I apologize for the lag in getting this recap out. I went back to the East coast for a few days and am just now catching up. Hopefully I'll get a bunch out today and be all caught up. I love Jack. I'm not sure if I say that enough, but I do. He's handsome, brave, patriotic, and the only negative thing I can say about him is that damn attached earlobe. And if the only bad thing you can say about a man is about his ears, that's a good thing.
When we last left Lynn McGill he was getting his ass kicked by the crackhead his sister is shtuping. He cleans himself up a bit and heads back into CTU. Bill tells him about Rossler's untimely death by secret Russian sniper girl. About this time Erwich calls Rossler's phone. Jack answers it, "Hi, this is Jack Bauer, where's the nerve gas." Okay, so he's not as obvious as that. Erwich assumes it's still Rossler and instructs him to meet his men down the road to give them the chip. They hang up and Curtis gives Jack the chip saying that it's functional, but it has a tracking and listening device inside. Jack tells the group he's going to pretend to be Rossler and meet up with Erwich's men. Since they don't know what he looks like he thinks it'll be safe. At first CTU doesn't like the idea, but they don't really have a choice. Erwich is still a bit weary of trusting the chip man so he tells him man to find another way to detonate the canisters.
Over at camp dumbass, Mike (who's the only one there who isn't) says that they can tell everyone that Cummings killed himself because he was upset over what's been happening today. He also tells Logan that with Cummings dead, there's no one to oust Logan for being the dumbass he is. Logan thinks Martha will have a problem with lying. Seriously, is this bitch really in politics? Evelyn is thinking the same thing I bet. She asks Martha about Cummings' death and Martha blurts it out, saying he was a traitor. Evelyn is thrown for a minute and then tells Martha about Walt's twitchy eye, yelling, "I knew it!".
Curtis is following Jack when he arrives at the rendezvous point and meets up with Rossler's men. Edgar runs the plates of the terrorists car and surprise surprise they've been stolen. Jack plays it cool when he meets the men, acting nervous as he thinks Rossler would have been like. The men show him the money and Jack yells, "I love black people!" (if you didn't see Jerry Maguire then go see it, it's funny) Chloe instructs Jack through his earpiece how to put the chip into the trigger. He does and hands it to the men. One of the men, Polakov, insists that Jack go with them to make sure the chip works. Jack refuses and they punch him and push him into the van. Jack could totally use his ninja skills and get out of there but he has to go along with the plan to make them believe he's Rossler. Audrey wants to stop the mission because if they take Jack to Erwich he'll recognize him from the airport. Good point, now move your mouth. McGill and Bill agree that they should go for it and let this play out. They instruct Curtis not to intercept Jack.
"See ma'am, your husband's an idiot"
At Logan's camp Evelyn comes into Martha's room and is a bit confused. She shows her the press release from Logan saying that Cummings was a patriot. Martha is pissed and it sucks to see crazy pissed. Mike tries to smooth it over and says that nothing good will come from trashing the dead man's name and telling the world what he did. Martha thinks Logan is being selfish by not telling everyone what happened. Seriously, can we put her back on lithium or whatever it is crazy people take? He suggests she be the one to tell Cummings' wife about him being a traitor since she's all about truth and honesty. She thinks it'll be hard, but agrees to do it.
Is it just me or does he look like a midget?
In the van with Jack, he realizes these guys have one of the canisters with them. McGill won't let Curtis intercept them since they are still looking for the 19 other canisters. Chloe tracks them and believes they're headed to a mall. She sends Curtis the mall schematics and he takes position. Polakov insists Jack go into the mall with them and Jack thinks this is a bad idea because there are cameras in the mall. Can't really argue with a gun to your face so Jack goes in. Curtis watches from an elevator flank 2 position. Audrey's still for grabbing the guys and the canister but McGill thinks they should just let them go. He admits that a few hundreds of people dying would suck, but it's worth it if it's saving hundreds of thousands. He has a point but it still kinda sucks. Bill's not as sure about it and calls Logan. Yeah, because he's great in these situations.
The surveillance cameras in the mall show Jack and the men walking through dressed as air conditioning repair men. Jack looks around and of course there are women and children. There's even a birthday party going on. Wow, mom and dad went all out, having the party at the mall. What happened to Chuck E Cheese or even McDonald's. Do they still have them there? Ah, memories. Once Polakov and company go into the guard's station they shoot the poor guy before he can radio anyone to back up their story. They start cutting open the air conditioning duct.
Jack listens through his earpiece as they get Logan on the line to get his expert opinion. They explain what's going on and he starts twiddling his thumbs. The terrorists put the canister in the duct as Logan starts playing eeny meeny miny mo. He also goes to Jamba Juice and orders a 16 ounce Strawberry and Banana shake, with a shot of wheat grass. McGill and Bill tell him that they think letting them release the gas is the best idea and Audrey argues that this is killing many innocent lives. Logan is indecisive and tells them to make the decision without him. They say that he's the only one who can make the decision so he goes with the whole, killing innocent people thing.
Yeah, the AC repair guy look just doesn't work for Jack
McGill tells Jack to go through with the terrorists' plans. They put on gas masks and Bill gives Jack the unlock code for the trigger. Jack's not having it and gives Polakov the wrong code. Of course the canister doesn't work and Jack plays it off like it's not his fault. Polakov calls Erwich and tells him the news. Erwich says that they've figured out another way to make the canister work. They knock Jack out and handcuff him to the guard's table in the next room. CTU is still connected and listens as the terrorists are walked through how to release the gas without the trigger. Jack comes to and hears what's going on in the next room. Meanwhile Audrey's arguing with McGill about releasing the gas when there are children there. He says he doesn't give a crap about children, and they're just a bunch of ankle biters anyway. As they finish up arming the canister the other man comes in to kill Jack. Jack pretends like he's asleep until the man is right on him and kicks the man's feet from under him. He gives him the ol' Thigh Master, breaking his neck with his legs. Polakov runs as Jack shoots at him. Unfortunately the gas is being released. Jack grabs the dead terrorists mask and puts it on. He finds the handcuff keys and unlocks himself.
Jack practically hands this little girl the gun
Jack tells CTU that he stopped the gas but it's already in the air so they should evacuate the mall. He runs out after Polakov, running into a security guard. The guy reacts slow to the news about the gas leak, but then radios someone. As Jack comes out of the back room everyone in the mall is listening to the announcement. Once they see Jack in a gas mask they realize it's not a drill and start hauling ass. It's too late though because people start dropping like flies in the food court. Jack finds the air conditioning system room and turns it off. When he runs back out to find Polakov he sees a little girl on the ground. He takes off his masks and picks her up, running outside with her. He yells for some atropine and has her injected. This helps her and she wakes up. Okay, anyone who's seen The Rock knows that you have to inject that into the heart after exposure to VX nerve gas. Geesh.
Meanwhile Chloe's been tracking Polakov through the trigger he still has. He's broken into a car and driven off. He calls Erwich and tells him about "Rossler" and him trying to kill them. Erwich tells him to come back to the auto shop. Jack and Curtis are both tracking him still in the van, trying to see if he leads them to Erwich. McGill calls daddy Logan and rats Jack out for disobeying orders and not going along with their genius plan to kill people in the mall. Logan's pissed. Mike tries to smooth it over though by telling him of the small amount of casualties and the fact that they still may find the canisters. He also lets him know that Cummings' wife, Suzanne is there.
Martha is with Suzanne who's blubbering about her husband killing himself and wondering what she could have done differently. Logan listens in to the conversation and hears Martha punk out. She tells Suzanne what a patriot Cummings was. When Martha leaves she sees Logan who sticks his tongue out and says "Ha! I told you so!".
Polakov arrives at the auto body shop and it's empty. Erwich calls and tells him that he was followed. He sees Jack and the team approaching from across the street. He tells Polakov that he was followed. He then says, "You know what to do". Polakov agrees and as Jack runs in with Curtis he shoots himself in the head. Jack looks around and realizes that both Erwich and the canisters are gone. Erwich drives away from the scene undetected.
