24 (TV Series) Day 4: 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. (2005) User Reviews

Jack Bauer: A One-Man Rescue Team!

[ccthemovieman-1 · 9/10 · 8 November 2007]

Jack Bauer turns into "Rambo," putting on a one-man siege on the compound where the Secretary of Defense and his daughter are being held hostage. The CTU Director reluctantly watches, now realizing Jack has been right all the way on this mission, so she gives him some slack.

Time is running out and the war crimes "trial" of the government official is about to take place and he will be executed via live feed on the Internet. At the same time, the President of the U.S. has ordered a missile strike on the compound, figuring (actually his aide did) it's better to blow up everyone than have the whole world see the Secretary executed and the U.S. totally humiliated.

Can Jack save the pair in time? That's the key angle of this story.

Meanwhile, inside C.T.U. headquarters, "Chloe," who has been helping Jack, is discovered and is fired and threatened with jail time. Now who can help Jack? Is this the end of Chloe? Meanwhile, suspicious characters, led by "Marianne," continue to abound as this writer tries to figure out who's the "mole." Of course, I may be totally mistaken and there is no traitor.....but there usually is in this show.

Odd developments

[MaxBorg89 · 8/10 · 9 February 2009]

After a massive improvement in quality in the previous episode, the fourth season of 24 gets back to the "very good, but not the way it should be" level of the opening hours. Of course, this still means the show is a lot of fun to watch, but a little more could have been done to avoid certain narrative dead ends.

In the aftermath of Jack's plan, which was handled poorly by the local authorities, he and Driscoll form a truce since it is now clear Jack was right from the beginning and should be given permission to find Heller with his methods. However, he has to hurry, given President Keeler is convinced bombing the facility used by the terrorists will solve everyone's problems, even if that means killing Heller and Audrey in the process. As for Heller, he is asked to confess to certain "crimes" on camera within an hour, otherwise he will be executed, and things heat up in the Araz family when Dina goes all the way with Debbie.

The whole situation of Jack having to come up with a plan before the military blows up the compound is a bit of a contrivance, but since it's Keeler who's President instead of Palmer, it was to be expected that he wouldn't cut Bauer any slack. The real weakness of this hour, however, is burdening Driscoll with a problematic daughter, as if the writers were saying: "This is our way of explaining why she's an occasional pain in the butt.". There's nothing wrong with humanizing unlikable supporting characters (it worked miracles for George Mason and Ryan Chappelle in Sesons 2 and 3), but this kind of development this early into Day 4 is a clear sign of lack of ideas. Still, the overall scenario makes for a damn fine hour of televised tension, and there's no denying Sutherland has truly found the role to crown his rich career, script inconsistencies or not.

The Last Hope

[Hitchcoc · 9/10 · 27 January 2019]

It suddenly seems that the President is more concerned about himself and his party than the life of the Secretary of Defense and his innocent daughter. Jack is now the one possibility of rescue before missiles arrive at the spot. The Secretary sits in a room where a gas leak has nearly killed the pair. But they grab him and set him up for the big trial and the eventual murder. I don't know if it was possible, but couldn't the government have gone on all the stations and announced what these terrorist were about to do? To minimize their effectiveness and show them for the monsters they are. Chloe has been escorted out of the CTU, taking down one of the most viable forces they have.