This was one of those quieter weeks – granted in the land of 24, a quiet week involves Jack subduing an air marshal, hijacking an airliner and juryrigging the hydraulics to play a little game of Turbulent Chicken with the pilot. So – it was no Gilmore Girls – but we did take a little breather.

On to Hour 20.

1. Hands down – the greatest sequence of this season has to be Chloe (Mary Lynn Rajskub) turning her frown upside down, sweetly petitioning a loutish drunk to grab a seat next to her in the hotel bar, and then tazing the lummox. Twice!!!

2. All that in an episode that saw Bill Buchanon greeting that smarmy Homeland Security stooge Miles with “Get out of my face you little asskisser”.

3. That’s one of the unheralded grace points of this season – the actors have found ways to take characters who on paper should be completely unpleasant (Chloe), annoying (Audrey) and dull and boring (Buchanon) and turn them into vital assets. Of course, no amount of McGuyver moxie on the Mac could ever get me to like Edgar – no matter what Louis Lombardi believes. Good riddance.

4. I thought the plane hijacking sequence was handled as tastefully as it could be. In a week when United 93 opened – suddenly the events of September 2001 fresh on this viewer’s conscience, I wondered how well that plot point would play. Bauer spent so much time hunkered down in the cargo hold – that his inevitable hijacking was over before you knew it. There was one guy who tried to rush him – but he quickly abandoned that plan. Anyway, I’m all for freedom of speech in crafting the plot whichever way the writers choose to go and I’m glad they followed through on this and didn’t give in to any inner censors that may have been warning them off touchy material. I for one feel that there is a wide gulf between fantasy and reality and I can easily discern one from the other. Still, it was a thought that had popped in my head. For anyone who was truly vested in how they would play this – I think the sequence was nothing more than a blip on the radar and had it not been for that strange synchronicity in film scheduling, we probably never would of thought a moment about this.

That’s it. I told you it was a slow news week. Next week, Dr. Romano instructs Logan to shoot down Bauer’s plane, so things are picking up.