24 Review:
"4:00 a.m. - 5:00 a.m." (Episode 21)

Three hours left. And because of the two-hour finale, that only leaves two weeks remaining before Day Seven of 24 is put to rest. So much still needs to be resolved, such as the Jack factor. One tidbit from last night's episode is that he has one or two days left to live. So, in theory, we could wrap up today and have Day Eight (as of right now, Kiefer Sutherland's last year on contract) be a direct continuation of this day. That's how it looked at the very end of the second season, anyway. But it's painful enough watching Jack sludge and fudge through these past few hours that there's almost no way the creators would put fans through such an arduous experience like that. So, we're still banking on that elusive cure, although it would be kind of neat to have side-by-side days.

Was anybody else thrilled to see Chloe back in form after she found out that the Muslim guy was about to be framed for Tony and Co.'s upcoming terrorist attack? After the painstaking effort those thugs go through to make this guy out to be a terrorist, our favorite computer nerd debunks the whole shabby cover up within an hour. Zing! Since Jack is becoming somewhat of a wild card/loose canon, it's nice to have someone you can always count on to come through in the clutch.

Even with Chloe's heroics though, Tony's evil plan is set in motion. And it appears the one man who might be able to direct FBI in the right direction could die because of a foolish, impulsive move. The brother of the man who was wrongly accused is being held hostage at the apartment while everyone else prepares to reek havoc. But according to the previews, Jack catches up with Tony next week. With a gun aimed at his old friend, Jack threatens to put him down, to which good-guy-turned-terrorist replies with full resignation, "Do it."

Meanwhile, Olivia is second-term poison, and within a few hours, the president will realize the huge error of bringing her sleazy, vile and vengeful daughter on board. Not that her intentions are bad or that she's working with terrorists or anything. But when she sets a plan in motion to have Jonas Hodges killed (he's responsible for her brother's death, after all, and he's going into witness protection), the whole thing blows up in her face. OK, not her face, per se. After the hitman contacts her, she must deposit the $250,000 into his account before he goes through with the kill. She has second thoughts, and cancels the transaction. Nevertheless, Jonas gets into an SUV and kaboom! Again, in true 24 fashion, you feel sympathy for him right before his death. He is basically erasing his whole life entering witness protection. The U.S. Marshall escorting him confiscates his wallet and a picture of his family. However, there's one photo of his wife and daughter he manages to hide. He looks at it one last time, and you just know it's coming. Oh Jonas, we hardly knew ye. Now we just have to discover why it happened after the killer never got his money. Is he also working for the group of private defense people behind the forthcoming attack?

Like last week, this was another tension-filled episode. You can feel the action about to erupt, but on what scale? Unlike past seasons, there hasn't been an unbelievable loss of life. The two planes crashing was devastating, but unlike other years, we had no personal connection to the event; it just happened. It seems unlikely a big attack would be allowed to go down this late in the season, so we have to wonder: Will a main character die? Never say never.