Cheng’s on the loose on 24 season 9, episode 11. Check out our recap, and share your thoughts on “Day 9: 9:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.”
Just as 24 runs in real time, so do our recaps. Here is everything that happened in episode 11:
Previously on ’24’
CIA Head of Station Agent Erik Ritter
Cheng Zhi
Chloe O’Brian
Audrey Boudreau
Chief of Staff Mark Boudreau
Double Boudreau action! And look at Erik Ritter, not only appearing in the opening credits but also getting a promotion. You go, CIA Head of Station Agent Erik Ritter!
9:00 p.m. – 9:11 p.m.
President Heller gets the bad news. A U.S. sub has sunk a Chinese carrier. This is not a good half-day for the President. Meanwhile Jack and Kate finish off their shootout with the Russians. Things don’t look good for a moment, but backup arrives in the nick of time, and carrying a new bundle of ammunition for Jack.
The shootout does, however, draw the attention of Cheng, who gets to confirm that Bauer is still alive and in London via a security feed. This engenders a villain monologue where he tells Chloe that China has turned his back on him, so he does not care that his home country will soon be at war with the world’s biggest super power. Cheng figures out there was a tracker on the override and orders the team to move out but not before Chloe can turn on the recorder on an errant cell phone on the ground.
When Jack and Kate do arrive at the location, they see a dead Adrian Cross and hear the voice recording. Jack knows Cheng’s voice immediately. That’s the kind of intimacy and recognition you get when someone tortures you for two years. It’s at this point that Jack also discovers that Mark sold him out to the Russians. It’s tough to tell who it sucks the most to be right now: Cheng, Mark or the Russians.
9:16 p.m. – 9:22 p.m.
Speaking of Russians, it turns out Cheng is in cahoots with them! The Russians want to manipulate a war between the U.S. and China so both countries can get out of their hair in Eastern European affairs. What does Cheng want? Revenge. He was part of the old guard in China and when he attempted a coup, he was imprisoned for years. Hence: Russians. Phew, that’s a lot of diplomacy for one episode of 24.
Or maybe not. President Heller gets a call from President Wei of China. The Chinese Prez is understandably suspicious of the U.S.’s “the dog ate our sophisticated weapons system override” excuse. Audrey comes up with a plan to meet with her contact at the Chinese embassy to smooth things over.
9:27 p.m. – 9:33 p.m.
Jack calls Audrey and immediately puts on his low Jack sexy voice, which has to be so awkward for Kate to listen to on the car ride. Jack finds out that Audrey knows about Cheng but can’t quite bring himself to tell her about Mark yet. “I could never hate you,” Audrey tells Jack. Maybe hold that thought, Audrey.
Heller’s military people try to convince him to engage the Chinese before they can attack first. The U.S. has warhead superiority of 10 to 1. Heller does not go for this idea.
This conversation is cut short by Jack arriving, and he finally gets to have a confrontation with Mark. Naturally, this involves putting a gun to his head. President Heller is very disappointed in Mark, but hey, he had good intentions.
“I thought Bauer was a traitor! I thought he was here to assassinate you,” Mark says.
“He’s a covert intelligence operator, you idiot! If the U.S. goes to war with China, who do you think benefits?” Jack counters. Point to Jack.
Heller puts Mark under arrest, but Jack decides that is not punishment enough and enlists Mark to help Jack break into the Russian Diplomat Stolnavich’s mansion to coerce Cheng’s location from him.
9:38 p.m. – 9:44 p.m.
Tate Donovan wonders why he always ends up playing emasculated failures as Jack outfits Mark with an earpiece and a tiny camera. The CIA needs Mark to get a good look at Stolnavich’s security detail and pass code in order to get Jack and Kate in.
Chloe, who has been in transit with Cheng’s people, gets a hold of a blunt object and fights her way off a moving truck. The fall knocks her out, but Cheng’s people give up the search due to British military presence in the area.
President Heller concedes to pressure from his advisors and raises the country’s alert levels by one, but not before dropping his meds in front of everybody. This reminds us: where is the British Prime Minister in all of this? This is kind of his business too.
9:48 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.
Jack, Kate and Mark arrives at Stolnavich’s place. And it’s taken us 11 episodes to realize that he looks like a Russian Teddy Roosevelt. Shameful. Mark offers himself up as an asset to Stolnavich, saying that he needs asylum and will spill state secrets to get it. The offer is enough to for Stolnavich to invite Mark in, who immediately begins gathering all the necessary data for the CIA.
The CIA jams the security alarm (with the help of a handy “Activate Jamming” interface) and Jack and Kate storm the mansion. Many anonymous security people perish and Mark and Stolnavich get into a tussle. In the process, they fall back through a glass door and a shard of glass pierces Stolnavich’s neck.
“My country has not forgotten you. We will not give up until you pay for what you have done,” Russian Teddy Roosevelt says before dying, taking any hope of finding Cheng with him.
That’s it, end of episode, right? Nope! There’s still the matter of Audrey’s meeting with her Chinese contact. That goes off peacefully without a hitch, right? Nope! Snipers take out Audrey’s contact and her secret service. Her phone rings. Someone nice saying that she’s safe now and everything will be ok, right? Nope! Cheng. To borrow a phrase from Jack Bauer, “Damn it!”