I got to this week’s episode of 24 a bit late, so I apologize for the delay in the recap/review. Let’s get right down to business.

Jack/Graem: We left off last week with Jack beginning to torture his brother Graem. Graem was bound to a chair with a plastic bag over his head. Jack was demanding to know where their father was, but Graem insisted he didn’t have any idea. Of course, no mere mortal can hold out against Jack Bauer’s mad torture skillz, so Graem spills what he knows soon enough. He gives Jack the address of Darren McCarthy’s office (that’s the guy who is trying to get replacement trigger devices for Fayed) and they soon head off.

After calling for CTU backup, Jack and Graem go inside the building. Who should they find in there but Philip Bauer (played by a very tall James Cromwell), their father! This leads to all kinds of lame remarks about the dysfunctional family they have, blah, blah, blah. Philip supposedly has a rogue security team trying to track down McCarthy, but Jack’s mad that neither his dad nor brother called in the authorities as soon as they knew the nukes were missing.

After bickering for a bit, Graem seamlessly shifts into the evil Bluetooth Group mastermind that we know him as and orders his henchmen (they’re working for him, not his father) to take Jack and Philip away. Everyone heads outside and they discover that the CTU agents who were supposed to be backing up Jack are now dead. Philip is aghast at what Graem has done, but Jack doesn’t seem very surprised.

Karen/Tom Lennox/President Palmer: Karen and Tom have significant philosophical differences about how to handle the country’s security situation. Karen is against the detention centers and other extreme measures that Tom is pushing through, while Tom thinks that Karen is far too soft to be advising the President about national security.

Tom wants Karen out of the picture so he can move forward with his agenda, so he has one of his assistants (I forgot the character’s name, but he’s played by Chad Lowe) come up with blackmail material. Tom confronts Karen with the “dirt” (it had something to do with Bill previously having several suspected terrorists in custody — including Fayed — months before and then just letting them go) and demands her resignation. She complies almost immediately.

When handing in her resignation to the President, Karen asks to be transferred back to CTU Los Angeles to continue helping in some capacity there. Palmer agrees.

CTU: The CTU gang, including Bill, Chloe, Morris, Milo, and Nadia didn’t get much done this episode. It seems like the only thing that happened is Nadia’s clearance got dropped down a few levels because she’s a Muslim. Milo doesn’t agree with that decision, so he signs into Nadia’s computer with his name and clearance code. It seems like something bad’s going to happen there.

Walid/Sandra Palmer: Walid manages to gain the trust of some of the other detainees. He steals a cell phone that one of the men had and enables to FBI agents (with Chloe’s help) run a trace on the numbers dialed. It turns out the men aren’t involved with Fayed and likely know nothing. However, when the group of detainees discovers that Walid took the phone, they beat him to a bloody pulp for being a traitor.

My reaction: I hate to say this, but I wasn’t very interested in this ep at all. I can appreciate that the writers want to develop the characters and the Bauer family dynamic a bit more, but that’s not what 24 is all about. The show works because of the almost nonstop action and the urgency that goes along with racing against a deadline. When the writers shift away from that, it gets boring.

Moreover, I still have no idea what the whole Walid/Sandra Palmer storyline is supposed to be about. Is that going somewhere anytime soon? Because at this point I barely even watch when they’re on the screen. As much as I love Regina King (I used to watch 227, I kid you not), I don’t see why there suddenly needs to be a Palmer sister this year.

I’m not interested in the CTU scenes either. They’ve only produced one solid lead on their own thus far (the Philip Bauer connection), yet they’re always busy at their computers. What the heck are they doing? And why aren’t they showing more of Chloe? She’s getting second billing behind Kiefer this year, so it seems like she should be getting a lot more screentime. As for Milo: I can’t see him as anything other than the toe-sucking (eww!) boyfriend from Six Feet Under, so it’s hard to take him seriously in his boss-man role.

I’ve heard that Ricky Schroeder is going to be joining the cast sometime this season. I can’t wait; it’s time for an injection of new blood.

Come on, 24! It’s time to let Jack loose and pick up the action in these episodes!!!