Nostradamus. George Stephanopolous. Mel Kiper. As far as the fine art of prognostication goes, they’re bush league when compared to the great geyser of plot development Mook is able to divine on a weekly basis. He’s already pegged Logan as the Big Bad and called out Evelyn, the First Lady’s aide, as a character of far greater import than her stock Red Shirt status had her previously pegged. With this week’s reveal of rogue CTU staffers Chloe and Bill Buchanon operating covertly from Buchanon’s swinging bachelor pad – a premonition Mook voiced sometime around Groundhog Day – I have now established my good man McG as my main go-to-man for Oscar winners, Powerball Numbers, and the Brangelina baby birth date.

On to Hour 19.

1. We still have no idea what has happened to Agent Pierce (Glenn Moreshower) – the First Lady’s resident secret service agent and boy toy. Oh sure, when pressed by his wife, Logan said he had him reassigned. Which would be all well and good if it weren’t midnight. You’re telling me that while the President is hunkered down in L.A. on this night of a thousand attacks – he would just up and reassign the one decent agent in his employ. At least give the guy a night’s sleep. Martha Logan’s discovery of Pierce’s wireless phone – found lying in some bushes – doesn’t bode well for a happy reunion. I hope Pierce returns to make Logan run. Moreshower is a genre vet – turning in some fine performances on The X-Files and Millennium – and he has been one of the stalwart faces on this show since Season 1 – so it would be nice if he didn’t go the way of Behrooz and just disappear with no questions asked.

2. For everyone who cried foul at the big reveal that Logan is not the bumbling, stuttering buffoon we’ve been led to believe and is actually the scheming sinister man behind the curtain, we got a glimpse at the true wizards this week. Apparently there are forces within the government – tied to Christopher Henderson’s (Peter Weller) Omnicorp – who have been lurking in the shadows directing the President and the events of the day. Whew… I knew he wasn’t that smart. Granted this eleventh hour reveal of yet another level of badguys smacks a bit of Marwan’s Gradually Increasing Incremental Scale of Evil from last season – but a secret society aimed at grabbing oil supplies for the US is a helluva lot easier to buy than Logan revealing his Mensa stripes.

3. And who is Logan’s puppetmaster. None other than Paul McCrane (ER’s slimy Dr. Romano). Here’s an interesting little connection – Weller, as we all know, was Robocop. McCrane was one of villain Clarence Boddicker’s henchman – who is most notable for falling into a vat of toxic waste and having his body liquidated by a speeding car in that classic flick. In Robocop, Weller fought the corrupt corporation OCP. In 24, Weller’s corporation is Omnicorp. How soon before Red from That 70’s Show makes a cameo. “Can you fly… Bauer?”

4. So Audrey’s Dad, Defense Secretary Heller (William Devane) learns he is being shadowed by Henderson’s men in a helicopter and decides to drive his car off a cliff rather than allow them to take him out or force Jack to trade for the Logan recording. Stupid, idiotic thing to do. If Devane takes one for the team and allows himself to be perforated, Jack has even more compelling evidence to prove the conspiracy. You now have an audio recording of Logan and Henderson conspiring as well as the Secretary of Defense killed in a black-ops assault on U.S. soil. Pretty compelling evidence. Driving your car off a cliff. What politician hasn’t done that at some point in their career?