24 (TV Series) Day 3: 3:00 a.m.-4:00 a.m. (2004) User Reviews

Danger coming ahead

[MaxBorg89 · 9/10 · 19 August 2008]

Normally it would be hard to live up to the conclusion of an episode such as the previous one, when Jack finally got to make Nina Myers pay for everything she had done to him and his family. But given the structure of this show there is no slowing down: the plot keeps moving forward, offering new twists and shocks all the time.

As such, Jack only receives a quick criticism from Ryan before closing in on Amador. Unfortunately it's too late: his client (Paul Blackthorne) has instructed Marcus Alvers to release the virus at a large hotel in L.A., and the only thing Amador will reveal when tortured is that the man behind this knows Jack. Michelle and Gael head to the hotel and inform one of the staff-members (a pre-Desperate Housewives Doug Savant) about the imminent danger. Finally, the police learn Sherry was at the Milliken mansion when Alan died, and so she has to come up with a way to get out of the mess.

At this point, what was just a possibility has become a very tangible threat, meaning these last ten episodes probably will be harder to watch than usual: we've seen what the virus will do to those exposed to it, and judging from the final scene of the episode the rest of the day will be rather terrible.

Cut Jack Some Slack

[ccthemovieman-1 · 7/10 · 22 May 2007]

Poor Jack Bauer (Keifer Sutherland); he can't win.

I don't know if this is typical for "24," as this is my first year of watching this show, but it seems this guy is always in trouble, especially when he does the daring-and-correct thing to do. Now, in addition to the interrogation over the drug charges, he's in trouble for shooting Nina Myers. Unbelievable! What is wrong with these people at the C.T.U? They seem to be screwing up more and more as the episodes, going from cool and efficient people to very flawed and undependable, and unprofessional (not following orders, talking back to the boss, breaking rules all the time). Most of these people would be fired, if this was real life. Of course, since it's television, most of them are young and attractive. Where are the gray- haired guys or fat women?

The beginning of this episode is the first time I have been annoyed at this show because, even though others screw up or don't follow orders - Jack gets the blame for everything. It gets a little frustrating.

Then we see nothing but liars: the two women covering up Milliken's death and the President's brother, covering for one of those women.

Meanwhile, the C.T.U. team has a lead, through a bank transaction overseas, that might track them down to Amador and his buyers of the virus. The latter now have the serum.

From there, the action kicks in and it's the usual tense and sometimes brutal show that it has been for most of the season, saving this from being the humdrum episode of the year.

The two very interesting revelations in this episode are that (1) this is a not high-profile plan to kills millions and (2) according to Amador, the person who now possesses the virus knows Jack very well. Who could that be? Meanwhile, they know something is up at a hotel in downtown L.A.

The pace picks up!

[Tweekums · 9/10 · 7 November 2012]

Having shot Nina as she lay on the ground it looks as if he could be in trouble as Chappelle is clearly sure that it was an extrajudicial execution not self defence as Jack claims; as it turns out he is saved by events when CTU gets a lead as to Amador's location. Jack takes a team there but they are too late; the capture Amador but the virus has already been passed on to somebody else. Luckily Amador's laptop contains blueprints of the likely target and Michelle and Gael lead a team there... they just have to hope they can find the virus before it can be released. Elsewhere it looks as though Sherry is going to be caught in her own web of lies and the president's brother Wayne could be caught up too; the late Alan Milliken's widow has told the police what happened and Sherry has used the president as an alibi... she just has to hope the police take her at her word and don't ask him where she was at the time.

This was another tense episode; major questions about Jack's behaviour and Sherry's lies are almost forgotten by the end as there is so much drama; first with Jack going after Amador and secondly with Michelle going into the hotel after the virus. The second of these was the more exciting as the danger is greater and the viewers know it is unlikely that protagonist Jack Bauer would die but '24' has a habit of killing other key characters from time to time! It was nice to see Michelle get out of CTU; it gave Reiko Aylesworth a chance to show that she can do action scenes. We don't get to learn much about the man pay rolling the attack just yet but Amador makes it clear that the man knows Jack very well thus providing a nice mystery without giving any answers just yet; this will probably prove interesting in the upcoming episodes... once the immediate threat of the virus in the hotel is dealt with.

The Virus Is Loose

[Hitchcoc · 10/10 · 20 January 2019]

This is another intense episode. We are in with the bad guys. Once their efforts are discovered, it will take time to figure where to go. It turns out that the ventilation system of a hotel is the place. There has been no time to provide protection for the CTU people from the virus. It is now loose. The secondary plot element involves Sherry and her actions in the death of Millikin. The President and everyone connected with Sherry are in danger of arrest and prosecution.

Break's over, back to work

[Mr-Fusion · 8/10 · 3 May 2017]

No more downtime at CTU as the pacing picks up and Jack is once again on the offensive; true-to-form, too, barking orders and torturing bad guys in Koreatown. Even Michelle gets a tare (sole?) shot at field work, and you an tell Reiko Aylesworth is relishing her action scene. The episode careens into a shock ending that spells doom for one of the good guys; damn virus, and this is going to be an agonizing death, no less.

SPOILERS

Kiefer Sutherland and Paul Schulze share one of the best scenes as Chapelle struggles with letting Jack back out into the field. It's just like he said last episode, "This office demands results, and that's what I provide", and Nina was just one of those results. He clearly had other options (kicking her gun away is a great one) but after the day he's had, this was a logical course of events. Gives him real substance as a character.

8/10