I have a feeling the Palmer storyline will pick up after the suicide. It's completely setup for Anne to be blamed for his death, since we saw her grab/touch the gun.

I don't see the Chase-Kim connection at all. If anything, Chase is a younger Jack, not a Kim rehash.

In terms of who the other buyer is at the virus auction, Ain't It Cool News posted this huge, juicy spoiler (WARNING: Please don't click on this link if you don't want to know who it is):

http://www.aintitcoolnews.com/display.cgi?id=16682

Of course, the post could turn out to be a fanboy hoax when all is said and done (as is sometimes the case on AICN), so take it with a grain of salt.

What a turd of an episode. Basically, a three-man rogue team decided to cause multiple deaths, riots in a mall and a prison, and a huge expenditure of military and civilian resources just to get Jack back under cover. Not to mention possibly jeopardizing Palmer's reelection. This is completely unbelievable. Almost as bad as having the main lead of your show get a case of 3 year amnesia...

The best things going for this show are Jack Bauer, David Palmer, and Ramon Salazar. Three very good characters, interesting to watch. Salazar is a much better villain than in either of the past two seasons.

I do like that Chase does not know what side Jack is on.

Ack. Halfway through the show right when they caught Chase I f'ing knew they were going to have Jack shoot Chase to prove he's 'cool' with the Salazars. I don't like being correct about shit on this show. Only thing is I wish there'd been a bullet in the gun. Chase needs to die...all guys who hook up with Kim have something bad happen to them.

Speaking of Kim, she needs to die, too. But she hasn't run for five hours worth of the show yet, so that won't be happening any time soon.

Did anyone else notice that Palmer's brother like flipped through the stack of letters and immediately said, "This will completely clear you"? Then he looked oddly at Ann. I think that they are having an affair.... otherwise this storyline is BORING!

Decent episode last night. Not sure how much longer Tony will last at CTU though - may faint or worse.

Yeah, that's pretty standard in just about every "undercover" show/movie ever made.

Not to knock you b/c this thing happens all the time, but don't you think all of us who don't want to know are going to guess it very, very easily just b/c we know there's a HUGE spoler? It's just like being told so many times that there's a huge twist at the end of the Sixth Sense. You may not know exactly what it will be, but knowing it's there (and thus guessing through the whole film, and more than likely figuring it out) takes a lot of the fun out of, say, not having any idea that there will be a twist.

So, anyway,

I thought last nights ep. was great. True 24 form. I guess I'm able to suspend disbelief more than others though.

I did think it was great having the Dr.'s husband off himself, rather than having Sherry pop up or something to that effect. Doubtful, but hopefully she will stay out of the picture, Dennis and Wendy just don't have the chemistry that Mrs. Palmer (can't think of her real name) had. Not that I want her back, but someone with some kind of chemistry.

So I say kudos to the writers for turning the season on its head after a lackluster start.

My thoughts exactly. He was doing exactly what Jack would've done, whereas Kim would have put on a small white tank top and ran down a dead-end alley.

I'm still processing the whole Kyle Singer story line being done. I suspect he's patching things up with his parents now.

Good point too about Ann grabbing the gun. At least that should heat up that snoozer story line.

I wonder if Jack somehow knew there were no bullets in that gun or if he really would've killed Chase?

Finally, the whole thing about Michelle feeling betrayed because Tony didn't tell her is a little disingenious. Last season she hid everything from Tony, lied straight to his face many times, and Tony simply realized she was right without having to "talk about his feelings." I guess that's the difference...

I agree, I liked this one a lot too. Things are really pepping up, minus the Prez storyline, which is kind of dragging but hopefully will be better soon. There are signs that seem to indicate we won't be suffering through that for much longer.

And I couldn't love Jack undercover with the Salazars more. That is my favorite development this season (thus far) and I can't wait to see where it goes.

what I can't understand is this - why can people watch shows like Buffy or Angel and not complain about how unrealistic it is, but as soon as 24 is mentioned that is mainly what you hear? did anyone from 24 say this was based on true events? I thought tv shows were for entertainment.

now that that is said I can say I am really enjoying this show. it sucks that we have such a long wait until new eps. though.

Exactly. I don't even mind the time impossibilities (driving across LA in 2 minutes, for example). I'm just really bothered by this idea that Jack and Tony would risk so much just to get him back under cover. It is completely unbelievable, and the only reason it was done was to surprise the viewers. I mean, is Vince McMahon writing these episodes?

I'll get over it, but it's disappointing.

Haha, that's great- maybe Vince is writing these episodes! If not, maybe he could hire some of the 24 writers to help with the wacky WWE stories.

Anyway, I love this crap. My favorite is how Tony bounced back from the neck injury. It seemed like he lost the raspy voice a few times, then brought it back later. At least he's fainting to make up for it.

It was fifty. I always watch =24= with captions on, and it was definately $50M.
My concern is that the Doc went for the gun not once, but twice. Her fingerprints are sure to be all over it. How do the cops know that she didn't kill him and then plant the gun in his hand? I was surprised to see her walk into Palmer HQ without being at least detained for further questioning by the cops.
Penny... Penny Johnson Jerald.

If there's anybody that needs to be killed off, its definitely Kyle Singer.

It was a decent episode, moved a bit too slow for me, but I know the next epsiode will pick up quickly.

Can someone please refresh my memory about "Jack whispered to Nina" in Season 2? Which episode it was on? What was Nina reaction? Thanks.

24 and Buffy/Angel are tv shows, but the world in which they are based differ. Buffy and Angel are set in a fantasy world where monsters exist, so it is a little easier to suspend disbelief. 24 is suppose to be set in our "world" where our rules apply.

I get into arguments like this with my friends who just say sit back and watch the tv show/movie and enjoy it as entertainment and don't analyze that. Bah.. I have no problem with Obi Wan jumping off a five story building, but don't have Mel Gibson doing that in Lethal Weapon..

In the world of CSI and such, isn't determining who fired a gun one of the easiest things to determine by gunshot residue or lack thereof?

One other thought-- what if Kyle Singer had actually killed himself as part of Jack's plan? Good grief, the Singers should be set for life given an emotional trauma settlement from the government.

When it comes down to it, why do the virus hoax at all? Why not just have Jack try to break Salazar out of prison using the fake release form?

When it comes down to it, this season of 24 requires the biggest suspension of disbelief than anything that has happened in the first two seasons. However, I am so glad that the original virus plot was a hoax that I have enjoyed the previous two episodes a great deal more than I would normally. Yes, it's unbelievable, but *so what*? I'm with the group of people who say, "Sit back, relax, grab some popcorn, and enjoy the entertainment." There's plenty of stuff to like here, even if the "sting operation" makes little logical sense.

And it looks like all of our favorite villainessness will be returning in January! HOORAY!

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Jack/Hector say that they had to convince the U.S. that the virus threat was real so they can sell it for the billion dollars?

I can think of a couple of reasons off the top of my head.

1) Jack needed a distraction for CTU while he attempted to get Ramon out of prison.

2) Using the body, Jack demonstrated the virus to be a real threat.