8x01: 4:00pm-5:00pm - Hapiness

8x01-Hapiness

“Events occur in real time”

We see a New York skyline and pan down over a street where there are cabs.  We follow one as it pulls out and up to the curb.  A man, Victor, gets out and pulls his red hood up on his hoodie.  A man is watching and says ‘it’s him’.  Another man has a sniper rifle on Victor and lines up the shoot.  Victor pauses but a van goes by the scope and the sniper says ‘dammit’.  He doesn’t have a shot right now; they will get him on the way out.

Victor goes upstairs in the shabby building past various junkies hanging around in the halls.  He enters an apartment and calls Manuel.  He shortens the call to Manny but still gets no answer.  He hears water running and heads into the bathroom still calling Manny.  He pulls back the shower curtain to find the water running and Manny with bullet in his forehead.  Victor is startled and jumps back to the wall.  He moves through the apartment and pulls his gun out. He looks around and dials his phone moving to the window.  A woman answers the call he has made and she is upset.  He wants to speak to Mario but she says he is dead.  The camera on her end pans out and there is a dead man and people standing around him.  She says he was shot in the head.  She asks what the hell is happening but Victor hangs up on her and moves away out the door leading with his gun.

The men that are waiting watch the apartment building and they see him leaving the building with the hood pulled up on his red jacket.  The sniper has a gun on him and is ready to shoot until the other man tells him to stop, the person turns and it’s not Victor.  They look around saying he can’t be far.  Victor has come out of the other side of the building and breaks into a dark grey Pontiac.  He hotwires it and closes the door.  He comes speeding around the corner and the shooters see him.  The sniper shoots and hits Victor in the arm.  He grimaces but keeps on going, sliding the car around the street.  They continue to shoot at Victor and he does some evasive driving coming right back at the man on the ground who pulls out a handgun and also shoots at Victor.  The car is hit a few times but he gets out of their range.  They are going to move out and the man on the ground makes a call to 911 to report a stolen car.  He gives the plates.

The TV runs cartoons in an open, sparsely furnished unit.  Young Teri Bauer sits on the couch watching TV and as we get closer we see blonde hair, Jack is lying on the couch and Teri is sitting on him.  He`s asleep with a doll tucked in under his arm and Teri uses a polar bear stuffed animal to poke at Jack’s face and she calls his name.  Jack jumps but quickly she smiles at him and he smiles back.  He says to her kindly, ‘We already talked about this, remember?  You’re supposed to call me grandpa.’  She replies, “You don’t look like a grandpa.” Jack smiles again, “Couldn’t agree with you more.”  She tells him matter-of-factly that the cartoon he turned on was boring.  He reaches out to the remote and says they’ll have to find another one.  He starts changing the channel but pauses on a news station where they are talking about Taylor’s meeting with Hassan.  Teri bores of it and reminds Jack that this isn’t a cartoon.  Jack says okay and flips the channel; she stops him on one she likes.  He gets her attention and starts walking his finger to her while making a goofy noise.  She grabs is and giggles.  Jack’s phone rings.  Kim and her husband Steven are driving in the car and he says they are doing fine.  Kim asks how the zoo was and Jack admits that to be honest, they spent most of their time going back and forth between the black bears and polar bears.  Kim forgot to tell Jack that Teri is going through a bear phase.  Jack tells Kim that it reminds him of her.  Kim smiles that it’s funny; she tells Steven how much she reminds her of Jack.  Kim will be there in a few minutes, Jack will meet them in the lobby.

Kim hangs up the phone and Steven says it sounds like they had fun, Kim says they always do.  Steven wants to know what’s wrong and Kim says they talked about Jack moving to LA the first night they got there and he said he’d think about it but he hasn’t said a word about it since and they leave tonight.  Steven thinks it might be to do with the doctors not clearing him but Kim says that he is finished with treatment and he was cleared 2 weeks ago.  Kim is worried that he has been on his own so long, Jack might not know how to live any other way.  Steven suggests that she ask him again but Kim says her father is not the type of person you ask twice.  Steven offers to ask for her, she smiles at him but doesn’t answer.

A reporter speaks saying that a White House spokesman confirmed a joint press conference later this hour.  They are expecting President Hassan to announce the dismantling of his country’s nuclear weapons program.   This would be a historic success and a new beginning for his country and the entire mid-east region.

President Taylor and Ethan Kanin sit at a table across from President Hassan and his brother Farhad.  Taylor wants to talk about the verification and the vague language.   Hassan agrees to abandon the pursuit of nuclear weapons but Taylor wants those regulating to be American, not IEIA.   Farhad argues the point and Kanin speaks up doing the same.  Farad thinks they are saying that none other than Americans can be trusted, that’s the message they are sending and then wondering why countries are not negotiating with them.  Hassan stops Farad and Taylor steps in and says they need to resolve this before they can move forward, ideally before the press conference.  Hassan asks what her congress would say if he wanted to put his guard on US soil, it’s the same situation he is in, even if he agrees with her, the congress would not ratify it.  Hassan is not a king, Taylor answers that she is likewise not a queen.  He smiles and says it’s too bad for both of them.  Taylor wants to adjourn and discuss this with their teams and they stand up and get ready to move out. Once they’re outside the room, Kanin asks Taylor if she is aware that Hassan was an appliance salesman before he went into politics.  Taylor is willing to bet he sold a lot of refrigerators.   She tells Kanin to give him what he wants and make the inspections work.  Kanin starts to argue but she says he is a once in a lifetime leader and he has already suspended his country’s support of terrorists, how much farther can they expect him to stick his neck out?  Kanin doesn’t argue. 

Jack and Teri come down the elevator, Jack carrying a little pink bag of Teri’s.  He squats down in front of her and adjusts her jacket asking what she named her stuffed bear.  “Bear” she answers.  Jack echoes with a smile.  Kim comes in the door with Steven close behind her, Teri runs to her mother and Kim picks her up.  She heard that her and grandpa were hanging out with the bears.  Teri tells Kim that she had ice cream but she didn’t like hers so Grandpa gave her his.  Kim says that was nice. Steven takes Teri and Kim takes the pink bag from Jack.  He has been thinking about what they talked about and he has made up his mind, he wants to move back to Los Angeles with her.  Jack has a friend at a private security firm and he is going to get him some consulting work and he has a place for Jack to rent.  Kim hugs Jack and he says he will need a ride to the airport tonight.  Kim can’t believe he’s coming with them tonight.  She tells Steven who is nearby dealing with Teri.  Jack can be packed up in an hour and meet them at their hotel, he doesn’t have much.  Jack again squats and asks Teri if it’s okay if he flies back to LA with them. She is excited and runs and Jack, he picks her up and says he’ll walk them to the car.  They go out the door held by a friendly doorman, they get out onto the street and Jack opens the back door and secures her inside.  Kim gets in the passenger side and Jack crouches and leans on the car talking to Kim through the window.  She is glad he is doing this, and so is he.  They hug though the open window and exchange I love you’s.  Jack waves as they drive away.

Ruiz sits across the street in his stolen car, bleeding.  He moves some newspaper and reveals a gun underneath. He shoves the newspaper in his jacket to soak up the blood and puts the gun in his waistband.

4:11

4:17

At a press conference before the press conference, Rob Weiss gives a few bits of information to the press.  He talks of the heightened security and tells them that unless they are dying to know what a choke hold feels like they need to have their credentials visible at all times.  He leaves.  A woman is trying to enter the press conference, security scans her credentials and says they are invalid.  She says they can’t be asks him to double check.  He already did and her credentials have been revoked.  She wants to know by who but he doesn’t have that information, it’s not a mistake though.  She tries to talk him into it; she’s been there every day.  He tells her to step aside.

Hassan looks over some documents and Farhad comes in saying that Kanin has agreed about the inspectors on one condition, the head of the verification team must be an American.  Hassan can live with that but Farhad disagrees, they have already surrendered too much in the name of peace.  Hassan says that surrender is a strong word and they haven’t really surrendered that much.  President Taylor is lifting economic sanctions and offering aid.  Farad is concerned it is a trick.  Hassan’s phone rings and it’s the reporter calling from downstairs. She says she can’t get in, they have revoked her privileges.  She apologizes for calling for something so trivial.  He will take care of it, he is not bothered by it.  She is looking forward to their interview and so is he.  He hangs up and turns to Farad telling him to reinstate Mrs. Reid’s clearance.  Farhad tries to appeal to him, people are starting to talk about him and this woman.  Hassan says she’s a journalist and is doing a piece for a newspaper.  Farad knows Hassan has feelings for her, Hassan says she is north a threat to him or the peace process.  Farad thinks people will see him as being corrupted by the west, Hassan asks if that is what Farad thinks and he doesn’t believe that.  Farad reminds Hassan that he is married.  Hassan defends himself saying that Talia hasn’t been a wife to him for a long time.  Farad thinks he’s being reckless but Hassan has done nothing reckless.  He wants him to reinstate her clearance.  Farad will do it.

Jack is packing up his things into a bag and there’s a knock at the door.  He gets up and crosses the room looking into the peephole.  Prescriptions are visible on the table next to the door.  Jack opens the door a little bit and asks Victor what he is doing there, how did he find him?  Victors breathing is laboured and he’s still bleeding.  He says he was always resourceful, that’s what Jack liked about him.  Jack grabs him by the jacket pulling him inside.  He pushes him into a seat and locks the door.  Jack wants to know what happened, Victor needs help and Jack answers he needs an ambulance.  Victor tells Jack not to call, they are going to find him if he does because they’re listening.  Jack wants to know who and Victor says he has information.  Jack doesn’t work for the government anymore.  Victor thinks Jack will want to hear this.  Jack asks why him and Victor answers because Jack is the guy who always does the right thing.  He explains that there’s a big hit going down on President Hassan at the UN.  It’s going to happen before he signs the deal with Taylor.  Jack is listening and Victor takes the chance to say ‘I told you so.’  Victor admits to helping to get the hitter into the country and set up.  Jack finishes that they tried to take him out.  Victor nods and says that Jack was the only one at CTU that he worked with, he needs Jack to call and vouch for him.  Victor tries to stand but Jack pushes him back down.  He says that someone is trying to make sure the peace agreement doesn’t happen.  Jack will not do anything until he has Victors weapon.  He turns it over and Jack gets in his face, gun to his neck, threatening that he better not be screwing with him.  He wants to know who the hitter is.  Victor doesn’t know who, he was Russian or something.  Victor knows how to find him but he’s not saying anything until he makes his deal.  Jack eases up on Victor and says quietly, “You’re lucky I’m retired.”

The new CTU has an entry tunnel to drive up to.  An SUV pulls up and parks in a hurry.  Agent Cole Ortiz gets out and goes inside through glass doors. He makes a phone call, identifies himself and talks about wanting updates.  Dana Walsh comes over to him and they talk about the perimeter for the UN.  Hastings wants it larger but Cole barely has enough agents to cover what they are now.  She will try and get NYPD to help.  Cole tells Dana that his sister said that she left some messages about dresses but he told her that there was something wrong with Dana’s voice mail.  She got them, she pawns it off on the double shifts, she’s been busy.  An agent comes with some protocols and Dana promises to call her back.

Chloe smashes her keyboard with her fist in frustration, ‘Dammit.’  She utters.  Dana, all smiles, comes behind Chloe and asks if she is performing ‘percussive maintenance.’   She had a professor that called it that.  Chloe doesn’t seem to care, she just says she’s not going to have the facial recognition done in time.  Dana says she can do it in a batch, Chloe says the formats were different when they were entered but Dana shows her how to do it.  When she’s finished she encourages Chloe ‘Like I said, there’s no reason to be shy about asking for help.  Don’t worry, you’ll catch up, you’re doing great.’  Dana leaves Chloe looking mutinous and her phone rings.  She picks it up finding Jack on the other end.  Chloe is happy to hear from Jack and asks if he told Kim about LA.  Jack needs to speak with the director.  Chloe is hesitant, he’s in a meeting and doesn’t like to be interrupted.  Jack wants her to tell him it’s about Hassan and see if that gets his attention.  Chloe walks through the new CTU and up the stairs to Hastings’ office.  He’s talking and working on a giant screen through his glass walls.  They are dealing with security for the UN.  Hastings turns to Chloe and she says that she has Jack Bauer on line 3, he wants to talk to him, it’s about a plot against President Hassan, she thought he would want to take it. Hastings tells the person he is talking to that he will get back to him.

Hastings turns to Jack’s call and says that they have had a lot of threats on Hassan.  Jack can only imagine.  He gives Hastings the name of Victor Ruiz; he was in contact with him during the Salazar op.  He’s been shot in the arm he claims by an assassin. Hastings asks what he wants and Jack relays that he wants CTU protection and immunity.  Chloe is trying to pull up Ruiz’s file but she hasn’t yet.  Jack says that ‘I know this son of a bitch and his instincts are telling him they need to pay attention to this.’  Hastings tells Jack, “I need more than your instinct, Mr. Bauer.  CTU isn’t the organization you knew.”  Jack threatens calmly that that’s fine but if anything happens to Hassan he will be obligated to call Taylor and tell her that he tried to provide information about this attack and he ignored it.  Jack presses Hastings for an answer and Hastings wants to talk to him.  Jack puts the phone on speaker and puts it down on the table.  Hastings asks for the details.  Ruiz gives the names of two guys that were already taken out, Hastings will check with the police.  Jack gives the address of where he is and Hastings is willing to send a chopper, they can meet it at the police station 5 blocks away.  Hastings asks Jack to get Ruiz there.  Reluctantly, Jack looks at Ruiz and agrees.  It will be 20 minutes, Jack warns him not to use official channels, they believe the assassin is monitoring emergency bandwidth.  Hastings hangs up on Jack and then tells Chloe to gather comm and tactical, they have a situation. 

Jack hustles Ruiz out of his place.

 Arlo Glass, a drone pilot, is using the government drone to ogle a woman on a rooftop.  Cole shows up behind him and warns that if Hastings found him doing that he’d be out of a job.  Glass says it’s worth it, it might be love.  They have a meeting and he transfers command of the drone back.  Dana, Cole and Glass are waiting when Hastings comes down from his office.  He wants a chopper for a pick up, it’s a priority for a man claiming to have intel for a hit on Hassan.  Dana asks how good the intel is and Hastings says according to Jack Bauer, very.  Cole looks impressed as he says, ‘Jack Bauer?’  Glass asks stupidly, “Who is Jack Bauer?”  They all look at him in disbelief.  Hastings doesn’t answer but says that Chloe is sending the coordinates, the location is downtown.  Take a small team.  Cole wants a 2^nd team there for the landing zone but Hastings denies it and tells Glass to scramble a drone to go alongside the chopper.

Ruiz’s car sits on the side of the road.  A cop drives by and then pulls off near it.  Jack comes out the back door to his hotel, he looks up and down the alley and then up to the roof. He opens the door and tells Ruiz it’s clear.  Jack leads him away.  The cop radios the information on the car in.

The assassins are listening to the frequencies and they hear the report.  They get the location and the head man is assured that they will take care of it.  The head asks when he is going to have to step in, now would be the time to tell him.  They assure him that Ruiz is a dead man.

4:30

4:36

Kanin walks while Taylor is working with something.  Kanin tells her that Hassan accepted the country’s proposal.  Taylor says that great news.  She sits down and Kanin asks if something is wrong.  She was just thinking about Henry, a comprehensive peace agreement with the Islamic Republic is something they talked about years ago.  She wishes he were there to share it with her.  She looks to Kanin and asks if he is surprised.  He is considering his behaviour during the divorce.  He went out of his way to hurt her.  Taylor defends him that he was angry, she sent their daughter to jail.  Kanin argues that Olivia was responsible, no one else.  Taylor feels like if the roles were reversed, she might have felt the same way.

Rob Weiss comes into the office and has information on the assassination attempt.  It came through Jack Bauer.  Taylor is surprised to hear Jack’s name, she thought he was out and asks how he got involved in this.  Weiss explains the informant came to him.  Weiss wants to set up a call to tell Hassan before the press conference.  Kanin says no, they can’t do that, he might scuttle and they’d lose everything.  Weiss argues that he is a big boy and also if something happens then he won’t trust them and he’d be likely to pull out of talks, and Weiss wouldn’t blame him.  Taylor will think about what to do and thanks them both.  Kanin takes this as a dismissal and leaves but Weiss stays to get the last word.  He tells Taylor that if they hold back it could be disastrous.  She already said she would think about it and she thanks him again.  Weiss follows leaving Taylor with her thoughts.

Kanin walks down a hallway and pauses. He closes his eyes and pulls some prescription pills out of his jacket.  Weiss calls his name and apologizes if he went at him a little hard in there.  Kanin says there’s no need to apologize, he was making a point.  He recommended Weiss because he is not afraid to speak up and that’s what Taylor needs.  Weiss says he can get carried away though, he glances at Kanin’s pills.  Kanin tells him, ‘Don’t worry, kid, I ain’t dead yet.  I can handle myself, even up against you.’

Jack and Victor walk together.  Jack calls Kim who is almost finished packing.  Jack is slightly agitated, helping Victor along, and says that something came up, he’s going to be late.  It’s probably better if they meet at the airport.  Kim asks if everything is okay and Jack says yes, it is.  She asks if he is sure and he promises that everything is fine.  Kim tells Jack that Teri is excited that he is coming back with them.  She says to let them know when he’s on the way.  Jack will.   Jack tells Ruiz they are 2 blocks away and wants to cut through, he directs Ruiz.

Hastings says that the FAA has cleared the route and they know they are the air.  Chloe is in his office with a file on Ruiz.  She says it was in a proprietary database but Hastings thinks it shouldn’t have thrown her, she has been here for almost a month.  She reminds him that everything has changed.  Hastings thinks she’s having trouble adapting, but he doesn’t think it’s a question of her intelligence.  She looks sour and he figures its ambivalence.  He knows the only reason she is working there is because her husband was downsized.  She says no, and then yes.  She asks for time to get up to speed.  Hastings says that’s fair enough, he is all about efficiency; he doesn’t think that needs clarifying.  Chloe snaps that if he wanted to be efficient why didn’t he just tell her that if she doesn’t catch up soon, she’s going to be fired?  She leaves.

Dana and Cole are heading up to the helipad in a field above CTU.  She hands him the flight path and he is watching her closely.  She asks why he is looking at her like that.  He asks ‘Like what?’ and then says that he just wants to make sure nothing is wrong.  She says no, it’s like she said.  And she warns him to be careful, he will be.  Another agent asks if Cole is ready, which he is.  They jog out to the chopper and the other agent smiles that they finally set a date and now she’s getting cold feet.  Cole smiles back telling him to shut up and focus on their assignment.  They get in and Dana watches as they take off over New York.

Jack and Ruiz are still working their way to the pickup.  Ruiz is having trouble staying on his feet and Jack tries to pull him along until he goes down completely in a pile of trash.  Jack tries to get him to come back around telling him to stay with him.  He sees Ruiz’s hand covered in blood and whispers ‘Dammit.’  He pulls Ruiz up and looks at the wound.  There’s lots of blood and Jack pulls the bandage off.  He looks around and sees something to help him. Kicking garbage bags off of an old mattress Jack pulls out a knife and cuts into it.  There’s a traffic cop writing tickets nearby and sees them, Jack trying to keep Victor awake and then saying they need to recompress the wound.  The traffic cop pulls out his phone and calls 911.

4:43

4:50

Dalia Hassan puts on some eyeliner in the mirror with the news on the TV in the background.  The door opens and her daughter Kayla enters.  She says it’s time to go and Dalia will be right there.  Kayla will wait until Dalia is done and she muses that her husband doesn’t trust her to be on time.  Kayla says of course he trusts her.  Dalia sizes her daughter up in the mirror and asks, ‘When did you become such a good liar.’  She doesn’t have to defend her father; he can take care of himself.  They go out past Hassan who is reading something.  He tells his wife she looks beautiful and she says he looks handsome.  He puts his hand on hers and she snaps it away, ‘Let's not pretend anymore.’  She leaves the room.  Hassan apologizes to his daughter that she had to see that but she says it’s not his fault.  They have to go.  Both of the women use shawls to cover their hair when they exit the room.

The reporter, Mrs. Reid, waits until Farhad comes with her pass.  It is scanned and she is cleared into the UN.  She throws a nasty look at the security guard and meets Farhad on the other side.  He warns that he will tell her the same thing he told him.  Unless she wants to destroy everything he’s worked for, stay away from him.  She watches him go.

Taylor waits and Weiss comes in saying that Hassan is on the way.  He again gives Taylor his opinion, that not telling Hassan risks destroying everything.  She cuts him off, he’s made his point more than once.   She doesn’t like keeping things from Hassan anymore than he does, Weiss tries one more time, ‘Then tell him.’  The door opens and Hassan and his wife and daughter enter.  Taylor greets them all and reintroduces Weiss, her Chief of Staff.  They discuss the verification issue agreeing it was the right thing to do.  Weiss wants to brief them both on the format of the press conference.

Jack has finished patching up Victor and just as he pulls him up, two cops pull in and draw their guns ordering Jack not to move.  He says he got a call that they were up to something, he asks what’s up.  Ruiz is bent over and Jack has his hands up.  He explains he’s a former federal agent and Ruiz has information vital to national security.  The cop tells his partner to call it in but Jack urges him not to, there are people monitoring the emergency channels.  The cop tells Jack to shut up and get against the dumpster.  Jack does but is talking the whole time, he wants to be taken into the precinct so they can verify it there.  Jack is against the dumpster but sees behind the cops two of the assassins coming.  He shoves Ruiz down and jumps behind the dumpster after him.  Both officers are shot and Jack is trying to return fire.  Jack sees a door with a padlock on it and shoots the lock breaking it so they can get through.  He tells Victor that he is going to lay down cover so he can get through the door.  He fires and Ruiz makes it across, Jack following.  They move through a hallway, Jack dragging Ruiz, “Keep moving, I’m out of bullets.”  Jack makes a call and explains to Chloe that they are under attack, the chopper is 2 minutes out.   Jack wants to speak to the commander of the unit, which is Ortiz, head of field op’s.  Dana comes to find out what’s going on and she calls Hastings that they have a situation. 

Jack finds a stairwell and shoves Ruiz up the first couple of steps saying, ‘Keep going to the roof, don’t stop for anything.’  Jack is put through to Cole and says they aren’t going got make the precinct, they are being pursued.  Jack tells them where he is and starts after Ruiz.  At CTU they see something but the satellite is refreshing.  Arlo can see it with the drone and Chloe looks unimpressed. It’s a parking structure, the 8^th floor.  They can put the chopper down there.  They are just a few seconds out, Jack tells Cole not to be late. 

Jack catches up with Ruiz and tries to convince him to give him the information in case he doesn’t make it.  Ruiz doesn’t care what happens if he doesn’t make it.  He wants to get to CTU.  Jack answers, ‘You always were a son of a bitch.’  He pulls Ruiz on leaving blood on the wall.  Jack notices a fire axe on the wall.

The assassins see the blood on the wall from Ruiz.  They pause and Jack appears wielding the axe.  He strikes the first terrorists chest with the axe and then uses him to push the other one over the edge.  He falls down to the ground hitting the railings on the way.  The first assassin still has the axe in his chest and falls to the ground.  Jack goes to Ruiz and wants to go.  He looks out the window and sees the chopper landing through the glass.  Jack breaks the glass in the window and shoves Ruiz out onto a dumpster.  Jack jumps out behind him and pulls Ruiz off.  Cole and the other agent are running to Jack and Ruiz.   Cole wants access to the roof locked down.  He asks Jack where the hostiles are and Jack answers, “Dead.”  He looks to the other agent and says that they have to get Ruiz out of there, he’s lost a lot of blood.  The other agent takes Victor toward the chopper leaving Jack and Cole alone.  Cole shakes Jack’s hand saying it’s an honour to meet him.  Hastings wants to debrief Jack at CTU but Jack isn’t going, he delivered Victor, he’s done.  He starts to move away and Cole calls him, ‘Mr. Bauer.’  Jack has a flight to catch.  Cole is surprised, he asks Jack’s back, ‘That’s it?’  Jack sees from another rooftop a missile being fired at them.  He turns quickly, grabs Cole and pulls him down.  The chopper is hit and Ruiz and the other agent are knocked back with the explosion.    The assassin from across the way gets up and leaves his gun there.  CTU is trying to raise Cole on his comm., Chloe tries to get Jack as well.  Hastings, Dana and Glass all watch and listen. 

Jack and Cole pull themselves up and get to their feet, hurrying to the agent and Victor.  Jack leans over Victor while Cole tries to revive the other agent.  Jack wants Ruiz to stay with him.  He pleads that Victor doesn’t’ want to die like this; he wants him to tell him what he knows.  Victor coughs out that the hitter has someone on the inside, close to Hassan.  Jack wants a name but Victor coughs some more and even though Jack tries to keep his attention, he passes out.  Jack takes his pulse finding nothing.  Cole watches and Jack says, ‘He’s dead.’  Jack wipes his face with his hands and looks around. 

Mrs. Reid, the reporter, talks on the phone saying that the brother revoked her clearance but Hassan reinstated it.  She assures whoever she is talking to that ‘It will get done.’

5:00

Miscellaneous Thoughts

-I’m guessing the ‘events occur in real time’ is for the rookies, although, I still think they should always put it there because it DOES occur in real time – they account for the commercials.

-I love the panning shots of New York.  It reminds me so much of Season 1 when they did that over LA but I like it more because I have a thing about New York.

-And the ‘dammit’ continues.  Someone should run a ‘dammit’ tally.

-That reminds me, be ready because although I’ve never been to New York, I’ve always wanted to go and am planning on going next year.  I might spend some time ogling NYC.

-I love the stereotypical NYC cabs as the first sort of zoom in shot.  Well done to establish location.

-I’m wondering if that hoodie that Victor was wearing was brand new.  It was the reddest thing I think I’ve ever seen on 24.  They usually stick to the darker colors, you know, to match the mood, or the color of certain characters hearts. 

-I thought 24 was a ‘green’ show now.  What are they doing leaving the water running in the shower?

-I take it back about Victor being trained.  If he was, he would have been a lot more careful when he went outside after learning all his friends were dead.

-Victor does get 9 out of 10 for his stunt driving.

-Ruiz looks pretty comfortable with that gun and like he might have some military training.

-Ruiz looks pretty clean cut to be visiting that apartment.

-I’m having a problem adjusting to Kim’s daughter being called ‘Teri’.  It just seems weird to me.

-Jack sleeping with a doll might just be the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.

-In case you didn’t already know, Kiefer Sutherland is actually a grandfather.  When he married his first wife, she already had a daughter, Michelle, who recently had a child of her own making Kiefer a (step) grandfather.

-It’s almost painful to see Jack so happy with Kim’s daughter and Kim, only because I know it’s not going to last.  Although, it wouldn’t be 24 if it did, now would it?

-I love Kim’s conversation with Steven about asking Jack to move to LA.  Very insightful and gives us a great understanding of Kim’s understanding of Jack.

-I guess Jack has been alone a long time.  We only really seem him once every couple of years – if you can count China as living alone, it’s really been a long time since he had to cohabitate with anyone.

-A thought about next year (if there is one).  Will we come full circle and go back to LA since Jack is moving there with Kim? Or will we find him on a vacation somewhere else.

-A thought about time between seasons.  Judging by Teri, it’s gotta be at least 3 years, but Jack is still sick or just recovered, how long does that take?  Who knows?  None of the actors have seemed to say the same thing.  I don’t really like the idea of indeterminate amounts of time.

-Is that supposed to be a hotel room that Jack is staying in? When was he released from the hospital?  If it was a while ago, which it might have been, how long has he been living there?  There were bags on the floor, but that doesn’t mean too much since he is moving to LA.  He says he doesn’t have that much stuff, but there’s quite a bit of furniture and other items in the apartment.  I guess it might be one of those suite hotels – but how long has Jack been better for?

-Steven’s a good guy, if only because he offers to take a chance and possibly tick off Jack Bauer.  Good guy, not smart, but good.

-I like how they’ve spared us boring dialogue about what’s going on at the UN by giving it to us in a news report sized package.

-Speaking of unspecified – how about that country that Hassan is from?  Which one is that?  Oh yeah ‘Mysterious-mid-east-istan’.

-Farhad is evil, you can just tell by his hair.

-Love Kanin and Farhad going toe to toe, it’s a game of “My lackie is better than your lackie”.

-I like Hassan, he has a sense of humour, seems like a nice guy and wants peace.  You can’t argue with someone who wants peace.

-Actually, Hassan reminds me of a male version of Taylor a little.

-Bear, how original.  There’s a future undercover operator – NOT.

-Let’s just take a second and imagine Jack’s reaction if Teri decided to work in law enforcement, for CTU or FBI or something else.  Okay, just wanted that mental image for all of you.

-It’s gotta be hard working with kids.  The kid that plays Teri does a nice job, but I wonder how many takes some of that stuff took.

-That pink bag is a good look for Jack.  He should use that as the new jack-pack. 

-Woah, just a second here, Jack has friends?  That are alive?   And aren’t terrorists?  When did that happen?

-So, does Steven have a hearing problem?  He was RIGHT THERE when Jack told Kim he was coming, did she need to repeat it?

-What’s that Jack is with when he leaves?  A family.  How odd.

-Anyone taking bets of if Steven is really a terrorist?  How bad would that be?  Or Steven’s dad being a terrorist.

-If I didn’t already know, I would have thought Ruiz was there to kill Jack.  I wonder if that was what they were going for.

-Line of the week contender: Weiss to the press: “Unless you are dying to know what a choke hold feels like, keep your credentials visible at all times.”

-AND, I’m already done with the reporter/girlfriend.  One scene, that’s all it took.

-It’s nice they haven’t gotten over the novelty of putting 24 is stuff.  Hassan’s hotel room is 2402.

-Evidently there wasn’t a whole lot that Jack liked about Victor, judging by the way he’s treating him.  Not that he probably deserves anything else.

-Jack is indeed the guy who always does the right thing-or tries to do the right thing even if it doesn’t always work out for him.

-That’s a great help from Ruiz.  The hitter is “Russian or something” probably carrying a gun in NYC.  Oh yeah, that really narrows it down.

-So, here’s a question.  The CTU vehicles drive up to the door – where do they, you know, park? Or turn around?  What’s the point of an ugent-type unit like CTU that has to go and park somewhere else?

-Also, done with the Dana/Cole/Wedding angle.  Actually, I was done with that before it even started.  Over it.

-Love the first line from Chloe “Dammit.”

-It’s kind of nice to see Chloe not smug and on top of everything.  Actually, she’s still smug, but in a different way.

-I’m SO using ‘percussive maintenance’ on my work mac.  At least then I’ll have something to call it when I beat the heck out of it because it never works.

-Ooh, Dana’s sugar coated ‘it’s okay to ask questions’ attitude would drive me nuts, and I’m only half as cynical as Chloe.

-Sounds like Jack and Chloe have built a relationship outside of work.  That’s nice, but could you imagine a dinner with Chloe, Jack and Morris?  Wow.  That’s worth plugging into an episode.

-It’s weird how Jack doesn’t use Hastings name when he asks to speak to the director.

-New CTU is fancy.  I’m not sure I love the giant interactive screen but the one that’s going to get on my nerves is the Bluetooth headsets on all the time.

-Cool that they connected this to the Salazar op from Season 3.

-Rule #1 – Always trust Jack Bauer’s instincts, unless you want lots of death and destruction in your day.

-It was surprising that Jack was so hesitant to help get Ruiz to CTU, but I guess in the end, now he does have something to live for.

-Coincidence that Jack lives so close to the police station?

-Arlo Glass = creepy, annoying idiot.  Don’t like him right off the bat either.  I’m hoping he’ll grow on me or else this is going to turn into one really long season.

-he does garner this though: Line of the week contender: Glass: “Who is Jack Bauer?”

-I’m glad that a comprehensive peace agreement was just something that Taylor and her husband talked about and not something really cheesy like ‘His dream’ or whatever.  That would have been cheesy.  The way it was already was borderline.

-I guess it was just a way for Kanin to tell us about Henry’s poor attitude and getting after Taylor.

-After trashing basically all the new CTU workers, I think I like Weiss at the White House.  He’s good, and Kanin is right, he is what Taylor needs.

-So, what are we to infer from Kanin’s pills?  Is he sick?  Is he dying? Or is he just getting older?  I don’t like the ambiguity, mostly because I really like Kanin and don’t want to see him leave the show.  If he’s sick that’s a short line to an exit.  If he’s going to die anyway, I see a sacrifice coming on.

-You know, for a former UCO, Jack is a terrible liar to Kim.  There’s no way she could possibly believe that there is nothing going on with Jack.

-I also think it was wrong to have Jack promise to Kim that everything was okay.  He lied, everything is not okay.

-Brutal to have Hastings clarify that it’s not a question of Chloe’s intelligence that she’s not getting it.  Nice of him to clear that up.  She can’t take him calling her ‘ambivalent’ as an insult.  She called herself the same thing in Season 5 when she was in a room with Charles Logan.

-Only Chloe could pull that off, what she said to Hastings about her possibly being fired and not actually GET fired for it. She does have a point though.

-Fancy CTU helipad upstairs.  Where, though, did they find a field in NYC?

-I like the other agent that was giving Cole a bad time, too bad he dies.

-Done with the Cole/Dana drama. 

-Oddly enough, Freddie Prinze Jr. is not driving me totally insane. That’s downright unexpected since I have hated his acting in everything I’ve seen him in until now.  It’s still weird that he talks out of the side of his mouth sometimes, but he’s better than I thought he would be.

-So, Morris was ‘downsized’,  I wonder where he was working?  Was he still doing the government thing?  Will we get to see him again?  I’d love to see him again.

-Ruiz looks really rough – Jack  is basically dragging him through the streets and it  wasn’t surprising to see him go down in a heap when he did.

-Pros to falling in a pile of garbage would be the soft landing, much preferable to concrete. Cons? Smell.  Nasty.

-That was the most well dressed traffic cop I’ve ever seen.

-So, I guess I have the wrong impression of New York, I didn’t think it would cause anyone to look twice when seeing a shot guy and someone else trying to help him. 

-I think I might be interested to know the history between Hassan and his wife, if it was brief.  I don’t need like a whole episode dedicated to it or anything.  Whatever happened, obviously the daughter has sided with the husband.  Where have we seen that before?  Jack and Kim in the first season.

-I’m 99% sure that shelving unit in Hassan’s hotel room was in the Logan retreat in season 5.

-I can’t believe that Reid is angry at the security guard for doing his job.  He is trying to protect Hassan, if she really cares for him she should be grateful for that guard.

-Weiss comes off a little too pushy with Taylor the second time.

-Just in time, the cops.  Great.

-If I were that cop, I wouldn’t believe Jack either.

-Jack did pretty well with his one clip in that gun.  Shame on him that it took him two shots to do the padlock, though. 

-Words you don’t want to hear, “I’m out of bullets.”  Oh shit.

-So, what’s the point of a dumpster on TOP of a parking structure?  Talk about a pain to pick up the garbage.

-Lots of garbage in this episode.  Is that what we are supposed to believe New York is?  One giant dumpster?

-Fire axe.  Nasty.   I was shocked to see Jack go for that after what happened with Chase in Season 3.  I didn’t think he’d ever want to use an axe again.

-That was a monstrous double kill.  Nasty.

-I love how Cole doesn’t even question Jack killing the assassins.  If he only knew, he’d be even more impressed with Jack.

-How long was Cole going to stand there with his arms out?  He looked like he was waiting for a hug from Jack or something.

-well, it didn’t take Jack long to save Cole’s life.

-Jack really doesn’t want Ruiz to die.  It’s probably more because he knows his chances of getting sucked into the day are better if Ruiz bites it.

-Why would Chloe try to raise Jack on the comm.?  He wasn’t even wearing one.

-Interesting first episode, I liked little Teri, Kim and Jack’s general happiness.  Still missing Jon Cassar, though.  This is the first time since Season 1 that he didn’t direct the first 2 of the season.  I can feel the difference.