Monday Night Viewing: A Stressful Evening

So last night at 10 o’clock I was sweating, my heart was racing, my head was pounding and I felt a little nauseous.

That could only mean one thing. It must have been a great episode of “24.”

And it was, but it wasn’t just “24.” After A LOT of stalling, “Prison Break” finally stepped it up as the guys made a break for it. You knew they were going to make it out, but the tension was absolutely nervewracking. And watching the Vice-President lose The Company’s support was fun too (But is she really hooked up with that creepy Secret Service guy?). However, the best twist was when Westmoreland revealed where his money was hidden and that it was actually five million dollars. You just know that T-Bag, Tweener, C-Note and Michael will all try to get it, which will keep them all tied together. When the episode ended, most of our guys (except Westmoreland and Sucre’s cousin) were on the other side of the wall.

It had been a long time since “Prison Break” had been that tension-filled, so I wasn’t used to going in to “24” with an adrenaline rush already started—which almost made my head explode in the first 15 minutes. Last night was exactly the night I had hoped for when I campaigned for “Break” and “24” to be scheduled together.

In other words, it was a very stressful evening.

I knew that the F-18 was not going to shoot Jack out of the sky, but it was still pretty tense watching it unfold and watching Logan try and manipulate the situation. I hope Gregory Itzin has marked this one as a possible Emmy submission, although I have a feeling his best work is yet to come. And how cool was it to watch that plane coast toward the highway overpass (I’ll look forward to hearing how they did that on the DVD.)? And when Jack slid down the plane’s wing with his trusty man bag on his shoulder? Yeah, that was okay too.

Then, the real tension started. Yes, Jack got the recording back to CTU (He couldn’t have downloaded it to his PDA?) and he had a touching moment with Audrey that almost made me puke (Thank goodness Secretary Heller survived—for now.); but this is “24.” There is always more to the story. I just knew that there had to be something wrong with that recording. It couldn’t be that easy. But then Logan pulled out that wooden box, and I started to get sick. I knew there was a gun inside and he was contemplating using it. I almost couldn’t watch. Logan has been one of the most fascinating characters in “24” history and I couldn’t bear to watch him end it all. There had to be a way to stop it (If not for the storyline, then at least for Gregory Itzin’s Emmy chances.). But as it became obvious that Bierko was going to escape, I just knew that they were going to kill Logan and spend the rest of the season chasing Bierko.

Then it happened. Logan’s phone rang and I screamed at the TV, “Answer the phone!” As soon as the operator said it was an urgent call from CTU, I knew it was Miles. “TV Guide” said that fans would hate Miles after this episode, but I actually like him a whole lot better. He’s still a weasel, but he’s the weasel that saved Logan’s life. Miles told Logan that he was compelled to stop the release of the recording (in the hopes that the President would reward him). Watching Logan’s reactions change from defeated to surprised to elated was pure acting genius (Come on Emmys. Do the right thing this year.).

Miles went to Chloe and while distracting her with his annoying demeanor, he erased the recording.

I was so rocked by the evening’s events that I couldn’t even react to the sight of my beloved Aaron in next week’s previews (And if Logan ends up killing Aaron, I may wish he had shot himself.). Plus, I was too busy reacting to Henderson saying that the people behind everything could get to Jack. Did he mean the Chinese (unless we’re just forgetting all about that)? Did he mean they’ll kill Audrey? Did he mean they’ll kill Kim?

Have I mentioned lately how much I love this show?

Stay tuned…