Well, they finally did it. Hard to believe, but as I noted last week, after several seasons worth of unsuccessful sacrificial suicide attempts, President James Heller finally pulled it off in the somewhat shocking final minutes of this episode tonight. Or did he? That will of course be up for debate since Heller wasn't treated to 24's typical "silent clock" in the final countdown when a significant character dies, but if they want to maintain the boldness of the moment, I think they ought to stick to it (and if next week's promo is anything to go by it looks like they really did).
Simone is hauled into the CIA medical facility after last week's drone chase, and Kate is watching over her as she tries to push the doctors into the old "get her conscious routine," while Jack is still waiting to convene with Heller, who called him to his office for a secret meeting. Jack's impatient though, and yelling at Kate on the phone to do everything she can to interrogate Simone, even saying so be it if she dies. Amusingly the secret service guy in the hallway gives him a weird look as he presumably wonders whether this guy who practically just ordered somebody dead might maybe be a threat to the president? But security for fictional 24 presidents is always a joke anyway. Heller finally calls Jack in and shows him the video of his bargain with Margot, where he agreed to surrender himself alone at Wembley Stadium on the swearing of her word that she'll destroy the rest of the drones if he does. Unsurprisingly Jack is not a fan of this plan, protesting that they can't negotiate with terrorists as U.S. policy (since when is Jack worried about official U.S. policy?) but Heller's thought of everything this time, saying he's already written a letter of resignation that will be effective in an hour when the VP (still unseen but I'd be goosed if it turned out to be Mike Novick- please be the case, show!) will inherit the office. Jack doesn't want to be part of this whole thing, but Heller finally tells him he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and his mind will be gone in a year anyway, so he wants to go out on his terms. So Jack finally agrees to deliver him to Wembley and tells him all the steps he needs to take, which includes bringing another person in on the plan to help from the inside.
Heller chooses Mark, who protests vigorously, but is ultimately convinced to do it, and though it's kind of awkward when Jack and Mark are forced to work together in the service of making sure Audrey's dad gets blown up, he makes sure to get them everything they need. That includes calling a staff meeting, which is apparently the one thing that will leave the president completely unguarded in order to escort him out of the building. Heller really seems to think Margot will keep her word, since her whole claim to this plot is about revenge against him personally, and it seems like that might actually be the case, as Margot tells Ian before they leave their hideout that she does plan to get rid of the drones if Heller really shows up. Ian is the one who seems dubious though, so I smell a betrayal coming. Heller goes through all the steps of getting ready to die for his country, including saying goodbye in his own way to Audrey (who he doesn't let in on the plan), and having Jack surgically remove the transponder in his arm and hilariously cover up the one inch deep gaping wound with a band-aid (yeah, that'll fix it). Meanwhile Kate finally holds a gun to the doctor's head and forces him to wake up Simone when Jack calls again and tells her of Heller's plan, awesomely saying they're out of time and she needs to "wake the bitch up NOW" (ha!). So Simone is shot full of some kind of wake up drug and finally gives up Margot's location, even though they already left, so she gives her the next best thing- the disk drive that Naveed hid under the floorboards. Kate quickly sends a team over to dig it up, but time is running out, as Jack secures Heller out of the residence through the back stairways, knocking out a guard in the process.
As all this is going on, Steve is still trying to make sure Jordan died, which of course he didn't, and he gets a call from poor stupid Jordan himself, who yells at him that he needs help. Steve gets his location and immediately informs the hitman to finish the job, but Jordan manages to get the drop on him after he's lured to his hiding place in a nearby storage locker. Even though Jordan's bleeding out all over the floor he grabs the guy's gun (this has got to to be the worst assassin in 24 history) and tries to get Navarro's true intentions out of him, but the dude attacks and stabs him in the chest before Jordan pumps him full of lead. Jordan sure looks like he won't make it now, but we cut away before seeing him die, so he'll probably manage to warn Kate somehow, who's now suspicious of where he is and questioning Navarro, who dodges. When Kate gets the disk drive uploaded from the field team (who had a MUCH easier and quicker time sending that then Jack did with the flight key plan hours earlier) she sends it over to Chloe, still in the public cafe (or maybe it's a pub?), who lets Jack know she's doing everything she can to hack into the drone program, which is all conveniently right in there for her. She also gets an annoying call from Cross, still whining about her leaving him and asking her to come back to their new hideout, but Chloe refuses, pissing him off more by saying she has to help Jack. Cross sulks in response.
Audrey then finds Heller's goodbye note in his office and Mark must tell her he knew the whole time, and she's rightfully horrified, screaming that she'll never forgive him for this. Mark defends the decision though as Audrey cries and Jack finally gets Heller into the helicopter he secured and flies them to Wembley Stadium, with Margot and Ian standing by to see if he really shows. As the two march into the stadium, Jack tries desperately to get Chloe to move faster, but she says she needs more time. It's too late though, as Heller's mind is made up and he tells Jack he gave him a presidential pardon from the whole Russian thing plus any crime he might have committed in getting him there (can you actually pardon someone for crimes not yet committed?). He then walks out onto the field, defying Jack's calls to wait. Margot and Ian are stunned to see that it's actually him and Margot insists on doing it herself. She takes control of the remote and shoots the missile, which does indeed go right into the field and proceeds to blow up President James Heller (and it should have been Jack as well, considering he was standing just feet from him, but of course he'll be fine amidst the wreckage). And there he went, folks. A heroic death to be sure, but did he really die? The final shot of Margot's face is ambiguous, as we don't quite know if her reaction to getting what she wanted will actually be to keep her word, but whatever the case, Chloe's into their system now and Jack will be looking for payback no matter what. Can't wait to see what happens next week! See you then, as the final four episodes commence.
