BIG TIME SPOILER ALERTS IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN 6am TO 10am YET!










O h M y F r i g g i n G a w d ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

I thought the much ballyhooed SHOCKING ENDING was going to be Jack killing Curtis. That one got telegraphed from the outset (why oh why did they have to give it away by identifying Roger Cross as a "GUEST STAR"?). Even though I was not totally surprised, seeing Jack forced to kill a CTU agent who had previously helped keep him alive on so many past occasions still hit pretty hard. But, I absolutely was not prepared for L.A. getting NUKED as the clock struck 10!

Man, talk about a rough way to start the day! Jack just got dumped out of a transport plane from China, sold out by the President, tortured by revenge-obsessed terrorists, saved a teenage hostage, cut a deal with a supposedly repentant terrorist mastermind just seconds before his safehouse got blown up by a military missile, kicked a suicide bomber out the window of a moving subway car in a nick of time.

So, what does he get for all his trouble? He gets back an old job that he doesn't want, AND as part of that job he has to kill a guy that he worked with on countless dangerous missions. Oh, and a nuke just detonated in his hometown. Usually, I'm just finishing up with my e-mail by 10am!

And now there are four more of these suitcase nukes out there. Should be an interesting ride. In past years, the nuke story has usually been a ruse for taking the plot in a totally different direction (like in Day Two when the nuke they were chasing got detonated halfway through the season).

All in all, the first four episodes did not weave quite as tight a plot web as last year (I would say that last season's opening salvo was the best one to date), but they still know how to ratchet up the tension and create impactful moments at just the right time. (Speaking of which, they're playing with the real time plot device even more loosely this season -- c'mon, it does NOT take 10 minutes to get from Newhall to Granada Hills!)

Looks like 24 will fly fast without a safety net this season. It's impactful because they deliberately tried to bring the events closer to everyday reality, but the show is also riding precariously close to becoming overly cartoonish (which they did last year as well, but still managed to hold the show together). I think they're trying to keep a lot of the situations more reflective of current events, but the dialog seems more stunted than usual this season.

It also seems that they're trying to keep the audience guessing, and immersing the situations into all sorts of grey areas. For example, Ahmed's dad getting taken into custody by the FBI, when the dad is innocent and the teenage son is the actual terrorist. Or having the neighbor try to kill Ahmed in a bigoted rage, when in actuality Ahmed was far more dangerous than the neighbor ever suspected. Or forcing Jack to choose between Curtis, a colleague who's had his back for years, and Assad, a known terrorist mastermind who they need to keep alive in order to save others. Or the simmering conflict between the President and his sister, and the potential situation developing at the detention facility. Or Jack backing off from torturing a terrorist, while Assad shows him some pointers on how to be a ruthless interrogator.

In upcoming episodes, I can see Assad turning into much more of an ambiguous character. And of course, there are any number of moles that could emerge at CTU and the White House. In the end, I have a feeling that the Islamic terrorists will turn out to be a ruse -- something more conspiratorial going on. That White House Chief of Staff is way too obvious a mole, and having him involved in these terrorist plots at the behest of other shadowy figures behind the scenes would duplicate way too much from last season. Karen Hayes would be more of a likely mole IMO.

With Jack, he's been teetering as the tormented shell of a man. It should be interesting to see how he reacts to the nuke going off. Up to this point, he's been tentative, but the preview seems to indicate that he's about to go completely off the deep end and employ even more ruthless tactics than ever.

From the previews, it looks like those "behind the scenes" dudes from last season will get the first whiff of Jack's bad attitude. We'll see!

Oh, and anyone notice some of the interesting casting decisions?

First and foremost, Kal Penn as a terrorist?! C'mon he's KUMAR!!!! Stoners with the munchies don't get mixed up with guys shopping around for a-bomb parts! Already, I'm reading comments on the net like, "Dude, Ahmed got nuked on the way to White Castle!" Sad that he's already dyed!

Also, Alexander Siddig as a terrorist mastermind?! Anyone remember him as Doctor Bashir from DS9? It just doesn't add up!

People are already noting Peter MacNichol getting typecast by Numb3rs and Ally McBeal, but I still can't get over the poor man's keymaster (or was it gatekeeper?) from Ghostbusters II now playing the White House Chief of Staff.

You also got Regina King (as Sandra Palmer) and Harry Lennix (as Walid Al-Rezani, the head of the IAA) together again. She played the wife, and he played the manager on Ray.

Or how about Megan Gallagher (as the mother that Ahmed took hostage) and Mary Lynn Rajskub (Chloe), two alums from the Larry Sanders Show?

Apparently, we got more on the way with Rick Schroder and James Cromwell due to join the cast sometime this season.