Spoilers for “4 p.m. to 5 p.m.” below.

Things that happened

It’s our last episode of February Sweeps which means next week we’ll probably be back to watching Jack Bauer drive around for forty minutes. He does a little bit more than that in this episode, as he meets up with the deposed Charles Logan, who has become a lean, mean, bible-quoting enigma of a man. I’m so happy he’s back.

He tells Jack that the Russian Consul knows a thing or two about Grudenko, as the two of them loved to get together and talk nuclear attack strategy. Jack wants to go through official channels and have the Russian Consul questioned, because Jack has a sad and sorry history when it comes to illegally breaking into consulates. Logan, of course, has even a better idea, though it reeks of scheming — he wants Jack to get him a Presidential pardon, and then he (Logan) will go talk to this Russian guy himself.

Jack is suspicious, but he’s got no better option, so off the two of them go. We’re left with hints that perhaps Logan’s real motive is to get his wife back, which I totally support because Jean Smart is awesome.

In other news, Chad Lowe is also scheming. He helps his assassin buddy get past White House security. Their big plan is to use a binary liquid explosive — they’re the reason you can’t take your goddamn toothpaste on the plane — to take out Wayne Palmer. Tom Lennox has clearly decided, after much deliberation and soul searching, that he is against this plan of action, but is unable to speak out against it largely due to his being bound and gagged in the boiler room.

Chad Lowe is actually almost successful (for once)! He manages to remember the detonation code (I was so sure he would forget!) and blows the hell out of the podium where Palmer and Assad were preparing to address the nation. The only catch is that, seconds before detonation, Assad noticed the bomb. The end of the episode leaves things unclear, but I’m betting he managed to shove Palmer out of the blast radius in time.

And at CTU, everyone thinks Morris is a drunk. Even Chloe, who goes on a rampage through the men’s room only to find Morris, in perhaps the most shocking twist of the episode, actually using the men’s room. It’s pretty great.

Things that were good

• The return of Charles Logan has given this season so much more promise than it once had. I forgot how much I loved him. His character gives everything so much more dimension, and the prospect of Gregory Itzen and James Cromwell sharing a scene together has me excited. There’d be so much evil in that scene.
• At least the White House plot has deviated from being a complete carbon copy of the Season Two White House plot. Chad Lowe as the prime mover of evil is still pretty weak, as is the idea that the top secret White House bunker of security has a totally unguarded and unmonitored boiler room, I appreciate that they’re not repeating themselves.
• I liked the ending, even though I am like 99% sure they’re not going to kill Wayne Palmer. I mean, jesus, the Palmers have suffered enough, what with David’s death and having Sherry take their family name.

Things that were not so good

• It takes more than two hours to prepare a television address from the freaking White House? On the day of a nuclear terrorist attack? Does that make any sense? Why wasn’t Assad on TV two episodes ago?
• And that goes into something else I’ve been feeling with this season: where’s the sense of urgency? Assad takes two hours to get on TV, Charles Logan takes forty minutes getting ready and picking out cufflinks, Morris has time for a lengthy bathroom break — there are three nuclear devices on American soil — people should be hustling!
• Those scenes at the beginning of the episode, with Jack and Marilyn? What was up with that? Did they only do one take? Usually this show’s dialogue isn’t that badly delivered. It felt like George Lucas wrote those early scenes.

Worth Watching If…

You’ve been waiting and waiting to see Deposed President Charles Logan again. He’s here and he’s great. He’s got a beard and the desire for redemption. And maybe to bang his ex-wife one last time. It’s hard to describe why this is so entertaining.

In Five Words

Charles Logan Is My Friend

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