? regarding this season's "24"

[Mike Daniels]

Just started watching this current season last week and I was wondering if someone could fill me in on why Russian separartists are carrying out attacks on the U.S.

[Beware the Beast Man]

1. Because the Russian Pres. was in town to sign an arms treaty

with the US.

A separatist terrorist group (backed by an American defense contractor) warned that if the Russian pres. sigs the treaty, they will release nerve gas. that's the skinny without getting too convoluted.

[azmouse]

5. They hadn't originally planned to release the gas here

They wanted to get the gas to Russia and kill people there but were prevented from getting the gas out of America. So some of the gas release here is in retalliation for that.

[Capn Sunshine]

2. Hey, I have a question too

I missed last Monday's episode. What happened?

[Beware the Beast Man]

3. The separatists realsed nerve gas in CTU.

Edgar died.

[kay1864]

4. How did he...

Get the container into CTU? It's not like the guy could squeeze it into his briefcase at the CTU checkpoint.

I totally missed that somehow.

[azmouse]

6. Lynn's sister stole his pass card.

It was then stolen by the terrorists and used to get inside CTU.

[kay1864]

7. No, not the guy...

I know how HE got in. But how did the nerve gas container get into CTU?

Through a plot hole? :)

[azmouse]

8. Unbelievably the terrorist had it in some thermos-type

container that wasn't inspected by the guard. sheesh! What a stupid guard!!

[Shine]

9. There are soooo many improbable things that happen on the show.

:eyes: heheheh. but hey, that doesn't stop me from being totally addicted!

:bounce: I can't wait for another episode tonite.

Do you think they'll resurrect Edgar from the dead, Lazurus-like?? :rofl:

[azmouse]

11. Sadly, I think Edgar is a goner.

But I just love 24. I wonder what they can do next? Maybe fight off an invasion from another planet? Wouldn't that be cool?! LOL

[Shine]

14. LOL. Hey, it could happen.

:rofl:

[kay1864]

10. So when he came in...

They actually showed him bringing the container through the checkpoint? (like I said, I'm blanking on this) The sucker's BIG, about 2' by half a foot, too big for his briefcase. Did he send it through the X-ray?

[azmouse]

12. I'm pretty sure he just walked in with it.

Maybe someone else remembers more but I think the container was in plain sight. I think Lynn's stolen card had a pretty high security clearance so maybe they don't inspect things those people bring in.

[grace0418]

16. Yeah, and somehow Lynn got back into the building without

a security card after getting mugged by his sister. Nice security, huh?

[Orrex]

17. Yeah, that's the real plot hole

Presumably there's a keypad entry at some side location, but that defeats the whole purpose of a keycard. It's possible that he reentered through the front door and that the guard recognized him, but that would be a big off-camera mulligan, so I'm reluctant to conclude this.

However, even allowing that he could have gotten back in, as soon as he was detained they would have suspended his access if not actually confiscate his keycard! At many businesses, if you're fired, your access is terminated even before you find out that you are!

Also, the keycard-holder's photo wouldn't be stored on the card--it would be stored on the central computer system. That's why Chloe had to hack into Robocop's company to get Jack into the system. Sure, the Russian guy could have changed the coding on the card, but what good would it have done him?

But if we assume that Lynn's access wasn't revoked, and if we assume that the Russian guy was able to change the photo-data on the card, then he was explicitly shown to have an all-access director-level entry pass, which presumably would exempt him from bag-searches and the like.

Of course, that leaves us with the unbelievable scenario of a Russian basing its whole CTU attack on the one-in-a-zillion chance that a druggie would happen to mug Lynn and get his keycard and immediately try to sell it on the black market and CTU wouldn't deactivate the card and that they could alter the card's data. And if the dead druggie had put the word out on the street, wouldn't CTU have heard about as quickly as the Russians did?!?

[kay1864]

19. Good points...

Especially about Lynn's photo being on the central security system!

But I should point out that the Russian CTU attack wasn't put together until after word got out that Lynn's keycard was available. And they were probably taking a chance that his keycard would let the Russian guy in, but from their point of view it was worth a try--these are guys who shoot themselves in the head rather than be caught.

And yes, CTU probably should have heard about it, unless druggie boyfriend just phoned someone, as opposed to putting it on CTU's famed "Internet chatter" :P

But even there, the odds that whoever druggie bf phoned just happened to be connected with the Russian terrorists... :eyes:

The "24" writers really must be scribbling right up to their deadlines, plot holes be damned...

[Orrex]

22. Ah--that explains it

I'm jumbling all the episode info and losing track of what happened when. If they're in full-blown kamikaze mode, then there's little to lose by a botched attempt to gain entry into CTU. Heck, they might at least get to set off the canister in the lobby.

[grace0418]

20. I assumed the druggie boyfriend of Lynn's sister was

in on the plot all along. Or was at least recruited at some point when the Russians were looking for a way into CTU and found out Lynn had a druggie sister with a scumbag boyfriend. Maybe he didn't know what they were going to do with the keycard, but I assumed he knew all along that he was going to steal it (and wasn't supposed to tell Lynn's sister). That's the only explanation that makes the scenario slightly less preposterous. Although there are still big holes in the story.

[Orrex]

21. That's a good explanation!

I hadn't thought of that at all, and it explains why they didn't just take his cash and dump the wallet somewhere.

If there was an indicator of his recruitment somewhere along the line, I confess that I missed it!

[grace0418]

24. Thanks. There was no indication that I saw in any episode.

It was completely an assumption on my part. When they mugged Lynn, the camera made a point of pausing to see the boyfriend pull the keycard out of the wallet, look at it, put it back in, then pocket the whole wallet. I figured at that point that the keycard was going to come into play and that, barring a 1-800-blackmarket-keycard hotline for him to call, the druggie was specifically looking for it. It still doesn't explain everything but it allows the story a small amount of believability.

[evlbstrd]

13. He carried it in a duffle bag.

Not too obvious, no.

[kay1864]

15. Thanks evlbstrd!

See that's the part I missed.

I still wonder (as I did in another thread) how Lynn got back in without his keycard.

Other questions from that thread:

And HOW was it that Chloe can immediately locate a suspect on the feed from 12 security cameras at an airport, but it takes SEVERAL MINUTES to find the most recent usage of Lynn's keycard?

i.e., they should have pinpointed Russian-terrorist-guy in the ventilation room within seconds--he swiped the card to get into the room, remember? Instead, all they get is that he entered the building at the security checkpoint, and then they futz around figuring out where he might be. They should have immediately sent a security squad to that ventilation room, right after Lynn reported the keycard.

And another thing...

Did anyone else think that Lynn's breakdown was the weakest subplot ever on 24? Yeah, he got mugged, and lost his crucial keycard, but that incident pushed him over the edge? It just didn't ring true to me. Kinda sloppy writing for 24.

[evlbstrd]

18. Perplexing questions.

Maybe we should offer to write for them.

I didn't like Lynn from the beginning. He should have died instead of Edgar.

[Orrex]

23. Some possibilities (none of them very good...)

And HOW was it that Chloe can immediately locate a suspect on the feed from 12 security cameras at an airport, but it takes SEVERAL MINUTES to find the most recent usage of Lynn's keycard?

The only (superlame) explanation I can come up with is that executive-level keycards are flagged for stealth-usage so that the average schmo at his/her desk can't track where they're going. This is admittedly a very weak offering, but I know that some "supervisor" modes on office systems can enable management to snoop on a peon's operations without leaving a footprint visible to the peon.

They should have immediately sent a security squad to that ventilation room, right after Lynn reported the keycard.

I mentioned this elsewhere, but Lynn's access would already have been revoked by this point, and an use of his card would have set off alarm bells. Also, given CTU's centrally-operating protocols, Chloe/Edgar/Dead-Techie-Woman should have been able to lock the ventiliation room from their desk even before dispatching security to that area.

Did anyone else think that Lynn's breakdown was the weakest subplot ever on 24? Yeah, he got mugged, and lost his crucial keycard, but that incident pushed him over the edge? It just didn't ring true to me. Kinda sloppy writing for 24.

One possiblity was shown in an early face-off between Bill and Lynn, when Bill said outright that Lynn lacked the experience to command. That pressure, plus the various other pressures on Lynn, might explain his collapse, but you'd think that psych profiles would have screened him out before giving him a position of potential leadership.

A little unsatisfying, yes.