Manic Monday: "That's Disappointing"
When Tom Lennox admitted to his scheming underling Reed Pollock that he had been against Reed all along on last night’s “24,” Reed responded with a curt “That’s disappointing.”
I have to say that pretty much sums up my reaction to the entire night last night.
Warning: The remainder of this post contains details about last night’s “24” and “Heroes.”
Now, I know what you’re thinking. How could I be disappointed by a night that included both an attempt on the President’s life and answers about the most mysterious character on TV? I don’t know. I just was.
There were some good moments on “24” last night. I loved it when Chloe burst into the men’s room to find out if Morris was drinking (and people say no one ever goes to the bathroom on “24”). And of course, the meeting of Jack and Logan was awesome. I laughed out loud when Logan said he had renewed his faith. I mean, we’re not actually supposed to believe that are we? And maybe Gregory Itzin just brings out the best in everyone because his scene with D.B. Woodside was the best D.B.’s given us all season (Unfortunately, the remainder of D.B.’s scenes were so mumbled, they would have been better left on the cutting room floor.).
The problem was one that has been recurring too much this season—not enough Jack, or in this case, not enough Jack and Logan. If you’re going to bring these two heavyweights together, you need to give them plenty to do.
As for the aforementioned assassination attempt, it was just too anticlimactic for me. The President didn’t seem all that close to the explosion and the conspirators took the coward’s way out and did it during the practice instead of during the actual address—so it lost a little drama. And having a member of the President’s staff tied up in another room because he (or she) opposes a plot against the President has been done before (in season two), but I’m still willing to give it the benefit of the doubt since Chad Lowe is fantastic.
Next week’s previews show Jack getting himself into trouble again with a foreign consulate as he threatens to start breaking fingers. I know that some of you are too squeamish for that kind of thing, but I would rather see Jack eat someone’s entire hand than to see him touch Marilyn the way he did last night. Ewww!!!!...
So since “24” was a little ho-hum, I was pretty jazzed about “Heroes.” But you know what I’m always saying about expectations…
Maybe I was still bummed about “24,” but for me, the whole episode was one big rollercoaster that started going down before it ever got to the top.
Two things are for certain, though. HRG rocks and Jack Coleman gave one of the best performances of the year as he seamlessly (and believably) slipped back and forth between loving father and calculating villain.
There were some nice surprises last night, though. The first of which was that Claude, the invisible man, used to be HRG’s partner. But the biggest one was that Hiro’s father is involved in the organization and appeared to be very high up in it.
The episode also deserves some major kudos for those gorgeous black and white flashbacks. The makeup and hair people did an excellent job at making everyone look younger.
But now we have the questions…Who told the Haitian not to mind wipe Claire? Was it her mother?...Did the Haitian completely erase all of HRG’s memories about his family or just those about Claire?...Why did Eric Roberts shoot Ted? Was he wanting to test Claire’s ability or was he just hoping to do away with everyone?...How did HRG get Matt? Will HRG go back to being a bad guy and partner with him?
And with promises of more answered questions, the revelation of Linderman, AND a “Spider-Man 3” preview, how can “24” possibly compete next week?
Well, Kiefer does look good in a suit…
Stay tuned…
