By: Brandon Wolfe
Jack Bauer’s propensity toward torturing suspects for information became one of his defining character traits during the original run of ‘24’, and contributed to the ugly national discussion that took place all throughout the George W. Bush era about torture’s place in counterterrorism. The show always seemed to insist that Jack did not want to be doing the horrible things he did in the name of national security, but that he felt it was what needed to be done given the time constraints and millions-will-die stakes he was perpetually up against. Yet still, the guy defaulted to torture so often and so immediately that one couldn’t help but suspect that maybe, just maybe, he got off on hurting bad people, even if it was something he would never admit, either to himself or anyone else. So when Jack finally climbs back on the torture horse in “5:00 PM – 6:00 PM” to squeeze the bloody little stump where Simone Al-Harazi’s finger once was, it isn’t surprising. What is surprising is what happens immediately after, when he confesses to Kate Morgan that he knew Simone wouldn’t talk, but that he hurt her anyway because “I just hate these people, for thinking that there could be anything that would justify what they’re doing.” It’s a moment that’s startling, refreshingly candid and deeply unsavory all at once. What Jack admits doesn’t speak well of him, but you at least have to respect that he’s finally being honest.
“5:00 PM – 6:00 PM” keeps the plates spinning as Simone is taken to the hospital to be treated for her bus-related injuries. Margot, ever the ruthless pragmatist, decides that her daughter needs to be terminated before she can alert the authorities to their location and orders her son Ian to use one of the drones to destroy the entire hospital, a plot Jack gets a heads-up on and orders a full evacuation. The evacuation isn’t complete by the time the missile hits and many are left dead or severely injured (in one jarring shot, we see that a woman has had her arm horrifically blown off, a nasty touch even for a show as historically cruel as this one). We then are treated to the big centerpiece of the episode, where Jack, Morgan and Simone are in a car desperately attempting to avoid missile blasts from the drone. It’s exciting and wildly implausible in the ‘24’ house style as Jack manages to stay alive with a combination of swift thinking and dumb luck.
Much less successful is the Steve Navarro subplot, which seems to be a standard-issue ‘24’ time-waster. We learn this week that Steve was the one selling secrets to the Chinese and that he set up Morgan’s husband to take the fall for it. When CIA computer analyst Jordan Reed begins poking around on the case to help Morgan (‘24’ supporting characters always somehow find time for such extracurricular activities during these huge national crises), Navarro decides he needs to be eliminated and sends Reed into the field for what he claims is a routine assignment, but is really a setup for a hit. Reed takes a bullet and manages to survive, but this entire side street is death. Compounding matters is that none of this even ties into the main plot and seemingly exists only to give Benjamin Bratt something to do. This is a move that ‘24’ came back to time and again with its peripheral characters, giving them their own isolated cloak-and-dagger adventures, in spite of the fact that it has never bore fruit once.
The one big takeaway from the Navarro subplot is that his accomplice or overseer is revealed to be none other than Adrian Cross, Chloe’s hacktivist boyfriend. This is also frustrating because, for one thing, it feels like a random connection of two dots rather than an organic development, and for another thing, because Cross was set up as an intriguing character. Neither ally nor enemy, Cross was a wild card, someone who could assist Jack and then betray him a moment later. He was seemingly allowed to be grey, but ‘24’ toils in a world of absolutes, where everyone but Jack wears a white or black hat, so it was only a matter of time before Cross was put squarely in the villain pile. This color-coding is also evidenced this week with Mark Boudreau, the Chief of Staff whom the show had seemed to back off from making into an obvious snake in recent weeks, but is back brokering a deal to hand over Jack to the Russians once his mission is completed. Boudreau’s back is against the wall because he forged the President’s signature earlier to get rid of Jack, but the show might have figured out another way for him to handle the situation other than odious capitulation, the most obvious route to take.
Speaking of the President, Heller makes contact with Margot because the 6:00 PM deadline for handing himself over to her is looming. Prior to this, he orders Jack to return to him immediately. Heller tells Margot that he has considered her demands, but does not reveal precisely what he has decided, nor do we find out how Jack fits into whatever the decision might be. ‘24’ doesn’t usually trade on ambiguity. It’s always been a show that wants you to know exactly what it’s doing at all times, and then repeat to you what it’s doing about four more times after that, so the fact that the show is playing coy about what Heller is up to is enticing. Whatever it is will undoubtedly be exciting and wildly implausible. This is ’24’, after all.
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