24 – Jack turns the tables; Josef makes his choice

All the pain receptors in Jack’s body must be dead. You can beat him, dangle him from the ceiling, and tickle him with jolts of electricity for a while, but as soon as you’re not paying attention, he will kill you with his bare feet. Too bad the Russians didn’t realize this. I was actually surprised by how easily Jack gunned down Sergei’s men and captured the boss himself; at least, in the process, we got to see some sweet moves from Jack.

Do you have any favorite moments? How about when Jack pounced out of nowhere on that guy at the fuse box and dispatched him with the efficiency of an assassin? Saw that coming a mile away, but it was still awesome! And in the dining room scene, he literally turned the tables on Sergei. I love it. In his old age, Jack has been through so much and done so much that he makes everything look easy now.

I’ve read elsewhere that Jack looks bored and doesn’t have enough to do this season. Would you agree with that? I don’t. I think there’s a good balance of action and drama. For me, the weakest aspects of the season are Dana’s subplot with Kevin and President Taylor in general (she’s the one who looks bored and doesn’t have enough to do).

The season’s strong points compensate for any weaknesses, and I would argue that the character of Josef is among the strong points. From the start, his conflict with his father made him an interesting and sympathetic villain. I was waiting to see how the Oleg drama would pay off. Would Josef become more loyal to dad (as he seemingly did when he threatened Farhad with a gun to the head), or would he turn against Sergei? Obviously, if you saw the end of the episode, he chose the latter. I wonder if Sergei is disappointed that his son betrayed him or proud that he’s carrying on the family business. Haha.

A few other comments on tonight’s episode:

• Hassan continues to act paranoid. I don’t know why Kayla thought that telling her father about her relationship with Tarin was a good idea. Obviously, that would make Hassan even more angry and suspicious of Tarin.
• Arlo is an annoying busybody, but at least he helped to move the plot along. It looks like Dana is finally going to do something about Kevin and his nasty little friend — and we all know what I mean by “do something.” Are you looking forward to it?
• Renee stayed in the background, and that allowed the spotlight to be on Jack. She’s obviously still messed up, and I’m wondering what they’re going to do with her character now. Any speculation?

Leave a comment, and let me know what you think of Day 8 so far.

Clacked by Ruby T.
on Feb 16, 2010 @ 10:00 EST5EDT