24- Season 8.20: The Unsafest Safety Deposit Box Ever

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Have you ever been at a baseball game where your team is getting killed and everyone starts to leave early? A good example is the Mother’s Day Miracle when the Red Sox scored six runs in the ninth inning and ended up beating the Orioles in the most unlikely of comebacks. Some people had left the game, but some stayed. Those who stayed saw something amazing.

Tonight’s episode of 24 was kind of like the ninth inning of that May 13, 2007 game. A lot of people have given up on 24 this year and have left the stadium. But for we who have stuck with it, we have been rewarded with a gem that harkened back to the good old days when 24 ruled the world. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

We picked up with Hassan Chop’s wife giving a speech about how great her husband was and how great Madame President is. But her words only accentuates Madame President’s journey to the dark side to us the viewer. Meanwhile, the Fresh Prince has called in to Chloe and reported that he has captured Jack, although he is lying and they are actually heading to the safe house where Denny is being marinated… I mean tortured, by Bledsoe. I would remiss if I did not mention that Bledsoe is played by none other than D.B. Sweeney, who you know from your favorite figure skating movie, The Cutting Edge.

Jack & the Prince overtake a sentry on the roof. Then, once inside, Jack tricks the other guards onto the roof and coerces Denny’s location out of the head goon. When they get to her room, Bledsoe uses Denny as a shield and says if they don’t back off he’ll shoot her. His head is sticking out from behind Denny, and as he laments about how Jack won’t take the shot, Jack shoots him between the eyes… in mid-sentence. Now that’s the kind of Jack Bauer action we have been craving. Back to my baseball analogy, this is like scoring that first run. You still are pretty far behind, but there is a glimmer of hope.

Then Jack & the Fresh Prince untie Denny shoot their way out of the building. After a few minutes of Denny refusing to hand over the evidence that will expose the Russians’, Jack parks under a bridge, pulls Denny from the car and threatens to shoot her in the chest. She tells them that the evidence is in a safety deposit box that only she can access. Denny pleads with the Fresh Prince, claiming that Jack is crazy and just out for blood. Cole confronts Jack and pushes him down, like two little girls on a playground. Jack falls back on his tushie and points his gun at Cole, but then they quickly resolve their differences and head for the bank. I’m guessing since none of them have really eaten much in the past 20 hours, they will probably go right for the bowl of lollipops once they get there.

Meanwhile, Madame President continues to dig herself into a bigger hole by taking more advice from Charles Milhous Logan. This time, she agrees to let his right hand man, Jason Pillar, take over the manhunt at CTU. Of course, Logan also makes a deal with the Russians to have Pillar feed them information on the location of Jack so they can take him out. (God forbid we go too long without a mole at CTU.) Naturally, the assassin who killed Agent Lohan will be his Russian contact.

Somewhere between the U.N. and CTU, Pillar picks up a hot assistant named Eden, which makes her seem more like a Cinemax “After Dark” character than 24. Chloe is naturally miffed by this ridiculous turn of events, but like it or not, Pillar is now calling the shots… and calling the Russians with updates.

Back at the bank, Jack waits in the lobby while Fresh Freddy Prince and Denny head in to get the evidence in the safety deposit box. Once they are alone, Dana starts to sweet talk Cole and tells him that despite her actions, she’s always loved him. Although she strikes a chord with him, he won’t fall for it and proceeds to open the box. Inside, amongst other items, he finds a gun. But there is another surprise. A flash bomb suddenly goes off and stuns the Fresh Prince.

Damn, that Dana Walsh is clever. (I wonder if she is related to Brandon and Brenda Walsh.) Although she does not kill Freddie Prince, she does kill the banker and then calls the cops on Jack. Then, as Jack is being rounded up by New York’s Finest, she smiles at him and slips out.

But it will take more than two cops to stop Jack Bauer. Remember when those two cops found him snooping around that house at the beginning of the season when he was looking for that guy Davros, who was posing as a cop. Hell, they had Jack tied up in a chair and he still managed to escape. So this is nothing. He quickly gets the jump on one cop, gets the other to drop his gun and then shoots the guy in the foot. (But he is nice enough to ask someone to call an ambulance.)

Oh boy, Jack Bauer is shooting anyone in his way! Again, like that baseball game, my team is scoring some runs and this is getting good. I am glad I stuck around. And when the cop referred to Jack as “leather jacket”, I was in heaven.

So Jack heads out of the bank and chases Denny through the streets of NY, occasionally exchanging gunfire. Just another day in the Big Apple. They head into an empty building that is under construction and play a game of cat and mouse, with guns. However, Jack has extra clips and Denny does not, and Jack realizes she is getting low on ammo. She takes an elevated position to get the drop on Jack, but he bravely sacrifices his sweet leather jacket to draw her fire and empty her gun.

Once she is empty, Jack confronts her and forces her to hand over the evidence. Then she pleads for her life tries to make yet another deal with him. And Jack has a choice to make.

Remember how in The Dark Knight, we learned the Batman had one rule? He won’t kill. Well, Jack Bauer has no silly rules like that. He plugs Denny in the chest at point blank range… and then puts another in her for good measure. And the crowd goes wild!!!! Game over, we win!!!

Finally, the most annoying character of the season is killed off, and in grand Jack Bauer style.

This is the kind of moment that keeps us coming back to 24. Four more hours left. Who’s next on Jack’s list?

Oh yeah, one more thing… Happy Mother’s Day.