’24: Live Another Day’ episode 8 review: President Heller’s 200th episode surprise

To think that there are 200 hours of “24” over the years is astounding, but the fact that this was a milestone episode tonight gave the entire story that added air of importance. You knew that there would be huge events taking place, and the challenge for the show was going to be trying to find a way to make them even remotely believable.

We’ll start here with what we personally believe to be the big story, and that was seeing if President Heller and Margot Al-Harazi actually were going to both making it to the rendezvous point at the end of the episode. This was every bit as intense as you would think, especially since the producers went all-out when it comes to using the famous Wembley Stadium in here. Heller was desperate to shore up his legacy given his Alzheimer’s diagnosis, and wanted to do anything that he could to trust his gut.

Over time, the devastation started to pour in about what Heller had done to fall on his own sword, and let’s not say that everyone took it well. While they waited to learn if that phone call to come in about the President’s fate, Margot fired off one of her signature drone strikes right into the middle of the field. The target was seemingly destroyed, and she had her revenge fulfilled. Can you really be surprised by this? Not at all. We cannot imagine that he survived this epic explosion, and this moment makes Margot all the more evil.

The strange thing to us about this episode was that it was fantastic in its simplicity. You could see the end coming, and the drama came in trying to figure out if there was a way to stop the inevitability. Often on TV, there is. Just not this time, and that alone is what made this “24” so tremendous and worthy of its milestone. They constantly surprise you so much that the biggest surprise is what is right in front of you … and what is blowing up. Now that this season is really getting going, we don’t want the show to go away again. Grade: A-.

(Of course, we have to add in here the caveat that maybe Heller is somehow still alive, and if “24” can pull of this trick with great writing, we’ll love it. Just don’t make it terrible like what happened on “Homeland” last season.)

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Photo: Fox