5x00: Prequel - Old Ways

5.00 - Old Ways
Season 5 Prequel(Found on the Season 4 DVD set, Disk 7)

These prequels are designed to link up the two seasons. This is found on Disk 7 of the North American Season 4 DVD release.

(Placecard) Presented by Toyota

(Excerpt replay from Season 4 finale)
Jack has been dropped at some train tracks and he ducks behind some crates to make a call. Palmer answers and observes that Jack threaded the eye of the needle. Jack admits that he had some help. He wants to thank Palmer for advising him of the situation, he saved his life. Palmer is sorry it came to this, Jack is as well, and he just wanted to let Palmer know he was out. Palmer is glad and continues, ‘This is probably the last time we’ll ever speak. Jack, you do understand that when we hang up this call for all intents and purposes, Jack Bauer is dead.’ Jack, of course, understands and tells Palmer, “Mr. President, it has been an honour.” Palmer answers, ‘The same for me my friend.’ They hang up the call and Jack sighs. He comes out from behind the crates and begins to walk the tracks. He digs out his sunglasses and walks away into the sun hesitating to cross his bag over to the other shoulder. Jack walks off into the sunrise off the right side of the screen.
7:00

A brand new grey Toyota Avalon drives up, the location is Chicago, Illinois, 1:47:08. Jack is behind the wheel and the road is not busy, there are cars parked on the side of the road. As Jack drives he looks around him, his tattered hood on his blue zip-up is covering his hair but as he turns you can see that it is long and unkempt. He slowly parks the Toyota and continues to survey what is around him. He gets out of the vehicle and puts the same green bag over his shoulder. He closes the door and as the car locks it beeps. 2 men get out of a truck ahead of Jack and he hesitates for a beat as they look him over. Deciding they are harmless Jack walks past them. After they have passed him he turns to look at them walk away. Jack disappears around the other side of the truck.

Chloe drives up in a blue Toyota Pirus. She pulls over to a stop and gets out. She looks very nice and she checks scrap of paper, sighs, and starts walking. She goes into a lot that it quite open but with a few trucks around. She comes around a corner of a truck looking around when Jack jumps out and gabs her. He puts her up against the truck and asks if she is sure that she wasn’t followed. She is positive, she wouldn’t be there otherwise. He puts his hood down revealing a long head of straggly hair. He wants to know what’s going on. She quickly tells him that someone accessed her system three days ago. They traced that she accessed Jack’s autopsy report and these people also had access to her phone logs, they know she has been in contact with an undercover operation in Chicago. Jack walks away a small distance and says that he thought that she erased everything. She did but this person knew what they were looking for. Jack walks back to her and says that she has to go, he will be in contact with her when he is in the clear. Chloe offers to help arrange his cover but he advises her to stay as far away as possible from this. Before going Chloe looks Jack up and down and says “I can’t believe you have to live like this now.” Jack tells her not to worry about him, he is fine. He tells her to go. She gets a short distance away before Jack calls her name. He asks how Kim is. Chloe tells him the truth; she was heartbroken but it’s been over a year and she is better now. Jack thanks Chloe and as she walks away looks sad at the thought of his daughter. He recovers quickly and pulls his cell phone out of his bag. After pulling the battery out he squeezes the plastic part and then throws them in a nearby dumpster. Jack starts to walk back to his car.

As Jack gets near the car he pushes the button to unlock it. As he gets closer Jack hears a motorbike come up behind him. A man in black is riding it. The man doubles back taking a better look at Jack, who has gotten into his car. The man on the bike stops across the road from Jack and somewhat nervously Jack puts the car in reverse. The man on the bike is revving his engine and soon a black BMW comes screeching around the corner. Jack acts fast and starts moving in reverse down the road as fast as he can. The BMW is nose to nose with his car, sometimes very close. Jack pulls into a side road and takes off, the BMW turns as well and follows. They are on a road with cars now and Jack gets ahead, nearly hitting another car head on. The BMW doesn’t have as much luck and has trouble catching Jack. Soon, though, the BMW is back on his tail and Jack swears, “Dammit!” Having to avoid a collision Jack turns into an alley. The BMW hits its side before bouncing off and continuing to follow. The car is close and Jack sees an open yard on his left side. Jack heads around the corner and with the other car on his tail Jack mumbles, “I’ve got you now.” Jack pulls in making a sliding turn an the other car follows once more. The BMW is unable to navigate the turn and ends up sliding drivers’ side first into a forklift. Jack waits to see if there is any movement from the car. There is not and so Jack pulls his hood up and drives away, out of the lot. Before he makes his turn on the next side road the motorbike reappears and watches.

Miscellaneous Thoughts:

-You know what? I absolutely LOVE this Prequel business. It's like a reward for the loyal fans that buy the DVD's. It's great. Even though I felt this prequel wasn't quite up to snuff with the last one... but I'll get into that later. I'm just glad to HAVE the prequel at all.

-Here's a change - Chloe looks hot, Jack looks terrible. I'm glad it's usually the other way around.

-I am SO happy that Jack has been hiding out not in the LA area for the last year. When I first heard that he would be living just outside of LA in the beginning of Season 5 I was so angry that they would do something so cheesy. Now we know that he had to leave Chicago. I don't know really if moving CLOSER to LA would be the best answer... how about New York? There are enough people there to hide Jack Bauer.

-So, are we to assume that Jack is living on the street? He certainly appears to be dirty enough to be living on the street. So, my question is, how does someone living on the street get a hold of a brand new car that's cleaner than he is? Did he steal it? I mean, I know that Jack probably has some money but still, that would attract more attention than anything else, don't you think?

-For the record, a new Avalon runs about $25-$30,000.

-10 bucks says smelly Jack ruined the ever elusive 'New Car Smell'.

-You know, it's hard to get a reading on Jack's feelings sometimes. It's surprisingly harder to get a read on Chloe's feelings. Do we think that she has a little thing for Jack? The way she offers to help him is obviously beyond the call of duty and she has previously said things that made me think maybe she'd like there to be something there. But I don't really know, it could be just her personality.

-Jack should really leave the hood UP. He's downright scary when he takes it down with all the long hair.

-The car chase is very well done and quite enjoyable to watch. The only problem is it seems to feel a little bit like a 10 minute Toyota commercial. Any chance they get they are showing the interior of the car, the remote entry etc. It comes off kind of cheesy.

-So, does the dead BMW Driver count towards the body count of Season 5? That's 1 already.

-Wondering if motorcycle man is the same one from Season 3 when Kim and Jane Saunders were being transported...

-Overall, the prequel feels a little short. There really isn't a whole lot of substance here to set us up for next season. Sure, Jack's cover is blown but, I mean, really, that was kind of expected. At least with the Season 4 one there was some new material. It felt a little cheat-ey with the last minute of Season 4 on here and then just one other character other than Jack, and it's CHLOE, and then no other dialogue except Jack talking to himself. I don't know feels like they just wanted an excuse to film a car chase in a Toyota.

-That said, I'm still happy to have this, it's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, that's for sure.

-I liked Jack's little retrospective look at the guy that died in the BMW, almost like he's thinking he's back to his old ways again.

-Bring on Season 5!