Review - 24 Season 8 Episode 8 Day 8: 11:00 p.m. – 12:00 a.m.

I can't say I like this season so far, and this week's episode did little to change that, but the episode was enjoyable for what it is--Jack being Jack. We've seen him do everything before, so it's not like anything was that surprising. When Jack is kidnapped, he gets tortured, then escapes by an act of awesomeness. The Jack Bauer legend is carried on the fact that he does incredible things all the time with ease, and watching the feats over an over again doesn't get old. I was watching Count Jackula in season 6 the other day and it was still cool. He has an aura around him that makes non-fans laugh (in derision) and fans cheer.

Sergei takes Jack to the back and has his torture specialist, Dimitri go to work on him. He starts shocking Jack and messing around with the stab wound. Like any villain who is going to be killed, Dimitri is all alone and doesn't know the power of Jack. Jack makes great use of his legs and shocks Dimitri unconscious. Then he uses his legs to break the pipe and again uses his legs to choke Dimitri to death. He still has a gang of Russians to take on, and he dispatches them, leaving Sergei to be interrogated.

Family is still most important to Sergei who snaps up a plea deal after talking to President Taylor. Jack doesn't want to go the interrogation route because Sergei has been hardened already. (But when did that stop him before?) Sergei readily spills all the information, but when Cole and his team arrive at the way station, there's a few dead Russians, and a necklace of Oleg that Josef had taken. Josef is now the one with the nuclear fuel rods. There's no way Sergei can be a threat anymore, so Josef looks like he'll be the big bad for a few episodes until another player rises to the top.

It was a twist I didn't see coming, mostly because Josef seemed the sentimental type after making a big deal of his brother's death. I guess he's no different than his father; they would kill countless people as long as their family is safe. The weird world of family bonds can be taken to the extreme on 24 and still be completely normal.

The focus on Jack left little time to the subplots which have been very weak. Kevin and Nick want more money and they push Dana to continue giving them information. She's an idiot for not expecting that, but she decides to deal with them herself. She packs a gun and head off to the strip club they're at. Arlo has photos on her and Kevin, and after talking to Cole, he's on her trail and talking to Arlo, so it's crashing down on her quickly. Hopefully, the story resolves itself quickly, because it's unoriginal and makes us dislike the characters involved. Arlo, Dana, Cole, Kevin, and Nick are just annoyances with no relevance to the main story. I thought the writers would tie in Kevin and the Russians, but there's eight episodes and no indication of that.

Hassan is getting crazier and crazier by the second and appears to be more Kim Jong Il than Robert Mugabe. Kayla tries to talk reason into him, but gives him more evidence, by his twisted logic, to become more paranoid. She tells him she has been in love with Tarin for a year. Hassan thinks that Tarin wooed his daughter to get closer to him. What a genius.

Renee takes it upon herself to make sure Jack is safe. She is the reason why he was captured (though the situation could have been avoided entirely), and it's hitting her hard. The one person who cared about her might be dead, and it completely crushes her. She's sent for a psych evaluation, but she doesn't appear for the last fourth of the episode.

We're a third of the way through the season there hasn't been much to look forward to. Hassan's story is going slowly with a big showdown looming. Dana's sticky situation is only sticky. The main nuclear material story is pretty weak. Even a mole who be a welcome change to these stories. The only thing going for this season is the developing relationship between Renee and Jack. I hate to be down on the show, especially if it is going to be the final season, but it's looking more and more like the show has run it's course.

Score: 8.9/10