Hour 12 - The Return of the Queen
I hate to say it, but the Producers of 24 telegraphed this one from a mile away. Was there any doubt that Michelle Dessler was coming back to CTU? I broached the subject in this space last week and the only thing that kept me from going out with a stronger buy signal was a question over the timing of her return. It had to happen. There was simply too much foreshadowing and when it became apparent that Driscoll was too distraught to continue, if was a foregone conclusion that district would have to come up with a replacement. Was there any doubt that the replacement was going to be the former Mrs. Tony Almeida? For those of you who didn’t see this coming, it is back to the Minors where you will be schooled in process and procedure. With that said, I can’t get too excited about last night’s cliff hanger ending.
So the queen has returned and is now reunited with King Almeida. This is going to make for some tremendous television over the next two weeks. I hope they have a psychiatrist available down at the clinic because these two former lovers are going to be in each other’s kitchens. It goes without saying that Tony is going to have problems working under Michelle and I am sure Mrs. Dessler is not going to be very impressed by the way Tony has let himself go during their separation. If I don’t hear a comedic jibe from her regarding Tony’s emerging gut, I will be a bit disappointed.
Michelle’s emergence will surely upset the tenuous leadership structure that exists on the floor of CTU. As the show approached the halfway point, it was clear that we had a real power struggle emerging between Curtis and Tony. Curtis should tread carefully in this area: Tony is a real backyard brawler and I don’t see him losing a bureaucratic tussle. Curtis has got to be a little upset by what is going on. He begins the day as deputy director of CTU, but he then gets passed over for a promotion by a guy who was recently rotting away in a jail for treason. That is not exactly a vote of confidence from above. To make matters worse, he is now making less money then Sarah, who was able to parley her involuntary electro shock therapy into a significant pay raise. If I were Curtis, I would be hot at these developments and the emergence of Michelle just makes matters worse. Now he is two heartbeats away from the directorship and that can’t make this rising star too happy. I suspect he will become Director in the future, but he also is far enough down the pecking order that could be extinguished down the line.
On the corporate fraud front, McClendon Forester is vying for a place in history right along side Worldcom and Enron. Who do they think they are going to fool with this short-term fix? When it is disclosed that McClendon sold arms to terrorist, the stock will open at 15 cents and trade down from there. And I love how the company is a leader in the development of electro magnetic pulse technology. That is the weapon of choice in the Matrix, so obviously McClendon is caught up in some larger global issues. My feeling on this whole storyline is that it is just a distraction. I think McClendon will be a forgotten subject four hours from now. McClendon has some issues that need resolution, but Habib’s storyline seems destined to move in another direction.
I felt the writers squandered a great opportunity last night when Erin Driscoll was walking out of the office for the last time. The writers settled on a morose scene to capture her departure, but I would have gone in a different direction. Instead, I would have settled on an uplifting “Lucas ending” where everyone at CTU starts clapping as she walked by. Then, Edgar tosses Erin his old letterman jacket just like Corey Haim received at the end of Lucas. Everyone would be happy and it would be a nice way to wrap that storyline.
That is really about it for Hour 12. It was a fairly uneventful hour. On the character front, Paul Raines scored a few points, but I don’t see that guy moving up the ladder too far. He may survive, but what are the chances he wins Audrey back? Nothing short of that can elevate him from C level to B level. Edgar had another solid week, although it was a bit workmanlike. He is clearly the go to guy on the desk and Tony’s vote of confidence will do wonders for the guy. I think the big loser of the week was AOL. 24 is notorious for its overt product placements and AOL should have been right in there working to ensure that Tony’s instant messages went out over AOL IM. That was some rip-off program they were using last night and that is a big miss for the folks at Time Warner. I guess the guys at Fox were not about to pitch the product of a rival media company.
So the queen has returned and is now reunited with King Almeida. This is going to make for some tremendous television over the next two weeks. I hope they have a psychiatrist available down at the clinic because these two former lovers are going to be in each other’s kitchens. It goes without saying that Tony is going to have problems working under Michelle and I am sure Mrs. Dessler is not going to be very impressed by the way Tony has let himself go during their separation. If I don’t hear a comedic jibe from her regarding Tony’s emerging gut, I will be a bit disappointed.
Michelle’s emergence will surely upset the tenuous leadership structure that exists on the floor of CTU. As the show approached the halfway point, it was clear that we had a real power struggle emerging between Curtis and Tony. Curtis should tread carefully in this area: Tony is a real backyard brawler and I don’t see him losing a bureaucratic tussle. Curtis has got to be a little upset by what is going on. He begins the day as deputy director of CTU, but he then gets passed over for a promotion by a guy who was recently rotting away in a jail for treason. That is not exactly a vote of confidence from above. To make matters worse, he is now making less money then Sarah, who was able to parley her involuntary electro shock therapy into a significant pay raise. If I were Curtis, I would be hot at these developments and the emergence of Michelle just makes matters worse. Now he is two heartbeats away from the directorship and that can’t make this rising star too happy. I suspect he will become Director in the future, but he also is far enough down the pecking order that could be extinguished down the line.
On the corporate fraud front, McClendon Forester is vying for a place in history right along side Worldcom and Enron. Who do they think they are going to fool with this short-term fix? When it is disclosed that McClendon sold arms to terrorist, the stock will open at 15 cents and trade down from there. And I love how the company is a leader in the development of electro magnetic pulse technology. That is the weapon of choice in the Matrix, so obviously McClendon is caught up in some larger global issues. My feeling on this whole storyline is that it is just a distraction. I think McClendon will be a forgotten subject four hours from now. McClendon has some issues that need resolution, but Habib’s storyline seems destined to move in another direction.
I felt the writers squandered a great opportunity last night when Erin Driscoll was walking out of the office for the last time. The writers settled on a morose scene to capture her departure, but I would have gone in a different direction. Instead, I would have settled on an uplifting “Lucas ending” where everyone at CTU starts clapping as she walked by. Then, Edgar tosses Erin his old letterman jacket just like Corey Haim received at the end of Lucas. Everyone would be happy and it would be a nice way to wrap that storyline.
That is really about it for Hour 12. It was a fairly uneventful hour. On the character front, Paul Raines scored a few points, but I don’t see that guy moving up the ladder too far. He may survive, but what are the chances he wins Audrey back? Nothing short of that can elevate him from C level to B level. Edgar had another solid week, although it was a bit workmanlike. He is clearly the go to guy on the desk and Tony’s vote of confidence will do wonders for the guy. I think the big loser of the week was AOL. 24 is notorious for its overt product placements and AOL should have been right in there working to ensure that Tony’s instant messages went out over AOL IM. That was some rip-off program they were using last night and that is a big miss for the folks at Time Warner. I guess the guys at Fox were not about to pitch the product of a rival media company.
posted by bruinsinruins at 12:34 AM
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