24: See How You Like It, Jack

So, Jack: the tables have turned! Once upon a time, you invaded the Chinese embassy to get one guy out, and now they've done the same to you! Cheng sends a team to invade CTU, and they meet (un)surprisingly little resistance as they search for Josh. Yes, I said Josh. You remember Josh – Jack's "nephew"? I don't know why they can't just ask for him. If it was his "cousin" they wanted, you can bet that CTU would be tossing her out the door and cheerfully asking what else they can get for the tattooed mercenaries on their doorstep. Jack, of course, goes all Die Hard on them, taking out several of the mercenaries single-handedly. But it's not enough, because they get Josh anyway, and they terrorize the people on the floor while they're at it: they ask who's in charge, Milo says it's him to protect Nadia, and the mercenaries shoot him in the head. Milo makes a noble sacrifice for Nadia, but since the guys find out ten minutes later that she's in charge anyway and they don't kill her, maybe they really just wanted to shoot Milo. (Update: Actually, they were working on Eric Balfour's orders, which I guess explains how suddenly and, ultimately, pointlessly he dies.) At any rate, it's sad to see another veteran go, even though he was only barely in Season 1 and only distinguished himself this season with the mission he went on. So long, Milo. But we'll see you next week when they still haven't moved your body off the CTU floor.

But why Josh? Who could possibly want him? Grandpa Bauer, as it turns out, who's fixing the broken component in exchange for his grandson. Yay! He's the closest thing we've had to a really good bad guy this season, and I'm glad he's back. He's certainly a match for his son, so hopefully this will make the final few episodes exciting.

The White House? Don't worry about them. They're just recycling an old plot thread. Look, I know Season 1 was a long time ago, well over 10 years ago in Bauer Time, but I remember another betrayed woman being sent to spy on her duplicitous lover, and I don't recall that it turned out so well.