24 3.0 FAQ
How does it begin, spoiler-boy?
A decomposed corpse infected with “pnuematic plague” (or “PNP”) is unceremoniously deposited at a National Health Services building.
What’s 24 3.1 titled?
“Day 3: 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m."
1 p.m.?
Yes. Season one kicked off at midnight. Season two kicked off at 8 a.m. Season three will begin and end at 1 p.m.
Who’s responsible?
Teleplay is credited to series vets Joel Surnow & Michael Loceff.
Is it any good?
Yeah!! If director Jon Cassar doesn’t somehow screw it up, this looks, at minimum, like another four-star relaunch!
TV Guide tells you nothing. 3.1 won’t air till Oct. 28, a good three months from now.
There was only one year between seasons one and two. Is the third season really set three years after the second season?
It is. The first thing we’ll see in the (commercial-free) season opener is David Palmer’s collapse following his encounter with hot, nakedness-prone lesbian assassin Mandy. We fade to black, then get a title card: “THREE YEARS LATER.”
Is President Palmer, as rumored, in a coma as the episode begins?
No. When we first see David Palmer, he’s up and preparing for a debate on the USC campus in Los Angeles. He’s running for re-election against one Sen. Keeler.
Was Palmer ever in a coma?
There’s no reference to one. Palmer’s new chief of staff makes mention of the president’s “so-called weakened state” soon after Mandy’s assassination attempt.
Does Palmer seem to present any lingering aftereffects resulting from the “Mandy handshake”?
When Palmer waves to the crowd, we see his hand is scarred, and when he’s alone with staffers he demonstrates a momentary shortness of breath. But it’s mentioned that no one has “done a full work-up” on Palmer in “a while.”
Does D.B. Woodside play Palmer’s chief of staff now that the duplicitious Mike Novick has been sacked?
Woodside (Faith’s principal boyfriend on the final season of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”) not only plays Palmer’s new chief of staff, he plays Palmer’s kid brother.
Is Jack Bauer back working at CTU?
He is.
Since George Mason suffered horrible radioactive death last season, does Jack have to report to Tony Almeida now?
No. Jack is Los Angeles director of field ops. Jack and Tony each run a different CTU department under the same roof. (It should be noted that Tony has just been offered a job that would relocate him to CIA HQ in Virginia.)
So Jack signed back on with CTU pretty quickly after he prevented the U.S. attack on the three Middle East nations?
Looks like it. We learn that Jack has spent the last year bringing to justice one Ramon Salazar, a “narco-terrorist.” For six months, Jack was undercover, pretending to be Salazar’s friend.
Is Salazar tied to that opening scene at the National Health Service Building?
Yes. Now that they’ve proven they have PNP, Salazar’s associates threaten to release it into the general population unless Salazar is released by 8 p.m.
Salazar’s “associates”?
He seems to have quite a few. One should probably pay special attention to brother Hector Salazar and Hector’s fabulous but troubled trophy wife, Claudia.
And Jack Bauer cares about PNP why?
It’s a “weaponized” strain of PNP, and could bring about nothing less than the end of the world. If released into the population it would kill more than a million Los Angeles civilians in the first week.
Are Kim and Kate, as rumored, out shopping together as the episode begins?
No.
Is Kate around at all?
No. There’s a sense that Kate and Jack enjoyed a two-year relationship that is now long gone. Jack gets a call from Kate during the hour, but she’s just asking for him to get more of his stuff out of her place.
Does Kim Bauer, as rumored, insist on accompanying her pop on missions because she fears for his health?
No. At least not in the season opener.
Wasn’t Kim a nanny last season? Is she really working for CTU now?
She is. She’s kind of of the new Jamie Farrell (sans the traitorous component), and demonstrates a real faculty for computer science. (Absurd, you say? Remember please that when we first met Kim, she was challenging daddy Jack at chess.)
Is Kim menaced by cougars?
No. In fact, Kim’s role at CTU is a terrific antidote for those who maintain an abiding lust for Elisha Cuthbert, but little patience for Kim Bauer’s inane predicaments.
Is Michelle Dressler still at CTU?
Yes, and her relationship with Tony has undergone some changes since she betrayed him on Jack’s behalf three years earlier.
Any new developments with Michelle’s brother Danny, who looks in no way like her?
None.
Are Jack and Kim getting along?
Yes. But each has been keeping an enormous secret from the other for the last several months. Kim is anxious to tell Jack her secret. Jack wants no one to know about his.
Both Jack and Kim are keeping secrets from each other? Are the secrets related?
No.
Any hints about Jack’s secret?
Jack’s secret involves his health.
Ah ha! Is it related to Jack’s death and resurrection in season two?
We will learn at episode’s end.
Ah ha! Is Jack himself infected with PNP?
We will learn at episode’s end.
Any hints about Kim’s secret?
It involves Kim’s love life.
Has Kim returned to dating that WASP-y Latino kickboxer who lost his leg during Kim’s escape attempt last season?
Nope. Miguel remains part of Kim’s dating history.
Has Kim gone lesbian? With Mandy? Or Kate Warner?
That would be telling.
Is Lynne Kresge back? Did she even survive Novick’s manhandling last season?
She’s not around (and goes unreferenced) in the opener. Hopefully they’ll bring her back as a quadriplegic or something.
How does it end, spoiler-boy?
Jack picks up a paperweight and begins smashing!! Ughnnnn! Plop. Ughnnnn! Plop. Ughnnnn! Plop.
9 p.m. Tuesdays. Fox.
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