"24": I'm torn...

I was torn over much of last night’s “24.” Some of the hardest stuff to take was some of the most believable. And one of the most infuriating scenes was actually a relief…

Warning: The remainder of this post contains details about last night’s episode of “24.”

The dead meat smell around Bill and Karen had become almost nauseating this year and the hammer finally fell last night. But it appears—for now—that it’s only their relationship that appears dead as Karen fired Bill to save her own hide. I almost would’ve rather seen him die than for him to leave like that, so I’m really hoping that we haven’t seen the last of him. I’m hoping that he still has his phone and he’ll hear Jack’s heartfelt voice mail and he’ll feel guilty and find a way to help Jack…

But as much as I hated to see Bill go, I have to say it was completely believable. “It’s just politics,” he told Nadia as security came to get him (What? No more red shirts?). When bad things happen, people look for someone to blame. Bill was the perfect scapegoat, even though he followed procedure in releasing Fayed. Karen had resigned earlier in the day to protect Bill, but feeling her position was now more important than ever (and after a pep talk from Tom), she chose to sacrifice his career over hers. I actually applauded when Bill hung up on her, both for Bill and James Morrison, who has been completely wasted this season…

Speaking of people who have been completely wasted, Mary Lynn Rajskub got to rise to the occasion last night as Chloe and Morris finally had it out and Chloe finally admitted that she couldn’t get over Morris helping the terrorists. It was a wonderful scene and provided that Chloe humor we’ve been missing all year. The look on Morris’ face when he realized he wouldn’t get his transfer was also priceless. But I was a little bothered by the line “The day I get jealous is the day I kill myself.” This is “24” after all…

And since this is “24,” I would appreciate a little less hanky-panky between Acting President Daniels and Lisa, his chief of staff. For some reason, that whole scene came off as creepy for me, especially when Daniels called himself “a dirty old man.” But because I really like Kari Matchett, I was again torn by these developments. I have to believe that this story is serving some greater purpose, especially since the previews show Lisa getting hot and heavy with some other guy…

I also have to believe that Nadia being named Acting Director of CTU is also going to serve some purpose as well because I’m not really seeing it now. I know that she’ll probably make a mess out of things, but is that all? And how was Division okay with Bill picking her since they were concerned about her being a Muslim just 10 or so hours ago?

But the real mess of the show is in the form of Doyle. I was kind of hoping that he would shoot Audrey to keep the exchange from happening so that Jack would have an excuse to kill him. I still can’t believe people actually think that Doyle could replace Jack. Did you see the way he manhandled that civilian when he took his car? Jack would have at least apologized.
And when Doyle screwed everything up by starting the firefight and letting Cheng get the component, I wanted to yell, “Doyle, you moron! Let Jack take care of it!” But then I remembered that Jack’s way of taking care of it was to blow himself up and I definitely don’t want that…

As I said, I was torn…

Which leads me to Audrey. I’m not even sure what to say about her because I’m not really sure what the show is up to. My second favorite Canadian, RT, had pointed out to me that there was something else wrong with her besides just trauma, and it looks like she’s totally right. But what it is, I have no idea. And how that ties in with everything I have no idea…

And where the show is going from here? I have no idea…

I sure hope the writers do…