"24": Say it ain't so...

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

Last night’s “24” started out like old times, with Jack convincing Chloe to help him do something against the rules. It was nice to see after her complete lack of airtime in recent weeks.

But then the show threw in a twist. Chloe sold Jack out. I didn’t know who I was madder at—Chloe for actually going through with it (Thanks to the writers for not actually making us see it.) or Morris for making her. Either way, it proved one thing. Chloe loves Morris more than she loves Jack.

Say it ain’t so, Chloe…

But my anger quickly diminished, because without Chloe’s betrayal we would have never gotten the best scene of the season—and maybe one of the all-time best in show history.

Running out of options to save the woman he loves—the woman who risked everything to save him—Jack turned to the one person he thought could help him, President Wayne Palmer. If it had been anyone else, Wayne would have simply said no. But this was Jack Bauer, the man who had once saved his brother’s life and had brought his brother’s killer to justice. This was the man who just a few hours ago had agreed to sacrifice himself for the good of the country. Even though we had seen it in the previews, the words out of Jack’s mouth still had all the weight in the world. “Mr. President, you owe me.”

I can’t tell you how proud I am of D.B. Woodside for turning this thing around. With the best actor on TV on the other end of the phone, D.B. cranked up his performance to match, making the scene nothing short of stunning. And when Wayne realized that Jack was talking about sacrificing himself to save Audrey, his reaction was beautiful—or at least what I could see of it through the tears that were forming in my eyes.

Yeah, it was that good.

One of the other reasons I was so moved by the Jack-Wayne scene was that I knew this was going to be D.B.’s swan song. Major kudos to the writers for giving him a chance to say goodbye properly and to show everyone what a good actor he really is. Of course, that only made it harder when Wayne hit the floor on national TV after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage.

Say it ain’t so, Wayne…

And as expected, VP Daniels wanted nothing to do with Jack’s mission to save Audrey. It made sense since the mission was crazy and could possibly lead to World War III, but I was still a little dismayed that Bill didn’t even try to fight it. How many times has he seen Jack pull off the impossible?

Say it ain’t so, Bill…

There have been a lot of rumors this year that Jack will die at the end of the season and be replaced by Doyle (Ricky Schroeder). I hope last night’s episode put all of that to rest seeing as how Doyle is dumber than a rock. Did he really think that Jack wouldn’t know something was wrong? And I loved that Jack threatened Doyle by reminding him—and us—that he had killed Curtis (Seems like a lifetime ago now, doesn’t it?). I had to laugh when Doyle told Jack he couldn’t fight the White House. He’s kidding right?...

A Jack that plays by the rules? The day that’s so, will be the day “24” comes to an end…