24, 8.7 - "10:00PM - 11:00PM"

WRITER: Chip Johannessen & Patrick Harbinson
DIRECTOR: Milan Cheylov
GUEST CAST: Clayne Crawford, David Anders, Eli Goodman, Nazneen Contractor, Navid Negahban, T.J Ramini, Jürgen Prochnow, Jordan Marder, Callum Keith Rennie & Tony Curran

[SPOILERS] It's a little worrying to realize we're over a quarter of the way through Day 8, isn't it? I thought this seventh episode was perhaps the best hour since the "four-part" opener, mainly because it was good to see Jack (Kiefer Sutherland) more prominent and there were some effective, if brief, action sequences. Annie Wersching is also doing terrific work playing the mentally-unstable Renee, even if the reasons for her off-screen meltdown are less than persuasive. And am I the only one who thinks Dana's (Katee Sackhoff) subplot, helping her vile ex Kevin (Clayne Crawford) steal cash from a security compound using her CTU access, is actually pretty entertaining?

I mean, I know it's wholly unrelated to the primary storyline (so it's one of those subplots that essentially exists to prevent 24 becoming too one-note), and that giving a new character a "secret past" just isn't a shock because we never knew Dana to begin with, but I think the story's doing a good job giving us something else to follow. In fact, there were times during this hour when I was more caught up in Dana's tribulations (helped by the palpable tension Sackhoff's facial expressions exude) than, say, Vladimir (Callum Keith Rennie) going through his phone's contact list.

Also interesting to see President Hassan (Anil Kapoor) taking on a more sinister persona now, as I'd misjudged him to be someone we could get behind as a shining beacon of foreign diplomacy. Instead, he's becoming a more three-dimensional character with good and bad sides -- here, arresting aide Tarin (TJ Ramini), also his daughter's boyfriend, after he refused to use controversial measures to find and interrogate those suspected of being involved in his brother's plot to kill him.

Overall, a decent hour that appears to have ended the "undercover Renee" storyline and has now put Jack in real danger, as he's been smuggled away in the sewers by Bazhaev's men (who think he's a German buyer for their nuclear rods) and CTU have no idea where he's been taken. I'm still a little disappointed in this season's direction and pace so far (plus, where's the sense of threat in nuclear materials that need buying?), but hopeful this slow buildup is intentional and will pay dividends once we're at mid-season and all the pieces are in position. Or am I cutting it too much slack?

14 FEBRUARY 2010: SKY1 (HD), 9PM