Jack's Back?

I mentioned awhile back that 24 had jumped the shark last season. Always implausible, it nonetheless had been riveting television for many years and served the useful purpose of reminding Americans that there are people out there who want to kill us. But last season descended into pure ridiculousness, what with a man cutting off his own arm (in silence no less, while Jack Bauer stood on the other side of the door), Russians smuggling nuclear weapons into the country and then threatening to go to war with us (!) because, after Jack secured the bombs, one of them went missing and it had all the Russian defense secrets encoded on it's internal computer chip (idiots). Then there were Jacks' dad and geeky brother being involved with the terrorists, some shady Chinese, a comatose Audrey, and other various and sundry howlers. The whole season was a mess and I looked forward not at all to the coming season. I figured I'd give it a shot for a few episodes but if it hadn't improved would drop it and never look back. It's very rare for a television show that's jumped to jump back.

I've watched the first three hours of this season and am so far pleased. It really got going in the third hour when (spoiler alerts!!!) Jack (along with old faithfuls Bill Buchanan and Chloe O'Brian) helps Tony Almeida escape from the FBI - Tony hasn't turned terrorist after all, he's under "deep cover" trying to find out who has infiltrated our government. The plot is quite intriguing and I'm looking forward to finding out what happens next. One quibble: did they have to use the execrable Janine Garofalo as the FBI's version of Chloe? Who knows though, she might be perfect for the part: maybe we're supposed to hate her. At any rate, my wife and I got a kick out of "the battle of the Chloes" with the real Chloe breaking into the FBI's computer system and the other, no doubt lesser Chloe, trying to keep her out. Being 24, you know our girl will always win out. We love Chloe.