11:00am-12:00pm

Originally Aired 11.19.02
2.4 - All About the Codes

Emergency crews drive by the van that contains Eddie, Jack and their crew on the way to CTU. In the van they listen to the first casualty count and the emergency crews over the radio. Jack looks totally upset and then grabs his self-inflicted knife wound again.
At CTU there are injured people walking around everywhere. Michelle sees someone face down on the ground and as she approaches the body she believes it is Tony, so do the viewers. Then we hear Tony's voice asking for help with someone. Michelle goes to him and Tony hands the guy off to her. He gets down on his knees and sees Paula under a pile of debris. He calls to her and she asks what happened. He offers support by telling her to hang on tight and he then turns to another guy there, obviously not thinking straight he wants a crane to come in and move the debris that is holding her in. The other gut reminds Tony that they can't just move stuff, they may move something that is holding everything up and then it will all fall on her. They are going to have to move it brick by brick.
Kim is carrying Megan and reassures her that they will be out soon. Megan complains that she doesn't feel well and she starts to have a seizure while Kim holds her. Kim yells for help and a paramedic comes over and gives his assessment that she needs to get to the hospital right now.
Palmer is unhappy with the situation. Eric reassures the President that they did everything they could. Palmer is frustrated saying that if Jack had called just minutes earlier they could have done more to help. Lynn and Eric exchange tense looks and the President leaves. Lynn puts the blame for the bombing squarely on Eric and she tells him so. She tells him that all those people are dead because of him. Eric practically threatens to blackmail Lynn saying that she was the only one that talked to Jack.
Mason, still dressed in white, is told by the doctor that all of his things have been moved out of his car and into the ambulance. Mason asks how he is going to die. He is informed that at the beginning he will be without symptoms and that this could last hours or days. He asks Mason how he feels now and he replies he feels like he is going to puke. The doctor offers to give him something for the nausea but Mason is uninterested. He wants to know what to expect. He is told that his hair will fall out, which he takes with a smile, saying that is nothing he isn't used to. Then he will have gastrointestinal haemorrhaging, skin lesions, bleeding from the mouth and nose. As he gets told that his mental state will start to deteriorate the doctor is interrupted by a paramedic who is promptly told "not now" by the doctor. He presses that it is important, it is Tony from CTU. Mason takes the phone and Tony announces to Mason that they have been hit. All of their intel has been destroyed and the only person who can access it is Paula, who is in rough shape. Tony presses Mason as to when he is coming back and Mason tells him he probably isn't, he is in no position to help. Tony becomes angry with Mason and yells at him to quit covering his own ass, they are the only ones with the potential to stop the nuke and now half of them are dead. Mason urges Tony to deal with it and they hang up. Tony is visibly angry and makes like he is going to throw the phone, but instead just puts it away.
Eddie and the rest of the bombers pull up and Eddie tells Jack to come with him. They head towards a car that is waiting and Eddie makes a call to Joe. They speak briefly of the job and Eddie gets the address to where Joe is which he writes on the inside of a matchbook. As Eddie hangs up the phone and gets in the car Jack pulls his gun and crouches down so that he won't be seen by the others. Eddie looks at Jack with his gun pointing at him and Jack demands the matchbook. Jack fills Eddie in on the truth that he is an agent and puts him under arrest. The others notice as they start to burn the telephone van and approach Jack, shooting at him. Jack shoots back and Eddie takes the opportunity to try and get away. Jack shoots Eddie through the windshield of the car, opens the door, pulls Eddie out, gets in and drives away. 11:10
11:15
Jack calls Tony’s cell and Michelle picks up. He wants to know what is happening at CTU and he is informed that they were pretty much all inside. Jack wants to know why there was no evacuation and Michelle tells him that there was no time. Jacks asks first about Mason and is told he was not there, then he asks about Tony and is told he's okay. Jack asks if Michelle can take a status report and she can and does. Jack gives her the address to where he is going and tells her that it is Wald's place and also asks her to tell Mason that he talked to Kim and she is leaving town. Michelle lets Jack know that Kim talked to Tony, but she doesn't know what they said. They hang up and Michelle finds Tony. She fills Tony in on what Jack said and he tells her to call NSA and tell them. She tells Tony that Jack asked about Kim and a slight look of panic dawns on Tony's face. He remembers that she was on the way to CTU, he sends Michelle to check the security logs to see if Kim had arrived yet.
At the hospital Kim is informed by the doctor that Megan has a skull fracture. Kim agrees that this did not happen in the explosion and the doctor suggests that there are patterns of abuse. The doctor looks suggestively at Kim and Kim is taken aback by the suggestion that she did this. The doctor informs her that the police are on the way.
The President and his staff are watching the events at CTU on TV. Eric wants an evacuation of LA but Lynn is sceptical. She thinks that trying to evacuate all those people will just cause panic. Eric assures her that they have prepared cover stories but again she questions him. For every idea he has, she has an equal problem. Lynn has a real problem with the fact that the plan Eric has provided will take a week to get all of the people out of LA. Eric says that if he can get 20% of the people out of the city, he will be happy. They have plans to get people away from the 10 high probability target areas. Palmer snaps that this is not good enough and he has reservations about this. Eric starts with Palmer about his re-election but Palmer correctly states that if the bomb does go off there will be more important things to worry about than his re-election. They leave the meeting saying that until there is a good lead, there will be no evacuation.
Jack is on the phone trying to get through to Palmer again. For the second time he gets Lynn on the phone, but he tells her that he wants to talk to the president. Lynn tells Jack that he is unavailable so he starts on her about what happened with CTU. He wants to know why they weren't warned of the bomb since he gave them 30 minutes. Lynn pawns the excuse off of "extenuating circumstances" but Jack thinks that is not good enough. He places the blame squarely on her shoulders, telling her that she is responsible for killing a lot of innocent people today, his friends and people he works with. She is visibly upset by this and she urges him to get his job done, to find the bomb. Jack is angry and tells her that he'll do his job as soon as they start doing theirs.
Kate approaches her dad and tells him that she has a concern. She continues that there was some money missing in their business and because of this she hired an investigator to check Reza out because she suspected him. The result was that Reza was not stealing money, but the investigator did find that Reza has had contact with terrorists, namely Syed Ali. Kate's dad asks if there is any proof and Kate admits that there is none. He assures Kate that there is an explanation for this and he knows because he hired an investigator of his own and had Reza checked out. He says his investigator was better and he found nothing. His daughters are his most precious assets and he would certainly have anyone checked out. Reza shows up and tells Kate that he thinks his cousin may have a crush on her because he talked about her the whole way to the hotel. Kate is going to get lunch and Reza offers to help her. Kate resists and Reza assures her that she will need the help. After some resistance Kate's dad practically tells Kate to go and it is decided. 11:24
11:28
George is riding in an ambulance where he is coughing still. There is a call that comes through the intercom for him, it is Tony. Tony is very curt to Mason and tells him that the only reason that he is getting in touch with him is to find out his password so they can access his system. Mason informs Tony that his password is 'Hendrix'. Tony asks if that is spelt with an 'x' and Mason would like to know how else you would spell it. Before they say goodbye Mason asks how Paula is. Mason finishes with Tony and asks the ambulance attendant if he is contagious, to which the answer is no.
11:30 Jack shows up at the address on the matchbook, gets out the rag he has been using for his self-inflicted wound and goes to the house. Jack looks up and notices a video camera which he looks directly at and then urgently knocks on the door. He identifies himself hurriedly as if someone is after him and Joe asks from the other side of the door where Eddie is. Jack fills Joe in that they are all dead and after some urging Joe lets Jack in. Joe turns around to lock the door and Jack pulls his gun and waits for Joe to turn around. When he does Jack tells Joe that he killed Eddie and the rest of the crew and he will kill Joe too if he doesn't co-operate. Jack switches his gun for a much bigger one, Joe asks Jack what he wants and Jack says he just wants to know who told Joe to bomb CTU today. Joe tries to convince Jack that he makes his own decisions but Jack becomes mad and yells at Joe to tell him. Jack tells Joe that there is a nuclear bomb set to go off today and CTU was a secondary target, Joe was used. Jack asks again why they chose today since they were obviously told not only what to hit, but when to do it. Jack puts the large gun on Joe's cheek and asks him one last time who told him. Just before we believe he is going to pull the trigger, a dog comes out of another room and goes after Jack. Joe takes off and Jack shoots the dog and runs after Joe. The chase leads Jack to a shed where we hear Joe shutting a door. Jack demands that Joe opens the door but Joe doesn't respond. Jack notices another camera that is pointing at him and is visibly mad. He takes his jacket off , grabs a pick-axe and starts to hack the drywall away around the door.
Kim is in contact with Carla on the phone and tells her what happened. Carla wants to know what happened but Kim encourages Carla to listen. Carla tries to be angry and accuses Kim of kidnapping their daughter but Kim talks her out of it. Kim tells Carla that the doctor thinks Megan has been abused, and so does she. Carla decides to come to the hospital and meet the police that are on the way but when she hangs up the phone and opens the bedroom door, Gary is there waiting. 11:36
11:40
Jack is talking to Joe via the camera in the garage. He is visibly frustrated, throws the pickaxe down and yells at Joe to give him the information. Jack sits down and catches his breath but talks while he sits. He informs Joe that there is a tactical team on the way and he really is trying to talk Joe into telling Jack what he knows. Jack becomes more and more frustrated and upset with the ongoing silence from the other side of the door. He pleads with Joe that these are innocent people and poses the question of how many of them are going to have to die for Joe today? After throwing some numbers around Jack settles on about a million after radiation. Jack then proceeds to diagnose Joe's problem, saying that he is always trying to blame everyone else for his problems, the big government etc, but the irony is that today, now, Joe has all the power and they are running out of time. They are all running out of time.
Kate and Reza are on the way to pick up lunch and Reza brings up the touchy subject, observing that Kate doesn't like him very much, does she? Kate worms her way out of a straight answer by saying that that is crazy and it is just that he has been dating her sister for 3 years and they never got to know each other. Reza counters with the fact that she doesn't know who he is and Kate assures him that she knows her sister loves him and he agrees. Reza turns the car down a road that was unexpected and Kate asks where they are going. He tells her he wants to show her something, he is going to let her in on a little secret in the spirit of getting to know each other better. Kate flies off the handle and demands that he tell her where they are going or stop the car. He tries to change her mind but eventually she yells and he stops the car. From outside the car she wants to know why he won't tell her where they are going and he, in defeat, tells her he wanted to show her the house. She realizes she was completely wrong and asks "What house" He gestures toward it and informs her that he bought it for Marie as a wedding gift.
At CTU they manage to get Paula out and Tony comes over to see. He is told that she is haemorrhaging internally and they need to get her to the hospital right now or she will bleed to death. Tony helps them lift her up and wheel her to the ambulance. As they approach it they hear Mason talking and Tony says he thought that he wasn't coming back. Mason gets angry and reminds Tony that he does not have to answer to him and tells him to drop the attitude. He is updated on the situation and Mason wants to know if they are going to have to put her under. Is suspicion is confirmed and he then demands that she stay, saying anything they can do for her they can do at CTU. The attendant resists, he can't do surgery here. Tony urges Mason to let her go, he thinks they will be able to find someone else to get to the files. Mason is straight with Tony and tells him that she is the only one that can decrypt the files, and he knows it. Mason demands that they make Paula lucid even if it is only for a few minutes. Tony tells Mason that he is crazy and Mason says to Tony that he can tell himself that if it makes him feel better. Tony pleads with Mason, saying "this girl deserves a chance to live." But Mason ignores him and tells them to wake her up while Tony is visibly distraught by the decision.
11:51
Palmer is in his temporary office and beckons Lynn in as he hangs up the phone. She hands him the press statement and goes to leave, but she is stopped by Palmer asking if she was ever going to tell him. She stops in her tracks and he finishes his thought, was she ever going to tell him about the 30 minutes between when Jack called and they finally warned CTU? He reminds her that he is the President, did she really think that he wouldn't find out. He asks why she didn't say anything and in her defence she tells him she tried to inform him via a message but he was with the press. Palmer is angry with her and says that she still kept it from him after. He walks to her and she is upset by her bad decisions. She says that there is no excuse while he looks over her head at Eric and the truth clicks on him. He asks Lynn if she told anyone else that Jack had called. She doesn't respond so he asks if she told Reybern. He puts it together and says that that is why they were arguing. She offers to resign to make up for her mistakes, but this is not what Palmer wants. He appreciates her gesture but doesn't have time to appease her guilty conscience. She looks somewhat relieved and he says that he trusts her to tell him everything.
Michelle spies Paula and wants to know from Tony why she is still there? Tony informs her that Mason kept her here to get the information. Michelle didn't even know that Mason was back but puts it together and asks Tony in disbelief of he's just going to let her die? Tony, solemnly replies that he is not so sure he made the wrong call, Paula is the only person that can get the information. He looks up and watches the attendants as they start to work on Paula. He puts his head down and gives a sniffle. Michelle puts a hand on his back and apologises. Tony says that he hired Paula, her brought her here. Apparently working at CTU was all she ever wanted to do and she never got a chance to do it. Michelle thinks she did. As he stands up and faces her he says that they'd better get back to work.
Eric is summoned by some official looking guys, saying that the president wants to see him. Walking right passed Lynn on her way out of his office it is apparent that she has just told Palmer everything. Upon stepping into his office, Palmer simply says "Your out, Eric. Effective immediately." Eric knows, but asks anyway of this is to do with that Lynn told him. Palmer says that Lynn didn't have to tell him anything. Eric goes on the defensive saying that the hit on CTU was collateral damage so that they could get to Wald. Palmer isn't buying any of it and tells the guys to get Eric out of there.
Jack is still waiting for Joe to open the door. He tells Joe that a tactical team will be there in less than 2 minutes and at that time he will either be dead or spend the rest of his life in prison. Jack is talking directly to the camera that Joe is watching in his little room and he is pleading with Joe. He then becomes angry again and tries to shoot the door. After he realizes it is not going to work, Jack throws the gun to the ground and checks his watch. He yells in frustration at Joe, calling him some nasty names and then Jack drops his head into his hands and leans on the wall. Finally Joe opens the door and pulls Jack out of his trance. Jack enters the room with his gun drawn and tells Joe to drop the weapon. Joe doesn't but gives Jack some good information, saying "the woman who gave them plans to CTU, I only met her twice. The second time Eddie took pictures." and he throws and envelope on the table. Jack yells again for Joe to drop weapon but Joe just says "It's over Jack, I can't go back to jail." Joe proceeds to eat a bullet and Jack yells "No". Jack realizes that there is nothing he can do for Joe and goes for the pictures. We split into more screens where we see Reza and Kate driving and the paramedics working on Paula. We then go back to Jack as he opens the pictures and flips through them. The first image we see is from a distance. They must mostly be too far away because he flips through quickly. Then Jack stops and we see who he does in the pictures, it is Nina.
12:00

Miscellaneous Thoughts:
-I really, thoroughly enjoyed this episode, the only part that really got me was the Reza/Kate thing, but we'll get to that later.
-As much as I like mind games I really didn't enjoy thinking that Tony had stumbled across Tony's body at the beginning of the episode.
-How did Tony manage to get out relatively unscathed but Paula end up under all that rubble. They were together when the blast happened.
-Could you imagine the cover stores for getting the entire population of LA out of the blast radius? Do they have about 150 creative writers on staff to come up with these? Even with that, they would not be able to do this without arousing suspicion.
-I love how Jack blamed Lynn completely for what happened at CTU. I agree with him. She should have tried harder to contact Palmer and not worried so much about Eric. If he was threatening her, she just could have dealt with that AFTER they saved all those lives.
-I totally do not get Mason. Why doesn't he just spill what it going on. Especially when he wasn't going to go back to work. I'm pretty sure that before the extreme circumstances arose he was just planning on going to the hospital. Is it just an "I don't want your pity thing?" or what.
-it is really too bad that they are developing Masons character now. It's almost too little, too late because we know that if we get attached to him he is just going to kick the bucket anyway.
-On the same thought, I loved the conversation about his password with Tony. "Hendrix" as a password is great and then Tony asking if that is spelt with an "x" and Mason taking almost personal offence to having to answer that.
-We even get to see a funny side of Mason in the face of death when the doctor tells him he will lose his hair and he laughs that he is used to that. It really is nice to see that he is not a hard-ass jerk all the time.
-I was surprised with a few things Jack said in this episode. First of all when he called Tony's phone and Michelle answers the first person he asked about was Mason. I thought the only person he trusted was Tony. Also when Jack blames Lynn for the blast at CTU, he calls them not only "people I work with" but "friends of mine." This struck me as a little strange. He doesn't technically work with any of them anymore and hasn't for a year and a bit. They can't be that good friends of his if he hasn't talked to them since he left CTU, which we have no evidence otherwise.
-I really enjoyed the scene when Jack showed up at Joe's. That was a great job of setting up the fake urgency in Jack's voice and actions. Sutherland did a great job of acting as Jack who was acting scared like he was being followed.
-So let me get this straight, Joe is really paranoid about security, he has cameras, a fence, a guard dog and a metal room for safety but in all of this, he leaves a 5'10" frame size between the gates so anyone that size or smaller can get in. Sure, whatever.
-Sutherland has this great crazy look about him when he gets to Joe's. I loved the look when he switched his smaller gun for Joe's giant one. It was pretty scary.
-The dog at Joes was totally out of the blue. That was something that was totally new to me, I don't think I've ever seen a TV show where that happened. Good thinking
-The scenes when Jack was trying to convince Joe to let him in were just perfect. Jack as this guy that is dealing with all this exterior stuff as well as trying to save LA, he just teeters on the edge of insanity and back to total emotional breakdown.
-I don't know about you, but I definitely have a pickaxe hanging around in my garage.
-When Kate a Reza were driving in the car, we were really being strung along to believe that he was going to do something horrid. I didn't buy it, but that is because it is still too easy. Were we really supposed to believe that Reza was going to knock Kate off or show her the nuclear bomb? Having lines like "you don't really know me" and "I want to let you in on a little secret, in the spirit of getting to know each other better." Honestly, what are we supposed to do here.
-Don't get me wrong, I still think Reza is up to something. If he isn't, this is just a waste of valuable screen time, but I couldn't believe that he would spill it to Kate.
-Kate is making me crazy. She just seems so...sinister. Maybe she is in on something...
-If she was that freaked about a wrong turn, could you imagine a surprise birthday party? She'd probably kill someone
-You would think that Tony would have learned through the whole Nina thing not to get involved with people from work, but no, I think he's dating Michelle. Especially in the way she was looking for him
-I hate Gary, what a jerk.
-Jack's expression when he found the pictures of Nina was great, it just really told it all.