“24” Season 6 Finale Recap

So…

…when we pick up at 4:00 am, it is looking like the Chinese are about to get their hands on the secret microchip that controls a computer that reveals the location of the Russian military positions. Jack Bauer’s dad did some kind of customization or activation or something that only he knows how to do to the microchip to make it operational but he won’t turn over the chip to the Chinese unless they bring to him Jack Bauer’s nephew who may or may not be Jack Bauer’s son actually. Jack Bauer’s dad is on an oil rig 6 miles off the coast, probably off of Redondo or Manhattan Beach or somewhere thereabouts. (He has knowledge of these off shore oil rigs because one of the companies he worked for held a controlling interest in this oil company.) He wants his nephew because he is going on and on about the future and how China is the future, real crazy like. So meanwhile the Russians are watching what happens with the microchip because if the microchip falls into the hands of the Chinese, the Russians are going to be pissed, because it compromises their safety, so they are getting ready to throw down on American interests in Central Asia, to make sure that the Chinese don’t get it. Ricky Schroeder (from Silver Spoons) is delivering Jack Bauer’s nephew to his grandfather (the boy’s grandfather) and is willing to lose him in order to recover the microchip. But Jack Bauer’s dad double crossed Ricky Schroeder and instead of giving him the microchip, gave him this metal box that when he opened it shot some kind of small explosion at his face, leaving him blind in at least one eye. Nadia, back at CTU, who authorized this plan feels guilty but really she shouldn’t because it was the only thing she could have done in the situation. Meanwhile, Bill Buchanan, who was relieved of his duties at CTU (by his wife Karen Hayes, back in Washington) is helping Jack Bauer, who escaped from the custody of CTU to get his nephew and the microchip from his father before it gets into the hands of the Chinese, freaking out the Russians. A satellite map of the area is uploaded to Jack’s PDA and he gets the location of the oil rig but he can’t go in with a strike team because the White House has learned that the microchip is on this off shore oil rig and so orders an air strike on the oil rig to destroy the microchip and kill everyone on the oil rig, including Jack Bauer’s nephew! (It was explained that even if the microchip does not get destroyed in the air strike, if it hits the saltwater it will be rendered useless.) Jack learns of the air strike and so he and Bill Buchanan commandeer a helicopter to fly to the oil rig and save his nephew before the air strike. Back at CTU, Chloe O’Brien has passed out (she was feeling lightheaded, as we could see on all these close-ups of her making weird faces that she was kind of out of it) but it turns out that the reason that she was weak was not because they have been up all night without food but because she is pregnant! Her ex-husband Morris has been trying to comfort her and when he learns she is pregnant, he wants to ask if it’s his but she shuts him up. The baby might be his, but it could also be Milo’s, (Milo was killed earlier by the Chinese when they came to get Jack Bauer’s nephew from CTU because Milo lied and said he was in charge, covering for Nadia, who he kissed earlier in the day), with whom she had a brief affair after leaving her husband. So Jack lands on the oil rig from the helicopter and comes face to face with his father who has already been shot by his grandson (Jack’s nephew). Jack wants to bring his father in for justice but he refuses to walk and so Jack has to leave his father on the oil rig to die when the air strike comes, which happens and destroys the rig. They bring the Chinese into custody and the Chinese guy is all like “My country will not leave me hanging” which is of course a reference to how the U.S. left Jack Bauer to die in a Chinese prison. So Jack Bauer escapes onto the ladder of the helicopter piloted by Bill Buchanan! Later Bill and Karen are both pardoned by the White House, presumably to go off and live as civilians in retirement. But there’s still 30 minutes left in the day and Jack Bauer doesn’t want to go back to CTU, he wants to go to Audrey Rains, his love, who is in a weakened state after being tortured (mentally and physically) by the Chinese (She went to China to save Jack Bauer who was being held and tortured in China since the end of Season 5.) Audrey is back at home with her father, who is the ex-Secretary of Defense. Jack Bauer and the ex-Secretary of Defense don’t get along at all because he left Jack Bauer to die in a Chinese torture camp. Jack Bauer pulls a glock on the ex-Secretary of Defense and is all like “Shut up, asshole! I’m here for my woman!” So he backs down and Jack Bauer goes down the hall to find Audrey sleeping like a baby. Her mental state is still not back to normal but she is asleep. Jack Bauer pours his heart out tells her that he loves her and all that but then he leaves her there and does not wake her because he knows that trouble follows him and eventually endangers the ones he loves (like his dead wife). So it is a real hard moment, but Jack Bauer chooses to leave Audrey lying there in her bed because he does love her, he loves her so much that he cannot be with her and bring her into the trouble that will eventually surround him. The episode ends with Jack walking off with a gun in his hand but he pauses to look down off the white water crashing on the rocks down below the cliff bluffs in the yard of Audrey’s house, then it slowly zooms into his face and blurs and fades out but you just know he is thinking about Audrey!