Viewer discretion is advised because there is a heckuva cleanup in Aisle 7, which is light switches, extension cords, and pressure chambers.

In the recaps, Dana blurts “Cole, he’s dead!” as if that isn’t exactly what she had planned. As they’re dragging the bodies into the swamps of NYC, Cole says “They’re scum, Dana.” Well, they are in a pond, so pond scum isn’t completely unexpected. Ma and Pa Hassan are worried about their daughter, who is currently schtumping Tarin. Jack asks Farhad who stole the rods. I don’t understand why they had to get intel files from Hassan. Couldn’t Farhad just name the others? He knows who they are. Marcos survives a three story fall out of a window, and leaps into a bathoscope, only to discover the hospital doesn’t have a coral reef. He’ll have to be content with blowing himself up.

As we begin, we see Marcos has already drawn a complex circuit diagram on the wall of the bathoscope. Wow, he’s the fastest draw in the west. (And did he just happen to have a pen/pencil/charcoal on him? What’s more, the guys who know how to wire these vests aren’t typically the ones who blow themselves up. That’s a valuable skill, and I don’t think baddies want to take all the time to train someone on that tech only to lose it in one shot.) Rookie Owen informs Jack that drilling their way in could ignite the oxygen inside. Jack doesn’t care. Do it anyway! Owen also says the detonator is German military, so our guys are familiar with it. Uh, why? Did they spend time in the German military?

CTU has already discovered Marcos is Marcos Al-Zacar of East Harlem. His father was a professor and highly critical of American foreign policy. So, he’s no different than 95% of the faculty in the US, then? Mom still lives at 4211 East 117th Street. According to Google Maps, this is nowhere near East Harlem, and instead is not far from JFK Airport. Though, in Manhattan, 117th Street is in Harlem, just north of Central Park.

Hastings sees that Dana and Cole are back at CTU already. And, Dana has found time to change clothes. (Did she shower as well? Why couldn’t we see that? Shower! Shower! Shower!) For the first time, like, ever, CTU Director Hastings acts like a director of CTU and chews Cole and Dana up one side and down the other. He says their jobs are hanging by a thread, and that “you two have holy hell to answer for.” Of course, this is the last time we’ll ever hear of this. Dana is demoted, and now answers to Chloe. She hands Chloe something. A phone? The baton of authority? What?

And, of course. The Samir gang is near the hospital. They’ve found a surveillance location completely unnoticed by the crack CTU perimeter security. What’s more, they’ve tapped into the hospital video feeds. Uh, how? Never mind. Samir says not to worry, they’ll get the bomb into Manhattan. CTU radiation sensors will be down. Hmm, wonder how? Is there a mole lurking somewhere?

At the first break, the 24 clock is at :08 and the wall clock is at :08. Coming back, the clocks are at :13 to :12. The early break throws Time off its game a bit.

The Samir gang once again opens up the rods. Now, Oleg turned into a bleeding, oozing Pizza Man because of exposure to the rods. If he didn’t get that exposure by opening up the crate every five minutes like the Samir gang is doing, how did he get it? Did he eat one of the rods? Why aren’t Samir and gang melting and having hair and skin fall off in chunks?

Now, half of CTU apologizes to Dana, for reasons I can’t figure out. Chloe tenderly says “Hang in there.” Arlo says “I’m sorry” for telling Cole about Kevin. Of course, then he creepily hits on her again.

Back and the Patron Saint of Clowns Hospital, Jack discusses geopolitics with Marcos.

At the break, clocks are at :18 to :17. Coming back, clocks are at :23 to :22.

In the hotel room, I guess this is what led to the “S” rating at the top of the show. Tarin and Kayla are lounging. Her arm glistens with sweat. Mom calls, but Tarin tosses the phone and dives in for more. He’s a machine!

Ma and Pa Hassan bicker. Actually, Ma is mostly right here. But not entirely. Ma says “Tarin is completely loyal to you.” Pa counters with “So was my brother.” But Mom gets in the last shot. “How could you have lost your way?” She still has her wedding ring on, I see. Perhaps there is hope for those two kids yet.

In Harlem, Elaine is packing to head to Aunt Shelley. However, Cole arrives with other plans. He’s not much for the calm, reassuring approach either. He badgers and harangues Elaine. And then, just hits her with the fact her son is wired to blow himself up. He says “We don’t know how much longer till your son can activate the explosives, we have to go!” Hurry up, Mom, you can watch! Yay!

At the break, clocks are at :29 to :28. Coming back, clocks are at :33 to :31.

And Cole has already arrived at the hospital. In less than ten minutes. NYC is a surprisingly small place, doncha know. Just after Hastings glowers at Dana again and says “everyone is replaceable,” Dana gets a call on her cell. It’s a southern accent, and I couldn’t help but think “Kevin?!” But, it’s Milton from Office Space. Well, he’s calling himself Prady from the Arkansas Dept of Corrections. I guess he took up another career after he burned down the office. He’s a parole officer looking for Kevin, and has records that Kevin called Dana’s cell phone. Dana denies knowing Kevin, but Milton wonders why the calls to her cell. Even though it’s 2:30 in the blessed AM, he wants to meet with Dana. And, not having learned her lesson, Dana agrees. Argh. We were so close to being done with the white trash thread. Dana calls Cole to tell him she’s in trouble again, and was caught in a lie. Cole has gotta be looking for the exits.

At the hospital, Marcos has three greens. One more and we hear a loud whump, and the sides of the pressure chamber bulge out with a puff of dust. Jack brings Elaine to talk to her son. “Marcos, you stop killing many many people right this instant!”

Chloe notices that there’s a 12% degradation in the video feed. It can only mean one thing. Someone must be tapping the feed. (What, are electronic video signals like water? You divert some from the channel and there’s less water at the other end?) Oops, it may all be a moot point. Marcos has 4 greens. (All together now, Jean-luc Picard fans. “There are four lights!”)

So, Jack goes back to his roots. He starts threatening people. He tells Marcos he won’t let Mom out of the city if Marcos doesn’t help them find the rods. He says he’ll escort Elaine to the blast site himself and make sure she gets a lethal dose of radiation. (Wouldn’t Jack get a lethal dose as well?) And if Marcos blows himself to smithereens, Jack will have Mom clean it up.

From their location, the terrorists can apparently see what’s going with binoculars! How did they find this spot that quick, and find a way to tap the video feed? They didn’t know they were even going to the hospital till a short time ago. I know, I know. Never mind. Somehow, the baddies have a way to trigger the vest remotely. But, for some reason, it doesn’t go off immediately. There’s a 60 second countdown. (Why?)

Jack knows he’s running out of time, so he urges Marcos to give him the needed information. Who knows where the rods are? Marcos says… Tarin! Hmmm. Well, thanks. Off you go. Jack shoves Marcos into the chamber and boom. Jack does a nice looking flip in the explosion. There’s a nice little mess that Housekeeping is going to have to clean up in the morning. Great splatter pattern for forensics to work with though.

At the break, clocks are at :49 to :47. Coming back, clocks are at :53 to :50.

Jack calls Hassan and asks about Tarin. Hassan says “I knew it!” But, Tarin is off with Kayla somewhere and she’s not answering her cell. For some reason, Jack doesn’t think to track Kayla with her cell. Arlo tracked Dana that way just a couple hours ago. That has to be child’s play for CTU.

Mom tries again and this time Kayla answers while Tarin is in the shower. Mom warns Kayla, and, frightened, she tells them she’s at the Teodore Hotel, Suite 514. Tarin is already out of the shower. That was quick. Kayla nervously heads to the bathroom to change, and Tarin looks suspicious.

The episode fogs up the mirrors as the clocks tick towards :00 and :56.

(In the previews for next week, we see Hastings running while shouting “Security! Security!” Maybe he heard Rosie O’Donnell was coming to visit. Ok, can check that one off. My guild requires me to make at least one Rosie O’Donnell wisecrack a season.)

Number of times someone says a variation of “Now!”, “No!”, “Move!” or “Go!”: 68
Number of times a “protocol” or “grid” is mentioned: 8
Number of times a “perimeter” is mentioned: 8
Number of times Jack/someone says “Drop the weapon!”: 6
Number of torture scenes : 3
Number of moles: 2
Approximate Body Count: 33, plus one helicopter, plus one thumb, plus one earpiece, plus Farhad (twice)