TVSquad

(S07E23/S07E24) "You don't know what I've done." - Jack

When 24 first premiered back in 2001, we were all taken off guard. It was so different, innovative, and action packed - like nothing we'd seen on TV ever before. But do you remember why it worked so well? Sure, there was a vast conspiracy that enshrouded the whole day in darkness, but for the most part, it was all about Jack and his family. The Bauers were what made Day 1 so memorable.

You felt horrible when Jack held Teri's lifeless body in those final seconds, and it was because the season focus was weighted towards them and not Drazen or Nina. Because of that formula, the show took off and with each season from then on, 24 became bigger than itself and so did the conspiracies. Then the bubble burst with Day 6 when it all came crashing down - we'd seen enough nukes, bio-pathogens, and Middle Eastern terrorists. The difference? All of that became more important than Jack. After Day 7's stellar finale, I think we can all agree that 24 has found its roots again.

(S07E22) "Why did you betray me?" - Jack

Since next week's finale is actually the last two hours of the season back-to-back, I think it's safe to refer to tonight's hour as Day 7's penultimate episode. As is so often the case with pivotal installments that precede a finale (especially with 24), going into it, I couldn't help shake the feeling that the bio-terror threat would be erased for good only to reveal one more crisis ready to spill over into next week. I'm not trying to say that it was predictable, but ... well ... nevermind. It was predictable.

(S07E21) "I have to see this through." - Jack

After a run of so many good episodes, it had to happen sooner or later - the calm before the storm. Hour 21 wasn't much more than that. A lot of filler and only a little bit of action.

All the events that are going to play out over the season's final three episodes were set in motion, but it was done with such a deliberately slow pacing that you probably would have been fine just watching next week's "Previously on 24" clip.

(S07E20) "Another attack today is all we need to push this thing right over the edge." - Tony

Only four hours left. All the pieces are in motion and sides have been chosen. Following Tony's betrayal last week, things have progressed quickly - his cohorts aren't exactly the waiting type. As tense as the plot has become, I have to say that I'm a little disappointed. Essentially, the plan is exactly the same and Hodges has just been replaced with the dozen or so people in that bad guy summit ... not sure what else to call it.

(S07E19) "I would think you'd know by now that no one can change my father's mind when it's made up" - Kim

Wow - talk about a complete 180°. A lot of this season has played it safe, but after last week's shocking final minutes, Day 7 has kicked into overdrive. During last night's episode, at times it felt like we were watching something out of season five. It was that tense. New conspiracies, new players, and confirmation of the one thing we've all assumed but couldn't bring ourselves to admit - Tony has been lying to Jack all day.

(S07E18) "Kim, I'm dying." - Jack

That, my friends, is what you call a game changer. Initially, I wasn't feeling the vibe of this episode. It was slow, predictable, and the Kim/Jack reunion that we've known about for ages was about as anti-climactic as you can get. But it worked. Kim's return created precisely the distraction we needed so that hour eighteen's final minutes made our jaws drops. When I spoke with Carlos Bernard recently, he said that production was shut down for over a month at one point to reassess the direction of one episode. I'm guessing this was it.

(S07E17) "I'm not giving up on you." - President Taylor

Not a bad pep talk to get from your President after being indicted, considered a federal fugitive, and becoming infected with a bio-engineered virus all in the same day. However, if I know Jack (and speaking of "knowing" Jack, check out this 24 quiz that TV Squad's own Joel Keller put together for Parade), then those words probably meant the world to him. That was until Dr. Macer gave Jack a pouch full of pre-loaded syringes. She looked at his file! She knew he had a daughter. I guess she glossed over the part about that raging heroin addiction he picked up in Mexico while undercover in the Salazar organization.

(S07E13) "It was supposed to be me." - Jack

Just past the half-way point in Day 7, and as everyone predicted would happen, the threat has changed drastically. General Juma was neutralized (he's gone just as quickly as he appeared) and Jonas Hodges has taken on the role of main baddie now. However, despite all the fanfare that put him in that infamous position, it's going to take a few episodes before I buy into whatever it is he has planned. Right now, he's just some old dude with a big mahogany desk.

(S07E12) "Madame President, right now your life is a priority whether you like it ot not." - Jack

That wasn't as gripping as I thought it would be. After all the set-up in last night's first hour, I assumed there'd be a lot more pay-off. Instead... it was more set-up.

Yes, the taking of the White House was exciting and I loved how we got to see more of Agent Pierce in action, but overall I'm left wanting more and we just didn't get it.

(S07E11) "I can pull the trigger 128 more times before this battery dies." - Jack

Jack Bauer doing what Jack Bauer does best - torturing one to save many. It only seems appropriate that we heard Jack drop that line in tonight's first hour, immediately following a conversation between Senator Mayer and the President about how the United States shouldn't condone torture. Mayer doesn't. Allison is on the fence. And Jack ... well, we know where he stands.

The entire debate about torture and "how far do you go to save lives" has been at the forefront of this season since the opening minutes as Jack sat in front of the Senate sub-committee at the beginning of the day. Now it's been thrust right back in our faces, and Blaine's, too, as he's now been put in the unique position to witness Jack doing the exact thing he's trying to prosecute him for.

(S07E10) "...but this ain't over yet." - Tony

Just like in the middle of season three, the game has changed. One threat down, and one(?) to go. Last night's episode of 24 did a great job of wrapping up the first half of the season without leaving too many unresolved issues. For the most part, it's a clean break and things seem ready to reboot with next week's back-to-back episodes.

*Warning, spoilers ahead*

While a great deal of media attention is focused on the first appearance of Ricky Schroder as CTU agent Mike Doyle on tonight's episode of 24, here are three reasons why the reappearance of the Logans (and Aaron too) can provide a much needed jump-start to reinvigorate season six:

1. Jean Smart. As First Lady Martha Logan last season, she vacillated between being weepy and drugged up, to being fearless. The unsung hero of season five -- who gathered evidence to implicate her treasonous husband, President Charles Logan, even bedding him to keep his suspions at bay -- Martha Logan is, in short, a fantastic character. Smart didn't get nominated for both an Emmy and a Golden Globe for nothin'.

(S05E23/S05E24) This season would begin with hours and hours of action and drama, and it would close out with a pair of episodes carrying just as much weight. When we left off a week ago, Jack Bauer, Christopher Henderson, and another agent were going to attempt to take down Vladimir Bierko, who just snagged a Russian submarine in U.S. civilian territory by using the last remaining cylinder of weaponized nerve gas. The fact that there were twelve sea-to-land missiles on board was just what the doctor ordered ... if you're a bad guy and represented a pretty big challenge, even for Bauer & Co. to overcome.

President Logan proved to be just the egotistical bastard that he had been portrayed as, buying in to everything his wife had to say to him to keep him where he was at the compound instead of flying to the airport to go back to DC with David Palmer's body. He thought he had his cake and would eat it too, but Jack and his band of merry CTUers would have nothing of it. The finale had a bit of laughs, with Chloe's ex-husband (who knew?) Morris, who worked at a ladies' shoe store, coming back to pretty much save the day. Okay, okay, he was just really good with technology. Plus, having him getting a high level security clearance was just the randomness we all needed to show some un-reality in this show, since no one had been opening sockets or blowing up baddies with a Treo of late.

Why even bother stating that the suspense is a killer when it comes to 24 anymore - a stack of seasons in and I still haven't learned. With Wayne Palmer being chased by professional hitters, probably coming after him on the advice of the Vice President and Jack finding out that his next-to-latest love interest might just be involved with the baddies, it's pretty clear that there will be no deep breath episodes, most likely the rest of the way through.

With captured superspy hottie Collette having ratted out Audrey at the close of last week's episode, we knew that Jack would probably flip the you-know-what out and probably take a first crack in the interrogationg room, even if he had been sharing a bed with her just 18 months earlier. Additionally, Buchanan seems to have done a bang-up job getting the folks from Homeland Security to hold off on taking over at CTU for a little while longer (save the reality jokes for the comments, people!), and Chloe is handling Edgar's demise quite well, thankyouverymuch. Too bad it's just too easy to think things will stay sane.