Spoilers for “6 p.m. to 7 p.m.” below:

Things that happened

It an episode rich with nostalgia, we relive those halcyon days of Charles and Martha Logan. See, Charles, who has been taken back to CTU after coming to the sad realization that Jack had abandoned him in the car, convinces Buchanan that his ex-wife Martha could be of help in dealing with the Russians. Because remember the time Martha and the Russian First Lady went for a car ride together? And were shot at with a rocket launcher? That really brought the two of them together, apparently. They are pals now — thick as thieves!

So Charles thinks that if Martha calls the Russian First Lady, she’ll be able to convince the Russian President that the Russian Consul is, in fact, evil, and working with the terrorist general Gredenko and that Jack Bauer was totally justified in cutting off the consul’s finger last episode. It’s a crazy plan, but since the only other plan being proposed is “lets have Rick Schroder and a bunch of CTU agents shoot up the place like assholes” Buchanan decides to give it a shot.

Meanwhile, from inside the consulate, Jack Bauer manages to escape from custody, sneak around the building, then hide in some back room with a young Russian couple for forty minutes for no discernible reason. Maybe this was one of his bathroom break episodes.

But it’s okay, because there’s enough intrigue to go around even without Jack Bauer. See, when we do stumble across Martha Logan, she’s living in a charming little apartment with none other than Special Agent Aaron Pierce. Which is as astoundingly great as it is aww-stoundingly cute. They eat fruit together and, like the rest of California, ignore the fact that a nuclear bomb just went off, and it’s all very adorable.

But the Charles thing kind of ruins the nice moments, as he swoops in an tries to convince Martha to go along with the plan to call the Russian First Lady. At first, it seems like Martha will do it without too much fuss, but then when it takes twenty minutes for CTU to actually get the Russians on the phone (maybe they lost the number), Martha kind of ends up going nuts. She rants and raves about how her husband is a killer and a jerk, though not in that order, and then, out of fucking nowhere, STABS HIM WITH A KITCHEN KNIFE. Oh MAN.

But ever steely, Buchanan takes the news of Logan’s stabbing in stride, and is more concerned with ensuring Martha can still talk to the Russians for them. She can, though she’s kind of freaked out by the whole thing. Still, though, it seems, by the end of the episode, that her message has gotten through to the Russians.

She’s a bit too late, however, as Rick Shroder and the CTU shoot-everything team has already descended on the consulate. They pretty much spray bullets everywhere, as Jack, inside, gets to shoot some stuff too. Everything is getting shot! The walls! The ceilings! Tables! And chairs!

Even the Russian Consul goes down, but not before he relays a message to Gredenko and Fayed. “Launch the bomb already,” he says. And that’s exactly what they seemingly do.

Meanwhile, in the boring white house bunker, Vice President Powers Boothe is hatching some scheme wherein he will blame Palmer’s assassination attempt on Assad. Because then he can nuke Assad’s home country. Because this will somehow help matters. We’ll have to wait and see how!

And, just to end a downer episode on a major downer note, we close on Charles Logan in an ambulance, losing tons of blood. He manages to regain consciousness just long enough to say “Martha.” And then he dies.

No silent clock, though. Whether that’s because he is actually still alive or because he is actually a giant murdering dickweed remains to be seen!

Things that were good

• I loved how packed to the gills with plot this episode was. 24 is always at its best when way too much is going on. This was 24 at its best.
• Gregory Itzen and Jean Smart have awesome chemistry that makes scenes that would otherwise be boring — it’s just them arguing! — really fun to watch. Even with her new hair — I hate change — Jean Smart has been one of the best parts of this season.
• The return of Aaron Pierce. Nobody makes the word “ma’am” more badass than he does.
• Finally, there were actual gunshots this episode! And explosions! It was all way over-the-top and lots of fun. Sometimes you just want to watch a bunch of extras get shot, you know?

Things that were not so good

• I guess most people remember Rick Schroder as some sort of badass cop from NYPD Blue. I wouldn’t know because I never watched him on that show. To me, he’ll always be Nurse Paul Flowers from Scrubs. Which makes his attempt to be badass kind of silly. In fact, even discounting that he was kind of silly. There’s gruff and demanding and then there’s just… him. Trying too hard.
• Seriously, I like the expanded focus, but Jack Bauer could still use more than two scenes per episode. Did they change the union rules on this show this season or something? Remember when he was the star?
• Hey, wait, remember that whole thing with Jack’s dad? Does nobody want to find him? He’s evil!
• I will withdraw all my positive remarks for this episode if Charles Logan is actually dead.

Worth Watching If…

Like I said above, this is the best kind of 24. It’s packed with plots and subplots to the point where there is clearly way too much going on. And then just when you start to feel confused and overwhelmed, there are a bunch of explosions and gunshots to cleanse the palate. It’s a simple formula, but a winning one, and the show suffers when they deviate for it. But, seriously, more James Cromwell. Please?

In Five Words

Charles Logan I Forgive You