6.00: Prequel

Season 6 Prequel

Previously on 24

We see the shot of the “Agent” coming up to Jack and telling him there’s a call from his daughter. We go right to him picking up the phone and being taken by the Chinese agents. Audrey disappears from his sight. We see Jack being dragged in to his meeting with Cheng. They exchange the same dialogue with the exception of asking for the phone call.

7 months later.

Jack is being tortured by a Chinese man. Another stands just in front of Jack while he is shocked using an electric device on his shirtless torso. Jack appears dirty and has a long beard. Once the man stops Jack hangs his head, eyes closed. One of them takes off a pair of rubber gloves, his shirt spattered with blood, and goes into an adjacent room. Cheng stands in there watching Jack through a small opening. The man tells Cheng that he has had enough for today. Cheng needs Jack to talk and he watches Jack get shocked 2 more times in the next room. Jack hangs motionless and the man warns Cheng that it will kill him if they don’t stop. Cheng is not inclined to stop them, he needs that information.

Cheng goes into the room where Jack is hanging and the man follows saying in English that he will die before he talks, he hasn’t spoken a word for seven months. Cheng snaps the photos out of his workers hands and holds them in front of Jack. He informs Jack that they know that one of these men is working with Jack’s government. He demands to know which one, Hong or Li? Jack just stares at Cheng, his eyes strong. Cheng asks again, “Which ONE?” With a steely expression Jack stares back at Cheng and the other man hits Jack again with the electricity. A look of compassion briefly crosses Cheng’s face. When Jack is shocked again Cheng says that that is enough. Jack is seen from the back and there are many open cuts and sores visible. Jack stares again at Cheng and he tells the guards to take him. Jack’s hands are unlocked. Flanked by 2 men Jack is dragged to a dark cell and tossed in onto the ground. The door is closed and a guard stands outside, pacing the hall. The cell is dark and Jack lay on his side. He rolls gingerly from his back to his side and winces in pain. It seems that time is passing.

Suddenly there is some noise outside the cell, Jack hears it and perks up listening. Unsure, Jack gathers himself into the corner of his cell and watches what is happening. A flashlight is directed at Jack and he holds his hands up to block the light from his eyes. A man unlocks the cell and enters. Jack appears scared but the man, speaking with no accent, reassures Jack as he approaches him, they are Americans. The first soldier consults a photo of Jack, the one we have seen on his CTU ID, and tells his partner that it’s him. He tells Jack they are going to get him out of there. He helps Jack up saying they don’t have much time. They exit the cell and head down the hall, Jack gripping the arm of the man that is saving him. They make it outside and a guard is seen walking by. He is on the radio and is shot down by one of the Americans. Jack is wide-eyed and attempts to hurry. They go under a fence to freedom as another guard is shot. The agents tell Jack to wait as they stop nearby and uncover a car. It is very light coloured and completely obvious. One agent goes back to get Jack and tells him to get in the car. They open the door for him and Jack jumps in the back. The agents warn him to stay down as they speed off. A Chinese jeep gives chase and eventually they manage to shake them off. Jack is given the all clear and for the first time he looks hopeful. They pull into a clearing and get out of the vehicle. The agents open the door for Jack and tell him that they have arranged safe passage for him from China. They will get him home safe. One of the agents whistles and the man from the photo, Hong, comes out from behind a giant rock. One of the agents reminds Jack that he knows Hong, he’s been working with them for years now, he is their contact there. He asks Jack if he recognizes him and Jack squints his eyes and gives the slightest nod. All of a sudden lights flood the clearing and jeeps close in. Jack tries to get away but the agents hold him down as panic grips him and he tries to run. Cheng shows up and gets out of a jeep. Jack appears frightened again as Cheng calmly thanks Jack, he has confirmed their suspicions about Hong Wei, he told them all they needed to know. In one quick second Cheng shoots Hong in the head and he falls down dead. Chinese guards converge on Jack who very briefly appears to cry. He is ordered back to his cell. As Jack is led away Cheng thanks the two American agents, the money will be wired to their Swiss bank accounts.

Title cards as follows:

4 hour premiere January 14th and 15th

www.24day6.com

Miscellaneous Thoughts:

-I was SO happy to get the DVD set for Season 5. I was so unhappy to put the bonus disk in my player and be subjected to the “Hot Llama” player. What a pain in the ass this thing is. Not only is it completely useless but it has to have that pop-up bubble every time you start it up thanking you for using it? Ugh. Annoying.

-I gotta say that the ship that took Jack looked a lot better on DVD than it did on regular cable.

-I still have a lot of trouble believing that Jack would fall for the ‘Kim is calling line’ that easy.

-This prequel very much reminds me of the James Bone movie, Die Another Day.

-And another appearance of nasty stanky Jack. I mean, he can not smell good. I see no showers.

-On an aside, I’m pretty sure that the beard and long hair were fakes on Kiefer Sutherland. He’s had lots of press during the time when this would have been being filmed (in fact, he has had lots of press straight) and he had nothing even close to long hair.

-Jack totally looks rough. We’ve seen him tortured before and in this stuff he’s beyond the point of even showing the pain, he’s not screaming or hardly even squirming, he’s just taking it and watching things go on.

-I’m hoping that the blood on that guy’s shirt is no Jack’s but I think that would probably be wishful speaking.

-Why would Cheng and the torture guy speak in English? It doesn’t make any sense unless they said it for Jack’s sake and not their own.

-The one promising thing is the strong look in Jack’s eyes as they interrogate him. It shows us that this is still the Jack Bauer that we know and love. It disappears when they are torturing him and when he is in his cell but in the face of interrogation he is strong.

-7 months is a long time not to talk. I know people that can’t go 7 seconds without speaking.

-They have done some nasty things to Jack; it’s evident from his scarring and open wounds on his back. And it’s at least double this time between now and season 6

-Jack looks like a deer in headlights when they flash the light into his cell.

-The worst part of this for me is watching Jack hold on to the other ‘agent’ to get out of his cell, like he won’t make it without the help of another.

-I hope Kiefer Sutherland didn’t get paid by the word for this.

-It was looking pretty darn good up until the unveiling of the stark white Toyota parked in the bushes. I know that they have to do this for the money to make the prequel and without it there would be no prequel but it’s kind of annoying.

-I’m not even going to comment on the ‘chase scene’ with the Toyota commercial.

-Cheng must have really wanted that information about who was working with the Americans because in order to obtain it he killed a bunch of his own agents, unless they were using blanks but it sure didn’t look like it.

-I found it pretty obvious that it was a set up when they started asking Jack repeatedly if he knew the agent, but, well, I didn’t just spend 7 months getting tortured by a foreign government.

-Actually, I take back what I said before, the worst part of this was seeing Jack break down after the agent gets shot by Cheng. It must be a reaction because Jack thinks he broke, even though I don’t think that counts.

-So here we are set up for Season 6. It’s gonna be hard for Jack to get past the fact that he gave information to the Chinese government and lost a contact in China. It’s also going to be hard for Jack to get past the fact that he was tortured for months on end. I think we all know which one will have a bigger impact in season 6 but it will be interesting to see if the breaking storyline comes into play. After all the confidence that was put in him by some great people, including the late great David Palmer it would be weird if they just let it go. -It will also be interesting to see if Jack ends up bumping into either of those 2 American agents that helped set him up. That would surely be an ugly demise for both of them.

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