24 Review:
"3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m." (Episode 7.08)

After listening to an hour of President Obama's answers to questions on everything from the economy to steroids in baseball, it was nice to finally take a break from the real-life drudgery and enter the much faster-paced, anything-goes fictionalized world of 24. Actually, that brings up an interesting topic for discussion regarding last night's episode. How much of 24 is actually fiction? Moreover, how would we know? That's the beautiful thing about this show. While there's a certain heightened, over-statement of happenings for entertainment purposes, one might wonder how someone in Jack Bauer's position would diffuse a time-sensitive crisis.

Before setting out to catch the crooked agent who kidnapped and delivered the president's husband to Colonel Dubaku, Jack sends Renee to use the man's family as leverage on one end while he takes care of business on the other. Naturally, Larry Moss, the agent in charge of the FBI in D.C. and ultimate caricature of the play-it-straight good guy doesn't like it, leading to a heated exchange between he and Jack. You'd be foolish to believe Jack wouldn't win this argument, especially when it's both he and Renee on the same page. As Jack departs, Larry says, "The rules are what make us better." In a simple, unabashed response, Jack calmly replies, "Not today."

This might turn off some viewers (as it surely has over the years): The hero will torture those hiding information and even their families if need be. But this shouldn't surprise many, as almost every hero portrayed onscreen has a dark side; that's the sign of a good character. All throughout our education we're told to view the world in shades of gray, not in black and white. But when it comes to really uncomfortable issues like coercive interrogation to save innocent lives, there's still that tendancy to always view it singularly. When faced with a right vs. right decision of whether to follow the book and letting the president's husband die or cutting a few corners and possibly getting a better result...well, it's the kind of weighty ethical dilemma most of us will (thankfully) never have to debate up close and personal.

However, even after all of those heroics go down, Henry Taylor, the First Gentleman, still takes a bullet from a desperate henchman in his final breaths. Figures. After all that. And that's where the episode ended. This was the most intense and enjoyable hour of the season thus far, where everything seemed much more urgent and lives were expendable. Much more 24 than the lot of the recent offerings. 

Also of note was a missing person who was in every Season Seven episode until now: one Tony Almeida. Could he be up to something sinister? And while we're on the subject of surface-only good guys, the preview for next week's episode makes a bold promise: The traitor within the FBI will be revealed. Is it the dude who plays the snarky director in Entourage, the girl he's having an affair with, Larry, or the innocent (maybe too innocent) Janis Gold, played by Janeane Garofalo? Start placing your bets.