Jack Smack

Last night's season premiere of 24 was notable, for a few reasons. It was presented without commercial interruption by Ford and its F-150 truck - instead of commercials, the episode was bookended by the first and second halves of a short film called "The Donation", a cheeky homage to 24, starring the F-150.

What the series has lacked in character development (due to its single day format - how much can one person change in a day?) it has always made up for in thrills. Now, it seems, we are finally getting some character payback, now that we know them all a little bit. And by advancing the story three years from the end of last season, the characters can be in places in their lives that are drastically different from before. Spawn now works at CTU, in some sort of junior technical capacity, and she seems to know what she's doing. Maybe she went to the local community college in the intervening years. And she's dating Jack's new partner, the very appealing Jay (or is it Jason?). I already have crushes on 2 men on this show (Palmer and Kiefer) - I don't think I can find room in my heart for another. Well, maybe it won't be my heart that will be pre-occupied with him.

Anyway, I may be mistaken, but I think Tony and Michelle, who had their first kiss/makeout session last season, are now married. President Palmer, last seen lying on a sidewalk after contracting an especially virulent virus (that's redundant, isn't it?) from an intentionally infected handshake, has recovered from the assassination attempt, although he seems to still suffer some physical effects of the virus - I don't think he was ever completley cured, just brought into remission. He's also been a busy boy in the romance department since we last saw him - he shared a kiss last night with his physician (a woman, yes) that was much more than platonic. Lucky girl.

Then there's Jack. Poor Jack. His love life is in a shambles, apparently. It seems that in the three years since we last saw him, he entered into a relationship with Kate Warner (last year's femme fatale) that did not last. (The relationship is in fact still in the process of ending - she called him last night to tell him that she found a leather jacket he left behind) It seems that his work put an end to the relationship, especially the part where he spent the past year deep undercover with a Colombian drug lord, Salazar. So deep, in fact, that he's now a drug addict!! This was revealed at the very end of the episode, when it finally became clear why Kiefer was all sweaty and irritable during the show - he got his kit out of his office closet, tied off his arm and was ready to shoot up when good old Spawn called him on the phone and prevented him from getting his fix. Kiefer was fantastic, throughout the entire episode.

All this and a deadly virus about to be unleashed on the population. Bring it on.