Jack is Back!

A new season of 24 begins. Let's dive right in!

Kiefer Sutherland is missing from the opening credits as the first hour begins. I guess that means he's not going to be in this episode! (Yeah, right.)

Bus go boom! Always start the season with a massive explosion.

It took six years, but we're finally going to see a United States president on 24 actually working in the White House. Maybe they got a good deal on the old West Wing sets?

Welcome Peter MacNicol to the cast. Isn't he supposed to be solving math problems on the International Space Station? (If you don't watch Numb3rs, just smile and nod.)

I wonder what Milo has been doing for CTU since season one?

Majorly different new hair for Chloe. And you'd better like it, cause she's stuck with it all season now.

Stephen Merchant, co-creator of the original version of The Office, becomes the latest to turn up for a cameo in CTU.

Curtis is there to help turn Jack over to the bad guys. He totally thinks the show is going to be about him now.

Hey, look at that! Bill and Karen got married. Which of course means that one or both of them are going to end up dead by the end of the season.

Later on, this Scott's mother is going to just wander into the woods to die and never be heard from again. (If you didn't watch Millennium, just smile and nod.)

Okay, I'm going to just make the one obligatory reference to White Castle, and then move on.

So, CTU hired someone who once set up an illegal satellite for people in Uzbekistan? And then they're surprised when they find a mole in their office every year?

They can't torture Jack too badly here. He's still got 23 more hours to go! Still... that don't look like fun. And I'm fairly sure that's not how acupuncture works.

Jack takes a serious bite out of crime. And here I could have sworn I saw his reflection in a mirror earlier this episode.

Thank goodness for the recap. I'd already forgotten what happened in the last hour!

Milo asks about Chloe, "what's her problem?" Her problem is that saying insensitive remarks at the perfectly wrong moment is her job, and you're totally stealing it.

Wayne Palmer's expression when he hears Jack is still alive is awesome. He's all, "Kick ASS!" just like the rest of us.

Ahmed says he can't take the necklace. Because he's just going to kill Scott later and then take it off his corpse.

Jack is playing a first person shooter. He gets a log, dispatches an enemy, then quickly upgrades to a gun.

"Drop the coffee! I hate coffee!"

Julian Bashir is back on weekly television. But this time with a major touch of Garak.

Suddenly, members of the Palmer family are coming out of the woodwork. And this one is waving the "forfeiting freedoms for security" moral so overtly, I find myself wondering if all those extremist politicians and pundits who have been so vocally pro-24 are suddenly going to be muting their enthusiasm.

Everybody do a shot: it's our first "perimeter" of season six!

"Here. Let me tighten the strap on your suicide bomb for y---" BOOM! The terrorist leader blows up, and the season is over. Okay. Maybe not.

Bill is telling Chloe to hide new intel on Jack Bauer's whereabouts from Karen. Aw... just like old times.

Jack says he doesn't know how to do this anymore. Don't worry. It's just like shooting a bicycle in the thigh.

Arresting the president's sister? Yeah, I'm sure that's going to go over well.

It turns out this "package" that the terrorists have been talking about really is an actual package. Somehow, I thought it was some kind of secret code.

Ahmed's right through the center of the table! Two points! Nothing but glass!

Jack has discovered an awesome way to scam free subway rides. If Denver had a subway system, I'd totally use the "I'm a Federal agent stalking a terrorist on this train so move on before he sees me!" excuse. Well, except for the part where that would probably land me in jail afterward.

Unfortunately for the mall in Baltimore and the hotel in Chicago, there's only one Jack Bauer.

Speaking of the Chicago hotel, it looks like 47 died in the explosion. Can you tell that a former Star Trek writer now works on 24?

And that's it until tomorrow. Same Jack time, same Jack channel!