but still closed. The last place to look is the bathtub and he deliberately opens the shower curtain finding a chair and an open window behind it. Right away he tells Pierce that his wife is gone. He radios his agents and tells any of them seeing her to check in immediately. Logan looks to Walt.

11:48

11:53

Jack paces back and forth in the room with Lynn. The only people that knew he was alive were David, Tony, Michelle and Chloe and the person that killed David Palmer and tried to frame him for it. Lynn clarifies that Jack doesn’t know who did it. Lynn asks if Jack has any theories. He does, David Palmer called him and said that someone in Logan’s camp was trying to kill him, Jack believes that whoever tried found out the truth that he was alive and he tried to exploit it. Lynn asks if this person is inside the administration. They are and that means that they are tried to the nerve gas. Jack says sarcastically that Lynn should look into that. This could take months of investigation. Before they can discuss it further a woman interrupts them saying that Dr. Paulson is calling from medical. He is put through and tells the pair that Tony Almeida has regained consciousness, he is very weak and all visits are to be brief. Jack looks surprised and Lynn will be down in a few minutes. The doctor says that Tony has asked to see Jack Bauer first. Jack tells Lynn that he is a friend; Lynn tells the doctor that Mr. Bauer will be down in a few moments. Jack heads out of the room at top speed. He doesn’t get too far before he runs into Derek. Jack is distracted and wants to get going but Derek just wanted to apologize. Jack doesn’t believe Derek has anything to apologize for but Derek does, he thought Jack was just another loser trying to take advantage of his mom, but he was wrong. Jack smiles and understands. Derek was trying to protect her and Dianne is lucky to have someone in her life that loves her as much as Derek does. Jack promises that when this is over they will sit down and talk. They shake hands and Jack tells Derek to take care of his mother.

Spencer is being questioned about his security access; he looks to Chloe who tells him to answer the question. Spencer can’t talk to anyone about this. Edgar comes charging in the room and using a tablet PC shows Chloe and Buchanan what Spencer was looking at 10 minutes ago, he was using in house surveillance to track someone. After looking at the screen, Buchanan demands to know why he was tracking Jack Bauer. They need to get security to locate Jack.

Jack enters the clinic and sees the doctor standing around the corner. Jack asks if he is Dr. Paulson and introduces himself as Jack Bauer, Tony Almeida wanted to speak with him. The doctor reminds Jack to keep it brief. Jack approaches his friend who lies on the hospital bed not responding to him at all. One side of his face still contains gauze and he is on oxygen but otherwise appears okay. Jack gets close to Tony and calls his name, he says that it’s Jack. As Jack looks up he sees the reflection behind him in one of the monitors. The doctor is standing there with a gun. Jack kicks the tray beside him back and turns to fight the man who is not the doctor but Hank. The initial struggle releases bullets in the clinic, Jack directing them high, above where Tony lay. After exchanging a few blows Jack gets hit hard in the face and then is thrown against the cement wall by the larger, stronger man. With a sickening crack Hank kicks Jack in the midsection. He descends on Jack who holds Hank off, stopping him from inflicting more pain on him. Jack looks over and under the bed sees the body of Dr. Paulson. The men struggle on the floor and Hank notices a pair of scissors on the floor from the spilled tray. He manages to grab them and ties to drive them into Jack. Jack holds him off and eventually gets the better of Hank, turning the tables and landing on top of him. Now Jack holds the scissors over Hanks face and with a quick move Jack jams them into the mans neck. With little hesitation Jack finishes the job ramming them all the way in. Jack crawls away from the dead assassin and sitting on the floor leans back on a nearby bed groaning and holding his side. Before the dust settles Buchanan runs into the clinic with security guards. He asks Jack in a near panic if he is alright. Jack winces and gets up; he thinks that he cracked a rib. Buchanan tried to reach Jack but the lines were locked. Jack doesn’t know who the guy is, just that he killed Dr. Paulson and he got to Jack. Buchanan informs Jack that one of their workers, Spencer Wolff is a mole. Jack wants a doctor to monitor Tony Almeida and leaves the clinic.

In the split screen we see Tony still unconscious, Spencer in holding, Derek, Dianne, yellow tie man, Curtis arriving at CTU and Audrey.

Jack goes into the other side of the interrogation room and asks for visual surveillance on medical room 2. Jack brings up the shot of Hank dead and goes to get Spencer. He grabs him by the arm ordering him to get up. Jack takes him out to the video feed and asks if Spencer let that man into CTU. Spencer doesn’t answer and Jack continues that he is a professional assassin, he killed Dr. Paulson and he tried to kill Jack. Spencer explains that he was supposed to be setting a tap and he was here as part of an internal affairs investigation. Jack asks if Spencer is starting to understand how much trouble he is in. He asks who told Spencer to let that man into CTU. Spencer admits it came from the White House, from Walt Cummings, he recruited him, he wanted to make sure that CTU was operating within the rules. Spencer appears to be telling the truth, he begs Jack to believe him, “I thought I was serving the President.” Jack wants Spencer taken back to holding. Once he is out of the room Jack turns on Buchanan and Lynn: Walt Cummings killed David Palmer and he tried to have Jack killed. Even if that’s true they have to build a case, they have to call the President. Jack doesn’t want to call the President, he’s in LA, they should go to him. Lynn reminds Jack that Walt Cummings is not only the Chief of Staff but he’s the President’s friend, they can’t just go get him. Thinking on his feet Jack tells them all, “I’m not CTU, I’ll go get him myself.”

12:00

Miscellaneous Thoughts:

-Got really excited when I saw Carlos Bernard (Tony Almeida) in the credits. Too soon.

-Anyone with Jack should just answer the phone “Jack Bauer’s answering service.” The guy isn’t even officially alive and Curtis is calling asking a legitimate agent to talk to him.

-I think we just figured out why perimeter teams are so useless. He just did a cursory check and let the terrorists just go on through. Terrible.

-Curtis should probably be concentrating on not falling off the outside of that SUV, not really calling Edgar. Besides, how did he do that when he had both hands on the truck? I know there are phones that call on command, but you usually have to press a button first.

-Kids, don’t try the riding on the outside of the SUV trick at home.

-Can’t they just take 2 cars like everyone else?

-I guess it’s safe to assume that Curtis is the new head of Field Ops.

-Shotgun not going down the ladder to check out the place where the poison gas has previously been

-The only thing grosser than rats are dead rats.

-If the canisters were sealed how did the rats die?

-Good call on Curtis for not touching the nasty dead animals.

-Interesting motive from the terrorists and the nerve gas. Still have no clue why Cummings would support anything like this. What is that man’s agenda?

-If Martha is so adamant about being attacked, why can’t they do some kind of blood test to find out if there are chemicals in her system that would lend themselves to her being drugged (more drugged than she already is that is…) Or am I just watching too much CSI?

-Completely off topic, having 24 only on for 4 months of the year really has made me have to watch other shows. CSI is one of them that I never watched but now do all the time. Another good show that you should be watching if you’re not is Without a Trace. The Jack in that show is nearly as complex as the Jack in this one.

-Haven’t we all wanted to put our hand over Logan’s mouth more than once? Go Martha! Do it for the viewers!

-Walt would like it if Martha was out of the way… this is probably the easiest way to have her not talking to her husband about David Palmer, send her to an institution.

-When Logan said that Martha would rather die then go back to the institution I thought for sure we were setting up for anther first lady-less administration. Palmer did it but he was way more of an independent thinker than Logan. Just when you think you have these writers figured out they take a pattern that they usually follow and then don’t follow through.

-Oh Walt, imagine someone believing the first lady when she’s actually RIGHT.

-Where is the security around the President? There has to be someone within earshot to hear Walt so blatantly conspiring against the president. Aren’t his calls monitored somewhere?

-It’s interesting how we can take the same issue and have a different spin and it being just great. The entire ‘Chief of Staff conspiring against the President’ plotline has been played out before, in Season 2 it was Mike Novick that was conspiring against David Palmer but he honestly believed he was doing the right thing. Walt, on the other hand, seems to have only his own best interests in mind, whatever they may be.

-My question is “Why is this so focused on taking out Jack?” Is it just so that he can take the fall for killing Palmer: If he’s dead he can’t say he didn’t do it. Or, is there a personal side to this?

-Chloe is just Mrs. Cranky pants today. Shouldn’t she be in a good mood after last night?

-Way to set up a scandal. Yeah, we’re going to institutionalize the first lady… but we’re not going to tell anyone. As soon as that hits the papers it won’t matter that they were intending on doing in it a few days.

-Nothing like the feeling of impending doom – Yeah, the terrorists have nerve gas and well, we’re not really sure what they want.

- Logan is stupid. Shouldn’t the fact that she’s not taking anything that would make his wife black out be a bit if a red flag?

-Spencer was scary when he told Chloe that no one talks to him like that. Right then I was sure he was on the wrong side.

-Line of the Week: Chloe to Edgar: ‘When we find the nerve gas and the threat level drops we can have some camomile tea and I’ll tell you all my secrets, okay?

-Spencer must really think he is doing the good thing; he still wants to find the nerve gas. If he had been in with Walt he would have known where it was or at least probably wouldn’t have used that as an excuse with Cummings.

-Good work Audrey, she convinced the guy that’s kind of but not really running CTU that Jack is not a murderer. One person down, about a billion to go.

-Here’s a switch. Non-trained, non agent Audrey having to interrogate someone. The exact thing that she decided that she hated Jack for doing with her husband. Now THAT’s ironic. IT would be even better if she was extracting information from her.

-Anyone else curious if Lynn has an ulterior motive for asking Audrey to interrogate Dianne. It seems strange to me even though he gave a decent answer.

-Here’s hoping they’ve expanded CTU medical since last season or else Derek will be sitting next to unconscious Tony.

-That’s a terrible fake smile of Audrey’s.

-Trust Chloe to be the only one that doesn’t seem to care that Jack is there… although, she knew he was alive all along.

-There is nothing unofficial about Lynn. It makes me wonder if there is something we’re missing.

-Once Logan finds out the reason they think Palmer was killed: Because he was going to expose the crisis today, he should believe his wife and be aware that there is a traitor very close to him. Don’t count on it, though. We all know Logan is about as smart as a doorknob.

-Buchannan’s reaction to Jack saying that he didn’t mean to put Michelle in danger was weird but fits Buchannan’s personality. He knows that Jack is a good guy and knows that Jack shouldn’t blame himself. We all know that he will.

-It surprised me that the first thing Jack didn’t do when he got back to CTU was go and see Tony. I was expecting us to see him as soon as Jack got there even if he is unconscious because it just seems like what Jack would do. Go and see the only friend he has left other than Chloe.

-The only more awkward interrogation/debrief than Audrey and Dianne was probably Teri and Nina. Coincidentally, they are all involved with Jack.

-So, Dianne still didn’t really answer the question if Jack and her are together, she just said she cared for him. That doesn’t mean anything.

-Audrey knows all too well that Jack is a private person, although, the day she banished him he did open up to her.

-Dianne did what Audrey could not: accepted Jack for who he was. Audrey found out who Jack was really and couldn’t take it, Dianne doesn’t seem to care because she knows he is a good man. By the same token, Dianne hasn’t seen Jack torture someone she cares about, either.

-That expression that Jack wears around Audrey is one that really we haven’t seen before. It’s a very sad and crushed expression that I think we first saw after all the stuff with Paul started. After a year and a half he still carries the same feelings for Audrey, I believe that he does still love her which is unfortunate because she doesn’t deserve him.

-Anyone else think that Audrey was going to say “I want… to spend the rest of my life with you” just like he said to her in 4.24. It’s cruel that she leads him on like that.

-Chloe’s a terrible liar, that’s why she could never be a field agent.

-Damn it! It’s contagious. That was Jack’s line and now Chloe’s saying it!

-I can buy the gun parts not setting off anything but the silencer is pretty obvious, why didn’t CTU security see that?

-‘Atta boy, Spencer. Chloe is a real pain and I don’t care if he’s the biggest mole ever, he needs to just walk away from her.

-Does Evelyn really need that light on to pack Martha’s things? It’s the middle of the day in California for god’s sake and they’re CLOTHES! I’m pretty sure she’d be able to see it just fine without the lights on.

-Evelyn is the stupidest woman alive besides possibly Chloe.

-Chloe is really bad at this interrogation thing. In fact, why is she even in the room?

-What a set up for us to think that Martha was going to have killed herself.

-Where exactly does she plan on going? I think she’s a little bit on the obvious side because a) she’s in her pyjamas and b) she’s the first lady.

-Love Jack’s demeanour with Lynn, “You should look into that” as in, “I don’t really give a rats ass if you do or not.”

-I doubt Jack has to explain to Lynn that Tony is his friend. I think they just covered that Tony was one of the only people that knew he was alive.

-Maybe Chloe can lend Jack and Derek some of that camomile tea so they can chat too. Why don’t they have a great big patch-up session after every ‘day’ where people make up for the terrible things they’ve done. Sounds great, it should be in the CTU union agreement.

-Does that goodbye mean that the Derek/Dianne angle is coming to an end? I hope so because I think I’ve seen enough of him. That kid needs a haircut.

-As if we didn’t already know that the doctor standing there was not Dr. Paulson. They didn’t have to keep the camera away from his face. As soon as I saw Tony it was pretty obvious that he was not with it.

-Anyone remember Agent Paulson from Season 1? That’s 2 Paulson’s they’ve killed now.

-Did anyone even take Tony’s pulse? The monitor wasn’t on, for all we know he could be dead. Why would the assassin let him live if he was supposed to have been killed earlier in the day?

-Good idea, direct the gunfire AWAY from your incapacitated and wounded friend. Good thinking Jack.

-Spencer looks scary in that interrogation room, it must be the lighting.

-He looks a lot less scary when Jack drags him out of there. In fact, he looks like he’s going to make a mess of Jack’s shoes.

-Oh Jack, no good can come from going to see Walt.

-Unfortunately, we may be headed down a slippery slope here with Jack. In the clinic he cracked one of his ribs (that sounds ironic, doesn’t it). It’s a very specific injury and very painful (just ask anyone that has done it). Again there are rampant rumours of the writers killing Jack off to keep the show fresh. Sustaining an injury this early in the season may be opening doors, they are weakening Jack. Don’t kill him folks, just don’t go there.