What I’m Watching: 24

24: Season 8, Episode 14 “5:00AM-6:00AM” (F)

How stupid can this show get? As this episode proves, there’s no limit to the inanity as it gets more foolish and repetitive as the episode goes on. I was rolling my eyes when Dana was actually whispering and looking down while talking to the terrorists in front of the rest of her CTU coworkers. That’s a really smart idea, sure. And why does no one bother to work for the dead parole officer? This show really tries to have it both ways with the traitors, consistently making them seem like they’re actually good and having Dana and Tarin seem like they’re truly contemplating what they’re about to do when their loyalties have been made explicitly clear. Another brilliant idea was to have the president’s top advisors go behind her back to figure out a way to circumvent her authority while still getting the job done. Because that’s never been done before. Every single season. I’m especially impressed with the ability of the soldier to resist Jack’s torture. He confesses everything without even being threatened one bit. In case there aren’t enough recycled plotlines, how about a convenient heart attack to kill off a troublesome character and plague another’s conscience? At least this time there’s a slight difference, which is that Rob actually does give him his medication, even though it’s hopelessly ineffective. With the good guys after all the other good guys, who needs bad guys? Guest star Christina Cox, recently seen on “Dexter,” doesn’t even get anything to do, and the only semi-decent part of the episode is Hassan getting to use a weapon and take out some bad guys. I suppose one positive moment in the whole episode is something.