24: LIVE ANOTHER DAY Episode 3
Episode Title: “Day 9: 1:00 p.m – 2:00 p.m”
Writers: Sang Kyu Kim & Patrick Somerville
Director: Adam Kane
Previously on “24: Live Another Day”:
Is there any character on television other than Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) who could shoot innocent people and just have the audience laugh it off as Jack being Jack?
I’ve got to admit, that Jack’s way of getting into the U.S embassy was clever and very ruthless. But I think that Jack has a blank check with the audience. It would take a lot to turn the fans against him, so even when Jack pulls something like this it barely registers as more than a humorous moment.
Episode 3 of “24: Live Another Day” considerably slowed down its pace after the first two episodes. The story apparently isn’t able to maintain that momentum even with only 12 episodes in a season. This was also a necessary step to give the audience a chance to formally meet this year’s villains. Unfortunately, I don’t find Margot Al-Harazi (Michelle Fairley) and her extended family of terrorists to be all that interesting. A great villain can do wonders for “24,” but I don’t think that Margot has what it takes to be a formidable foe for Jack Bauer.
From this point on, there are full spoilers ahead for the third episode of “24: Live Another Day,” so if you happened to miss this installment then you should probably skip this review or else you’ll have to address Parliament.
Although I’m glad that William Devane is back as President James Heller, I don’t think that his cliffhanger was meant to be as funny as it came off. Everyone warned Heller that the British Parliament would be a hostile crowd, but they are comically over-the-top as they verbally attack Heller before he can even finish the first line in his speech.
Heller’s Chief of Staff, Mark Boudreau (Tate Donovan) is shaping up as one of this story’s adversaries simply because he’s already willing to write off Heller for his diminished mental capacity and he also forges the President’s signature on a document that will send Jack to the Russians… provided that the CIA recaptures Jack first.
Meanwhile, on the streets of London, Chloe O’Brian (Mary Lynn Rajskub) and Jack figure out that Simone Al-Harazi (Emily Berrington) killed Derek Yates (Joseph Millson) and escaped with the Drone hijacking device. The early part of this chase was fun, as Simone cuts herself to make it seem like Jack is trying to kill her. But it descends into farce when Chloe misses Simone because she’s having an emotional moment.
The “24” creative team apparently decided that Chloe lost her husband, Morris and their son, Prescott during the four years between the TV series and “Live Another Day.” It’s a forced revelation that is almost redeemed by the way that Jack stops everything to comfort Chloe. It proves that Jack still has a heart and that Chloe is one of the few people whom he cares about in this world. But it still made Chloe look bad for letting Simone slip away so easily.
There’s an interesting idea in Chloe’s insistence that the death of her family was actually a murder attempt on her life since she was supposed to be in the car with her son. I hope that the producers resist the urge to have Morris and Prescott show up alive during this miniseries. The last time we heard about a “24” character dying off screen it was Audrey Heller (Kim Raver); and she was back before the sixth season was over.
Audrey is much less compelling as the go-between of her husband and her father. She’s so easily persuaded to help change her father’s mind that it seems like Audrey doesn’t have much of a will of her own. At the very least, I’d like to see Audrey slap her husband once she realizes what he’s done to eliminate Jack from their lives. Mark’s decision to forge the President’s signature needs to come back to haunt him with major consequences. But the ease with which Mark did it suggests that it wasn’t the first time.
Elsewhere in London, Lady Jack Bauer aka Kate Morgan (Yvonne Strahovski) finally wins over her disgruntled colleague, Erik Ritter (Gbenga Akinnagbe) while illegally running a CIA operation to hunt Jack. Kate reminds me of Renee Walker, Jack’s late lover who took on more his personality traits and methods while exposed to his influence. Here we see Kate get results without having to resort to outright torture, but she does threaten to leave her reluctant source with his enemies if he doesn’t talk.
Erik actually seems to be impressed by Kate, but Steve Navarro (Benjamin Bratt) has already warned him that it’s his ass on the line, not Kate’s. If Kate is anything like Jack, her methods will ultimately hurt anyone in her orbit. Although I expect that Jack and Kate will team up before the season is over.
Back at Chloe’s hacker collective, Jack is relatively contrite with Adrian Cross (Michael Wincott) and he actually says “please” when asking for help. However, the show took the easy way out with Adrian by letting him set Jack up to be arrested at the U.S. Embassy. That made Adrian look petty and it robbed him of any moral complexity that he could have had. Jack was very clear about what the stakes were and how many people in London could die if they don’t stop Margot. And Adrian jeopardized that because he doesn’t like Jack?! Or because he’s jealous of Jack and Chloe’s connection? Either way, it was a groaner moment.
That said, I did enjoy the way that Jack incited a riot and forced his way into the embassy with Kate and Erik chasing after him. Not a bad way to end the episode.
The only thing really hampering my enjoyment of “Live Another Day” is that I’m already bored with the Al-Harazi family as this story’s primary antagonists. “24” has a history of cycling out villains very quickly, so it’s possible that someone more compelling will be revealed as the true enemy of “Live Another Day.” But until then, the show still lives and dies with whatever Jack Bauer is doing at the moment.
