24 Review:
"8:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m." (Episode 7.13)

You don't even need to be in the same room watching to know exactly what it is when you hear it: the pulse-like pound of the seconds as 24 either wraps up or goes to commercial break. But every once in a great while, there's an eerie quiet accompanying that bright yellow, digital clock up against the pitch-black background. To date, the silent clock in 24 has been used a total of nine times in the span of its seven seasons. Sometimes, it's to signify a heightened state of emotional uncertainty. Other times, it's out of respect for a fallen character. Last night was one of those latter times, and for just the second occurrence in the series, those noiseless ticks crept into into the hour before the episode reached its end. Official time of death: 8:11:54 p.m. We will miss you, Bill.

Yes, after four days/seasons, Bill Buchanan is no longer with us. And it happened rather abruptly, too, with no suspense and really no time for goodbye (from the characters or us). It was an honorable death, one where a man gave his life for his country so that its citizens wouldn't have to suffer through their leader's public execution. Some will say this wasn't enough of a farewell for such an established character. Rubbish! He went on his own terms like a man, and he saved the life of a sitting president. Jack's stunned, silent emotion as he sat staring at his dead friend said everything that needed to be said. Another day, another hero lost.

Bill's sacrifice leads to the deaths of General Juma and the rest of his men holding the president and many hostages inside the White House. His contribution didn't end there. Moments before he died, he told Jack that Juma was on the phone with someone giving him real-time intelligence. So essentially, they are starting to know what we know: Someone else is involved in this ongoing threat. We know it's Jonas Hodges (Jon Voight), but for Jack and everyone else to find out, they need to do a little investigating.

To do that, it's torture time! Not really. The president's chief of staff, Ethan, orders Larry (naturally against his wishes) to let Jack once again interrogate the now hospital-bed bound guy he tasered a bunch of times last week (Red Forman's treasonous chief of staff). Finally, after a ridiculously elongated phone conversation, Larry finally gives in. This guy is a real piece of work. He's responsible for initially stopping Jack's "questioning" of the same traitor when he was only seconds away from spilling all over place. (Remember, this would've stopped the whole mini-siege on the White House.) Then, he suspends Renee after she goes to Ethan with her request to get Jack in on the interrogation. He's a character you want to like, and sometimes you come close, like when he goes ahead with the counter siege on the White House in an effort to save the president against the (very strange) wishes of the overly cautious vice president. Maybe one day (who knows, maybe even today) he'll come around.

Things to watch out for next week: Jack is on the run...again. He was set up during his second go of inflicting crippling fear on his subject. All right, the gas capsule that the assassin dropped from the ceiling in the room actually crippled him as well as Jack. He could then only watch as Quinn, for once a true enemy for Jack (you know, instead of someone on his "side") cut the throat of the senator's former right-hand man. Of course, Jack bailed because he can't trust anything. When are they going to learn?

Once again, Tony was ominously missing. Who knows what this guy is up to, but chances are we're being set up for a big finale shock involving him. And last but not least, look for President Taylor's daughter, Olivia, to sass it up as she takes it upon herself to weed out corruption in her mother's cabinet. After she verbally bitchslaps Ethan after Juma's men are down and the crisis has been diffused, you know she means business. New foils, new enemies, new all-around interest. 24 is seriously delivering the goods after a so-so start to Day 7.