Bauer by Hour: A Hard Day's Twilight

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Matt Swenson welcomes a return to form for "24"

The following takes place between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m.

SEE WHAT HAPPENS when Jack Bauer takes a deep breath.

Having caught the bad guy — and helped unravel a government conspiracy in the process — while having a gun pointed at him by the same FBI agent who slapped him twice, Jack actually sat down for one moment this week on "24."

On the steps in the front of the Capitol, there was a beautiful sunset — based on the time, it must be late February on "24" and in real life — and Jack was there to enjoy it.

Alas, there is more than half of a television season to go. That means the good times can't last.

Leave it to Tony "I'm not dead" Almeida to go and ruin it with news of yet another impending terrorist attack. And because "24" is in D.C. this year and not Los Angeles, you know which city is being targeted.

The audience learns — first through a slimy government aide's glance and then on next week's trailer — that the White House is about to come under attack.

No doubt Jack will figure this out soon, and he'll have a two-hour episode next week to save the day once again.

He'll surely be up the job, as are with a fully loaded set of minutes.

» ROAD RAGE: That warrant on Jack and the crybaby FBI agent he's working with is lifted quickly, and then they are off the races to catch the evil African general and his girlfriend. Chloe ably guides them through D.C.'s streets before traffic gets in the way. It always does at rush hour.

» YOU GO, GIRL: Jack's car gets taken out first by an accident. Seeing this, the bad guy's girlfriend — who only hours ago was planning a lasagna dinner — forces the general's car to flip over. She dies in the process, but what a way to go.

» BELOW THE SURFACE: The general couldn't die right away, or else Jack would never find out who's involved in the conspiracy. Luckily, the general put a chip inside his chest with all that information. Needless to say, Jack orders the medics to cut him open before saving the dude's life.

» RAT RACE: Last week, we learned that "Entourage's" moody director was the rat/mole/stooge in the FBI working with the general. Turns out the agent he's having an affair with is in on it, and she's an expert at crashing servers. They concoct a scheme to erase all the FBI's computers and escape.

» SOMETHING STINKS: Smell a rat? That girlfriend waiting on the mole to leave his wife should have also. She takes a fatal bullet once she does the dirty deed so the mole can get away ascot-free. Of course, he didn't take Chloe into account.

» BRANIAC: Some deliciously awful writing for Chloe, who first conveniently says out loud that the chip would erase after one download. This sets up when she uses an external drive — or something like that — so all the info is saved despite the server crash. The rat gets caught, too.

» THIS ALL HAPPENED IN ONE HOUR? Yes! It was by far the best episode of the season — maybe even the last couple of seasons.

» MIA: Kim Bauer isn't around, same for Jon Voight. Naked Mandy may be a pipe dream.

» WHY THIS SHOW IS "24" AND YOUR SHOW ISN'T MOMENT: In the hospital, the crybaby FBI agent slaps Jack twice. Jack's response: "Next time you pull a gun on me, be prepared to use it." To her credit, she says she was. Jack almost grinned, but then just walked away for his little break.

Photo courtesy Fox