Season two: episodes 19-24

smitten · 2007-08-16 08:28:28

I've now watched eps 19 and 20 - ashamed to say that the torture of Jack is one of my all-time favourite sequences, and once I get started I just can't stop. I even watched the commentary again, though I don't normally bother rewatching those, and Kiefer isn't really very forthcoming in it. Given he says he doesn't like watching his own stuff, it seems particularly cruel to have him comment on this one, eh?

He acts so beautifully, like the way he struggles to focus when the torture implement is put in front of his face, and again, when he is resuscitated. I've not seen any real resuscitations, but it only now occurs to me that when they are shocked and the back flexes, that really is the actor doing that! It looks hard to do and keep a dead-pan face at the same time. I also noticed for the first time, seeing the waistband of Kiefer's trousers as he flexes!

I wonder why they obscured his tattoos? I just can't see why they would go to the bother, given we already saw them (if only briefly) in season 1. Is there some cultural reason why Jack wouldn't have tattoos that I'm just not seeing? Here, pretty much everyone in the military would have at least one.

You really have to wonder about the storage of drugs in this clinic. The adrenalin they don't even keep in the treatment room, although it might actually be quite useful there. But baroglide, whose main effect is to paralyse the diaphragm, they keep in the basement. They probably keep all their dangerous drug there alphabetically, so that the baroglide can be found between the stocks of arsenic and cyanide.

And I absolutely love the kills that Jack makes here. His priorities - the two hostiles outside, then trousers, then information. I don't often think about camera work, but here I really have to take my hat off to them, as they're very careful about what they show, and what they don't show. They just get it absolutely right.

smitten · 2007-08-20 21:07:11

Well, I do feel a little like I'm talking to myself here, but that's what's great about the internet, isn't it? I'll just waffle away and hope that someone somewhere gets something out of my post, as I certainly enjoy reading those of other people.

I watched episode 21 and noticed (for the first time) that we see American thug #1 barefoot just seconds before Jack dons a pair of shoes. I suppose that's 24 humour. I had previously wondered where the shoes came from, as it's Kate's house and they don't look her style...

I was also impressed in the same scene by what Jack says to her in a rare piece of chemistry between them:

There are things in this world that are just out of our control. Sometimes we like to blame ourselves for them so that we can try to make sense out if it. Come here. [they hug] There was nothing you could have done.

It's pretty touch-feely for Jack, said (I think) as much to himself as to her. A sign that George's words have had an impact on him, and he's starting to deal with Teri's death differently.

Note to Dan or any other moderator: I've been starting new threads every 6 episodes, but as we're not saying much in a thread, should we change to every 8 episodes?

J_A · 2007-08-20 21:26:09

sorry smitten, we haven't really been posting that much lately. we did watch - me and MF_Luder, that is, up to ep 22 now - but just somehow didn't make it to the posing section yet...

but I'll say this much, watching s2 has reminded me of why it used to be my favorite season for a long time. it's really great. you get so much development in characters, especially tony - he goes from being #2 at CTU to a full-grown Director & it's really great to see how he deals with certain people . I think in this season, Tony really learns a lot. as in, when to obey orders and when to disobey them - and he learned that from Jack. one lesson, of course, that will come back to bite him in the butt later, but for now, it's working. and not to forget learning to trust people again after having been so disappointed by nina. he's letting michelle in his heart and defending her already, trusting her. nonetheless, when michelle goes against him to help jack, we get some of the best scenes of the season .

we hear in one of these eps they're referred to for the first time as "Tony and Michelle" in one phrase and it sounds so sweet . thy are just great. their chemistry really shows how well they work together. the other day, I just had to watch the 24 inside they did in season 3 cause I was loving them and missing them too much at the same time

also, jack - this season features some of kiefer's best acting. i'm really enjoying every minute of it.
it's an interesting thought, smitten, that george is getting through to jack in what jack says to kate. i wasn't thinking about it that way. maybe you're right.

in any case, kate is not any less irritating to me than she has always been.

as for 6 or 8 eps, cutting these up by eps was dan's idea cause he didn't discussions to go back and forth if people started posting about long gone eps and it made sense then. but seeing how we're hardly discussing this anyway, maybe reconsidering might be in order? I dunno. it's his call

J_A · 2007-08-20 21:34:42

I'm going to give a comment here that also relates to later seasons of 24 - so if you absolutely don't want to know anything, don't read on.

smitten wrote:

I've now watched eps 19 and 20 - ashamed to say that the torture of Jack is one of my all-time favourite sequences, and once I get started I just can't stop.

I'm not ashamed to say that has been among my favorite scenes for a long time. now, having watched it so often, it kinda lost the charm, but there is nothing wrong with kiefer's acting there, that much is true. this is really the worst torture scene we get for a long time. seasons 3 and 4 weren't that bad anymore. I was thinking they were recoiling away from it. and then in 5 and / or 6, torture came back with a vengeance. although it's not necessarily always been jack. from what I remember. and that isn't much. not in these last 2 seasons anyway. still, kingsley's henchmen doubtlessly performed some of the worst, chills-down-my-spine torture there, and I think the only one that really tops them is the season 6 guy, whose name I can't remember and won't go in depth here for it's the wrong topic, of course. and the wrong section.

smitten · 2007-08-23 15:52:15

jack_addict wrote:

we hear in one of these eps they're referred to for the first time as "Tony and Michelle" in one phrase and it sounds so sweet . thy are just great. their chemistry really shows how well they work together.

They really are very sweet. I like the bit when they're in holding together, and they hold hands. (Is that why it's called 'holding'?) Somehow, to me, grown-ups holding hands is so much more romantic than kissing.

I've now watched to the end, so I'll make some comments now, but may have more time later.

Kingsley comes into his own in these final episodes, our first blood-curdlingly evil character since we last saw Mandy and Ira. He gives Sherry Palmer this hungry, lecherous look before frisking her, that really does make the hairs on my arms stand up.

As for Sherry, who we almost begin to feel for at the end, she has a fantastic line shen she says "I'm scared". I love that because it's the only thing Sherry ever says that we know for certain is actually true. I also love Jack's reaction to this. Perhaps because my own job involves so much focus on other people's feelings, and active listening, I get a real kick out of the way Jack ignores them!

I'll post a bit more later, coz there's so much in these last episodes.

smitten · 2007-08-24 10:59:40

OK, posting more now, and back to Jack. And the complete b*lls-up he makes of handling Hewitt. I mean, he already knew the guy had a psychiatric history, and in later seasons he deals with fragile people much better, but this time he completely mucks up, so that's interesting. The scene on the roof when he wants the helicopter to land is just pure 24. It sums the whole things up, doesn't it?

There was, in the 90's, an English cartoon called Stressed Eric. There are clips on Youtube if anyone's interested. Little stories about this poor man for whom everything goes wrong. He's a single dad, can't afford a pony for his daughter so she has to go to the gymkana on a donkey, that sort of thing. He has this vein on his temple that pulsates, the more stressed he gets, and if you watch an episode, you get stressed too. When Jack is on that roof, he reminds me so much of stressed Eric. Running about like crazy as if by shouting and waving his arms about he can really make that helicpoter land. He suddenly looks so small and powerless. Poor Jack.

The other scene I very much enjoy is when he tells Kim to shoot Gary. You can see it's ripping his heart out, because shooting people in the chest (twice) is what Jack does, not what he wants Kim to do. They both act it very convincingly and it almost makes up for the more tiresome plots that Kim has to go through to get here.

What they manage to do is to keep the tension and the action going to the very end. Of course they have the big fight scene in the last episode. But they also manage to keep the momentum in the penultimate episode, even when Jack just stays in the same building waiting for a helicpoter for an hour. What a great end to a great season.

J_A · 2007-08-24 21:42:35

have now finished watching the season. don't have the nerve to comment right now, but I'll be back later. I will make one comment, however. the last two eps inspired me to make this:

so much for that

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#1 2007-08-16 08:28:28

Season two: episodes 19-24

#2 2007-08-20 21:07:11

Re: Season two: episodes 19-24

#3 2007-08-20 21:26:09

Re: Season two: episodes 19-24

#4 2007-08-20 21:34:42

Re: Season two: episodes 19-24

#5 2007-08-23 15:52:15

Re: Season two: episodes 19-24

#6 2007-08-24 10:59:40

Re: Season two: episodes 19-24

#7 2007-08-24 21:42:35

Re: Season two: episodes 19-24

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