I would recap yesterday’s episode of 24, but not much happened.
For some reason, Emerson (whose British accent was nowhere in evidence) punched out the Sangalese bodyguard instead of killing him. The ambassador and his wife almost gave their lives in their panic room until Mrs. Ambassador chickened out and opened the door.
Jack proved he watched Mr. Wizard as a child; Tony said about 6 words; Chloe and Bill were MIA; Larry got stern with Agent Walker; we learned Queens Boulevard is having an affair.
Whoop-de-doo.
Then things got interesting.
Walker got captured, Jack roughed her up (and all the fanboys enjoyed that very much) and then … Emerson orders Jack to kill her.
We know that Jack is very capable of either killing a good person if he has to (Ryan Chappelle, Season 3, and yes, I am fully aware some might not have considered him all that good, but he wasn’t a “bad” guy) or of making it look like he’s killed someone (Nina Meyers, Season 1, before anyone knew she was a bad guy).
So he does his Season 1 thing, sans bullet-proof vest, by warning Walker that she needed to trust him and she’d live. He shoots at her right next to her ear, probably bursting her eardrum (did you see the blood coming from her ear?), she falls over, probably incredibly amazed that she’s still alive.
But then Emerson orders them to bury her. I’m not sure if he just didn’t want the body to be discovered too early or if he just didn’t trust Jack or what.
So Tony and Jack start shoveling dirt onto Walker, who Jack had laid a plastic tarp over. Buried alive, under plastic. Jack shovels the first mound of dirt onto her face.
Silent clock.
See, that’s always meant the person is absolutely, irrevocably dead.
In fact, the reason so many fans believed Tony was still alive for a couple of years was because he never got a silent clock. Edgar – silent clock. Ryan Chappelle – silent clock. George Mason – silent clock. Even Milo got one, and no one could stand him.
But debate on the fact started immediately. While we were liveblogging over at Blogs4Bauer, some of our readers said they didn’t believe she was dead. The killcount is in question here, folks. It’s very important.
But on Twitter last night, and in conversations with friends, the only thing that’s clear is that her status is unclear. Adam from The Jack Sack told me people were saying you could hear her breathing over the silent clock. Does the breathing negate the silent clock?
I posit this: If Agent Renee Walker is still alive, the silent clock no longer means anything. And it degrades the dignity the show gave to its brave characters.
Sure, this is “just a TV show,” I know. Maybe my last paragraph seems a bit over the top. But the silent clock has come to mean something. I’m gonna be really ticked if it doesn’t anymore.
Just sayin’.
8 Comments
I agree with you. If Walker is still alive it negates the silent clock. I however, have a strong feeling that she is still alive.
Yeah, they screwed the pooch with this silent clock business. I am surprised that the showrunners didn’t take this into account, as they kept saying about Tony’s resurrection “Well, we didn’t give him the silent clock, so there was a clue we were going to keep him alive!”
I blame Brannon Braga, and I do so with no evidence whatsoever. All I know is that Braga wrote the Star Trek franchise into the ground, pulling idiotic narratives out of his rear-end and pissing on fandom in the process. Yes, I still love 24! But Braga, I’m watching you, fool. Manny, put a bitch-slap down on that punk!
heh. You’re going to be ticked? Clock? Ok – sorry. But there were so many things here. The silent clock could mean the first gentleman. (Is that what we’re calling him, really?) I just don’t believe that this is it for Renee Walker. She spends like three hours with Jack and winds up using torture on Tanner? No, she’s going to be an important part of day 7. She’s been Bauered, baby.
@Donna – I have a sinking feeling you are indeed correct.
@Adam – At least you have good reason.
@Christine. lol… She could be the first woman on the show I think worthy of replacing Kate Warner.
I’m almost positive I saw a promo (maybe for Sprint’s exclusive stuff) and it showed a shot of Renee Walker looking over Chloe’s shoulder at a desktop.
I need to go back and see if you can hear the breathing……
Personally, I never understood all the brou-haha over the silent clock. It always just seemed like a dramatic device to me, and not any haribinger of anything. I just can’t get myself riled up over such an obvious manipulation… just my opinion, mind you.
I had to watch the episode again to realize that you could hear her breathing. I think that this is the fact that proves she’s not dead, since the clock is not “completely silent”. She’s a very important character to kill her so soon…
You can totally hear her breathing. I watched it online again, with an awesome set of headphones, and you can hear it. I am totally a purist when it comes to the silent clock. However, I think the integrity of it isn’t compromised because it isn’t silent. Granted, it’s so low no one heard it on TV. But it’s like the whole Paul is dead thing again. The breathing is a clue, like Tony’s non-silent clock. And what fun is it if we’re served up every single detail without having to search for these clues, visual or otherwise, from time to time. I think the move was kind of genius, if you ask me. Look how much it shook things up!
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