24, 8.9 - "12:00AM - 1:00AM"

WRITERS: Chip Johannessen & Patrick Harbinson (story by Alex Gansa)
DIRECTOR: Brad Turner
GUEST CAST: David Anders, Jürgen Prochnow, John Boyd, Merle Dandridge, Akbar Kurtha, Rami Malek, Julian Morris, Ethan Rains, Hrach Titizian, Necar Zadegan

[SPOILERS] 24 comes in waves of four, so after last week's climax of the "undercover" storyline, which followed the "assassination" tetrad, we're effectively at the bottom of another small hill leading to mid-season now. Consequently, this episode featured a lot of repositioning and maneuvering, which was handled well, but the lack of big thrills is still gnawing away at my enjoyment of this season...

It at least opened with a surprise I wasn't expecting, as heir of his father Bazhaev's (Jürgen Prochnow) arms dealing operation, Josef (David Anders) was killed within minutes and the nuclear rods stolen by Farhad's (Akbar Kurtha) men. Only, Farhad isn't so keen on his associate Samir's (Mido Hamada) change of plan -- using the rods to create a radiological bomb and strike at an American target, rather than smuggle them out of the country to Kamistan -- so he took an opportunity to split and call for CTU's rescue.

There was also some office politics, with Hastings (Mykelti Williamson) ordered by the White House Chief of Staff to let Renee (Annie Wersching) become the scapegoat for recent failures and allow the Justice Department to question her about the likelihood she murdered Vladimir and wasn't acting purely in self defence. I was surprised to hear that occurrences like this are apparently handled by CTU with a simple debrief, actually. I can understand Jack's (Kiefer Sutherland) desire to protect Renee from going to jail, given the fact she put herself in harm's way for her country and for no reward, but it was sobering to know CTU agents can effectively go around killing people and don't ordinarily face any form of inquiry.

Finally, Dana (Katee Sackhoff) was primed to kill her manipulative ex Kevin while he celebrated a successful robbery with his accomplice Nick and some strippers in the back of a van, but fiancé Cole (Freddie Prinze Jr.) managed to get to her first and she was forced to tell him the truth about her criminal past. Cole surprised Dana by threatening Kevin and his partner at gunpoint, apparently securing a "deal" for them to leave with their stolen cash and never come back, but Nick took umbrage and stabbed Kevin for agreeing to Cole's demands. While walking back to their car, Cole and Dana came under attack from an angry Nick, but managed to takedown their half-drunken aggressor, with Dana rushing to the aide of her knifed ex.

Overall, this wasn't a terrible episode by any stretch of the imagination, but it was often quite dull and slack. I remain impassive when it comes to the machinations surrounding the nuclear rods (involving severe men with beards), as such plots have become so commonplace in 24 that I can't get excited unless an attack's actually imminent. It may be a pointless distraction, but at least Dana's storyline has an unpredictable human quality to it.

Speaking of human, it was nice to see Jack admit his feelings for Renee at long last (in a roundabout way because Jack will implode if he says "I love you"), and for Jack to later convince Hastings that he can protect his staff against White House suits. A deal was even struck between the two men that means Jack has to continue working for CTU until the nuclear situation has abated, in order to keep Renee protected from any beaurocratic fallout.

A serviceable episode, but it's rather alarming to realize we're nearing the middle of Day 8 and so few of this season's situations and characters have sunk their teeth in.

28 FEBRUARY 2010: SKY1 (HD), 9PM