7x16 Thoughts - my mini-review of the ep

J_A · 2009-03-31 20:27:03

You know what I didnt see coming in this ep? that hodges goon would turn TWICE - and was actually still loyal to hodges while pretending to break tony out. in fact all he got tony into was that the FBI now have their hands on him and can arrest him once theyre allowed to leave the compound, if they are. this is the first quite surprising twist here in a while, and I liked it.

Jacks being infected goes along with my theory mentioned earlier. and yes, it was said that this particular strain of prions has been engineered (weaponized, as usual, recall stephen saunders weaponized cordilla virus strain) to kill faster than a usual strain. in general , prion diseases are very slow-acting. theyre neurodegenerative diseases for which there is indeed no cure. however, many scientists are working on prion diseases and towards cures for them. which is why my theory of there being one scientist with one prototype of an antidote is still within believable limits of plausible deniability. however, what I think would be even better is if they couldnt heal jack. maybe they do find an antidote, but it only slows down the process, doesnt halt it completely. so he could carry over the prions in him into season 8 and that way, wed have a sick jack in s8, battling to stay alive one more day to deal with a final threat, while this ticks away in him, and eventually kills him. I know, not gonna happen, but itd be kinda cool. to know that he is indeed expendable beyond the level of merely saying it all the time.

I like it that they have in fact gone down that road and actually infected him. while this whole scenario is very remeniscent of the season 3 virus threat and michelle being in the position of possibly being infected, this time its real. jack is in fact a carrier of the disease. I liked it how larry made him sit out the raid, and that little comment of jacks about I knew eventually wed agree on something would have had me chuckle if it hadnt been quite sad.

kiefers acting in the scene where sunny macer gave him the results was superb. he saw the positive results, but smiled - he had me completely fooled there, I thought, ok, fine, you arent infected, they didnt have the guts after all. and then he tells the FBI the result and I was like, oh, ok, then you are! on a side note, im glad that sunny macer IS IN FACT sunny macer again. even though shes with CDC now and not the NHS, this is perfectly plausible. at least they didnt recast the actress as someone else like with MBF before.

I am really not sure about Tony and Starkwood. carlos certainly shot a lot of weird looks towards those goons (yeah, it could have just been tony wanting to see as much of his surroundings as possible), and they didnt torture him much either, although hodges knew from the start that tony is not going to talk, which would have justified much harsher methods than just a beating. it was almost bittersweet there to watch tonys non-reaction to hodges offer. what does tony have to lose at this point? nothing really. like jack all those years ago, tony is at a point where hes Already dead. and death could be the easy way out, to quote two of the fitting quotes from s2 here. Im a little afraid that theres a possibility the writers will have tony turn again, though I cant really fathom any plausible reason why in the hell they should do that. it is good that the president now finally knows of tonys involvement on the good side of this scenario - maybe theres hope for tonys redemption after all, if he stays alive, that is. Id hate it for his redemption to be death. But its still very within reach.

Im glad that Larry has come around again, it was really lovely to watch him, in the whole triangle with renée and jack, some really great material there. Im not sure about olivia as CoS shes very, very remeniscent of sherry palmer. what other intrigues does she have planned? beyond obviously giving her exclusive reporter the exclusive access to her bed, which I am certain she does.

a random thought to end this comment: you know whatd REALLY be awesome? if jack actually died in 7×24, and our man Almeida took over the torch. kiefer could still be involved in the show, as an exec producer and all, but tony would be the leading man dreams? oh yeah, sorry, I must have fallen asleep at the keyboard here. but you gotta admit, you had a slight smile on your face as you read that sentence .

J_A · 2009-04-01 18:25:41

I just rewatched the ep with MFL. Noticed two things:

Olivia - she must have somethign to do with Starkwood. she's so much like sherry palmer that it's scary. her reaction to the footage of the bioweapons testing in sangala ("We didn't allow this") reminded me of sherry in season 2, when her connection to peter kingsley came to light. maybe she does have her mother's best interest at heart, but sherry thought she was doing good for david too, with all her intrigues, until he divorced her. and after the divorce, she was hurt, and got herself in collusion with kingsley and roger stanton. (wow, i can still remember these names? LOL). and we know that president taylor and her daughter have not been on good terms. olivia was fired from the campaign for leaking damaging information about alison's opponent to the press (something that she seems to be quite accustomed at doing, if I may add, since she's doing it again now with ethan keanan) - an illegal or in the least morally questionable action that was in her mother's best interest, from her point of view... so i wouldn't be surprised if she'd made the same choice as sherry did, to attack her country to show how her mother could not lead it and prevent the strike against it.

Tony - he's in a very, very dangerous situation. It had slipped my attention that the guy who was supposedly killed earlier had come back and tony was holding the weapon that "shot" him. so... either that guy had a vest and the bullet didn't pierce it (which is plausible) OR there is no live ammunition in tony's weapon... which would of course be a very bad problem if it came to a firefight. but hasn't he lost his edge in the field just a bit? I mean during the whole breakout-immunity-field deal there were mistakes he made. maybe they were deliberate, to show he's been away from this line of work, but... I don't like them. first, he didn't take the gun off the guy who'd supposedly been shot, second, he didn't pull the guard (murphy) out of sight and take his kevlar vest to protect himself, even though there was a very real chance he'd be involved in a firefight. and again, he didn't disarm the guy. so... right now, he might be surrounded, no ammo, no protection, waiting for the bullets to fall... DAMMIT!

Jack - another very fine scene in kiefer's arsenal of brilliantly acted scenes: his realization that he could simply become a liability in the field now, that he's sick, that he could become symptomatic in the field... heartbreaking if you're rooting for jack to go kick some ass in the field, but even if you're not, this was a great scene. and in that disappointment and realization, he still manages a fantastic one-liner. chapeau!

I've really enjoyed larry and renée's scenes in the ep, but I've mentioned that in the above post. and I'm really enjoying the fact that jack is a terminal patient. that there will be no cure. it's time for bauer to die - even if it is just after s8. if they find some kind of medication that can slow down the process, instead of killing him in 1-2 days, maybe it can kill him in 1-2 months, and then we can still have s8 and then kill him. it is the joy of me as an Almeidaist this episode to watch tony in the field while jack is made to sit out - a role reversal that is good for my soul. what wasn't that good is that i'm really left with fear in my stomach and really can't tell whether there will be a firefight now, whether tony's gun is full of blinds, whether the pathogen will be released and infect everyone present, whether the FBI will just retreat... I do have enough trust in larry moss that i think he'd order his men to fall back, but what if one of those men doesn't follow the orders and start a firefight anyway? .... damn. bring on next tuesday!

Rexy · 2009-04-08 21:58:03

OH MY GOODNESS! NOOOOO! I just cannot believe that Jack is going to die. I know I am up against opposition here with all you Tony fans, but I did not have a smile on my face when I read your sentence about S7 ep 24 Jack_Addict, perhaps you need to change your name? Your loyalty clearly lies elsewhere .

I am slightly worried though, that perhaps Jack is ready to die, though I really can't believe it. He seemed so accepting and I just don't see the antidote thing working out, it seems too cheesy somehow. They have to find a cure another way, but they have to find a cure, I am about to cry here!

I would just like to commend Renee's acting in this episode. Fantastic when Larry told her about Jack being exposed, just two simple tears, but pure devastation on her face. They need to have a little fun together before one of them dies surely, they deserve it and their chemistry is fantastic, much better than Jack and Audrey. However, I would have liked more of a scene between them when they both know he is infected, and why does Jack apologise for his scars? I'm sure Renee doesn't mind.

To be honest, I just don't see where the rest of the season is going, possibly because I am too worried about Jack's fate. Whatever, I just love being along for the ride, but seriously, if they kill off Jack, they may as well end the show for me. Despite the fact that this is the best season for ages, I will just not be able to watch. However, I will buy the DVD for all the Jack action so far;)

Long Live Jack (please!)

J_A · 2009-04-09 09:01:11

yeah I can't change my name, everyone knows me as J_A.

and yes, jack IS ready and willing to die. come on, with that hell he's been through I'm sure death would be a relief. but also, stop whining. this is 24, they'll find a way to keep him in play. the writers ARE still loyal to jack. so keep your tears in bay. do you really think they're going to kill off jack? get real. as much as I want them to, he is not going to die, he's the star of the show. so...

may bauer die, but we all know he won't. they'll sacrifice tony instead. yet again.

hardy24 · 2009-04-09 22:33:02

Just seen this episode, another solid one, although perhaps it underplayed it it's ace in revealing Jack is infected, and overplayed the FBI searching the wrong building, since really I saw that coming, just thought Hodges crony had been lied to.

Also, why didn't someone point out that since it was a set up, clearly the weapons are most likely on the opposite side of the compound.

Also, why do they also have to bring up the Posse Comitatus act when they will inevitably end up ignoring it as an unimportant stupid law?

My money is on Jack dying at the end of episode 8x04, after having given him a good send off. Imagine it J_A, the first four episodes of season 8, dedicated in large part to the hand over from Jack to Tony.

J_A · 2009-04-10 11:30:46

My money is on Jack dying at the end of episode 8x04, after having given him a good send off. Imagine it J_A, the first four episodes of season 8, dedicated in large part to the hand over from Jack to Tony.

better not bet too much, dan. as much as I'd love that... I'm still (after seeing ep 17) thinking that my theory has not yet been refuted and I'm far from believing Tony will make it through alive.

and you're right. they should have realized that the weapons are on the other side of the compound. still. it wouldn't have changed a thing in the standoff, would it.

on another note. I'm in the process of writing an article for the main site, we've been really bad at updating that. I should have it for you tonight.

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#1 2009-03-31 20:27:03

7x16 Thoughts - my mini-review of the ep

#2 2009-04-01 18:25:41

Re: 7x16 Thoughts - my mini-review of the ep

#3 2009-04-08 21:58:03

Re: 7x16 Thoughts - my mini-review of the ep

#4 2009-04-09 09:01:11

Re: 7x16 Thoughts - my mini-review of the ep

#5 2009-04-09 22:33:02

Re: 7x16 Thoughts - my mini-review of the ep

#6 2009-04-10 11:30:46

Re: 7x16 Thoughts - my mini-review of the ep

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