In the previous episode, Jack Bauer killed a man and sawed his head off for the sake of credibility. Here, he breaks another guy's ankle for the same reason. Not really the kind of stuff you see on an average telly show, huh?
The reason Jack is behaving like that is he's going undercover to gain information from a man named Joseph Wald, the only lead CTU has in the case of the nuclear threat. Problem is, Jack's the agent who sent Wald to prison back in the day, so he needs assets to show he is on the "right" side and not to be messed with. Hence the head and ankle. In a less dangerous neighborhood, on the other hand, Kim Bauer is trying to keep a little girl she is babysitting away from said infant's potentially abusive father, and Kate Warner's suspicions about her future brother-in-law get worse after learning he might be involved with a known terrorist.
After a pitch-perfect start, the second season moves forward in an even darker fashion: all of a sudden, even your own home is no longer a safe haven. Of course, the domestic violence thread is nothing more but an excuse to get Kim into trouble, but with such care for the subplot and its connection to the main arc (a tie that isn't that strong to begin with), why complain? It even allows Elisha Cuthbert to develop a more mature side of her character compared to the rebellious teenager she was in Day 1.
That's nothing compared to the old man, though: watching Jack maintain his cover at all costs is a riveting experience, especially in the final minutes, which indicate events will turn incredibly ugly come the following hour. Few shows provide that kind of thrill on such a regular basis.
The reason Jack is behaving like that is he's going undercover to gain information from a man named Joseph Wald, the only lead CTU has in the case of the nuclear threat. Problem is, Jack's the agent who sent Wald to prison back in the day, so he needs assets to show he is on the "right" side and not to be messed with. Hence the head and ankle. In a less dangerous neighborhood, on the other hand, Kim Bauer is trying to keep a little girl she is babysitting away from said infant's potentially abusive father, and Kate Warner's suspicions about her future brother-in-law get worse after learning he might be involved with a known terrorist.
After a pitch-perfect start, the second season moves forward in an even darker fashion: all of a sudden, even your own home is no longer a safe haven. Of course, the domestic violence thread is nothing more but an excuse to get Kim into trouble, but with such care for the subplot and its connection to the main arc (a tie that isn't that strong to begin with), why complain? It even allows Elisha Cuthbert to develop a more mature side of her character compared to the rebellious teenager she was in Day 1.
That's nothing compared to the old man, though: watching Jack maintain his cover at all costs is a riveting experience, especially in the final minutes, which indicate events will turn incredibly ugly come the following hour. Few shows provide that kind of thrill on such a regular basis.