Who consulted with VH1’s I Love Me Some 80’s (or whatever the hell their calling their fifth trip to that barren well) when casting this season’s supporting rolls.

Thus far, CTU is being led by Sean Astin (“Goonies, Never Say Die!”) against the terrorist threat perpetrated by the Warlock (Julian Sands). Fortunately, we have a Lost Boy in Jack Bauer – who I am just aching to see bust out his vampire bad self on that loathsome Rudy.

Lest we forget, President Nixon is married to a genuine Designing Woman in Jean Smart. And last night, we were visited by Buckaroo Banzai/Robocop (Peter Weller). Next week, Twin Peaks’ Leland Palmer joins the fray followed by an appearance by the Poltergeist mom (JoBeth Williams) as Robocop’s wife.

Note to Ted McGinley. Clear your calendar!

1. If there was a central theme prevalent in last night’s ep – it was small men cannot handle big power. The episode popped back and forth - from Rudy’s catastrophic meltdown in CTU headquarters to President Logan agonizing over the decision to hand deliver the Russian president’s motorcade route to terrorists – allowing them the chance to stage an assassination on US soil. Added to Logan’s dilemma is the knowledge that the First Lady jumped in the Subarov’s limo, in a last ditch effort to get her husband to reconsider his course of action. Ultimately – the plot lines came down to a mutiny in CTU (which saw Samwise headed to the clink) and President Logan declaring “She brought this upon herself.”

2. For all those who have detected shades of Nixon in President Logan, we had a shot of the Prez coercing Mike Novick to kneel in prayer with him – as he awaited word of his wife’s fate. This echoes the similar story relayed by Henry Kissinger on Nixon’s request that he join in genuflection on the eve of his resignation.

3. “Hi Sheila. This is Jane Espenson in Accounting”. Not only a clever ploy by Audrey to allow Jack unfettered access to Henderson’s office – but also a great shout-out from writer David Fury to fellow Buffy scribe, Ms. Espenson.

4. Jack was off-screen for a bulk of the episode, but his infiltration of Henderson’s (Weller) office and face-to-face chat with his former mentor was great stuff. I applaud Fury on linking Henderson back to Season 1. If you recall, Jack Bauer was first introduced to us as a disgraced CTU agent who was not well liked within the agency due to an investigation that led to the dismissal of a number of high ranking CTU operatives. Henderson is one of those guys – and judging by his actions (trapping Bauer in the R & D bunker with a cool notepad bomb) – Bauer may actually have been on to something. All I know is – this can’t make Bauer happy and next week’s two hour block promises some patented Bauer torture therapy.

5. I’ve been referring to the rogue canisters as Sem-Tex. I’ve been corrected that it’s Sen-Tox. I gotta’ get my nerve agents straight.

6. Regarding Sen-Tox, did anyone catch the Fox 25 news teaser during one of the commercial breaks.

‘DEADLY NERVE GAS ON 24! BOSTON-BASED TERRA-DYNE! IS THERE A CONNECTION?’

Now I know this is Fox, home of Joe Millionaire and Pimpin’ with Celebrities so it’s a little tricky discerning the reality from ‘reality TV’ – but I’m gonna’ hazard a guess that the line between a real life pharmaceutical company and a fictional espionage thriller is far from fine.

Next week, Jack pulls a section 112 on this guy.