5:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Logan assures Jack, "You don't have to threaten me." No, but he wants to threaten you.

Doubling his already impossibly high "weasel factor," Logan tries to compare house arrest for a year with nearly two years in a Chinese prison.

No one points out that the assassination attempt on Wayne Palmer would never have come as close as it did if Aaron Pierce had been in his security detail.

It's the warden from The Shawshank Redemption, as the cast of notorious "weaselly actors" continues to grow.

Lennox might rather die than be speechified at by the assassin.

Reed doesn't seem to realize that "or you'll have to kill me too" is not a very effective threat to an assassin.

Lennox has visited the Wizard, where he got a spine! Or maybe he "had it all along." Either way, he exposes the conspirators!

Uh-oh. The actress who played the alien hybrid wife on last year's Invasion is a member of the Vice President's staff. And this just two weeks after she made a guest appearance on Studio 60. This must mean 24 is going to get canceled now, too!

Anyone who doesn't take notice of Markov's cigar trimmer and start speculating how Jack Bauer is going to use it later must not be a regular viewer.

Logan asks where Gredenko is. Psst! Look in the box right above your head!

Looks like Jack is going to get Russia punched on his "Invasion of Foreign Embassies Punch Card."

Apparently, Karen Hayes was flying standby back to L.A.

Did Chloe also program something to arrange for all the guards along the back wall to move away so Jack could get in?

So, Jack's Russian phrase book: "Where is the library?" "How are you doing today?" "I was told to guard the back of the building." You know, conversational Russian.

Jack ought to be easy to spot once he's inside the building. He's the only one there who hasn't played a "stereotypical Russian" in like 17 other movies and TV shows.

Jack calls Buchanan to explain the new mess he's gotten himself into. Soon, Buchanan is going to stop answering when he sees Jack on the caller ID.

You know, Alias fans? The windows in the president's office kind of look like Rambaldi symbols.

Looks like Vice President Daniels picked the wrong week to stop cussing.

If Markov doesn't tell Jack what he wants to know, by God, Jack is going to light up and smoke his severed finger.

Morris appears in a box at the beginning of the final act. Oh, so he's actually in this episode after all?

Buchanan shows his inner Jack. Not 15 minutes after telling the Vice President he in no way sanctioned Jack's actions, he makes plans to invade the consulate himself.

Donald Trump's separated-at-birth Russian twin comes in to be sweet-talked by Jack. (He probably doesn't know what is this strange word 'nookyaler' the American uses.)

Listening to Jack really doesn't work out for him.

Alright, the season is now halfway over. Let's take stock. On the plus side, we're still following the same single main plotline and its logical fallout (pun not intended) as was introduced at the start of the season. This is a major improvement over seasons four and five. But on the down side, most of actual episodes thus far haven't really packed the visceral thrills of last season -- watching Jack go up against Christopher Henderson, watching the adventures of Aaron Pierce, and the like.

Still, there's still 12 hours to bring more moments worthy of the improved overall story. Maintain the perimeter. Send in the Tac Teams! Bring on act two!

(Oh, and Prison Break fans... I've had to postpone my viewing of the latest episode until tomorrow. I'll be here with my thoughts then.)