I have to say, even I was like, "Wow!" when Jack completely took down the ENTIRE terrorist cell and, sans weapon, hanged Fayed.

And then I thought, "Wait a second. This isn't the season finale! What are they gonna do for the next 10 episodes!?"

And then voila! Audrey enters the picture. I have to say I didn't see her coming up this early though. I figured, they'd surprise us with one more season of Jack kicking ass in China! How cool would that have been?

Did I just see Jack bite Fayed's arm? Heh.

Uh, Scream? Not to pick any nits, but I believe Walsh is an Admiral, you know, like in the Navy?

I continue to be driven mad by the egregious abuse of the space/time continuum. There is NFW we'd know Iraqistan troops were assembling because of an incoming missile. And there's NFW they could have found Habib and his family, arrested them and start interrogating them in the time it takes me to brush my teeth. I know, we have to be more tolerant, but damn, sometimes this gets annoying as hell.

I don't welcome the arc shift. The entire first 11 hours were jumbled and a bit incomprehensible. Now we have to suffer 13 hours of the annoying Audrey. Please! And why the hell would Cheng want to mess with Jack some more? Are we ignoring they tortured the shit out of him for 2 years? Is it because we're tired of Arab terrorists? I'm beginning to worry about the fate of this once absorbing show.

Dude, Jack's single-handed cell annihilation and his battle royale with Fayed ALMOST redeemed this whole shitty season. Jack BIT Fayed!! How awesome is that? And as soon as that chain showed up, I turned to Mrs. Jack and said "we're going to get a chain-hanging here, a la Bruce Willis v. Alexander Godunov in 'Die Hard." S-WEET.

Frankly, I'm perfectly happy for Audrey to come back into the picture (could this also mean the return of William Devane as Sec.Def. Heller?). It will keep the show focused on Jack instead of all of these idiotic digressions into Milo Crotch-Face's stalking of Nadia (although I wouldn't mind it if Milo ended up walking in on Nadia riding Ricky Schroeder on a gurney in the infamous CTU Infirmary of Certain Death).

Too bad Jack didn't have on his Stealth Hoodie of Infiltration--it would have made climbing under the truck Cape Fear-style completely unnecessary. Maybe in his quest to free Audrey, the hoodie will make a comeback, along with the Aviator Glasses of Badness and the Messenger Bag of Intrepid Readiness.

This episode also brings '24' full-circle, as the whole story began with Jack's loved ones being captured and used by e-vil people to force him to do their e-vil bidding. It also reminds us that 24 always works when our boy Jack is permitted to kick some serious ass.

Maybe Jack will also have time for a bathroom break.

Screaming, the cap about the wrench was hilarious. For some reason I didn't even notice that when I was watching. And I thought I had a trained eye for this stuff now...

I think it’s terrible that we are all so thrilled about this episode. Granted it was solid, but if this episode happened during season 2 or 4, we wouldn't have even batted an eye. It just goes to show how boring this season really has been that we are all bathing this episode in praise.

I agree about the Jack fight, it was almost as good as when he single handedly killed 10 guys in order to save Kim at the end of season 1. The best part was the music they fired up when the fistfight began. I was on the edge of my seat.

I wasn't really that surprised about Jack defusing the nuclear situation for good. Normally by the 12th episode, they conclude one storyline, and then start up another one for the last 12. They waited this time, and it had me slightly conufsed.

I agree with Screaming and the previous posters about the Audrey storyline being extremely predictable. If they don't show the person die on this show, they're not dead. The moment they casually mentioned to Jack that Audrey was dead, you knew she was alive. I think that's what has killed the show more than anything this season; it has become somewhat predictable all of a sudden. The only thing that hasn't been blatantly obvious was Jack killing Curtis, but even then, you knew something was going to happen because he signed on with another show. The only thing you didn’t know was how. Speaking of predicting things, does anyone else find it strange they have left the door open for a Milo terrorist angle? It was never cleared up about him "forgetting" to change the security parameters, and the situation seems eerily similar to Nina back in season 1. They gave us the equation back then:

Office romance curveball + Not completely resolved terrorist doing in the office x Slightly foreign looking person with a slightly unusual name = International terrorist.

We'll see, something is going to come up regarding the leak that allowed the terrorists in. It could just as easily be Mike, and that information he changed might have been his cover. I just think Milo's going to end up being a terrorist. I didn't trust him in season 1 either. He was a contractor. Normally contractors work for the highest bidder. Who's to say a terrorist didn't slide him a million to "forget" to set the security parameters? Only time will tell I guess.

Actually, I am a little worried that they are setting up Ricky Schroeder as Kiefer's possible replacement at some time. You know, hard-as-nails guy who reputedly enjoys torturing people, lots of murky backstory with minor characters who might turn up again in bigger roles later on, and under it all, a big gold heart and a very capable guy. Sound familiar? Hell of a twisted start to a possible later love story with Nadia, too. Does anyone else worry about this too? I only started watching 24 last season, and I was instantly hooked, but this season is really letting me down. Where the hell is Jack's father? Why in the world introduce the annoying sister-in-law? What was the deal with the whole Martha-stabs-Logan episode? Are all these threads now going to come together with the Chinese guy and Audrey? I know they have left threads hanging before, but... (By the way, does anybody know what ended up happening last year with the First Lady's secretary and her daughter? Last thing I knew, she was bleeding on the floor, Robocop came in the room, the little girl screamed and... never heard from them again. Cold!)

Dagnabbit, looks like they switched out General Walsh and threw in Admiral Smith while I wasn't looking. Sorry about that. Thanks for the catch, Tony A.

I just tripped over my own ineptitude!

FANtastic show, start to finish, back to the basic "24" 101. I knew it was coming...could have happened sooner, but I'll take it. And Mo, 24 has a huge list of characters MIA - the most famous being Behrooz. He's even replaced Waldo ! But anywho, great stuff Scream and glad to see you're back to "enjoying" the show. It's getting annoying reading all the bad press, because if you're a true fan, you appreciate any 24 action at all. So was it just me or was anyone else screaming at Jack to call for back up before he came out of hiding to fight the masses? And this time he only had ONE gun and floating rib fragments !

Yes, CALL FOR BACKUPS!! biggest bullet clip ever....
I'm a little worried too about the Doyle for Bauer thing...
Audrey isn't in china, only 12 or 13 hours ago the chinnesse guy was delivering Jack to CTU in L.A. that guy it's soo death by the end of the season, can't wait fot it!
Good recap and episode.

Holy s*it, Scream, your screenshot captions are priceless. By the second one I was laughing so hard I was crying, and my boyfriend was giving me weird looks from the couch. You should caption for a living. Or maybe not, because that's lame. But great recap anyway.

24 ripped off another plot device from Prisonbreak this week when they had Fayed escape into the innards of a tunnel. What the hell was all that underground? Looked like a linen room stacked with towels AND a garbage truck hanging out in the middle of the spacious subterranean area. Tunnel innards don't look like that. I was waiting for agent Kellerman to whisk Fayed away.
Poster Jack, you cracked me up repeatedly. Thanks.
And I can't get over how abruptly this arc ended. I'm not looking forward to the Audrey thing too much. I seriously hope the Pres needs to call Crazy Logan (at The Bungalow) to call Mrs. Head of China to arrange Audrey's release. That would be fun.

I've only see three seasons of 24....but Ricky's...er...Doyle's line of "Damn Jack" was the best ever. that's basically how i felt after the shoot out/chain death scene. jack is so badass, i love it.

Scream...you crack me up....."as I lovingly stroke my framed David Palmer photograph" LOLOL!! still laughing!

keep up the great work!