Jack is Back...

... and he is apparently very hungry.

I have to say, I was expecting the bite to the neck. It was the only thing he could do. What I was not expecting is the camera to stay on the scene long enough to get the spit out of the chunk of flesh. That made me go "OHHH!" out loud.

Ted beat me to the punch on the input. So, I will simply build on what he, and Erica, said.

Mysteries that will be revealed?

1) What did Chinese get for releasing Jack? I say Missile Technology.

I think it can be almost anything. My bet is that the Chinese will not be in the picture anymore though.

2) Who is the CTU nemesis to Jack? Nadia? Milo? English Guy? I say Nadia turns into more of a thorn then anyone.

I know it is practically mandatory for someone in CTU to be "bad", but, I am not sure they are going that route this season. I think the bad guy will be Thomas Lennox, at least for a while. I am not sure he will be the bad guy all season. It is too early to tip the hand on the main foil. Moreover, I kind of like him. Despite his somewhat questionable methods, I really think he has the best interest of the country at heart and, more importantly, I loved the way he dismissed Sandra Palmer (my most annoying character) on the phone when he said this would make the subject of a great law review article. In other worlds: "you are an idealistic academic living in fantasy land and I am dealing with a life-and-death scenario. Now, please, shut up." I loved it.

3) Is the Presidents sister married to a terrorist? I say no, but it is early.

Regarding this whole Antigone subplot with Sandra Palmer, I find her to be completely annoying and wholly wrong. Moreover, I found her actions to be completely over-the-line and felt that her brother's slight-of-hand dismissal of her actions to be reprehensible. Simply put, if she was such a "law and order" person, she would have complied with the subpoena, filed a motion with the court, and obtained a protective order. Her actions SMACKED of "I am the President's sister and I can do what I want."

Regarding the husband, I say he was definitely not a terrorist going into detention. I think his plot line will play out like this: He gets valuable information-he is wrongfully interrogated by the staff-he contemplates not giving the information because he is so mad-in the end, he divulges the information because it is the right thing to do, regardless of how he was treated and that information saves the day.

However, Erica raises a good point. Could Sandra be the person with something to hide? I did not think of that and I think that would be an awesome plot twist.

4) What is in the package? My guess is a detonator device.

no comment.

5) And the big one, can Assad be trusted? I say in the end yes.

no comment.

Kudos

1) Nice beat down scene of Kumar in the house. The kick into the coffee table, cliché but effective.

I liked it too. I told MB this morning that Kumar was a terrorist and she laughed. I have to say, I kept expecting Kumar to start cracking up in a stoner voice and say: "haaaa!!! psyche! Lets get baked!"

2) Good missile attack on the house in Inglewood. Interesting no mention of collateral casualties. I also think that if a man tells you a house is going to be destroyed by missile securing the files on the CPU is useless.

You would be surprised how much stuff they retrieve from a blown up hard drive. Moreover, they had no idea what kind of munition was going to be used, so, I think it was a prudent decision.

3) Audrey, my daughter, well done.

Agreed.

4) Everyone once again realizing Jack is always right.

You would think that they would just know that already!

5) The fact that cities without a Jack Bauer are just screwed.

Agreed. Thankfully, Newark has a John Shotter, so, this city is safe.


Missed the mark.

1) The subway scene, too predictable, plus I cannot believe LA has guys checking tickets on the subway, but what do I know.

I did not mind that. In fact, I liked the little touch concerning the subway posters. If you look, they were all "report suspicious behavior" posters. I thought that was well done.

2) Chloe getting Nadia to break protocol and explain everything we needed to know about why Jack was back. Why couldn't they just have us in the meeting? Can't Chloe ever follow protocol?

When that whole thing started to unfold, I rolled my eyes. I would have been pissed if Chloe and her little friend managed to outwit the entire nation there. I was glad it backfired because it would have been TOTALLY lame if it did not.

3) Milo, that actor is like Rudy last year, out of place on 24. He screams slacker.

Not sure what I think about him yet. The shaved head, and the terrorist's shaved head, have me a little on guard (not much to go on, I know).


4) Yes, they have not explained Wayne as president yet, I do like the fact that this country elected a black president in David Palmer, he serves one term, and then four years later elects the second black President, his younger brother. The Palmers are not the black Kennedys.

Apparently, they are. I don't like him as President. Also, it seems they went with the "not-sure-of-himself" President route again. Not sure anyone can be as good as Charles Logan in that role. Moreover, as stated above, I really was shocked how he set his sister free. Not only does it nullify the whole Antigone plotline they could have developed, but, it smacked of corruption.

5) Once again, the easiest perimeter to breach is a CTU perimeter.

Again, I always think of General Stilwell in the movie 1941 when he asks a soldier incredulously: "You can hold one block can't you?"

All in all, great season opener.

What got me the most was how real it felt. The Cetnox gas thing always had a bit of the old 1970s James Bond (i.e. corny) feel to it. This felt real and felt dangerously close to reality. I like this a lot. However, I just KNOW that the BTG will be implicated in this and, officially, feel this is lame.

Can't people hate America and our way of life without rich white people being the real villains pulling the strings?