24, hour whatever. Spoilers.
You know, the politics of 24 interest me. On the one hand, the show sends the message that smart, ambitious, independent women are dangerous, although they can be helpful if their ambitions are constrained by marriage. On the other, the representation of large corporations, and especially of the military-industrial complex (should that be in scare quotes?) is even more negative--was it just last season that the long plot arc concerned an attempt by an arms contractor to embroil the US in a Middle Eastern war in order to boost sales and share price?
So tonight, we have a corporation (another defense contractor) which has clearly done something very, very wrong. If it's found out, the corporation will be destroyed--no chance of recovery. So what do they guys in charge decide to do?
A. Confess, and throw themselves on the mercy of the US government.
B. Set off an EMP pulse in the middle of Los Angeles, because they can't be punished if there's no evidence.
C. Commit ritual suicide in the boardroom.
D. Try to kill Jack Bauer, and maybe the Secretary of Defense's son-in-law, too. You've heard that his daughter wants a divorce, so he'll probably be grateful and give you even bigger contracts.
Now, I admit that I'm ignorant of the workings of big business, but how exactly does wiping all your records--personnel, financial, R&D, EVERYTHING--leave you in a position to recover ANYTHING? That seems to me even more self-destructive than confessing and trying to make a deal with the government. In the real world, the whole system would probably be backed up off site, but that also implies that they haven't erased the evidence, either, since it would presumably be present in the backup.
The moral seems to be that old white guys in suits should not be trusted, unless Jack has given them his personal OK. Although actually, on this show, no one can be trusted until Jack OKs them.
Whatever. We also saw Erin grieving. One of the things that keeps me watching this show (aside from Jack and Tony, obviously, and the hope of seeing Nina before they killed her off, the bastards) is that I hate almost every new character introduced, and then the show makes me feel for them until I like them. This season's examples are Erin Driscoll and Paul, although I can't quite get over the meta-textual sense that Driscoll had to be "punished" for putting her responsibilities to her job above her responsibility to her daughter. Paul's evolution from "complete waste of space" to "he's so cute in his determination to prove to Audrey that he's a manly man, too" has probably been the quickest of these reversals.
And finally, MICHELLE!!!! That was so incredibly predictable, from the moment they mentioned "bringing someone in from Division." And of course she was in the area--Jack had probably told her to go over to CTU for some invented reason, because he too is a hopeless romantic and wants Tony and Michelle to realize their omgtrueloveforever.
Spoilers for last night's episode (6-7 pm?) and the promos.
So tonight, we have a corporation (another defense contractor) which has clearly done something very, very wrong. If it's found out, the corporation will be destroyed--no chance of recovery. So what do they guys in charge decide to do?
A. Confess, and throw themselves on the mercy of the US government.
B. Set off an EMP pulse in the middle of Los Angeles, because they can't be punished if there's no evidence.
C. Commit ritual suicide in the boardroom.
D. Try to kill Jack Bauer, and maybe the Secretary of Defense's son-in-law, too. You've heard that his daughter wants a divorce, so he'll probably be grateful and give you even bigger contracts.
Now, I admit that I'm ignorant of the workings of big business, but how exactly does wiping all your records--personnel, financial, R&D, EVERYTHING--leave you in a position to recover ANYTHING? That seems to me even more self-destructive than confessing and trying to make a deal with the government. In the real world, the whole system would probably be backed up off site, but that also implies that they haven't erased the evidence, either, since it would presumably be present in the backup.
The moral seems to be that old white guys in suits should not be trusted, unless Jack has given them his personal OK. Although actually, on this show, no one can be trusted until Jack OKs them.
Whatever. We also saw Erin grieving. One of the things that keeps me watching this show (aside from Jack and Tony, obviously, and the hope of seeing Nina before they killed her off, the bastards) is that I hate almost every new character introduced, and then the show makes me feel for them until I like them. This season's examples are Erin Driscoll and Paul, although I can't quite get over the meta-textual sense that Driscoll had to be "punished" for putting her responsibilities to her job above her responsibility to her daughter. Paul's evolution from "complete waste of space" to "he's so cute in his determination to prove to Audrey that he's a manly man, too" has probably been the quickest of these reversals.
And finally, MICHELLE!!!! That was so incredibly predictable, from the moment they mentioned "bringing someone in from Division." And of course she was in the area--Jack had probably told her to go over to CTU for some invented reason, because he too is a hopeless romantic and wants Tony and Michelle to realize their omgtrueloveforever.
Spoilers for last night's episode (6-7 pm?) and the promos.