24: Season 7, Episode 18: "1:00am-2:00am"

24: Season 7, Episode 18: “1:00am-2:00am”
Grade: 9.5

I have been wondering what to give this episode for a while. It’s not what prevented me from writing the review sooner. I’ll be more caught up with things when school ends. Even though the twist at first upset me greatly, I have gotten over it and am simply ready to see where the show takes all of this even though it will probably end with Jack killing Tony. I also would like concise explanation writers. Seriously, make me believe this. I guess the reason I am so ok with this is because of the strong reaction I had to it. 24 made me react like that in the past. It had not for such a long time though; no show has really gotten that reaction out of me for years. So that is ultimately why I loved this episode, for better or for worse, the episode absolutely left me screaming at my television set in ways I could not have imagined. But it is not simply this; the rest of the episode was incredible. Really really great. So off we go.

We had President Taylor trusting Jack in ways that only Jack Bauer can do. I love the relationship he had with Palmer (David not Lame Wayne). We saw her hold her own in a conversation with Jonas Hodges and painfully have to endure going through his list of ridiculous demands. When they started reading those off and we saw what he wanted it became clear to me just how lame Hodges is. What kind of delusional world is he living in that he thinks he can walk away with these privileges’? What a loser.

Then we had Renee tell Jack that Kim was there to see him. They threw in an interesting twist here. While I had originally assumed Renee would butt her way into Jack’s business like she always does, Kim had actually been trying to get a hold of him all day and for a long time now. The scene between Renee and Jack was ridiculously intense and incredible. Kim’s always been the only thing that Jack cannot face. And I love his line to Renee ''I am dying! And I was okay with it. I could handle it. And now you put in front of me the one thing — the one thing that's going to make this unbearable?...I specifically told you: Do not drag my daughter into this!'' It’s just so true and I was already crying by this point.

Then we get the Jack/Kim reunion which was thank God all hugs because I could not handle them getting into a fight. Is it me or did Elisha look not so good? I was surprised by how old she looked and I wonder if that was intentional. Anyways, Jack is crying, Kim is crying and I am sobbing. Then Kim leaves and jack starts sobbing and then I go into emotional breakdown mode. Seriously…I cannot handle it. These scenes were just so satisfying as a fan to see and I love that these last few hours have showed us that Kiefer could do more than yell at people. The guy can seriously act when it comes to Jack Bauer and I do not think there is a TV character I am more attached to. I’ve been watching him for 7 years. That’s insane. We have not seen the last of Kim and I hope they keep this up with keeping her out of the danger. I sincerely do; the one thing they can do to fuck up Kim’s return is to put her in danger.

Onto the Tony extravaganza. Well…I knew something was up. I had an off feeling. The shots to Tony at the elevator, Moss taking off Tony’s handcuffs, the one too many shots of him in the helicopter. I said to myself “This feels weird” but I never even went to the idea of Tony being bad in my head. Never. I truly believed him when he said he was ready to answer for all of the things he had done. I had heard something big was going down in the way of the silent clock although I was so caught up in the happenings of the episode that I do not even know if I heard one. Either way, I figured Moss would die about 20 minutes in; just a hunch. Did I know Tony would kill him? Fuck no. It really sucks for a couple of reasons. One is that I genuinely liked Moss. A lot. I had texted my mom at some point in this exact episode that simply said “I love Moss”. I thought he was great; an idiot sometimes to be sure but ultimately pretty awesome. So his death really blows just as a death on the show. Then we bring Tony into it. Can Jack handle this? I sure can’t. What I am going to hate seeing is us knowing what is going on with Tony and knowing that nobody else knows what is going on. I hate that. I just want everyone to know. He killed Moss with his bare hands!!!!!!!!! What the hell?! The reason that I am more excited about this than I am pissed about what they did with Tony specifically is because between Seasons 5 and 7 I got over Tony. He was my favorite. I liked him more than Jack. When he came back I had simply moved on from the character. I still care and I still really like him and Jack/Tony will never get old. But it’s not the same with Tony. However it is exactly the way with Jack as it has always been and that is why I am pissed; not because of what they specifically did to Tony but because of what that will specifically do to Jack. So here is hoping they can pull this off. The episode proved that the show still has the ability to completely pull the rug out from under us. They will not get an opportunity to do something quite this substantial I suspect for some time if ever so let us hope they make the most of it.