LAST EDITED ON 01-19-09 AT 01:00 AM (EST)

... this feels an awful like Season 2 to me so far. We have a conspiracy inside the White House. The only things we're sure about are that the First Gentleman, Tony, Bill, Chloe and Renee Walker aren't part of it. At least we think we know that.

We haven't had a strong female role among the field agents in this show since the first three seasons (Nina, Kate Warner and Michelle). I've missed it. Audrey was never a field-agent type. Renee Walker seems clearly destined for a major role in this season. I love her moral ambiguity regarding torture, because she's the one person not quick to condemn Bauer.

Right now, we have no idea where anyone's loyalties lie. Thus, the CTU core are going to have a hard time turning their evidence in. But we've followed the formula so far -- the first threat is serious but can be contained; the second threat becomes the bad one.

Edited to add: You know, the first time I ever saw Bob Gunton in a movie was Matewan, where he plays the treacherous C.E. Lively. When he got the part as the warden in The Shawshank Redemption, I figured whoever cast him there must have seen him in Matewan. Now I figure that whoever cast him in 24 muat have seen both those movies.