Wow! Just four more episodes to go! Now we got YET ANOTHER layer of baddies to sift through, the guys that are really pulling Prez Logan's strings. Like the rest of you, I can just see the camera panning back to reveal Kurtwood Smith and Ronny Cox puffing away on a stogie, and the VP walking in on them for the Robocop reunion!

While this season has been another great thrill ride, I think some of the story threads are veering dangerously close to the edge right now. Push the envelope any further and it could turn 24 into camp. I'm still hooked, but I think that the really taut interpersonal tension that the writers injected into the early episodes is pretty much gone, and now it's bouncing around from one impossible situation into another.

In a way, the story has not evolved as well as I had hoped after the big revelation with Logan, and last night's episode with Jack hijacking a diplomatic flight was really stretching things! Now, it's a matter of whether Jack's co-opted jet can outduel an F-18 armed with air-to-air missiles (but hey, in the Season 5 prequel, Jack managed to outrace a group of baddies in a Bimmer by gunning a Toyota Avalon in reverse!).

Still though, seeing Chloe and Bill setting up CTU-in-exile was pretty cool, and as laughable and ridiculous as it is, I loved seeing Chloe tweaking with the fate of the world from a freakin' hotel bar armed with only a laptop and a wireless card (not to mention a well-placed Tazer gun to ward off any unwanted advances -- how cool was that, and Chloe didn't break stride)! Oh and by the way, someone needs to send the Alcoholic Beverage Control officers to that hotel. What the hell are they doing serving drinks after 2am?

I'm also really enjoying the tension between the First Lady, the Prez, and Novick. You just KNOW something's going to break loose there!

And from the week before, I wonder if Secretary Heller really off'd himself, or if he lived through that plunge (I would have given much better odds if Jack had been driving the Secretary's Toyota Avalon).

And last night, where the hell was Curtis, Henderson, Audrey, and Agent Pierce? I mean, Buchanan was paraded through CTU like five minutes after he was apprehended, yet Curtis and Robocop haven't shown up yet? What up with that? It's not like they can go for a late night burger run or camp out at Canter's with L.A. under martial law.

So anyway, we're now in the stretch run. What do you all think is going to happen? I have a feeling that the First Lady might do Logan in, and that somehow, the Chinese are going to put Jack back on the run by the time 7am rolls around. Even though the press has been reporting that Keifer is signed on for three more seasons, could all that just be a smokescreen leading up to Jack Bauer's demise? A couple of months ago, there were a lot of rumors about Edward Norton taking over the lead role on 24. At this point, anything's possible!