’24: Live Another Day’ episode 11 review: Did Jack Bauer, Kate Morgan stop Cheng Zhi?
Tonight’s penultimate episode of “24: Live Another Day” was a signature one for the show in so many ways. You had Jack Bauer trying to stop a threat that grew and expanded throughout the hour, and by the end of it, we were looking at a full-on international incident.
Was there anything that Jack could do in the end to stop Cheng Zhi, and yet another traitor in Mark Boudreau from sending much of the American institution up in flames? There was of course a plan, but not an easy one given that the Chinese were not so willing to think that the source of a torpedo attack on them was a man that they believed to be dead thanks to some substantial evidence.
Jack ultimately did what Jack does best: Go in and kill things. The difference this time around is that he had a worthy ally at his side in Kate Morgan, who has proven herself all season to be awesome. Boudreau was basically used as a pawn in order to go after the Russians, and in turn try to get information on Cheng’s whereabouts.
We’re not going to say that this was the greatest episode of the entire season, mostly because we saw Cheng going after Audrey at the end coming a mile away. (They have that history.) However, there was substantial movement forward in the plan to stop Cheng Zhi thanks to Kate just as much as Jack, and we genuinely feel like the show has got us primed perfectly for an excellent end of the season / series. There wasn’t really that much that happened compared to past episodes, but the pacing and the performances were tremendous. Grade: A-.
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Photo: Fox
arch8ie
July 8, 2014 @ 7:12 pm
Pretty much a kitchen sink sort of episode. I think the problem was trying to pack a traditional 24 story into half the time. Since there was only one device, the writers had to wait for Margo’s story to be over before moving on to the Cross-Navarro-Cheng-Russian guy main plot. Then they frittered away a good part of episode 11 just getting to THE President to reveal Marc’s duplicity. And while the Russian/Cheng connection might be plausible, it was just dropped in as casual exposition. I thought for sure Mark was going to die at the envoy’s house, thus letting him get off as a “hero”. In any event, someone’s flag draped coffin figured in the previews for the final episode, whether as a ruse to let Jack escape, or the death of one of the main characters. I think it’s a shame that Marc gets more substantive air time than Kate, who seems like afterthought now. And why has no one mentioned that a potential war means probably using weapons which can be compromised by the device?
rashenulthot
July 8, 2014 @ 4:24 am
still my favorite series EVER …… would love to see it renewed but I may have to survive on reruns!