The Lost Boy and the Slayer's Son...

Spoiler alert! Read on if you want to learn what happened in this episode of "24".

Although greatly anticipating the return of 24, I doubted it could live up to the opening of last season even though once again employing the heart-stopping 4-hours-in-two-nights format of last year. However, even though this season didn't start with the same jolt, I'm finding it enjoyable for different reasons.

We begin the morning by meeting the new White House team as they deal with terrorist attacks happening across the country. Special Advisor Thomas Lennox (Peter MacNicol revealing where the spaceship he left Numb3rs on landed - Planet Bauer) suggest that President Wayne Palmer (Palmer 2.0) consider placing all Muslims in detention camps (because placing Japanese-Americans in internment camps ended WWII, right?). Karen Hayes, now National Security Advisor, opposes the idea and instead argues that killing notorious terrorist Hamri Al-Assad (Assad) will end the attacks. 2.0 goes with Karen Hayes' plan.

During some snarky repartee at CTU, we welcome back Chloe's ex-husband Morris, now division-trained and in charge Milo from Day 1 (played by Eric Balfour who rocks one look in every role he plays - "I'm a badass! No, seriously - see the goatee, the soul patch, the earring even sometimes?!? I'm badass, I tell you!!"), Bill Buchanan (who is married to Karen Hayes now) and we meet Nadia Yassir, Bill's new second-in-command.

Jack returns from China looking like a boxcar hobo and we learn that he's been gone for 20 months, he hasn't spoken and 2.0 paid a big price to the Chinese to negotiate his release. Although we don't know how 2.0 sweet talked the Chinese Consulate into giving up Jack (Is it just me or does the Chinese revenge seem awfully out of proportion to Jack's transgression against them?) we do learn that 2.0 paid $25 million and promised the opportunity to torture and kill Jack to Assad's assistant (Abu Fayed) who promises to give up Assad's location so that Assad can be assassinated and then the terrorist attacks will be done and all will be right with the world.

Jack is told of all this and he accepts his mission. Jack is then given the opportunity to clean up because when you're about to be handed over to a terrorist who wants to torture and kill you, it is important to look good.

Curtis and Bill drive Jack out to a drop spot. As Bill Buchanan is apologizing to locking Jack to a fence and for the sacrificing of his life, Jack explains that he stayed alive in the Chinese prison because he didn't want to die for nothing and now it will be a relief to die for something.

We then see a nice suburban couple, watching the news of the suicide bombing that just happened in LA to go along with the ten other attacks and mom insists that son go to school because he has a geometry test. You know, it's moments like this, more than Jack's apparent lack of a bladder, which really makes it difficult to suspend my disbelief. Dad notices an Arab neighbor being dragged out of his house and arrested by the FBI. The arrested man's son (Ahmed Amar - played by Kal Penn, i.e. Kumar) protests loudly and is apparently buds with the geometry-learning son so when soccer dad sees the neighborhood rednecks trying to rough up Ahmed he charges across the street to stop the fighting.

Meanwhile, back at CTU, Morris helps Chloe gain access to an illegal Uzbeki satellite so they can try and track Jack since, in addition to the money and Jack, 2.0 gave up access to all government satellites and whatnot so that Fayed could make sure they weren't trying to double cross him. Fayed's team still manages to find out about the Uzbeki satellite and threatens not to play ball.

But, Fayed is happy once he has his hands on Jack and begins to taunt and prepare to torture Jack just as Jack did to Fayed's brother years ago. While taunting, Fayed drops a little bombshell that Assad is not behind the day's attacks since Assad has decided to give peace a chance and that Fayed has orchestrated this little maneuver so that the U.S. government will kill Assad for betraying the true terrorist cause that Fayed is now masterminding. Fayed also asserts that since the attacks will not stop, Jack will die for nothing. Jack has told us he won't do that. Something's coming.

Fayed's torture session is interrupted when he gets a call from Ahmed telling of his father's arrest. Ahmed assures Fayed that he still has "the package" and will deliver said package. While Fayed is distracted, Jack is back! Jack takes a bite out of crime by literally biting his guard to death. It's a good thing that 2.0 is the son of a slayer because it will be handy if it turns out that what happened to Jack in the Chinese jail is that he was turned back into a lost boy. And as Jack escapes into a sewer I wonder if he's going to meet up with Jesse, um I mean Milo.