Thoughts on '24'

If I was a CTU agent, let me tell you there is no way I would ever go out in the field with Jack Bauer! These guys are as silly as the "red shirts" that used to beam down to the planet with Captain Kirk only to wind up vaporized. Anyone who goes anywhere with Jack will wind up catching a bullet within the hour -- maybe two hours.

Oh, sure, there are exceptions. Like Jack's partner, Chase, who got his arm hacked off in season 3 and his girlfriend's estranged husband, Paul Raines, who this year was shot and now will likely never walk again. They were the lucky ones.

Meanwhile, it is now apparent that some very highly placed in the government is helping Habib Marwan. How else could he have gotten the transponder code to track the nuclear football?

I have my suspicions about who that could be. Think about the only other mystery from this season that remains unsolved: how did the terrorists know to find Secretary of Defense Heller at his son's house in the first episode? They only people who knew in advance about that unscheduled stop were Jack, Heller and his daughter (Jack's girlfriend) Audrey. Either Audrey or her father could have the access to the transponder code.

I doubt it's Audrey. That would be too reminiscent of season 1 where Jack's confidant and former lover Nina turned out to be the mole working inside CTU. That just leaves the defense secretary.

But it's not like the show has never repeated itself. Last night's episode felt like season 2 all over again. For the second time, the series has engaged in a storyline about the 25th amendment. And once again, Mike Novik, David Palmer's former chief of staff, is at the center of it. It appears he is now highly placed in the Keeler administration. But why is the former chief of staff for a Democratic president working for a Republican president?

Also like season 2, next week it looks like Jack will be running around trying find a rogue nuke in Los Angeles.

The clock keeps ticking...