I do not think so at all. There were so many layers to this that I only think that a very small few knew that the president was behind all this. Now I question if Cummings really killed himself or not. In any event, I actually saw this coming since the episode before this. If you think about this logically guys, and you've all been watching 24 for more than a couple of seasons I'm assuming, then you guys should've known that it was too obvious for the Vice-President to be the bad guy, it was way too easy for them to go that way. This is 24 we're talking about. To those thinking that the writers pulled this out of the blue, I don't buy that either. To me the writers had this planned all along. As to what motivates the President in doing this, we'll figure it out soon enough, but I suspect it has to do with the Russian Treaty somehow. We'll see.
Yea, that was weird. I had to rewind my Tivo a few times to make sure I wasnt dreaming. Someone will create a YTMND for that I bet.
The President's a good and folksy actor.... He sold out his wife and almost went along with Cummings's plan to allow the terrorists ship the nerve gas. Everything he says goes against this, but what he's done is totally different. But it is convoluted for the President to hire Robocop...who then contracts Cummings and that dude who died on the rooftop. Every season it goes downhill a little after the initial threat is over....but if the President's involved this season will end with a bigger bang.
Of the last three presidents in 24, one was assasinated after he left office, one had Air Force One shot out of the sky and died in the crash, and the last one is dirty and is either going to jail or going to die. I don't want to be president in 24 world.
I'm gonna address both of you guys in once thought, so sorry for not splitting them up. I think the President knew what was going on with Walt Cummings, but I don't think Walt knew that the President knew... if you catch my drift, the President wanted to distance himself from the entire thing as much as possible incase it back-fired, which obviously it has. If you didn't notice Jack stated that Henderson believed in his heart that he was a patriot and that what he was doing was the best thing he could do for the country, and I believe President Logan feels the same way. I think President Logan played "dumbed down" to sucker all of the people around him into thinking that he wasn't in control when in fact he was the puppet-master the entire time. If you look back at the actions of President Logan in previous episodes from this season you can begin to connect the dots about how he wanted to cover up what was going on, so I don't think this is something the writers just "came up with" last week. Think about it... President Logan ended up siding with Walt Cummings only until he found out that Jack knew Cummings was involved. He also willingly let the terrorists know the Russian President's location because his wife was in the car, taking care of the "crazy woman that knows too much" and if she died he would have easily gotten the "sympathy" constituants behind him. I think the way they are portraying President Logan is the same way some consiparacy theorists portray George W. Bush, like he doesn't mind getting a few innocent Americans killed to help increase his military strength for the greater-good of the country....
Yeah, but his facial expressions and other reactions to things, even when in private, don't seem to fit. He was genuinely confused and lost and weak at times, and that wouldn't have made sense if he was behind parts or all of it. That's the part that confuses me.
If you'll notice President Logan has let the other people make the decisions for him so that they are the "fall guy" while he can just point his finger at them if it fails... see Lynn at CTU, Walt in his staff, ETC. He is simply keeping his hands clean while his pockets are dirty.
But then you have things like him begging Jack to stay on and help track down the bad guys when Jack was ready to disappear again. Why do that, when you know Jack has singlehandedly stopped 3 different terrorists plots over the last several years? If he has personal contacts with the bad guys, why'd he have to even let anyone else know that he gave the Russian President's route? He could have done that entirely behind the scenes and not have to deal with any potential fallout. Things like that, at this point, don't make much sense. Not to say they won't down the road, but I'm curious if they will make the story "work" properly.
About the thing with keeping Jack on the case there could be two ways to spin it... Logan wanted to throw up a smoke-screen for Jack, incase Jack knew the President had thought about going along with Walt Cummings, or Henderson told Logan to keep Jack involved because he wanted to personally kill him for turning him in all those years ago. Oh, and I also forgot to mention... with the new info on the President, do you really believe Walt Cummings committed suicide?
Major, Yeah, the President thing caught me off guard. I guess he acted that way in private because he wants to convince his wife and the people around him. Since he doesn't have a history of smarts, he still needed his staff for advice and deniability. I'll give the President credit and say that he pinned Jack as a dead man and a loose end. He trusted Robocop, Jack's CTU mentor, enough to kill him. Also, he didn't have contact with the Russian terrorists and he didn't expect Cummings's plan to go sour. The President looks like a deluded patriot, so he didn't want that many American casualties no matter what the cost. Yeah, it's still convoluted. There seems to be a pattern of that midseason when they segue the initial threat with the final one. I'd like the President's villainy more if he had a part in downing Air Force One last season. I mean...is it really that hard to believe that an unelected President would start a conflict in East Asia over oil?
Major, Since the President was behind this, I'm guessing he'd want Jack to stay within his grasp since he attempted to frame him for the deaths of Palmer, et al. I was really hoping it would've been the First Lady. I'm really happy it wasn't Aaron. For a half second there, I thought Wayne might've been in on it, but that's just because I didn't know what to expect except to expect a twist (thanks Major ). I'm not necessarily ready to agree that Henderson still thinks of himself as a patriot, though. And even if he does, what does that mean if he's OK with the attempted murder of 200,000 Americans? If this all goes back to the Walt Cummings storyline, I'm going to be pissed. There's got to be another twist in the next eight hours.
Oooooohhhhhh.... Nice call, Invisible Fan. That would go a long, long way for estabilishing both continuity and credibility.
Great episode, except for the Audrey thing...Bill got sold out, for the right reasons, but still a little far fetched...Didn't see Logan as the bad guy, but I guess that makes sense as he was saying all the leaders from around the world were calling him, etc...He's set up everyone and no one would suspect a thing...Everyone knew Palmer and he didnt' get along...You set up all of this for what? btw, Wayne is know Black Jack II...
I read a while back that the only people have have a clue about episodes week to week are the writers, directors and Kiefer because he is the star and an executive producer. They handle it much like they do on the Sopranos, the actors get the script a day or two before they start shooting unless they get "whacked" they they get their script about a week before so it can soak in.
Well, the producers claim that they knew it was going to be the Prez all along. The actor didn't know until recently, though, so that explains some of the seeming inconsistencies in his performance. http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2006-04-09-24-prez_x.htm '24' prez pivots from weasel to evil By Gary Levin, USA TODAY In the latest of 24's sharp left turns, the weasel turns out to be the villain. Ineffectual, weak-kneed President Charles Logan was the man responsible for putting deadly nerve gas into the hands of Russian terrorists. As usual, the plan went horribly awry. But the complicit commander in chief provides the fuel for this season's final third, beginning tonight (Fox, 9 ET/PT), and shines a spotlight on Gregory Itzin, 57, a veteran character actor who has made Logan a career-defining role. He says fans call Logan "prickly, irritating, vacillating and worm-like. All that sort of stuff has been thrown at me." Itzin loves every minute of it. The role marks "the culmination of a long TV political career" playing countless district attorneys (Matlock, The Practice), the FBI director (NCIS), a State Department rep (The West Wing) and other "wordy mouthpieces" on law and crime shows. Usually, "I am a foil or information pusher or nemesis. This is the first time I have been allowed to create a character with many facets." For some viewers, the latest facet was hard to swallow, even by the plausibility-stretching rules of 24, which is enjoying its strongest season in the ratings, averaging 14 million viewers. Producers decided in October that Logan would be the villain, but Itzin was told much later. He played early scenes — accusing aide Walt Cummings of treason — with no knowledge of Logan's complicity. "When I found out, I'm sure it was psychological, but I got almost physically ill," he says. Yet "I had a sense that the string was running out; I couldn't continue to be the same guy and have it be as interesting." Executive producer Evan Katz says the revelation was no Jekyll-and-Hyde moment for Logan, who had only been acting feeble. "It's not a ridiculous contrast; it's more a man hiding a secret and being a little smarter about how he projects himself than we thought." "How many times have we been duped by someone we thought was stupid?" says star Kiefer Sutherland. "When people are underestimated, it becomes very dangerous; it gives them a sort of cover." He says the shock owes much to Itzin's layered, gear-shifting portrayal, and his story line "has really been, for me, the real great aspect of Season 5." In prime-time dramas, "nobody's ever made the president the villain," Katz says. "The shock of that really appealed to us." So with the nerve-gas threat eliminated, eight remaining episodes will focus on Logan's attempt to thwart Jack Bauer's effort to unmask him. "What could be a better adversary for Jack than the most powerful man in the world?" Katz says.
