Sorry about the late recap guys, but Memorial Day called for other activities and I had to catch up late. But it turned out to be another good episode in the new season so far, which is kind of amazing because Jack himself was barely even in it! But the good news is people are finally listening to him and finding out that he's telling the truth, which is just in the nick of time because the evil Margot gets even more evil this hour, as poor doomed Naveed meets his maker, which I think everyone saw coming last week (but maybe not this soon).
After Agent Kate took the flight key from Jack when he gave himself up to the military last week, she tussles with the commanding sergeant who orders her out while they apprehend Jack, who we don't even see again for the next half hour at least. But Kate and Eric make it out of the embassy where Kate herself contacts Chloe to have her finish uploading the data. When it's finally all there, Adrian proves himself useful finally by recognizing the override code and now the CIA has the official proof that the drone was hijacked. Kate gives this new information to Heller, Audrey and Navarro over the phone, where everyone is finally forced to come to terms with the fact that Jack was right all along. About time. Even douchebag Mark apologizes to the room while Heller orders the general to immediately ground all the drones currently in the air.
The general complies, but Margot is still watching over Naveed, who's currently in control of all ten of them and realizes someone has caught on to their plan. She orders him to activate the override code for as many as he can and they manage to obtain control over six of them before the rest are grounded. She also apologizes to Simone for chopping off her finger last week (yeah, that'll make it all better), saying it was her own fault for not seeing sooner that Naveed couldn't get with the program. Simone looks ambiguous, but it doesn't appear that she bears any lasting ill will towards her mother for the loss of her extremity, which is awfully forgiving of her, I've got to say.
Heller now has to decide what to do and says he wants to see Jack, who's being brought there momentarily, as Boudreau is trying to make up for his recent douchebaggery. Mark also tries to apologize to Audrey and she kinda forgives him, telling him he can't blame himself for what happened to her, but if I was him I'd still be worried because she looks way too excited to see Jack when he's finally brought in. Meanwhile, Adrian decides the hacker team has to move out before their location is scouted since they've been working with the CIA, but Chloe doesn't want to leave. Adrian is pissed at her but she still wants to be there in case they need to be of any more help, and Jack's Serbian pal is still hanging around looking threatening, which makes the glowering Adrian glower even more.
There's suddenly a new development at the CIA when a tape of Margot leaks online and everyone sees that she blames President Heller for the death of her husband in a drone attack from a few years back that also killed several children. She says that if Heller himself doesn't personally surrender to her in a few hours then the drones will be released and directed towards targets in London. Heller wants to know if the drone attack really did kill children and it turns out that was true, but he claims not to have known about it, angry at Mark for not telling him. Mark defends himself by saying that it was his decision to protect the president and casualties are always a part of every military action. Heller's upset, but Audrey sides with Mark this time, and finally security guards bring Jack into the other room, which makes Audrey catch her breath when she gets a glimpse of him.
Back at the villain's headquarters, Naveed asks to see Simone, leaving Margot's son Ian to take over the drones, while he kneels down next to his wife and promises her they'll get out because he made sure the video of Margot was traceable to their hideout, and that he also left evidence under the floorboards. Simone looks sort of happy about this but it's all moot, because we know that Naveed is very likely dead before the end of the hour, since Margot hears and sees everything that goes on in her house. Now, Heller finally meets Jack alone (hey, there's Jack- he is the star of the show, right?) and tells him they've confirmed his story and that Margot has six drones under her control. He asks how Jack can help them stop her and Jack demands to be put back into the field so he can contact an underground arms dealer who he knows can get in touch with Margot. Heller refuses, because the Russians still want Jack's head and he can't be seen to allow him to work for the government again, instead asking for the guy's name so they can pick him up, but Jack insists. He even says if Heller wants to catch Margot they do it his way or not at all. Well, even though they barely gave him any lines this episode, at least the stuff he did say was badass. Again, major cojones, Jack.
Heller ends up leaving the room without answering because the CIA's got a lead on Margot's hideout because of Naveed's trace. Coms guy Jordan (the Milo/Jaime/Edgar of this season) has back traced it and Navarro himself says he's going to lead the operation to raid the place. He also tells Kate he has to let her go now because the army sergeant guy complained about her to the higher-ups and he has no choice. He does say that she did good though, and she's helped to redeem herself for her husband's treasonous activities (I think this whole husband thing's going to come into play somehow in a bigger way by the end of the season- they keep bringing it up so it must lead to something more). Kate's depressed but when the CIA goes into action she secretly contacts Chloe to ask her to find out why the backtrace was so easy. Chloe then decides not to leave with the rest of Adrian's crew, even though Adrian sadly tells her he loves her, but she sticks behind with the Serbian to help Kate. Meanwhile, Audrey sneaks in to see Jack and the two of them have a very tearful reunion, not knowing quite what to say to each other after not having seen the other for so long. I mean, in the 24 universe, it must be at least 7-8 years since they were face to face, right? They hug and Jack tells her it's true that he killed those Russian diplomats, but he then sends her out of the room quickly because it's too painful to be near her. And that's it for Jack in this episode, everybody.
Heller tells the prime minister of the attack threat and tries to apologize for endangering his country, but says they've got the location of Margot's hideout and are at the moment on the move to take her down. So now the raid is going on, with Eric and Navarro heading up the mission to the estate where the computer was traced, but of course, as Naveed sits in front of the drones, checking his watch and wondering where the cops are, Margot says they aren't coming and that she knows what he did. Of course. She then says that Ian sent them to a phony address and that since he's been watching Naveed for the last hour he now thinks he can take over for him completely. Naveed begs for his life, but Margot has him marched out and into the pantry room, where she points a gun at his head while he defies her again for her plot to murder innocent people. She denies their innocence and Naveed says that Simone wouldn't want this, but Margot tells him to ask Simone himself, as he turns to see her standing in the doorway, silently consenting to his execution. He's horrified, but Margot shoots him dead as Simone walks away with no visible reaction.
At the last minute, Chloe suddenly finds the changed IP address and tells Kate, who runs to warn Steve to get out of there, but it's too late. Just as Steve end Eric are exiting the building, with Heller and the prime minister (who's Stephen Fry by the way, in an amusing casting turn) watching on a live video feed, Margot has Ian send the drone in right on top of them and blows up the whole building, leaving only smoldering wreckage in its wake. Although it looks like Steve and Eric might have actually made it, which is surprising, but maybe it's too early for 24 to kill off a couple of named characters that they just introduced. So that's where we end it folks, another exciting episode but man, I think that's actually the least amount of screen time Jack Bauer has ever had in an episode of his own series. I'm sure we get all Jack all the time next week though, as Heller must obviously cave to his demands after this fiasco. See you next time!
