24 Review:
"12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m." (Episode 7.05)

Following a premiere that consisted of four hours spread over two nights, waiting a week just seems a bit unreasonable for another episode of 24. And, these single, one-hour episodes go by way too quickly. That's the Bauer trade-off: You're quickly spoiled with a barrage of episodes, only to go into typical weekly airings with an occasional two-hour grouping. It's a tough transition.

A seemingly not so difficult transition is Bauer playing a bad guy, who, along with old-time friend Tony Almeida, has infiltrated a terrorist cell planning to kidnap the prime minister of Sengala. What's more, Jack and Tony want to go through with the kidnapping so they can get to rebel colonel Dubaku, who is threatening to unleash terrorist attacks on the U.S. if newly elected president Allison Taylor goes through with her invasion of Sengala. The craziest part of the whole ordeal is that Jack & Co. seem to have run out of options when the PM has holed himself and his wife in a saferoom. One of the real hired hands is ready to give up for fear of being caught when Jack, of all people, has the bright idea to gas the two out, nearly killing both of them. But if you think that's bad, wait until the end of the episode when Jack is told to kill now-captured Renee Walker, the young FBI agent he assisted in the beginning of the season. The whole scene transpires like something out of Curb Your Enthusiasm, where poor Larry David tries to do the right thing but just ends up worsening an already unthinkable nightmare. Unlike Larry, though, Jack will probably get himself out of this one somehow.

Monday night also saw President Taylor's husband confiding in the wrong person with the information given to him about his son's death: the young aide who bears a slight resemblence to Cary Elwes. What a bummer. Looks like both he and his murdered son's girlfriend are about to be done in. President Taylor is going to think her whole family is psychotic and suicidal while about to make the most difficult decision of her life: whether to invade Sengala. The problem is she had until 1 p.m. to call off the invasion or there would be terror attacks on the airlines; the episode ends at that time without her budging.

Essentially, next week, it appears not every crisis can go right. Three lives are hanging in the balance and there's that promised, impending "demonstration" (an airline attack). Not even Jack Bauer can stop it all at once. Or can he?