(S06E14) *Warning, spoilers from the recent episode ahead*

Jack Bauer must really be hurting, more so than ever before. More so than he was when he emerged from two years of being tortured by Chinese officials a mere 14 hours ago. Or during other seasons when he was tortured via any number of weapons or devices (though not by a cigar cutter . . . or plastic wrap).

For the second consecutive week, 24 viewers barely saw our boy Jack. He sustained rib injuries in the Russian consulate that caused internal bleeding, necessitating heavy bandages around his mid-section.(Though we did get glimpses of his severely scar-ridden upper torso.) When Jack was doing something other than groaning in pain, he was either close-talking with his sister-in-law, or perusing files from the CTU archives while an unmanned aircraft carrying a live nuke circled over California.

Jack's story during this hour centered on the fact that his lover, Audrey Raines, had gone to China to try to get him released from prison and was "killed" while over there. And it was Marilyn Bauer -- though widowed for only a few hours, made moves on Jack and tried to kiss him -- who broke the news to Jack that Audrey died in a car crash. (Don't worry Audrey fans . . . all four of you. Jack did not kiss Marilyn. He turned his mouth away from hers when she went for it, confessing that before he was imprisoned, he and Audrey had been together.)

Jack was freaked out by the news. He darted to Chloe O'Brian's CTU terminal and ordered her to leave her post -- she was only trying to track down the drone carrying an armed nuclear weapon -- and dig Audrey's files out of CTU archives. Nuclear schmuclear. Audrey's file now, damn it! Jack was pissed! In the 14 hours since he'd been free, no one told him about Audrey! Jack , full of righteous indignation, manipulated CTU Chief Bill Buchanan into letting him join the team planning to raid the remote location where the terrorist headset guy was using an old Atari joystick to control the nuke-carrying drone. Hurt ribs and all, Jack dragged his groaning self, alongside Mike Doyle, to the scene and managed to save the city of San Francisco from a nuclear detonation with just seconds -- seconds I tell you -- to spare.

The Jack story, eh, I thought it was so-so. 'Twas more melodrama. With Marilyn. Frosted with last-minute joystick heroics. Come on writers, give Jack some better stuff. Why have something as minor as a few floating rib fragments and internal bleeding slow our guy down?

What I found more interesting than the Jack and CTU stories was the drama in the presidential bunker with Vice President Noah Daniels, Chief of Staff Tom Lennox and newly returned National Security Advisor Karen Hayes. Daniels went power mad and was hell bent on nuking the Country Whose Name We Shall Not Mention. Even though Daniels knew that the Country Whose Name We Shall Not Mention was not behind the first nuclear attack in Valencia or the other attacks during recent weeks. Even though he knew the officials from the Country Whose Name We Shall Not Mention had no control over what the "bad" terrorist Abu Fayed and the rogue retired Russian General Gredenko were doing with the suitcase nukes.

Karen and Tom tried in vain to stop Daniels. Spewing aggressive lines about not taking any more of this weak response crap lying down, Daniels gave the U.S. military honchos their marching orders: Move the nuclear sub into range of the Country Whose Name We Shall Not Mention and fire when ready. "The debate is over. America must start to stand up for herself," Daniels said. "The attacks on this country must stop. As acting commander in chief, I believe this is the best way to make that happen."

Ah, not so fast my friend. Note the use of the word "acting." If previews are to be believed (*if you don't want to know about material from previews, then click away from this post . . . NOW!*) Karen is planning to wake President Palmer II from his medically-induced coma and persuade him to stop Daniels' strike. And though this hour saw the return of fan favorite Sandra Palmer -- who said nothing the entire episode, only tearfully looked through the window at her comatose brother -- she won't speak until next week, when the smart money says she'll give the green light to wake her brother up, even if it kills him and makes Power Boy the president.

And, a little tangent here if I may: Why is it okay to identify other countries (like Russia) and identify American cities to obliterate, but the Islamic country from where the "good" terrorist Hamri Al-Assad and the "ambassador" hail, as well as the home country of CTU analyst Nadia Yassir (detained as a suspected traitor when her computer was found to be preventing CTU from monitoring the drone, red herring anyone?) are left nameless? If the countries have been mentioned in previous episodes, my apologies all over the place.

One last beef: After last week's Charles and Martha Logan-centric fruit-filled episode, suddenly we hear nothing about whether the former Bible-quoting president is dead or alive? That's it for Martha and her boy toy Aaron? How disappointing. They were rare bright spots in a wildly uneven season.