Jack's back!

Hurry Jack! There's not enough time!


"24" came back with a vengeance Sunday and I was surprised at how much I missed it, but the premiere was a reminder of what has always been the best thing about the show. Its ideals are like political comfort food.
In this case, Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) is pulled out of a Senate hearing on his torture methods to essentially do the same thing again. I mean, the agent he's with is begging him to torture a guy in minutes. Then there's the new president, played by character actress Cherry Jones. Her main plot involves stopping a genocide in Africa that bears a striking resemblance to Darfur. Yet, unlike our country, which has spent years arguing over the definition of the word genocide, this president is taking decisive action. Ahhhhh, that feels good....
Janeane Garofalo also joins the cast as an FBI agent who is kind of a Chloe type. She'll do for now, but we want the real thing asap.
Jack has finally found someone who listens to him, Agent Walker (Annie Wersching). He says "that's not the right call," and she actually listens! Who knows what'll come of this , but it's pretty exciting.
I don't know about that ending though. Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard) kind of looked like a teenager who had just been grounded when he was glaring at Kiefer. "I'll teach you for taking away my xBox," he said with his eyes.

"24's" 2-night premiere continues Monday at 7 p.m. Central on Fox.