Wait a minute... was Mark (the brother of the idiot-savant) the dorky kid in My SO Called Life? The curly haired one with a crush on the Claire Danes character?

Well it is the same as what they did in Season 3. Tony was shot in the neck and nearly died and was up walking talking and even fighting like 7 hours later. Now that isn't very realistic. 24 was never a realistic show.

He looked very woozy to me. I am sure that will be an issue later on.

24 is definitely very rough around the edges, but I'm not worrying. I survived the third season, which as a whole, I felt was fairly weak. It had its moments, but so much of the show was very weak.

I would even draw some similarities to Season 3 and 6:

-an offering of unimportant CTU workers (Adam, CTU Kim, Gael, Chloe before she kicked ass, and Chase in Season 3; everyone in CTU now are having their on-and-off moments)

-a bland baddie (all Saunders had going for him in Season 3 was an evil accent; Fayed hasn't done anything since Hour 4 this year)

-and a boring presidential plotline (Palmer never rebounded after the first season, and the boring president story carried over into a nearly-invisible storyline in Season 4; ripping off its own plots from previous seasons with Wayne Palmer and Noah Daniels).

24 just had an incredible year last year, and it's hard to compare the two seasons. If Season 5 never happened, this season wouldn't be all that bad. I would rank it with Season 2 at this point, in terms of quality, and I quite liked Season 2. I have faith in the remaining episodes.

I thought last night's episode was great. Palmer's phone call to Daniels at the end was kick-ass, in my opinion.

I think its "kick-assness" was muted by the utterly preposterous fact that he was fully alert and coherent like 8 minutes after being in a "potentially brain-damaging coma."

There's suspension of disbelief, and there's laughable. Unfortunately, it was the latter.

That's just me though. I'm not trying to pull a "Lost thread" on harp on this show every 5 minutes, so I apologize.

now you know how we feel

Yes but it is no different than Tony recovering from major surgery in season 3. He got shot in the neck and almost died yet he was walking around, running, and shooting several hours after surgery. I think the show has already stretched the realms of believiablity.

Tony was written to have died Day 3; that's why there are such ludicrous mistakes. Changes at the last minute were made for his half-baked resurrection. [Tony gets shot at mall; Tony dies.]

This season, however, is even worse concerning the President because there were no last minute script changes. It's just poor, tugid writing altogether.

Who needs good writing that doesn't insult the audience... Just throw in a few explosions, an annoying mentally challenged special ed student, and a special guest appearance with that guy from The Lost Boys and you're all set.

Mr. X should just be banned for those foul-mouthed sacrilegious comments. It's downright blasphemy to compare Season 2 to this trainwreck of a season which is basically a poorman's parody of it.

The phone call just came across to me as . Has nothing to do with the acting either. The whole thing was just too illogical to take seriously. Dumping the Logan storyline like they did is a joke as well; there are no set appearances for either cast member to return, so I'm assuming it's just finished.

I've watched this show since the 1st season, so it's all old hat to me. That's probably my problem. Too much 24 and my brain is now imploading!

We really don't know what they were planning with Palmer orignally. We only learned the stuff about Tony later. It still doesn't just let that slip by as being okay, IMO. Also I think this season is still better than Season 3, if it is better than Season 4 will depend on how they end it.
Right now I rate the seasons this way
2
5
1
4
3

I read the early scripting for Season 3 before it aired. That's the only reason I know that Tony was meant to be killed off that day.

Palmer's written plan is exactly what you saw happen: He falls into a coma and wakes up. There may be consequences for waking him up down the line, but knowing 24, he'll likely be back in tip top shape in an hour or two.

I don't think Season 3 was a killer season either -- though it picked up around the time Sherie came back and Saunders was introduced.

Highest rated: 1/2/5 for me (not in any order; I like them in different ways).

Lowest rated: Season 2 - Part Deux... umm... I mean Season 6

I think it would have been hilarious if Jack started torturing the retard for answers.

"TELL ME WHAT I NEED TO KNOW!"
"I wanna see my brotherrr!! *cries*"

This storyline makes me want to jab pins into my eyes.

I miss 24 being exciting and not ridiculous

Who knows

And in keeping with the tradition of this season pretty much ripping off earlier seasons, Tom's "recorded the VP's incriminating discussion" bit seems...like exactly the same plot as last season when Logan's dirty dealings got caught on tape before Slime intercepted it.

is jack like no longer the main character or something i mean wtf. He's had 2 motherfuckin lines.

WTF just happened, he launched the bomb!!!

Now this is stop WW3.

WHAT THE HELL!

Palmer, after all that crapass nonsense we drifted through the past couple of hours, decides to go through with the nuclear strike because he doesn't want to look weak to the vice president?!

9-10 PM Absurdity Scale (out of 10): 9.9

really after fayad gones, that was the only thing that could happen...

YES!!!!!!!!!

I don't care hw absurd this season is getting... they launched it!! WOOHOO!!!

Next week on 24....JACK DIES!!!

for like 5 minutes.

it absurb but will give life to the show...

in Canada they don't give you a preview.... (cries)

Do you mean insane in a...good way?

Because I might need some enlightenment here.

I think it is all that adrelian (sp) they gave him. It really screwed around with his mind. That is why you don't that much of that stuff. I really liked the episode. I don't mind the absurdness the show has never been that realistic. Like anybody could drive to Santa Monica from downtown LA in ten minutes kind of stuff.

See, my problem is not that 24 is ridiculous now. It's that it is so ridiculous that I roll my eyes almost anytime anything happens.

Palmer randomly becoming evil and retarded (he was wooden and boring before, but not evil!) is just so out of character, out of left field, and completely hard to believe that I pretty much laughed out loud.