Another really good episode tonight, full of twists and action and suspense- I think the show's definitely having the best run it's had since at least the fifth season. First off, after the CIA mission went to hell last week, Heller has to take a new course of action while various agents are dug out of the rubble (but Steve Navarro and Erik are both ok, so any deaths are off screen extras). Prime Minister Davies meanwhile is understandably panicked and angry, so Heller promises to coordinate with the RAF and hand over all their intel. He also repeats himself in front of him, which startles the room, but he catches it and shakes it off. Then he brings Jack in and agrees to his plan entirely, promising him full CIA cooperation and everything he wants to locate Margot. Jack wants Kate assigned to him, so Heller tells Navarro to put her back in the field.
Jordan tells Kate and is concerned about this, but Kate is ready for it and jumps into action. While Jack prepares to take off, Mark comes in to warn him off of Audrey (uh- maybe not great timing dude) and Jack kind of ignores him but then says Audrey told him he's a good man. Mark is worried though and asks Audrey what she felt when she saw him again, and she doesn't answer. Mark gets a call from the Russian embassy, who want to apprehend Jack because they just got the order with Heller's forged signature on it. Mark is now panicked himself and says Heller rescinded the order, but the guy is suspicious and seems to know what Boudreau did. They arrange to meet later on. Jack gets a new phone on which to contact Chloe, now back in business officially with her and Belcheck (the Serbian), who he needs to put to use, while he meets up with Kate. We now find out that Jack's been working for this arms dealer named Rask for the last three years, covertly being a kind of rogue superhero, and has stopped a sex trafficking ring and other underworld operations. Kate wonders why he'd do this and he says he's doing it for himself. She also tells him about what happened with her husband Adam (they keep reminding us about that and it finally comes into play later tonight), and Jack reveals his plan to knock her out with propofol (also known as the Michael Jackson death drug) and hand her over to Rask as proof of his loyalty. He almost doesn't expect Kate to agree but of course she does and immediately jams the needle into her own neck.
Meanwhile, Davies is informed by his aide of rumors that Heller's being treated for Alzheimers, which freaks him out even more and when Heller tells him they're using Jack Bauer for another covert mission he's skeptical. He decides to track Bauer's moves on his end and when they see that Kate's unconscious they decide that Jack's betrayed them and send MI-5 in after them. Oh, that's brilliant. Good move, PM. As Jack and Kate make their way into Rask's lair, Chloe creates a false account with money in it for Rask to check on (another classic 24 mislead), so that when he does she'll upload a virus that will enable them to find his financial dealings with Margot. Jack hands Kate over to Rask and his gang, but Rask thinks Jack betrayed them and sends Kate off with his henchmen, where they will counteract the propofol so they can interrogate her. Uh-oh. Jack looks alarmed, as he knows Kate will only have a limited amount of time, even with Belcheck mounted on the roof as a sniper for the building where they've taken her. Rask tried to test Jack by taunting him with the names of people in the bank where he created the account and Jack barely manages to guess right that he's bluffing. Rask then takes his sweet time connecting a link to the account while Kate is woken up and subjected to some pretty heavy, typically 24-esque torture that I think Jack has been through at least six times that we've seen in the past. She's strung up on a chain, electrocuted, cut, pretty much the usual routine. Belcheck wants to move in but Chloe says they've got to wait until Rask opens the account.
At the last minute though, who shows up but MI-5, who take out Belcheck (although they don't kill him) and move in toward Jack and Rask, who finally opens the account but doesn't press enter before the agents raid the place. There's a massive shootout while Jack hurls himself towards the computer to hit enter so that Chloe gets the virus in, while every agent and bad guy gets shot in the next scene. Chloe gets the records of his Margot dealings while Kate manages to seize her torturer with the old thigh-grasp (although I don't know how she did that without dislocating her shoulders) and cut herself down, stabbing him to death at the last second before shooters move in on her too. As Rask is seized he tosses a grenade, which explodes and seems to take out everyone except Jack, conveniently, who grabs Kate and makes it out while Chloe tells him what she found.
On the Margot front this week, Ian is worried about the effect of shooting Naveed in front of Simone, who he knows was in love with him, but Margot responds to that concern by slapping him in the face, telling him not to second guess her. Worst mother ever, that Margot. While her cronies are moving Naveed's body out, his phone rings and it's his sister Farrah, whom he left a message telling her he was taking her out of the country. Margot sends Simone to find out what Naveed told her, and when Simone does she reports back that Farrah knows nothing. Margot doesn't care though and wants her dead. Simone balks at killing her because she's got her little daughter with her, but Margot says to get rid of them both. So Simone chickens out at the last minute and tells Farrah to get out of the country but Farrah instead calls the police. Simone tries to stop her and ends up accidentally stabbing her with the dagger she had in her had. The little girl sees it from the stairs and runs away, with Simone running after her through the streets of London where of course, someone gets hit by a bus. It's Simone though, who is taken to the hospital where it looks like Jack is going to get a chance to get to her in the next episode.
Finally, the tag in this one has to do with Navarro, who earlier was informed by Jordan that he'd found some info concerning Kate's husband they might have missed, which he tells him they'll deal with later. But as we see, Steve skulks into a hidden back room where he gets on the phone with an electronically altered voice and we find out that he's the one who planted false evidence against Adam after all. The voice tells him to take care of it because he can't be protected if the evidence is revealed, and we now have our mole, ladies and gentlemen. We knew it was coming, although we don't yet know who Steve's working for- it may be related to Margot or it may be someone in the government. Tune in next week as we see if 24's newfound roll can sustain itself past the halfway point. See you then!
