At least that's what it sounds like 24 EP Evan Katz told EW's Ausiello. According to Katz, some of the things they have planned for the FOX drama's eighth season don't involve a Jack/Audrey reunion.

Can you blame them? 24 has had some doosie plots in the past that are pretty hard to swallow, but the last we saw of Audrey was at the very end of season six, and she didn't look so good. If she somehow ended up in the fold again next year (which takes place in New York City), I can't see people being too happy about it.

(S06E20) *Warning, spoilers from the latest episode ahead.*

There were a number of unhinged people populating 24 in the 20th hour. There were tears. There was betrayal. Sex. Intrigue. An evil doctor. And, oh yeah, a potential U.S.-Russian military skirmish after CTU accidentally botched a plan to recover a Russian defense component from the Chinese that Jack Bauer had handed over.

Just your average day in 24-land.

Thankfully, there was a heck of a lot more of Jack in this episode as well as some action, albeit low-keyed action that was confined to darkened CTU corridors, though there was enough story during this hour to keep me entertained.

(S06E19) *Warning, spoilers from the latest episode ahead.*

A dirty old man. A trigger-happy agent. A politically cut-throat spouse. Wildly inappropriate personal bickering in the workplace. Special guest star Jack Bauer.

What do those five things have in common? The 19th hour of 24.

Maybe I'm just growing more cynical, but this episode bummed me out on many fronts. Overall, it felt like filler to just inch the story forward to the final episodes. All I know is that throughout the hour, I wanted to see more Jack, much less of Chloe and Morris "Drill-Bit" O'Brian and felt nauseated by that scene with Acting President Noah Daniels. You know the one.

*For the handful of people who haven't yet watched the latest episode of 24, there are spoilers ahead.*

Actress Kim Raver is profiled in this week's People Magazine where she talks about her return to 24 as Audrey Raines and how charming actor Kiefer Sutherland can be.

On the topic of "Audrey's not quite dead yet:" Raver said she's a romantic and thinks Audrey and Jack Bauer should be romantically reunited, adding that "you die when you just look at him [Bauer]."

On the topic of Sutherland being a gentleman: "Well, if you're at dinner, he stands up when you get up to go to the ladies' room." But if you're playing a terrorist on 24, I wouldn't advise getting up to use the facilities unless Jack gives you permission. You might wind up hanging by a chain. Or missing your jugular.

* Warning: Spoilers ahead from the latest episode.*

The suitcase nukes have been located. Audrey Raines is alive, but in peril. Jack Bauer is likely going to be coerced into making a horrendous deal in exchange for her safe return.

While 24 fans mull these new developments, here are four choice moments from hour 17:

Quote of note: "My God! They were lying to us all the time! Withholding information. And you knew it!" an incredulous chief of staff, Tom Lennox, said to the uber-tricky President Wayne Palmer after Palmer pretended to launch a nuclear missile attack in order to get the Country Whose Name We Shall Not Mention to cough up intel on a terrorist.

*Warning, spoilers ahead from the recent episode.*

Yeah, I know all of those who haven't yet watched the recent episode of 24 on their TiVos or DVRs are going to be upset about this post, but it's about THE issue that's been lingering in the air following the final moments of hour 17:

Audrey Raines is alive. And being held hostage. After an avalanche of complaints about this season (including from me), does this turn of events please you?

Show executive producer Evan Katz told USA Today that bringing back Jack Bauer's great love "takes the story in a radical direction." He apparently felt as though they'd "stuck with the suitcase nukes a relatively long time for us."

*Spoilers from new episode ahead*

There's a long history of 24's CTU agents being accused of traitorous behavior, of being taken into custody and tortured because the panicked higher-ups think they've been up to no good. So before we muse on whether this season's selected CTU analyst -- Nadia Yassir -- is being unfairly detained, let's review what's been done in past seasons:

During Jack Bauer's first very bad day, CTU analyst Jamey Farrell was accused of collaborating with terrorists. After being brusquely questioned, she was found dead in a CTU interrogation room. Jamey did admit taking money from a bad guy in exchange for intel, but the single mom said it was purely about getting money to help raise her son. CTU agent Nina Myers was the true CTU turncoat, and framed Jamey by killing her and making it look like a suicide.

Kiefer Sutherland thinks it's a possibility.

He told the Chicago Sun-Times' Doug Elfman he sometimes thinks that, at the end of 24's run, it might make sense to have the intrepid Jack Bauer character meet his maker.

Either that, or have Jack reunite with estranged daughter Kim Bauer and Bauer's former gal pal, Audrey Raines and, presumably, ride off into the sunset.

Sutherland also told Elfman that, when it comes to torture, he doesn't condone the methods his fictional alter-ego uses to interrogate people. "I very strongly disagree with the idea that we need Jack Bauers out there in the world doing that," Sutherland said.

Humor columnist and blogger Dave Barry is known for many things: His Pulitzer Prize, his ill-fated campaign against low-flow toilets and, most recently, for blogging about one of his favorite TV shows, 24.

While his blog is often populated by a variety of odd news tidbits, on Monday nights, it's filled with Barry's off-beat comments about 24. Barry recently fielded five questions from TV Squad about his 24 habit:

TV Squad: Why did you decide to start live-blogging about 24? You don't regularly blog about other TV shows on your web site.

Dave Barry: It was gradual. I started watching the show a couple of years ago with some friends, and then I started mentioning it on my blog, and then it seemed natural to start blogging about it while it was going on.

(S05E17) Typically when an episode of 24 starts to look like a scene in the Grand Theft Auto video game series, that means the bad guys are just about to be nabbed - or at least shot to death - but that wasn't how this week's episode was meant to be. With Evelyn attempting to recover from her gunshot from the Henderson snafu, it's pretty clear that Jack and Wayne are going to have to act fast now that they're being slowed down by her injuries and the need to hide her somewhere, if they want to find the evidence as to who killed President Palmer. When 911 is called from the hotel room that Evelyn is in, you know that's not going to work out so well, and sure enough, Henderson is informed only minutes later of this happening, and shows up just in time to waste the paramedics on the scene.

Our seemingly solitary ally left over inside the President's ranch, Aaron Pierce, has now become suspicious of what is going on after hearing about the arrest warrant put up for Jack Bauer, as has the Vice President. With Mrs. Logan suddenly re-enamored with her husband, one would have to say that Aaron will probably be acting on his own unless he can come up with something really slick to get her involved in whatever it is going to take to get Logan out of office. With a ton of military plus whatever other police the government has after Jack and Wayne right now, someone's going to have to get mobilized in order to help from within, because shooting their way out is probably unlikely.