If you have not watched this week's two-hour 24 blitz and plan to very soon, then skip this post. If you have seen it or never plan to anyway, go ahead and read. This post contains all kinds of spoilers otherwise. So, for today, I bring you...

Kapgar's Views on 24

(and there was much rejoicing)

I'm going to present this as bulleted points on what I thought of this week's episode. They covered so much stuff in those two hours, it's hard to not have developed some opinions. So here goes...

• Kim (Elisha Cuthbert) is back! I don't know for how long, but she's back and it's cool because there is more of that awkward tension that we felt at the beginning of the season when Audrey (Kim Raver) discovered Jack (Kiefer Sutherland) was still alive. That awkwardness has since waned. But we have more! Woo hoo!
   
• I think Robocop needs a tune up. As cool as I thought it was to see Peter Weller in 24 as Jack's mentor, Christopher Henderson, it is painful to see how he's aged. Apparently, the powers that be in New Detroit didn't see fit to take out the human elements that make him age. Shortsighted bastards.
   
• Mrs. Logan (Jean Smart) and Aaron Pierce (Glenn Morshower)? Seriously? Cool! Correct me if I'm wrong, but it looked like he squeezed her hand back. Well, we all know Aaron's more man than President Logan (Gregory Itzin) will ever be.
     
• Speaking of relationships... Kim and Barry? Seriously, girl, what the hell are you thinking? The actor who plays Barry, C. Thomas Howell, is exactly two weeks older than the actor playing your dad. But we all know what role reality plays in Hollywood scriptwriting... none at all. After all, for Kiefer to be Elisha's dad, she would have been born when he was 15. Throws that complaint out the window.
   
• If I were Russian President Subarov (sp?), I'd be kicking Logan's ass to Moscow and back.
   
• Kids, they weren't lying when they said "crack kills." I just don't think they meant a bullet in the head execution-style. Oh, wait, they were cokeheads, weren't they?
   
• Kill the Hobbit! Kill the Hobbit! Right about now, I really hate former-Hobbits-turned-TV-stars. First, Charlie (Dominic Monaghan) becomes jackass supreme on Lost. And now we have the prick that is Lynn McGill (Sean Astin) wrecking all kinds of havoc at CTU which culminates in...
   
• The deaths of nearly half of CTU's staff?!?!?! Gah!!
   
• And, no, Lynn McGill would not make it out of a dark alley, either.
   
• NOOOO!!!! Not Edgar (Louis Lombardi)!!!! Even the normally non-plussed Chloe (Mary Lynn Rajskub) showed emotion as he met his fate. That's telling you something.
   
• But what I really want to know is did Tony (Carlos Bernard) and Curtis (Roger Cross) survive? Please say they survived! I didn't see them when the crew sealed themselves in the tactical room. They need to survive! Tony's my fave on the show and Curtis is quickly climbing those ranks as well. Tell me they made it to one of the other sealed rooms or I just missed them entirely in the background as the action was occurring.
   
• I really love how they eliminate the ticking of the clock at the end during those special moments when they prefer to opt for complete silence. They've done it twice this season and it always seems like a fitting tribute given the events of that particular episode. Plus, the screen that they used when they announce that you should stick around for scenes from next week's episode showed Jack with his head bowed down in what struck me as a reverential tribute to those lost in this episode. Maybe it wasn't intended that way, but it came across as such to Katie and I.

Last night was an emotional roller coaster for the two of us. And this whole waiting a week between episodes really sucks. It's not easy at all.

Well, it could be worse, I suppose. We could have to wait several weeks in between each episode if they were all spread out over a traditional television season as opposed to the "non-stop season" format they've opted for this season and last.

I can't believe we actually look forward to Mondays now.