5:00am-6:00am

Originally Aired 04/04/06

~ 3.17 - Old Ties Revisited ~

5:00
The people at the hotel are starting to panic. Michelle tells them to calm down and be quiet but the CTU agents approach with masks and guns so panic ensues. Michelle is unable to get their attention so fires two more shots into the air. This again silences the crowd. She says sternly that she wants to make one thing clear and that is that no one is to leave the building until further notice. She says that she will get on the intercom and explain in a minute but right now she needs absolute quiet and absolute cooperation. Phillips hands her the intercom and she asks him if it reaches everything, even the rooms. He tells her it does so she begins her announcement. She introduces herself as Federal Agent Michelle Dessler and says that if they want to survive this they need to listen to her carefully. She lets them know that an infectious substance has been released in the hotel and they are quarantined until further notice. If they attempt to leave they will be stopped by any means necessary. She continues that if they are in their rooms they should stay there and if they are not they should go back to them. There will be medical staff there soon but their first priority is to go back to their rooms. Michelle hangs up the intercom and turns around where there is a woman trying to get past the security guards. She is calling for 'Danny' and when she sees the man shot laying on the floor she asks who did this. Michelle is standing nearby and she realizes from the look on her face that it was her. She tells Michelle angrily that she is a Federal Agent, she was supposed to protect them. She says the same thing again as she is led away by the security from the hotel. Michelle looks upset.

Jack and Chase are still at what was left of the car Amador was in. It is still burning and Jack is on the phone with Palmer. Palmer asks Jack how the man got Jack's number but he doesn't know. He tells Palmer that the man said that he knew him but he's not telling him where from, but at least they know he was in LA in the last hour. Palmer tells him that he intends to use Palmer to get his wishes and Jack tells him that he'll get back to him.

Jack tells Chase that since Amador is dead they now have 2 leads. Whoever is behind this knows both Jack and Alvers. The two of them have gotten in the car and Jack asks Chase to call Tony and get them to question Alvers.

David tells Wayne that whoever is behind this knows Jack Bauer. There is no indication of what he wants but right now they have no choice but to give into his demands, at least for now.

Michelle is asking Phillips to check the exits again and he tells her plainly that she doesn't have to keep him busy, he's not going to panic. He then asks her for the truth, he asks her to tell him if everyone in the hotel is going to die. She admits that most of them are. A few of them will be immune but most of them will die. He asks what the chances of survival are but she doesn't know.

Tony calls Michelle and tells her that the perimeter is set around the hotel. They discus the chances of panic and she expects it once the symptoms start to get worse. Tony wants to know how she is doing. She tells him that she's fine so far but when things got crazy she had to shoot a man. Tony assures her that she did what she had to do and then tells her that they need to know if Alvers ever saw the man behind the threat. Michelle heads out and a woman looks out of the hotel to see Health Services pulling up and then approach the hotel with bio suits on.

Alvers is still handcuffed in the same place as before. He sniffles and his nose starts to bleed a little bit. When Michelle gets close enough he tells her that he's bleeding but she says he doesn't look too bad. He reminds her they had a deal, she was supposed to kill him as soon as the symptoms started. She says that he hasn't told her everything, she wants to know about the man that he works for specifically his name. Alvers says that he never told him his name and Michelle looks at him sceptically. He tells her that he's dying and has nothing to gain by lying. She takes this and asks when the last time he saw him was. Alvers admits it was about three hours ago in Chinatown. Michelle calls Tony and then asks Alvers for a description. He tells them that he is in his mid-30's, Caucasian, six foot one, black hair, brown eyes, no facial hair and he speaks with a British accent. Chloe was listening in on Tony's end and is typing it in on the computer. She says that the search won't take long, she just has to cross-reference it with Jack's past. Tony is also talking with Jack and is patching everything through to him and Chase in the car. Michelle gets the pictures and information on her tablet PC that she then holds in front of Alvers. She starts going through the photos as Tony and Chloe, Jack and Chase all watch and wait. He says no the faces as they pass and soon they are at the end. She looks at him accusingly and he again reiterates that he's not lying. Tony thinks they should widen the search parameters and Michelle suggests that the accent may not be real. Chloe says that taking that parameter out of the search will expand the results by a factor of 50. Tony quickly calculates that it will come out to about 750 people. Chloe is worried that most of them are missing photos but Jack wants to know what the parameters for the current search are. Tony tells him that it is all living males and Jack suggests he changes that to presumed dead. Chloe does and they start to go through the new set of photos. After saying no to the first 5 candidates Alvers says the sixth one is him. Michelle tells Tony who already heard and then asks Jack if he knows him. Jack doesn't seem to believe his eyes and mutters 'oh my God.' Tony calls Jack's name who says that he knows him. British Intelligence lent him to CTU for a mission in Kosovo. Tony asks if it was the Victor Drazen mission and Jack confirms it. Jack says that the rest of the team died on the mission, or so he thought, but he was wrong. He tells Tony distantly that he needs time to think about this and Tony says to get back to him soon. They hang up and Jack mumbles 'son of a bitch.'
5:11
5:15
David and Wayne are walking and Wayne tells David that they have the hotel under control, NHS is going to start testing. SWAT is already there. David asks about the press and is told that they haven't figured it out but they are bound to before long. David warns Wayne to make sure the story is contained and he doesn't want them to use the word 'Cordilla virus' since people don't know what it is they should call it 'legionnaires disease' instead. That way they won't be scared of the unknown. Mr. O'Laughlin comes into the office. He is from Homeland security and advises the President that the security threat should be raised to red level and they should stop air traffic. Wayne doesn't agree and says that this will help create a panic. If they take these steps they will not be able to get away with calling it legionnaires disease. O'Laughlin argues that they should also shut down the interstates, rail and bus line. Wayne again doesn't agree, he thinks that whoever is responsible may already be on the way out of town. Wayne and O'Laughlin start to bicker and talk at the same time. David has heard enough and calls their attention. He agrees to alert the airports but do not shut it down until he hears from David. The phone begins to ring and after David answers he thanks O'Laughlin and after he goes David tells Wayne that 'it's him'. Wayne goes next door where there are people waiting with trackers. David tells them to put the call through and Saunders is on the other end. He calls David 'Mr. President' and tells him that his first assignment is simple but they will need it for the future of their relationship to work. David tells him coldly that they don't have a relationship, he does not negotiate with terrorists. Saunders says impatiently "well I don't negotiate with heads of state so just do as your told." Saunders directs David to a mailbox across the street. Inside there is a package wrapped in black paper. Have Secret Service get it and have it with him in ten minutes. David tries argue but Saunders hangs up. Wayne lets David know that he wasn't on the line long enough for the trace. The agree that he probably knows they are tracing the call and David fills Wayne in on what he wants and says to get Secret Service. Wayne reminds David that they will have to screen it for explosives and the virus, David snaps for him to do it. Just make sure it's back there in ten minutes.

Jack is looking at Saunders' file and says that it's still inactive. There is no evidence that he surfaced after Kosovo. Chase doesn't understand, he has spent the last 6 years with everyone thinking he was dead. Jack is sure that if he survived the blast he would have been captured. Chase offers the idea that this may have been the reason that he is still alive. He may be the reason the mission failed. Jack tells Chase that he doesn't know Saunders. He was a patriot. "Something else happened to him". Jack starts to dial his phone and Chase wants to know who he's calling. Jack says he's calling MI-6. Trevor Tomlinson answers the phone and seems to know Jack already. He says that he knows about Saunders and there has been no indication that he was still alive. Jack asks Tomlinson to trust him, Saunders is alive. Jack asks about London and is told there wouldn't be anything else there. Jack thinks that Saunders will want to deal with people he knows or trusts. He asks that they search his past contacts and Tomlinson tells Jack that most of them have gone dark or are dead. There is one, Dianna White. She ran a high class escort agency that served diplomats and other high ranking types. She was close with Saunders and passed information to him from her clients. They lived together but she has been inactive in the intelligence community for a while. Jack wants Tomlinson to patch through every bit of information they have on White.

Nicole Duncan tells Michelle that she wants to start testing the hotel staff for the virus. She tells Michelle that it would help if she would go first. Michelle agrees and they pull the curtain around the area. Nicole asks for her name and Michelle says clearly "Michelle Dessler, CTU" Nicole gives her a lanyard with the number 101 attached to it. She takes it and looks at it bleakly. Nicole tells Michelle that they will do a nasal swab, it's just as reliable as a blood test but the results can be analyzed more quickly. Michelle wants to know how quickly and is told they will know in two hours. She thanks Nicole and turns to leave the area. Phillips comes in and looks scared as he meets eyes with Michelle. She leaves and then she looks at the line-up waiting to be tested.

Aaron Pierce has a phone. He gives it to Palmer and says it's been scanned and it was built with a sub channel chip. The phone is designed to receive a special signal and cannot be traced. Aaron leaves and David surmises that this is how Saunders intends to communicate with him and this way they can't trace it. Wayne finishes David's thought and says they won't be able to find him. It rings and David answers it with a heated 'yes'. Saunders says calmly that it's good that he is using his new phone. He is to consider it their private line and as he has likely been informed they can not trace this phone. He instructs David to call a press conference in the next half an hour. David wants to know what for but Saunders doesn't care. It can be the space program, the price of wheat, it doesn't matter but he is to use the words "The sky is falling." The context doesn't matter. They hang up and David fills Wayne in. Wayne doesn't think it's a good idea and that it could be a signal. David thinks it might show that Saunders is in power. He does think it will but them some time and then maybe CTU can 'find this maniac before things get out of hand.'
5:23
5:28
Jack and Chase are still driving and Chase is on the phone. Dianna White is supposed to be at home and they have a new list of clientele and her networks. They figure that Saunders has been getting information about her clients and then blackmailing them. Chase asks if he thinks that's where he got the money to fund this plan and Jack admits that that's probably part of it. Chase enquires about Saunders. He says that Jack says he was a good soldier and asks what he thinks happened. Jack doesn't know how he could have survived the blast in Bosnia. If he did he would have been captured and tortured for many years and he is now holding the US government responsible. Chase doesn't understand since Saunders was a British agent. Jack tells Chase "he was on loan to us, it was a US operation, we left him behind. I left him behind."

Tony is on the phone on the way up to his office. He tells the person on the other end that he knows they were studying it or at least a related strain. They must have had a vaccine or cure in the works. Tony is frustrated with the lack of answers and reminds the person on the other side that he has a hotel full of people out there dying and one of them is his wife. He tells them in anger not to tell them that there's nothing they can do. He hangs up and Kim appears at his door. He tells her it was NHS on the phone and the only news that they have is that for anyone that is infected it is 100% mortality rate. Tony tells Kim that today when Michelle told Chapelle that he should stand down because of his wound he barely even talked to her. Kim is sympathetic and admits that she can't say she knows what he is going through but if he needs anything… Chapelle comes in and Kim leaves. He asks Tony impatiently if he cleared the files with division yet. He says no he is on something else. Chapelle knows that he was calling about Michelle. Tony tells Chapelle "she's my wife, Ryan" but Chapelle tells him that he has to move on. Tony doesn't believe what he is hearing and asks Chapelle indignantly if he's acting like she's already dead. Chapelle admits that he is and so should he. They are at war and Tony is welcome to go home or to maintain a vigil at the hotel but he needs him there. The best way to do this is to stay at CTU, "assume the worst and make it about revenge." Tony thinks for a second and then asks what he's got. Chapelle is tracking Saunders' money and is looking for bank accounts from the computer they took from the Go club. He figures they can follow it to Saunders. Tony asks if they are offshore or domestic accounts, Chapelle says both. Anything he finds he will send to Tony.

Jack and Chase are at the house of Dianna White. Jack goes first and opens up the gate to the backyard. They go up the back sundeck and Jack quickly picks the lock and slides open the glass door. He gets inside and Dianna appears, shooting at Jack. He takes cover behind a wall and yells for her not to shoot, he's a Federal Agent. She doesn't care, he is in her house. Chase takes the opportunity to move past Jack to the other side of the wall she is on. Jack says that he wants to talk about Steven Saunders. Jack is leaning out to speak and she calls him a bastard and takes another shot very nearly getting Jack. He asks that she put the gun down but she wants him to go first. He agrees to put it down and tells her to take it easy. He quickly moves out puts the gun on the counter nearby and takes cover behind the wall again. She wants him to come out and he does with his hands up. She comes out with her gun up but when she gets in front of the wall Chase takes her down. Jack has picked his gun back up and Chase has hers. Jack wants to ask some questions and she asks if he minds if she gets dressed first. Jack tells her to go ahead and he follows her into her room. She faces him and drops her robe and then turns around and puts on a sweater and some pants. As she does he asks her to tell him about Saunders. She says that Steven always said he would protect her when she was young and stupid but when the work turned ugly he left her. Jack asks about 'work' and she says it's a figure of speech. Jack asks point blank if she denies that he worked for Saunders and she says yes, she denies it. Jack doesn't believe her but she doesn't care. Jack says she will and tells her to come with him. They go back out to the kitchen and Jack tells Chase to call Tomlinson. Dianna stops and informs them she's not going anywhere without her lawyer. Jack tells her that they are taking her to MI-6 where she will be interrogated by a foreign government. "Your constitutional rights no longer apply." They go.
5:39
Michelle is in the basement of the hotel and Nicole comes out of a door. Michelle asks her if she's seen Gael and she says she has and that he doesn't have much time left. Michelle asks her if he is in a lot of pain but Nicole simply tells her that she knows the path of the virus. Michelle wants to see him but Nicole wouldn't advise it. Michelle says that if he's been infected, she's been infected, there's nothing anyone can do. Nicole says that 'that's not what I meant.'

Michelle goes into the room where Gael is. He is coughing and having trouble breathing. She slowly approaches and when she gets close enough he turns to her and we see that his face is covered in boils and he looks very bad. She hesitates when she sees him and then takes the last few steps. He asks her to do him a favour and Michelle quickly says 'anything.' He asks her to 'contact my family and tell them that I love them. Tell them that I died quickly. No pain.' Michelle says of course and Gael coughs again. She reaches behind her jacket and pulls out her gun. He isn't watching as she sets it on a crate beside him. She says his name and carefully draws his attention to it. He sees the gun and shakes his head. "I was raised to believe suicide was a sin." Michelle says quietly that no one could blame him, in this world or the next, for ending his suffering. Gael asks if she is sure about that. He starts to think and tells her that 'a few seconds more is all I needed. When I was trying to stop the cylinder from exploding, I hesitated for just a moment because I was afraid, then I forced myself to more forward. Maybe if I hadn't heisted this might not be happening to me, and those poor people upstairs.' Michelle assures him that he did everything he could and tells him that "I'm proud to have worked with you. You are one of the bravest men I've ever known". She continues that she'll make sure his wife and children know that as well. She picks her gun back up and slowly stands up and leaves him there. Once she is out of the room she looks like she is going to cry but then takes a moment to collect herself and moves on.

Wayne and David are backstage before the press conference. Wayne tells David that Homeland Security has raised the threat level to red if "the sky is falling" should trigger an attack. The FAA is prepared to stop flights. Wayne thinks it's an overreaction but David is being announced at the press conference. He leaves Wayne there and goes out on stage. David tells the press President that he knows the time is unusual but so are the times that we live in. he announces the "red" threat level at the US. He orders the grounding of all domestic and international flights and continues that "I'm not taking this action because the sky is falling but I'd rather be overprotected than under prepared." He advises the public to stay calm and then turns to leave. The press jump to their feet and fire questions at David as he leaves. Wayne comes out and reminds them that this is not a Q&A session and the President has nothing more to say. David doubles back and says he will allow a couple of questions. He chooses one of the reporters who asks if the US is under attack. David answers that this is a preventative measure but the reporter presses him because he doesn't think that the American people will accept the grounding of air traffic based on prevention. David says he can't go into it.

Jack, Chase and Dianna arrive at MI-6. Jack introduces Tomlinson to Chase and Dianna they immediately start to ask Dianna if she has seen Saunders. She is told that she might want to think that through since Saunders probably wouldn't put himself on the line for her. Tomlinson tells Jack and Chase that all the information is in the system downstairs. London doesn't want them to start sending information until they have as much as they can. As Tomlinson talks something large is heard approaching outside and a chopper appears outside the window with two men inside, at least one of them firing into the office. Jack sees it and starts yelling for everyone to get down. He grabs Dianna and they take cover but on the way down she is hit. He takes her pulse as he yells to Chase if he's hit who answers he was hit in the vest. Jack moves across a while firing back at the chopper to Tomlinson. He asks where the computer file on Saunders is stored and Tomlinson, who has been shot a few times, answers that it's on drive A-5. Jack tells Chase that they have to get there right away, use the stairs. Chase goes first and Jack follows while he takes a few more shots at the helicopter which is moving away. Jack tells Chase that they wouldn't have hit the building just to kill Dianna, MI-6 has information that doesn't exist anywhere else and they need to get to it. They move into the stairwell where there are 2 shooters but Jack and Chase kill them both. Jack steps over the body of the second one and they run down the stairs. Jack is in the lead and they both still have their guns out. They reach the right floor and Jack says he'll get the door. He opens it and a dead security guard falls at his feet. They go into a dark room and after they've checked it they figure it's clear. Jack goes to the drives which are in a locked cabinet. He sees an "A" painted on the side of one and then pulls his knife out and jams it in the lock. He opens it up and checks out the drives and as he finds 5 he starts to quickly unscrew it. As he works he hears a beeping and on another shelf set he sees a bomb and a timer. Jack tells Chase that they have a bomb and Chase asks how much time. Jack tells him "none, you gotta go now." Chase just stands there and Jack tells him again to go, now. Chase doesn't move and says "Jack, I'm not leaving you." Jack tells him to get out of there, 'it's an order, go now.' The bomb beeps on as Jack works. He finishes quickly and says he's got it. Chase is not far away and Jack tells him to go. They run and it blows within seconds.
5:49
5:53
Michelle starts to make a call. Before she finishes dialling there is a gurney rolled out of a room nearby with a body covered in a white sheet. She stops them and slowly pulls back the sheet revealing the body of Gael. She shakes her head and puts the sheet back. They leave and she completes her call to Tony. She tells him right away that Gael is dead. Tony sighs and Michelle tells Tony that he was suffering so badly. She thinks no one should have to go through what he did. She says that there are children that are going to die in agony in front of their parents eyes. Tony says there's nothing that they can do for them but Michelle thinks there is. Field operations have a supply of capsules that are made to commit suicide in the face of torture. That's how they would be used there. Tony says that they're talking about mass suicide facilitated by an agency of the government. Michelle thinks he should have seen Gael. She is calling because "if it was me, I know what I'd want." Gael was the first to die because he was the first exposed. Tony will see what he can do.

A phone in CTU rings and Chapelle picks it up. It's Jack and he tells Chapelle that the entire MI-6 office in LA has just been wiped out. Him and Chase are walking towards their car and Jack is carrying the drive. Jack continues that they took out a woman and Tomlinson. He asks Chapelle if he has anything yet and he tells Jack that he's working on the money trail. He has narrowed it down to a few banks but it's going to take some time. Jack says that one thing they were trying to get was the information that MI-6 had on Saunders. Jack has the information on the hard drive and he wants Chapelle to assemble a team so they can start on the drive as soon as he gets back. Chapelle will get Chloe on it. They hang up and Chapelle notices Tony pulling something out of a storage locker. When Chapelle gets to him Tony tells him that they are suicide capsules for the people at the hotel. "It's gonna get pretty bad down there." Chapelle reminds Tony that "it's against every regulation in the book." Tony can only say 'yeah' and after a small hesitation Chapelle tells him to "do it." Tony goes out the door with the case.
Saunders is talking to another man. Saunders is told that they have taken out the entire MI-6 office but Bauer got out with his partner. Saunders asks about the hard drive and is told that it was completely destroyed. Saunders asks about Dianna and the other man tells him that she's dead. Saunders says that he'll miss her. The other man says there's another thing. The bank in the Caymans has had an enquiry and it's coming from CTU. A man named Ryan Chapelle. Saunders looks up and says that he knows Chapelle. The other man says that apparently he's quite good at following money trails. Saunders asks 'is he?' and then tells the other man to carry on.

In the slit screen we see Saunders thinking, Michelle watching the line up for testing at the hotel, Chapelle working with Chloe who is on the phone, and Jack sitting passenger in the car wincing.

Wayne is on the phone and then comes into David's office. He tells him that he LA office of MI-6 has just been attacked. Jack Bauer was there at the time. David asks, concerned, if Jack is alright. Wayne says yeah, he's on his way back to CTU. David wants to know if there's any indication that the attack was triggered by what he said at the press conference. Wayne doesn't know what triggered it, it could have been. It was a helicopter with 2 men inside. David says that they have to land. Get the FAA to coordinate with Homeland Security and Border Patrol. The phone that Saunders gave David rings and he answers with a 'what.' Saunders tells David that he enjoyed the press conference, it's good to know that the sky is not falling. His next assignment is sort of a preliminary one to clear the decks before the main event to come. 'The regional director of CTU, a man named Ryan Chapelle, I want him killed. Have his body delivered to the railway at 7:00am, just off the main line'. David says it's out of the question but Saunders urges him to, before he makes his decision, to go by the Chandler Plaza hotel and take a look at what's happening. Then imagine the same thing happening at hundreds of locations across the country. David tells him he's insane and they hang up. Wayne asks what he wants but David doesn't answer.
6:00

Miscellaneous Thoughts:

-Michelle is really becoming trigger happy. That's 4 shots into the air and 2 into the guy that we now know was named Danny in about 10 minutes. She might even need to reload soon. That's pretty good for Michelle.
-I don't think listening to Michelle will help anyone survive this. If they've got it virus they've got the virus, right?
-The lady that was probably Danny's wife needs to get a grip. Sure she killed him but she had to and there's a 90% chance that he was going to die anyway.
-I also can't believe that Michelle feels guilty for shooting him.
-At least David has the good sense to give in to the relatively harmless demands of Saunders to buy some time. It was good to see he's sensible about this 'no negotiation' thing.
-If they didn't know anything by the time Health Services got there people would be really freaking out when they showed up. They look like something out of a 70's space movie with those suits on.
-Alvers got off pretty well with the whole bleeding thing. Just that little bit? Too bad they couldn't all be like that.
-It was pretty easy to get that information out of Alvers. Does he have some guilt issues that he needs to clear up before he dies? Like, you know, the guilt of possibly killing millions of people?
-Michelle had a tablet PC there when she was dealing with Alvers and the mug shots. Those things are so cool!
-It sounds like Jack may have thought this all hitched into Operation Nightfall since he wanted the parameters changed to 'presumed dead'.
-I know one of Jack's sort of, tag lines is 'son of a bitch' but in the car after they discovered who Saunders was it really just sounded like he said 'bitch.' It was pretty funny, actually.
-It was fortunate that David went to the press with the potential threat. It was getting somewhat tiring for him to always be against telling the press anything.
-Maybe I'm just out of touch but if I heard 'legionnaires disease' it wouldn't make me feel any better than hearing it called 'cordilla virus' since I don't know what either of them are. If you don't know either it can lead to pneumonia or Pontiac fever. If you're interested you can lean all about it here.
-It seems like Wayne just like to argue. Every time David has someone around Wayne is arguing with them. It was comical listening to him argue with O'Laughlin.
-Line of the Week contender: Saunders to David "well I don't negotiate with heads of state so just do as your told." - It was delivered so well. Does this show Saunders' dislike for people in charge like David? Is Jack right and he is angry because he was left behind after Nightfall?
-So now all the people that are tested for the virus at the hotel are numbers. That is pretty scary.
-I nearly hit the roof when Duncan said 2 hours. 2 HOURS? That's two episodes from now. What a waste of money to run all the tests. If the incubation period is now a matter of practically minutes then a lot of people will be already dead in 2 hours. I would wait for 24 hours then take the survivors and test them just to be sure.
-It's pretty obvious that Saunders knows what he's doing. Another impeccably prepared terrorist. Makes me wonder if any of them ever just toss something together at the last minute or if everything takes months to plan…
-And this one also thinks he's a comedian. A press conference on the price of wheat at 5am? Might be a hard sell.
-What kind of phrase is 'the sky is falling' anyway?
-This is just another thing that Jack will hold himself responsible for, leaving Saunders behind and then his anger that led to the people in the hotel dying…I said it before and I'll say it again, Just what Jack needs, MORE guilt.
-I was impressed that they were reasonably consistent with the time between Operation Nightfall and this season. Operation Nightfall occurred 2 years to the day before season 1. 18 months after Season 1 was Season 2 and then 3 years after that is season 3. So that's 6 ½ years and Chase says that Saunders has been in hiding for 6 years. Good stuff.
-The scene with Tony and Kim and then Chapelle was really nice. I loved how Tony got all worked up and could hardly say 100% mortality rate for those infected. Then his little look back to when he was mad at her and finally his indignant response when Chapelle suggests that he move on.
-Gee, Chapelle is a 'glass is half empty' person, isn't he? She's dead, move on…
-Just to clear that up, Tony said that the mortality rate for the people that are infected is 100%. So once you are infected there's no hope. The rate of infection is still, I believe, 90%. That means that 100 people out of the 1000 in the hotel will survive.
-The writers have seriously backed themselves into a corner now. Michelle and Tony, at this point, can not live happily ever after. It's just not what 24 does. Michelle is not showing symptoms yet and every time something happens at the hotel it brings up the idea that she might live. It's just not right. Don't get me wrong, I love Michelle, I love her character and I love watching the actress who plays her, Reiko Aylesworth, work but the two of them just can't walk off into the sunset at the end of the day. After Tony getting shot and surviving and now Michelle where she is it is just not right for it to work. IF she lives then Tony has to go. It can be complications fro surgery or maybe he can do something stupid because he think she's going to die. Either way the two of them can not survive this day together. As far as I see it, that would be 24 selling out on what they do best, not letting anyone be really happy.
-A few hours ago we had Michelle making the same decision as Tony just did. Go be with the significant other or stay at work?
-It was really strange seeing Chapelle actually doing some productive work for once and not just running around getting in everyone's way. I think that's the first time in 3 years.
-If Chapelle is so good at tacking money how come he never found the money that George Mason schemed off the top of Philippe Darcet's account before season 1?
-Jack just has so many skills. That was the fastest lock pick ever at Dianna White's house.
-And for Jack that's the second time in 2 seasons he's had a woman get changed in front of him. It was kind of comical that he didn't bring Chase with him. It's kind of a 'you're dating Kim so you can't look at a woman changing' thing just ran though my mind.
-I thought for sure Jack was going to recycle the "I am your lawyer" line from the Alex Hewitt season two questioning on Dianna
-LOTW contender: Jack to Dianna: "Your constitutional rights no longer apply."
-Nicole looks paler than anyone else after she's seen Gael. That's not a good sign.
-What was that guy doing that was just standing there when the chopper was outside MI-6? Of course he'd get shot
-A little inconsistency about Dianna White. When she got dressed at her house she didn't put a bra on but when they got to MI-6 she magically had one. I don't think they would have an extra in the CTU SUV but I guess you never know.
-So, did Michelle kill Alvers? It was just kind of left alone after they got the ID on Saunders.
-It's good that Gael didn't kill himself. He seemed like he had some pretty deep morals and if that's what he believes that was great that he stuck with it.
-It worries me that Michelle wants out so bad. She's a great character and I want her around as long as possible.
-I was reminded of what I said last time about betting your life on Michelle not shooting you. Same idea with Gael. No one can fault him for ending his suffering and he asks 'are you sure?' - Are you willing to bet eternity on that?
-I bet Chase is buying shares in Kevlar after this.
-How did Jack and Chase not get effected by the bomb? That was quite a bit of C-4 but it only seemed to explode one way, away from Jack and Chase.
-Did Jack honestly expect Chase to leave him there? Even we would know he wouldn't do that and we've only known him for 16 hours.
-So if Gael was infected at 3:59 am and died before 5:53 that is 1 hour and 54 minutes for the first fatality. Approximately 1/12th of the original time that it was supposed to take to die from the virus.
-Considering the operation that just went down against MI-6 do we really think it's a good idea for Jack and Chase to be walking around in the open like that with the drive full if sensitive intel? They are just ripe for the pickin'. I thought these guys were supposed to be smart…
-Wow, that was very un-Chapelle-ish to let Tony take the capsules down to the hotel. This has been a weird Chapelle day. This and then letting Jack change his story (even though he didn't) and the Michelle hug. Not to mention the fact that he's actually working. Is something going on here or is it just a ploy so that we like him a little more and will feel bad if he has to be killed.
-Is Tony going to the hotel or was he taking those to someone else to take down there?
-What a touching goodbye of Saunders. He'll miss Dianna even know he is responsible for her death.
-How does Saunders know Chapelle? If he's supposed to have been dead for 6 years could have had a run in with him before or is it something to do with after he was presumed dead? What's going on here? Does it go deeper than the fact that Chapelle is tracking the money?
-In the split screen Jack looks bad. First he looks at Chase and then leans back in the chair and looks like there's something going on again. He's also not driving. Jack always drives. Could the pills be wearing off that Ramon gave him in Mexico or is there something else going on here?
-Right now there are a lot of questions that are starting to need some serious answers.
-LOTW contender: Saunders to David: "It's good to know that the sky is not falling"

-Okay, now the whopper for this episode. Saunders. There are a few kinks in this storyline and a few places that it could go.

-For those of you who have been under a rock for a while and don't know what 'Operation Nightfall' is here's what you need to know. Prior to Season 1 Jack led a mission into Kosovo called 'Operation Nightfall' The operation was authorized by David Palmer before he was the President and Jack was assigned to it through Robert Ellis. The mission was supposed to take out a man named Victor Drazen, a man responsible for such acts as expulsion of Albanians, looting and burning, detention of military-age men from their families, summary executions (i.e. mass killings), rape, destroying medical facilities and identity cleansing. The mission went horribly wrong and the entire team of men was taken out except Jack but not before they took out what they thought was Victor Drazen. As it turned out in Season 1 the man that they watched go into the building that they blew up was a double of Drazen, not actually him, and his wife and daughter were in the building as well as the double. Drazen was captured and held by the US government at a different time and held. It is clear that the only way this could have worked out the way it did is if there was someone inside the US government that set up Nightfall to fail from the start. The person who set it up gave the radio frequencies and the plan of Jack's Delta team to Drazen's soldiers but somehow the soldiers didn't get Drazens family out of the building. The person responsible for the deaths of Jack's men has never been found but would reside higher in the government than Nina Myers did.

-The book, The House Special Subcommittees Findings At CTU, which is the 'official' Fox endorsed book for season one, has quite a bit to say about operation Nightfall. Most of it does not add up to what we are now supposed to believe is happening with Saunders. Here are some points to ponder:
- The majority of the members on Jack's Special Forces team that carried out Nightfall were supposed to be hand picked and most of them were trained by Jack. He had worked with all of them before and there was never any indication that there was a British agent involved.
- The names of them are given in the 'Testimony' of Jack in the book. They are: Warrant Officer Dwayne Shelton (Former Green Beret, Gulf War Vet) was Jack's second on the mission, First Sergeant Haj Illijec (Army Ranger, Served in Somalia) was the communications officer, First Sergeant Brice Gardner was the weapons officer, First Sergeant Gary Graham was the medical officer (Former Green Beret, McGill Grad), Technical Sergeant Roger Voss was their combat controller, Master Sergeant Fred "Peltz" Peltzer was an intelligence specialist.
- Shelton, Gardner and Graham died in an attack by Drazen's men. "Shelton and Graham had been shot repeatedly - and Brice had detonated the last of his explosives…There wasn't much left of him." (p.20)
- The second half of the team was killed a few minutes after "…Peltz was dead, and Sergeant Illijec's body was floating in the middle of the river, facedown."
- The last man also did not survive, "Roger Voss was dead. The Serbs ambushed him too - cut him to pieces. He never had a chance."
- Further on this, the remains of the soldiers were supposed to have been returned to the families.
- The only way they can write themselves out of this is if they say that the names in the book were not real names of the soldiers but none of them fit with the backgrounds.
- Which one of the men would Saunders be anyway? They all sounded pretty dead. Also, Jack said 'blast' in this episode so I guess it would have narrowed it down to Brice but still…
-Maybe the whole thing isn't really from Operation Nightfall. Jack may have not told the truth on purpose to cover something else up but that might impede the investigation.
-Who is the higher mole inside the government. Did they help get Saunders out alive and will they be revealed in this season? Does this have to do with Chapelle?
-Was he really as much of a patriot as Jack says? Of was he just putting Jack on so he wouldn't suspect anything
-What does this whole thing have to do with the people in the hotel? It's probably just because Saunders knows that's how he can get Palmer to do what he wants but it doesn't seem fair.
-If Saunders is mad that Jack left him behind why take it out on the majority of the population of the US?
-WHAT IS REALLY GOING ON HERE??? Things just don't make sense at this point and I really hope that they clear it all up and pick up the details. The writers have been pretty good at this up to this point so the Saunders inconsistency is very disturbing.