This week we finally got an episode which went back to the basics. Bauer kicks a bunch of ass, CTU people dying, hostage situations, double crosses...just classic 24. Apparently the writers woke up with 3 episodes left in the season. In complete contrast to yesterday's episode of Entourage, I can't think of a single bad thing in this episode.

Well, maybe one. Who the hell does Nadia think she is? You just waltzed into CTU because of your hotness, and then got lucky and became director for something like 2 hours. You can't say no to Jack Bauer! He must still not be back to 100% Jack, because he would have slapped her and taken out the 2 guards without blinking in the old days. Instead he mumbles, "I can run tactical from here." Bullshit. Jack Bauer doesn't run tactical! The only reason tactical exists is to help further Jack's kicking ass. If he's running tactical, does he help himself? "Jack, I need you to open up a socket so I can send Jack the coordinates!" "I'm working as fast as I can Jack...the server's overloaded."

It seems like the plot's blowing up, but there's only two episodes left. Someone really screwed up the writing this season.

The good news is, they're well aware of it:

"You try to keep things interesting, find new ways to tell the story, and unfortunately we wound up repeating ourselves somewhat," David Fury, co-executive producer told TV Week. "I still would claim that regardless of the quality drop-off that people are saying, the show's still very strong. It's still one of the best things on television."

That said, the producer has stated that next season will change-up the formula. While I hope they do that with caution, this season makes it seem needed. At least they're listening to the fans. More on the change-up (with Kiefer's take on it) here.

And here's the character countdown.