"24 S8.12" Recap - “Banks, Cranks, and Automobombs”

24 S8.12 – “Banks, Cranks, and Automobombs”

• Things come roaring out of the box with a continuation of last week’s tight finish as Zaboo and Fajita escape the hotel because the local flatfoot SWAT team doesn’t listen to Jack. DAMMIT!!!
• In a bank vault, a Kreplochistan flag is hanging. Dante calls someone who’s waiting for the nuke rods, keeping busy by building a Heathkit.
• Aw, crap…Marvin Yahoo has shown up at CTU, thus dragging the show back to its worst storyline of the season. [Banging head on desk.] Starbuck lies and makes herself sound lamer than she really is, if that’s possible.
• Jack goes to the UN and wonders what Regis is hiding?
• Zaboo drags Fajita to Dante and then looks unhappy that his boo is being tied up for propaganda purposes. Ya think?!? Will love conquer jihad? (With 12 more hours to go, doubtful.)
• Danta puts Fajita on JihadTube demanding that Regis give him File 33, which I’m guessing is the secret ingredients in Jamba Juice.
• Oh, it’s not; it’s top secret intel about where our defenses are weak…clipped from articles in the New York Times.
• Zaboo is getting all whining with Dante. ”She wasn’t supposed to get hurt.” Wah wah wah.
• Oh, FRAK!!! Marvin Yahoo is back, knowing just about every secret Starbuck has. Who the hell is this guy. BTW, there is no such thing as a “100-gig thumb drive.” Gah!!
• Starbuck calls Damp Boi and says she’s gonna hand the evidence over. WTF doesn’t she just cap this guy? Yeah, the glass walls are a problem, but…
• Zaboo punks out on the jihad and rabbits with Fajita. Of course, Mr. Head of Security gets out of the car to fight a Red Shirt and then gets capped by Dante. (Little. Bitch.) Fajita drives off, plowing into parked cars like a typical woman driver. (j/k, ladies)
• Jack and Damp Boi find the bank empty. Whoops, Zaboo is still alive. There’s gotta be a bomb in Fajita’s wheels.
• Yeppers!!! She delivers the bomb – oooh, it’s an EMP; there go the iPods (and all the security videos that Starbuck was gonna hand over) – and now CTU is blind. Tick-tock!!!

Thoughts: With the obvious exception of the festering Lifetime Starbuck garbage, this is the first HOUR of 24 this season that’s felt like vintage stuff. There were several tense gut-tightening moments including the ending. Clever use of an EMP instead of a plain old incendiary bomb, but how did they know she’d be arriving within a few moments of it going off? She could’ve taken down Times Square instead.

Hardcores: No one, really. Even Jack was mostly driving around town being smarter than everyone else.

Little Bitches: Fajita, Starbuck, CTU.

Up Next: Jeez, Marvin Yahoo is still barking for the video and they’re trying to make it look like Jack’s gonna die. Yeah, right. What are they going to do with the next 11 hours if they do that? Anyone remember that there were a bunch of Russians as major players a few hours ago and where did Agent Red disappear off to?

Episodes Score: 8.5/10.

JBBC: Still 8. Booooo!!!