24: I Still Don't Know What You Did in Denver

This week, Jack is on the trail of (and then inside the home of, and shooting guns at) some guy who freelances for Gredenko. Said freelancer manages to be both a decent guy and a scumbag, as he uses his Rain Man-ish brother Brady, a computer genius, to get some technical stuff from Gredenko, but he also makes it clear that he wouldn't be working with a guy like Gredenko if he wasn't trying to take care of his brother. Aww, sort of. By the way, when Brady was spouting technical jargon, did anyone else think that maybe he'd be a good match for Chloe? No? Just me? Okay, then. Anyway, as the freelancer gets in the way of a bullet when Jack barges in, Jack decides to set a trap for Gredenko using Brady. This immediately causes me to curl up in a little ball on the couch, repeating, "This is NOT going to end well," and generally preparing myself for Brady's grisly death due to Jack's plan. Yet, somehow, Brady lives, and acquits himself better than all manner of other civilian decoys used over the years, and, indeed, better than some red-shirted CTU agents. Thanks to him, Jack has Gredenko in custody. Well done, Brady. Now run, run while you still can!

At CTU, some random guy, so faceless as to have the name "Johnson," determines that Nadia really is innocent, and has evidence to prove it. So Nadia gets off, but not before Milo and Ricky Schroder have had a chance to scuffle, and Ricky has sneered at "Johnson," who apparently he knows from the shadowy Denver office, "You've screwed with the wrong guy for the last time." Yeah, Johnson! I mean, all those other times you screwed with the wrong guy were okay, but this time, you've crossed the line! And while we're on the subject, what the hell happened in Denver? I mean, aside from a lot of Johnson screwing with the wrong guy. Who did he screw, and what kind of screwing was it? At this point, I'm setting myself up for major disappointment when What Happened in Denver is finally revealed, because I keep imagining all these scenarios that couldn't possibly be real. Like, Ricky, Milo, and Johnson were driving around one night, and hit a guy, and dumped his body, and now they never speak of what happened. But here in LA, Buchanan manages to convince Nadia not to sue (she doesn't have much of a case anyway – as I said last week, everyone at CTU gets accused of treason at some point or another) and Milo and Nadia become the new Tony and Michelle when they break up/make out in the hallway. Ah, doomed CTU love.

The presidential storyline, meanwhile, is on loan from House or Grey's Anatomy this week, with the less-than-ethical medical decision that could end up backfiring and wracking the poor family member/doctor who ordered it with guilt (or not, if it's House we're talking about), and if this were either of those shows, that's exactly what would happen. But this is 24, and when Sandra Palmer agrees to try to wake up her brother, there's only a bit of tension, and then Wayne is magically, fully awake, and ready to take charge again. So, of course, the Vice President claims he's still woozy from being blown up, and looks to be on track to go all 25th Amendment on Wayne, just like they did with his brother. And I must admit, I'm a little suspicious of Wayne's miracle recovery, too, and this is a show filled with amazingly fast healing. What about the brain swelling? What about the fact that he was just in a coma? He's not even a little bit groggy? Ironically, the only injury on this show that seems to have any sort of lasting effect is the one that is least traumatic: whatever Milo did to his arm/shoulder to put it in the sling. Come on, Milo, you haven't recovered yet? You baby.