24 Recap for Josh

This was the one episode of the season that you absolutely could not afford to miss. I would highly recommend that you buck up for the Itunes copy of the show. There was a LOT that happened, and I will try to recap it here as best I can.

At the end of the last episode, CTU had taken Abu Fayed into custody and Wayne Palmer was ordering a nuclear strike. I'll cover the Palmer storyline first. He puts the screws to the ambassador demanding that they give information on the suitcase nukes. Finally, the ambassador caves and gives up a guy named General Habib. Apparently General Habib has been working with Fayed. CTU scrambles to find out everything they can about him and his ties.

Meanwhile, Jack and Doyle are interrogating Fayed to no avail. He absolutely will not talk. So they decide to take him back to CTU, where they plan on using chemicals to get him talking. Nothing like a little truth serum to brighten your day. On the way back to CTU, the transport vehicle is ambushed by Fayed's men. They shoot down Jack and Doyle and take off with Fayed. But after the vehicle speeds away, Jack and Doyle get up and are apparently alive and well. As it turns out, CTU staged the whole event in an attempt to get Fayed to talk. So Fayed is in a van full of CTU operatives. They tell him that they are affiliated with the aforementioned General Habib of the unnamed country and they are here to do whatever Fayed needs them to do. Fayed, understandably, is skeptical and demands to speak to General Habib.

Meanwhile, General Habib is being interrogated. Palmer threatens the general's family and eventually he becomes complicit. He receives a call from Fayed and assures Fayed that the men in the van are working with him and that he can trust them. Only as it turns out, he gave Fayed a distress code during their conversation. The van containing Fayed heads into a tunnel and the CTU comm channel goes dark. The van fails to emerge from the tunnel after several minutes. Jack and Doyle are sent in after the van to see what happens.

When they arrive on the scene, Jack and Doyle find that all the CTU men have been killed and Fayed is on the run. Jack tracks down Fayed as he is stealing a garbage truck. Jack latches onto the undercarriage of the truck, but is unable to communicate with anyone due to the noise. So the truck pulls into Fayed's safehouse where there are like 3 or 4 of his men there, along with the suitcase nukes. Jack apparently never got a chance to call into CTU, so nobody really knows where he is. Jack sneaks around the hideout and snaps a guy's neck. He then opens fire on another guy. A shootout ensues, and it ends with Jack and Fayed remaining.

Fayed and Jack exchange blows, and it looks like Fayed gets the upper hand. I was convinced that he was going to get away with the nukes. Anyway, Jack recovers and delivers a heck of a blow to Fayed. He manages to wrap a chain around his neck. The chain is connected to some kind of machine...Jack pulls a lever, and Fayed is lifted off the ground while the chain tightens around his neck. Meanwhile, CTU shows up on the scene, apparently able to track the stolen truck on satellite. Doyle, upon seeing the carnage, delivers the line of the season. "Jesus, Jack." My sentiments exactly. So the suitcase nukes are secured by CTU and Fayed is out of commission. That's the end of Jack's problems, right?

Not so fast my friend.

Jack gets a call from the CTU switchboard. On the other end is Audrey Raines, Jack's woman from season 4 and 5. A few episodes ago, Jack learned that she was dead. But as you can see, she is most definitely alive. After Audrey speaks for a couple seconds, the Chinese guy from the very beginning of this season (and also seen at the ends of seasons 4 and 5) tells Jack to call him back on a secure line, and not to alert anyone if he ever wants to see Audrey alive. We're left with a shot of Jack in distress as we fade to the ticking clock.

Needless to say, I cannot wait for tonight.

BEEP...beep...BEEP...beep.