24: Day 3 - 4/18/04 - Hour 18 (1 Viewer)

[WayneG]

Are you speaking from experience!? Has anyone ever taken one to the back of the head and lived to say that it wasn't painless? I think I'd be able to take a pill under certain circumstances but never pull the trigger. I think there's a whopping difference.

 

[Quentin]

Hmmmm...you know, I always consider 24 to be a guilty pleasure - I forget about all the logic errors, and hokey coincidences, and people being ridiculous, and I just have fun. I know we often rip on it for some of this stuff...but, I still have fun.

But, I have a real problem with killing Chapelle. First of all, it wasn't nearly as powerful dramatically as Mason dying. Mostly because it didn't have multiple episodes to build up, so it feels like a cheap gimmick to create "drama".

But, my biggest problem is that it happens at all. Palmer has always been SO righteous...to a fault. And, now, offscreen, he makes what would arguably be the WORST SINGLE DECISION any President in the history of the U.S. could make? Sure...I'll let him get away with the "sky is falling" thing, but to execute an innocent man to bow to terrorist demands is unacceptable. I doubt ANY President would do it, I really have a problem with Palmer doing it, and it tainted my view on the episode a LOT.

BTW, while it is off-topic, I'm sure many of you will say "It was the right choice! Needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few!" But, you'd be wrong. You do not sacrifice one innocent life to ANY terrorist threat. The U.S. has long held the position that we do NOT negotiate with terrorists - no matter the cost. We do not enable terrorism. Oh, and 90% of Americans would NOT die. The predicted casualties are 2-5 million.

Rant over-

 

[WillG]

In this case by not complying, you could be sacrificing millions of lives. So it can't be that black and white.

 

[Adam_ME]

Actually if I recall correctly, they said 2-5 million would die within 48 hours. Those would be the immediate casualities, not all of them.

 

[Daniel W]

From what Michelle was saying to the guests (she said it felt like going to sleep, not that you actually went to sleep), I got the feeling that those pills work pretty damn fast. I don't know much about pharmaceuticals, but I'd guess that there are pills that can be taken which kill almost instantly. Take it at 7:00, dead at 7:00 plus 10 seconds. If anyone were to have access to such pills, it would be an agency such as CTU.

I have to beleive that even if only for a split second, that gunshot has to be incredibly painful. However, regardless of the pain, unless you're someone who wants to be creamated, there's something to be said for avoiding massive mutilation of your head before dying.

Be that as it may, the reason I brought up the pills in the first place was because of Jack's initial reluctance to let Chappelle take his own life. Obviously, Jack didn't want to arm him. The pill would have been a way to avoid that risk, even if it turned out that Chappelle still couldn't go through with it.

 

[Will_B]

Luke_H, I was thinking the same thing - Chapelle at the least should have suggested delivering someone else's body.

Hey, Chapelle is the second head honcho of CTU to bite the big one on one of Jack's bad days. Can't be that desirable a job.

But the biggest oddness is, why doesn't the bad guy say "Don't investigate me, or I'll release the virus."

I'm also concerned that even if Tony's girlfriend turns out to be immune, she may carry the virus to him, and so they'll never be able to be reunited.

 

[Daniel W]

IIRC, they mentioned in an earlier episode that if a person is immune, they can't carry it either.

 

[WillG]

Probably because Saunders knows it's an unrealistic demand and that there is no way he could make sure that no one was trying to take him down. Maybe in real life, a terrorist would make such a demand, but it wouldn't make for very good television.

 

[Keith Mickunas]

The pills were on their way to the hotel. They may not have a huge supply of them and may have sent them all. It may have taken too much time to get more for Chappelle.


On the show Cover Up one of the actors accidentally killed himself by firing a prop gun in his mouth while pretending to commit suicide. So, yes, those things can be dangerous.

Still, the van was there to take the body, Chappelle had to die.

 

[WayneG]

Morbid, but very funny!

I can hardly wait for tomorrow. A week would have been too much. Thanks Bush!

 

[Matt Goddard]

It seems to me that a lot more than just 10 percent of the people in the hotel are immune. Maybe some people are quicker to show symptoms than others, but for all the bloody noses there seem to be a lot of other people, including Miller and other CTU personnel, who aren't showing any symptoms.

 

[Keith Mickunas]

Keep in mind the statistics that have been given are theoritical. This virus is engineered, it's not something that has been encountered before. Therefore there's no hard data as to who is and isn't immune to it. So the 90%/10% numbers and the like are just educated guesses or threats from the terrorists.

 

[WillG]

It was actually N.H.S. that produced that statistic. They are familiar with the Cordelia virus so they know it's virulence. And with the treatment done to it by the terroists, it's only worse. Regardless of the true mortality rates, it's pretty damn deadly.

 

[WayneG]

Knowing, or just having a chance? Are there in effect suicide missions that U.S. personnel are sent on? Going on a dangerous mission is one thing, but diliberately killing someone seems different. Also, it's not like Chappelle had the chance to decline. I would imagine most military personnel do even if it means a court marhsall.

Also, did Jack murder Chappelle? Does the President have the authority to order the killing of a government employee regardless of the reason? I suppose if Chappelle had pulled the trigger it would have been suicide.

 

[Ken Chan]

Sure, publicly. But without getting into off-topic details, hasn't this been at least alleged in the past, say, 25 years? It's done quietly behind the scenes, with intermediaries. The real world is complicated, and 24 is showing some of that complexity.

As for "where does it end", as long as Saunders doesn't ask, there's no point in dwelling on it. You judge each situation as it comes up. There's also a calculation for Saunders: if he pushes too hard, maybe he won't get what he ultimately wants, whatever that is. Or maybe he's just nuts.

The other morals of the story: (a) don't cheat on your wife, and (b) if you start bleeding profusely after a one-night stand, don't go to work

 

[WillG]

I would tend to think no. Although technically, Jack was the one to pull the trigger, he was under some pretty heavy duress. I don't know for sure.

 

[Matt Goddard]

I only meant that the President must make decisions that result in life and death. When he sends the military on a mission he knows that some of them won't be coming home. And yes, some missions no doubt have an almost guarantee of death. A President must be willing to order men to a certain death. That doesn't mean it's easy or even right. It's the job. I was watching a show on the History Channel last night that said in combat the life expectancy of a flame thrower operator was often measured in seconds. If that's correct, a commanding officer knew that whoever got that job wouldn't be coming home.

I don't disagree that ordering a man's death is, to say the least, morally questionable. Yet that is the type of decision that a commander in chief must make. I'm glad this is a TV show and not real life.

 

[WillG]

Sometimes as I watch 24, I can't help but think if this country has experienced some 24 like situations that we have no awareness of. How close have we come to the brink and been saved by a counter terroist organization like CTU.

Maybe U.S. citizens have been executed to spare some type of wrath. We would never know.

 

[PhilipG]

I don't see why they couldn't have delivered another recently-dead body. It buys more time. What's Saunders going to do when (if) he finds out? Either he plans to release the virus anyway, or he still hasn't gotten what he wants from Palmer. It's much more likely to be the latter scenario - and he wants to drag it out for Jack at the very least.


Remember this is Jack Bauer we're talking about. His bullets go through walls. Chappelle's head should have exploded!

 

[Sean Moon]

Didnt the preview for tonights episode say that Saunders men checked the ID for the body, saying it matched Chappelle? I think Saunders has his ways of knowing if they pulled a bait and switch, and since he does, why take the chance of being found out by switching bodies?