Scott Davis continues his journey through London Town with Jack Bauer with a look at episode four of Live Another Day.…
Another day, another hour with our dear friend Jack. So far, 24: LAD has certainly delivered on almost all counts. Swift, exhilarating and above all ridiculously entertaining, it’s everything you could want from Bauer’s return with the fat bits trimmed away for a more breathless story. And after three excellent episodes, 2pm-3pm really cranks up the tension in true 24 style.
Episode 4 sees Jack enter the American Embassy, after opening fire in the crowds surrounding it, to try to locate Captain Chris Tanner (John Boyega) whose drone was responsible for the deaths of US military in Afghanistan. Jack believes Tanner to be innocent, and after failing to question Derrick Yates, who designed the override program, Jack’s last hope of proving both Tanner’s, and his own innocence, is to locate the flight key that will hopefully stop the attack led by Margot Al-Harazi (Michelle Fairley).
As the last couple of episodes have unraveled, one thing is for sure: Margot is pure evil. Not only is she the one who has planned to attack London, but also she is not above using “any means necessary” to get what she wants. Whether it is using her daughter’s sexuality to convince her husband, Naveed (Sacha Dhawan) to continue piloting the drones, but when he again refuses to co-operate here, Margo swiftly, and viciously, has her daughter’s fingers severed in gruesome fashion. And while this is 24 and ANYTHING could happen in terms of who the true “big bad” is, Margot so far is fitting the bill, with Fairley again superb in a much darker role.
On the other side of the city, President Heller (William Devane) continues his plea to Parliament to allow him to conduct a full investigation into the drone incident, and he and the Prime Minister Davies (Stephen Fry) to continue in their plans to sign some sort of treaty that will allow them to still utilise drone technology to protect their countries, without collateral damage.
Heller’s speech is greeted with great applause and seeming support from the House, but within moments, he and daughter Audrey (Kim Raver, surely with a huge part to play as events unfold) are made aware of Jack’s appearance in London, and of his notions on Tanner.
Soon enough though, Jack has the flight key, alerting both the military and CIA’s Kate Morgan (Yvonne Strahovski, again excellent) and Erik Ritter (Gbenga Akinnagbe, growing in confidence), who have been on Jack’s tail for the last two hours.
The Embassy in locked down, and Jack is left stranded. He may be able to upload the key information to Open Cell and Chloe (Mary Lynn Rajskub), but time is ticking, and although Heller reaches out to him, Chief of Staff Mark Boudreau (Tate Donovan) believes Jack is deceitful, and he should be stopped by any means. Cue hostages, shoot-outs, resurfacing love (Audrey) and Morgan taking matters into her own hands.
And as the credits roll, Jack is truly out of the box. Armed, angry and courageous all in a brief hour, this is classic Bauer, and Sutherland, who really get their teeth in here. It’s the first episode to reveal Bauer as we know him, and the first time we see him Sutherland reveling being back in that leather jack, gun in hand, running, jumping, shooting. Ably supported again by a great ensemble, and at this rate, 24: Live Another Day won’t be just one flash in the pan. The tension has been cranked to 9 going on 10. God knows what will happen when they hit 11.
Scott Davis
