Riding in Cars with Boys

I thought it was slow. I thought there was going to be a weird mother-daughter love triangle in the middle of the episode. I thought "Kate Morgan" would have been a decent alias for Hannah McKay.

I did NOT think a full-fledged protester riot would be Bauer's only way in. And BTW, with all the quick flashes to the protester signs, I would have expected to see an "Attack of the Drones" one. Shame on you 24 prop guys.

But to get to the riot, we had to endure endless conversations in cars about dead family members (MORRIS IS DEAD) , criminal histories and Catelyn Stark's new identity. You know you've been watching Thrones too much when you're expecting an incest subplot to pop up and being genuinely surprised when it doesn't.

The only thing that did pop up was Terrorist Boyfriend's inner piece and, thanks to the trusty 24 clock, we also know his piece was only half loaded. It was most likely tired from a day of worrying if he had picked the right girl to marry, despite her penchant for banging other guys all in the name of a "cause."

It seems this plot to take down President "I don't know where I am" Heller is based on a US drone killing a terrorist, which in turn sparked more terrorism through the dead man's wife. Yes. This sounds like a rejected plot from Homeland.

For some reason, I feel like at some point Tate Donovan's character is going to re-enact Weekend at Bernie's with the president. Maybe part of me just wants to see that movie again, while the other part of me just wants all of me to suffer through a horrible plot point. Like getting up in front of Parliament and acting surprised when people start yelling at you. Then again, you let your daughter bang your chief of staff, so smart life decisions probably went out with the memories.

Which brings us to Fairbanks, the fake name Bauer used to gain access to the American Embassy. Only it doesn't work. Apparently Fairbanks has been flagged as a troublemaker and will be denied access. That is until Bauer uses his gun-hiding dreamcoat and shoots enough legs in the crowd to warrant a riot.

For those keeping score, it's 2 shot legs for a riot. Had he shot 3, he would have incited looting. And though he's in riot-mode, Bauer still has the common sense to turn around when a hot blonde shouts "BAUER!". We may be 1 minute closer on the Doomsday clock, but in the end, even Bauer knows the importance of getting laid...and lasting more than a commercial break.