PremiereWatch: '24'

602 days is a heck of a long time between my Jack Bauer fixes, so it's with great relief and excitement that I welcome 24 back to televisions around the world. The world has greatly changed in the 86 weeks since Kiefer and company saved the world, so let's not waste any more time with pleasantries... on with the show!

You've waited 14,448 hours for these Spoilers... never again will we wait this long.

It's 8:00 AM and Dr. Phlox and his daughter are going over rules for use of the cell phone with large cars come out of nowhere and plow into them. Some of the terrorists create a diversion by making a scene while one cuts Mr. Latham from his seat belt and throw him into the back of a van. Seems the bad guys only want him and his massive brain.

Senator Red Forman starts up the Senate hearings with one important guest at the microphone: Jack Bauer, who is representing himself. Even though he's been out of action for quite some time, he's still a tough nut to crack, but he does eventually tell the good senator what he wants to hear... that Jack did indeed torture Mr. Hadad. Out of nowhere, Special Agent Renee Walker barges in to claim Jack for official FBI business. At 8:07:13, Janeane Garofalo briefs Renee on the Latham abduction. Seven minutes in, and I can already tell which character I'll tire of first: Janis Gold. FBI Assistant Director Moss leads the briefing of who Michael Latham is and what he's capable of doing if under duress.

On the other side of town, two bad guys are looking over airport navigation systems. In record time, Latham finishes modifying a small but menacing box. The regular baddies take to messing with departing flights. Now they're messing with GSA Flight 117.

Jack arrives at the FBI. Agent Moss is seems to be unusually worried about Renee. At 8:11:56, Jack is briefed about the CIP firewall with Moss looking from outside. Jack only got out of the hearing because of his intimate knowledge with one of the main perpetrators: Tony Almeida! I knew even back in the day he wasn't dead! Of course, Jack wasn't as sure as I was, seemingly sure of himself that Tony isn't alive whatsoever. Renee goes as far as to say Tony's grave was exhumed for proof.

Speaking of good guys going bad, Tony takes the lead in messing with GSA 117 as it takes off. Just before he can do much of anything, the module stops working. He rushes the part to Latham, demanding he fix it. The time is now 8:16:55.

It's 8:21:44 as we make our way to the White House and President Allison Taylor watching footage of General Juma slicing and dicing the people of Sangala. First Gentleman Henry busts in, saying action needs to be done now. Madame President agrees, leaving for the Situation Room shortly thereafter. Chief of Staff Ethan doesn't think Henry is up to the task of advising his wife.

Tony takes the previously overheating box from Latham, reconnecting box to the system and it works! At that moment in air traffic control, flight controller Phil loses sync with his system for a moment, but the glitch seems to be isolated. For now.

Jack's still in denial about Tony. Renee calmly asks again for help, and Jack only agrees with the condition he has the access he needs to complete the job.

At 8:28:23, the air traffic intrusion makes it to the FBI. On GSA 117, some seemingly convenient turbulence hits. In the Sit Room, the Prez gets a full rundown of the operation. The Secretary of State has objections, but the President doesn't do him any favors by knocking him down a few notches in front of everyone. Ethan has her leave the room for an impromptu briefing with a guy from Homeland Security about the Latham abduction and breach of air traffic control. He suggests slowly decreasing air traffic while they investigate. That's actually not a bad idea. It's 8:33:14.

At 8:38:03, Henry is talking to a reporter about Sangala when he gets a call from a private investigator about how his son died. Of note is that his girlfriend Samantha received over $400k a mere three days after the apparent suicide. The agent guarding Henry seems to think the President's husband is being taken to the cleaners.

Janis can't find anything more wrong with the FAA breach, but more importantly is unusually worried and tense. Jack and Sean continue to go over files when a name from Jack's past, a Gabriel Schechter is the guy, according to Jack. Agent Moss tries to rile Jack up over his methods. Yeah, because upsetting Jack always have good results. Renee tries to reason with Moss to allow Jack to tag along on the visit to Gabriel. After much arm twisting, Moss relents. It's 8:45:02.

At 8:49:52 and on the way to Gabriel's location, Jack briefs Renee on Schechter. They pull up to the office building in a nice shiny Ford. I'm guessing we'll see this exact same car used again when the American Idol finalists make their "music video." Meanwhile, President Taylor gets a briefing on how the attack will go down. After the fact, she apologizes to the Secretary of State for the earlier dressing down in front of the Joint Chiefs. Ethan catches her up on Henry and the firewall issue.

Renee and Jack move in to the office building in question. Gabriel seems genuinely surprised to see Jack. He's offered a deal to help with the Tony issue, but "respectfully declines." Gabriel's bodyguard sees the two to the door, but out of nowhere the bodyguard provokes Renee. She takes him out while Jack subdues Gabe. After some tense moments, Jack nearly gets medieval on Gabe's eye with a Bic pen, but before he can dish on what he knows, he and the bodyguard are shot dead from afar. The dynamic duo goes after the shooters, all while Jack gets a call from Tony, telling him to stay away. Boy that was fast!

As we segue to the split screen, GSA 117 is no longer communicating with air traffic. At least the legitimate air traffic system we've come to know and love. Tony has the plane going in a different direction than originally scheduled.

And so ends the first hour. It's 9:00:00.

Events and Spoilers are still occurring in real time... but you already knew that.

The pilots, crew and passengers of GSA 117 are still blissfully unaware of the precarious situation they're in. On the ground, the legit air traffic control is trying to reestablish contact, in the process hearing Tony's instructions. The head air traffic guy talks to Agent Moss on what he knows. In the meantime, Tony and crew change the flight path of GSA 117.

Jack and Renee leave the office to chase after the shooter. Jack thinks Tony knew he was there because of a mole in the FBI. Our naïve Special Agent Renee doesn't believe him. The two arrive at the perimeter of the Columbia building where the shooter is, but before they go further, Jack has to surrender his gun and then is placed into a waiting car. Janis is freaking out about Renee. If the producers wanted me to believe Janeane Garofalo is the mole, than it is more than working. Moss isn't getting much good news from his agents. Do they honestly believe anyone on the plane really has their phone on during flight? Does that even happen anyway? Communications to and from GSA 117 is now totally blocked from the legit air traffic. Another plane is now on a collision course. Tony calls air traffic control to let them know of an impending collision on the JFK cameras. The two planes walk a fine line in their runway dance, but Tony saves them at the last second. He calls the control center back, warning the next time won't have such a happy ending. It's 9:10:32.

At 9:16:32, the assassin is still looking for a way out of the building. Meanwhile, one David Emerson arrives at the bad guy hangout. Latham is naturally worried about what he did to those planes. Emerson catches a glance at a module while talking to Tony about how the FBI got to Gabriel. Tony reveals the existence of Jack to him. Also, Tony wants in on the new mission, but Emerson's not ready to dish quite yet. At the White House, Ethan briefs the Press Secretary about the invasion to an extent, who then does the same to the press. While he watches the briefing, Ethan gets a call about the planes at JFK. It's 9:21:12 and President Taylor is meeting with the former Sangala ambassador. She persuades him to stop the cycle of violence. In that, they're in agreement. Ethan then briefs her on the close call. Fed up with the lack of action, she makes the bold move to ground all non-essential flights.

The assassin calls Tony for a way out. At 9:23:57, the FBI ground units are in the middle of their methodical search of the building. While Jack waits in the car, an FBI agent is sympathetic to him for what he's going through during the hearings. At the same time, a single agent is searching a basement room when the assassin pops out. Any other time, the agent would be dead, but they seem to be in cahoots. The agent gets the assassin a way out. Back outside, Jack is allowed outside the car for air and almost immediately spots the shooter walking away. Renee and Jack go it alone in following the shooter. It's 9:28:33.

9:34:22, and Emerson arrives with Latham at another location (I'm calling it the Green Room) where Dubaku is. Seems his brother was killed and wants revenge. Color me shocked. President Taylor gets a briefing on the firewall/FAA issues in the Oval Office. Ethan gets a call from Henry's Secret Service agent, telling him of the situation. Back at the FBI, Moss and Janis talk about how the sniper could have slipped away... except he believes the guy is still in there. Also, he comes to find Renee and Jack are gone, which he truly finds surprising. At 9:39:03, Moss calls Renee, who lies through her teeth. After much back-and-forth, she spills there's more to her situation than meets the eye. It's at this point the first damn it of the season comes, but from Renee and not Jack. Not content to sit still, Moss has Jeanne to triangulate Renee's location via her walkie talkie. Back in the car, Renee wants to know how far Jack would have gone with Gabe. He's tired of answering questions about his life... he's ready to do things his way now! It's 9:42:38.

At 9:48:38, Henry and his agents make their way to the financial house where Samantha works. Up on the roof, he confronts her about the money situation. She attempts to explain the money isn't hers but for her aunt. Henry is having none of this, forcefully grabbing her and blabbing on that his son would have never committed suicide. Meanwhile at the bad guy's hangout, Tony talks to the assassin, unaware Jack's been following. They get out with Renee handing Jack a gun before they move in. The shooter sees Renee, but not Jack, who takes him out. Once he shoots out the camera, Jack is confronted by a henchman who takes out the shooter and is thereafter taken out by Renee. The new dynamic duo enter the boat where there's more shooting. Renee finds an incriminating computer deleting all the files. Jack creeps along until Tony makes a run for it. The romp throughout the boat continues with Jack's first damn it of the season. After they struggle for what seems like forever, Jack presses Tony for info when Agent Moss arrives in a helicopter (it's the only way to fly!) His eyes seem to still deceive him, as he wonders just who he's looking at.

Another action-packed hour in the books... it's 10:00:00.

Next time on 24, they promise the first big surprise of the day... so hang on!

It's been 866,880 minutes since last you've able to comment on 24, so here's your chance to comment on what you've seen so far.

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