This episode delivered surprise after surprise, the majoirty of them will probably have been lost on viewers who haven't seen s1 (to whom it applies to, go and buy/rent/borrow dvd/video, do I really have to tell you twice). The first was the discovery of exactly who Stephen Saunders is, which cleverly turned out to be link back to Operation Nightfall and the ultimate spark for the events of s1. For this the writers should be given a huge pat on the back, it's a great way to reward the loyal fans who have been watching since day one and to really take back some credibilty that was lost by the suspension of disbelief required by viewers due to the fact that such terrible events should happen in the course of just a day (or three) and in just a single location (primarily). By working it so that the happenings of Day One and Three both happened because of the same past event, it essentially makes s3 a continuation of s1 and a look at the full repercussions of the nightfall operation. They are in essence one story. Instead of the only link being events which happen to the same people. In other words, it was a good move, infact it was such a good move that I'm not gonna complain about the contradictions of '24' in some of the references to Nightfall. (Okay, I'll mention them but nothing more, Nightfall was a Black Ops/Delta Mission not a CTU Mission, It was in Kosovo not Bosnia.) Nor will I seek vengenace for me now having to rework my Nightfall fanfic in light of these new details.

The other surprises that I talk about, next was Chappelle saying "do it" to use of Suicide capsules for those who wanted them at the Hotel. (This actually got more of a reaction in my house than Saunders being involved in Nightfall did). This is totally un-chappelle like, and possibly the result of the writers feeling that he should have some redeemed features so we feel sorry for him when he gets whacked by Jack (hey that rhymes)(oh and that's just a guess, albeit an educated one by the absolute master of 24 (and myself!), but I could be wrong). That mention of Chappelle meeting his maker brings me nicely on to the third surprise, or more moment of sheer glee as we realise just what a total nut job saunders is (and a british one to boot!) as well as the hopefull thought that if he continues we may at the end of series have someone to really challenge Ira Gaines in the best Baddie (I know 24 ain't a comic book, but what else am I meant to call them, answers on a postcard) stakes.

All in All, this builds on last weeks (which I did start the review of by saying "one of the best episodes of the series so far. period") and improves upon it, I truly hope that next weeks episode isn't reduced to Jack returning to CTU and them trying to get info off the harddrive he took from Mi-6.


Oh!, i almost forgot, a word has to be said about Gael, poor dead Gael. First we thought he was a mad guy who hadn't seen sunshine in about 6 months because all he did was make phone calls to Hector Salazar from a darken room and watch people on monitors. Then we all hated him because we thought he was a Mole, for which he got injected with "a suitcase full of pain" according to Radio Times, and now he has ended up being the token new (bare with me, this is a long winded stereotype) dead ctu computer person. First series it was Jamey (dead inside 12 episodes or so ) second series it was Paula (5 episodes), which makes Gael's 17 episoes all time record, although from what he's gone through you think he might have prefered jumping off the CTU roof first chance he got.