torture

* Warning, spoilers from this week's episode ahead.*

While 24 had been critiqued left and right this week -- including in a new Entertainment Weekly piece (in the dead tree version) which gives this season a C -- let's mull over some choice moments from the twentieth hour:

Quote of note: "The only thing he cares about is pushing his lunatic agenda," aide Lisa Miller told her lover, lobbyist Mark Bishop, about her other lover, Acting President Noah Daniels. Apparently Daniels was concerned about more than pushing his agenda.

Responding to criticism in a recent Los Angeles Times piece that this season's 24 is lackluster and that viewers are tuning out, a co-executive producer of the show said failing to chart out story lines and sending several characters to sleep with the fishes are largely to blame for this predicament.

"You try to keep things interesting, find new ways to tell the story, and unfortunately we wound up repeating ourselves somewhat," David Fury, co-executive producer told TV Week. "I still would claim that regardless of the quality drop-off that people are saying, the show's still very strong. It's still one of the best things on television."

Now if you ask me, I'd say that former Defense Secretary Heller's quip on 24 this week -- "You're cursed Jack. Everything you touch, one way or another, ends up dead." -- was a throw-away line, not an overarching statement about Jack Bauer's entire existence.

But folks have been chattering throughout the blogosphere and wondering whether Heller has a point: Is Jack Bauer cursed?

(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.

In the meantime, Powers Boothe, who plays Daniels, defended the power-mad pol to TV Guide, saying that he doesn't think Daniels is "misguided." "You had a nuke go off in [California]," Boothe said, "and people are sitting around wringing their hands. He feels like he has to do something."

*Warning, spoilers from this week's episode.*

Will the acting president actually get to rendezvous with his aide or will their booty call be sidetracked by, I don't know, national security issues? Will Audrey Raines snap out of her shell-shocked, confused state? Will our boy Jack Bauer retrieve that Russian circuit board?

Maybe we'll find out in the 20th hour. Maybe we won't. But first we need to give one more shout-out to four interesting moments from hour 19:

Quote of note: "I have the fate of the western world and the lives of millions of Americans hanging in the balance, and I just can't stop thinking about you," Acting President Noah Daniels said lustfully to his aide Lisa Miller. This was easily one of the cheesiest and creepiest lines ever uttered on 24.

TV Guide's report that 24 writers are "seriously considering" moving Jack Bauer to a new city for his next very bad day -- otherwise known as season 7 -- got me to thinking.

If I were to pick a city in which to unleash America's intrepid terrorist fighter, which one would it be?

My first thought was Boston. During the great siege of the Aqua Teen Hunger Force Lite-Bright boards that prompted a shut-down of large parts of the city earlier this year, Boston certainly could've used Jack Bauer to beat back those nefarious cartoon characters. Plus, I could definitely see a scene with Jack using Fenway Park as a place to rendezvous with a terrorist, who would, of course, be wearing a Yankees cap.

(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.

The reappearance of the Logans was a high point of the current, uneven season of 24, as fans and critics seem to adore the duo. So why has there been a news blackout when it comes to the condition of the man who, in the show's 11th hour, was quoting the Psalm of David about redemption and deliverance from evil?

Don't know. But TV Guide's Michael Ausiello, quoting a 24 source, says the former president will not be heard from again this season. "It appears Logan is going the way of those Russian mobsters on The Sopranos," he wrote. If he's correct, then this is a damned shame. Why bring Logan back with such fanfare and promise, only to see him go out in a hail of stabbings with a kiwi knife?

TV Guide's Matt Roush thinks that by having a nuclear bomb explode during the riveting first four hours of this season's 24, the counter-terrorism drama may have set itself up for failure by "peaking too early."

Despite a few moments of true excitement this season -- the return and the subsequent stabbing of President Logan, the assassination attempt on President Palmer II and the apprehension of terrorist Abu Fayed in grisly Jack Bauer fashion -- there has been almost non-stop griping about how this season hasn't been up to par.

Sure, it's an unlikely pair.

Stars Hollow inn proprietor Lorelai Gilmore and Los Angeles counter-terrorism agent extraordinaire Jack Bauer. But the pop culture savvy Gilmore Girls writers found a way to link the two characters.

In a promo for next week's Gilmore Girls -- where Lorelai tries to reconcile with her former fiance Luke Danes -- she decides to bring Luke with her while she shops for a new car.

When the jaunt gets a bit tense and the two bicker like they used to do in previous seasons, Lorelai gets on her omnipresent cell phone and suggests that Jack Bauer should use car shopping with an ex as a way to torture terrorists.

[Via 24headquarters.]

*Warning: Spoilers ahead from the latest episode.*

Jack Bauer's goin' rogue. Again. He's doing it for love this time, not country. He's bargaining that he's strong and savvy enough and, doggone it, smart enough to outwit the Chinese captors who are holding his lover hostage.

We'll see. So, while we think about how Jack plans to save Audrey Raines, here are four moments to ponder from hour 18:

Quote of note: "I know you've been through hell, not just today, but the last couple years," Mike "The Brawler" Doyle said to Jack. Maybe I should re-name this item, "The Biggest Understatement of the Week."

Normally, Chloe O'Brian is Jack Bauer's go-to gal on 24.

Jack needs to be patched through to someone? No problem. She'll take care of it in a jiffy.

Need the schematics of a nuclear weapon. Right away.

Need her to lie to her superiors so you can conduct a rogue operation to save the world? She's got your back . . . usually.

So what was up with Chloe this past week? After not much pressure from her ex-husband, a frowning Chloe ratted out Jack's clandestine plan -- to give the Chinese a component from one of the Russian suitcase nukes in exchange for Audrey Raines' release -- to CTU boss Bill Buchanan.

*Spoilers ahead for future 24 episodes. Fair warning.*

Stargate: SG-1 star Michael Shanks, who's going to be featured in a 24 multi-episode arc, has not only been busy filming hot and heavy scenes with the Invasion mom (Kari Matchett) who plays the vice president's assistant, but he's been blabbing about his character's story.

According to Zap2it, Shanks will play Washington lobbyist Mark Bishop who is the "love interest" for VP aide Lisa Williams . . . the one who was getting her hand and face caressed by the creepy vice president, Noah Daniels, in hour 18. Shanks, who said he just started watching Jack Bauer & Co. this season, said he and Matchett have filmed "sexy stuff" that is "unusual for 24."

Great. Another love triangle. Just what 24 is famous for, right? First there was Chloe-Morris-Milo. Then Jack-Graem-Marilyn. Followed by Doyle-Nadia-Milo. And now the love triangle disease is going to spread to D.C. with Daniels-Williams-Bishop? What's next, Buchanan-Hayes-Lennox and other law firm sounding combos?

[Via the Arizona Republic.]

(S06E18) *Warning, spoilers from the latest episode ahead.*

Who among us did not see this turn of events coming?

I mean, come on, when has life ever been easy for a Palmer politician? And who didn't expect another Jack-Bauer's-gone-rogue story line to surface, particularly when the love of his life's safety hangs in the balance?

Not that seeing these predictable plot twists play out lessened my enjoyment of this 24 episode, but I found the White House and CTU politics a bit too abrupt for a single episode.