Recap 24-9 (Spoilers Ahead - maybe. It is two weeks old)

Well, I may be late, but I'm always on time...I tell you, this is the way to watch 24 - skip the commercials and watch a hi quality digital file on my computer :) Anyway, on with the show... We pick it up with Driscoll and Curtis doing some posturing over the Marianne fiasco. Eventually they agree to cover up the ineptitude of the Marianne screening. Basically, they put it all on Marianne and try to cover their butts. ("We'll just leave out some of the details"...riiight) Jack and Tony are still hanging out at the heli-pad with the dead guy, Powell. Jack's on the phone to CTU - their only lead now is the last 10 numbers the guy had called from the cell phone. (Gotta love all that archived info, right Paris Hilton?) One number of course leads to the now comatose Marianne, but they get another number that CTU starts tracking. Jack's left waiting. Over to Navi - he's looking for his wife at her friend's place. He storms the place (which looks suspiciously like a modified set of Tony's house) and finds the woman was having an affair. The boy toy tries to get tough with Navi (BIG mistake) and winds up looking at the wrong end of a gun. Navi lets him live, but tells the woman she disgusts him as she begs him not to tell her husband. (Well, there's a few minutes of my life I'll never get back). Meanwhile, we see "Shovel Boy" Behrooz and Mommy Dearest in a hotel room. His cell phone rings, but she tells him not to answer. We flash to Edgar tracing the number to a hotel room 10 minutes away from Jack. Jack and Tony head that way, but not before Tony tries to bug out. Jack persuades Tony that he needs his help before the nuclear reactors go boom. We flash to the fugitives in the hotel. She tells Behrooz she's fine (Um, No, no you're not. That red stuff is supposed to be kept inside) Behrooz winds up going to a hospital where Mommy Dearest's brother works in the hopes to get some painkillers. Back to CTU and there has been a meltdown at one of the plants. Radiation is in the air, people are trying to be evacuated, and its not looking good. Edgar gets to his desk and calls his Mother. She's stuck at home and in the path of the oncoming radiation fallout. He tries to make some calls to get someone to get her out. She's ill, and mobility is a negative. Heller gets Audrey to start working with the police and the National Guard to co-ordinate the Evac. Heller again states the obvious that Jack just has to find the override before the rest of the reactors have a bad day. Jack and Tony get to the hotel and after some resistance from the SWAT leader for Tony being there, they head in. (Jack told him that he's going through the door first and he needs Tony behind him) They head to the room. Before they go through the door, Jack asks Tony: You In? Tony nods and in they go. Mommy Dearest is alone in the room, hears them coming and grabs a gun to off herself. Jack, going through the door first, sees it and makes a suicide dive across the bed to knock the gun out of her hand. The shot goes wild and the SWAT leader jumps on her trying to pound out some info. Tony is checking the other room, sees the SWAT guy going apeshit, and pulls him off before she goes into shock. Jack takes the leader out of the room and calms him down. He needs her to talk fast and the SWAT guy asks him how he's going to do it. Jack gets on the phone saying "We need to find some leverage." (Ray: "Why am I always the fulcrum?!" - Just something for those Due South fans ;-) Behrooz meanwhile made it to the hospital and makes up a story about his Mother having back pain and not being able to reach her doc. The brother doc says he'll see what he can do to get some painkillers. Behrooz is looking pretty jumpy. The doc, sensing something amiss, calls Navi (Whoops!) to double check the story. Navi says Behrooz is on drugs and to keep him there till he gets there. (Has Behrooz's fast thinking lucky streak run out? Say it isn't so!) Back to Edgar - he asks Audrey for help to get his Mother out. She says she'll try. At the hotel, Jack gets the Mommy's prints back and gets an ID on her and her family. Then they get a break in the form of "Homeland Security has been archiving select phone traffic" since the threat began. They hear the earlier phone call between Behrooz and Mommy and are now in the loop. (Really freaky tho how they just recorded phone calls wherever they liked. Hello Big Brother) Jack goes back in to question Mommy. She basically tells him she believes in her cause and won't budge. He brings up her son and that she already broke her will for her cause to save his life. (A really good exchange here between these two - strong wills believing in their own causes. Her to start a war, and him to stop it.) Jack makes a deal with her to get a full pardon from the Pres for Behrooz in exchange for info that gets them the override in time. She wants to see the document, and then she'll help. Jack convinces a VERY reluctant Pres to issue the letter. However, the Pres tells his aide to make sure it is "non binding". (Legalese for snow job, I guess) Even tho Audrey tries, they won't get Edgar's Mom out as they are putting all resources to getting the most people out. Edgar points out the obvious that if she were rich or a politician, they'd find a way. Edgar phones his Mom, and in a sad exchange, she tells him she is going to end things on her terms instead of dying from radiation poisoning. She tells him she loves him, and hangs up the phone. Edgar tries to leave CTU to go get his Mom, but Driscoll stops him. She'll arrest him before she'll let him leave. She convinces him that they need his help to get the other reactors under control before they go off. She asks him what his Mother would want him to do - help others or make what would be a futile attempt to get to his Mother. He decides to help others and returns to his desk. The 'greater good' is hard to swallow for Edgar. Back at the hotel, Mommy calls Behrooz and tells him that Jack and team are coming to pick him up. She tells him about the pardon and that she will be there with Jack to prove it is ok. Jack tells him to go to Emerg to stay in a crowd. Behrooz tells the brother Doc that he has to leave, but the doc stops him, thinking the kid has a drug problem. He tells Behrooz that Navi is on his way. As Behrooz rants about the nuclear threat and that Navi is involved, the doc thinks he's strung out. Behrooz makes a break for it, running through the hospital, rounding a corner and there is Navi. (Aw, crap.) Navi shoots the doc chasing Behrooz and hauls Behrooz into a stairwell. He is about to shoot his son when quick thinking Behrooz tells him that Mommy is with CTU and will tell them everything if he is killed. He tells Navi to look outside if he doubts him. Jack and team roll up and see security guys running everywhere and know something has gone wrong. Jack heads inside, finding out that Navi has Behrooz and is headed for the parking garage. Jack runs for the stairs while Tony (with Mrs. Araz in the SUV) heads for the parking garage. Navi forces Behrooz into a car and they are mobile. Tony and team block the exits. Jack races down the stairs and into the garage as Navi drives around the corner and heads for Jack. Jack spots Navi and fires four shots at the car before bouncing off the hood, cracking the windsheild further, landing on the cement, and coming up shooting. Jack puts another five rounds in the car and takes out the rear tire as they crash. Jack's a little unsteady getting up, but shakes it off and draws down on Navi, who now has Behrooz in front as a shield. Jack wants him alive, and tries to talk him into letting Behrooz go. Navi won't have it, and takes Behrooz through another door that leads to the basement as Tony pulls up in the SUV. Behrooz spots Mommy in the car as he is pulled through the door. Jack backs off to organize the troops, knowing Navi is trapped in the basement now. Tony says they should try to negotiate. Mommy states the obvious that Navi won't negotiate and that in two hours the nuclear plants will go boom. With CTU on the phone, Jack listens to Mrs Araz as she tells him that the she still believes in her cause and that the only reason she is helping them is to save her son's life, and if they can't do that, she would be happy to see the reactors meltdown. Jack has a sober look on his face as he says into the phone "Did you get that?" and the hour ends. Very cool ep, as we see that this war is going to have casualties. Some good acting in the dramatic scenes and tense plot points keep the best show on TV rolling on.