Previously on 24

Where to start. Maybe with the fact that I fell asleep on my sofa with the TV on last night, and woke up at about 3 am to a Season 3 episode which featured Jack having to shoot a weaselly CTU agent on the orders of the President, who was negotiating with terrorists.

And "M"'s DH thinks that we didn't jump the shark until last week?

At any rate, the bomb went off, and the country stayed calm. During the hour after the detonation, cell phones worked, traffic was loud but constant, all utilities appeared to continue to operate seamlessly. (Those of us who live in Lower Manhattan can tell you that this ain't how it works. Although we didn't have Arnold as our fearless leader.)

Jack recovered quickly from having to kill Curtis, galvanized by the bombing, he re-ups with CTU. He showed how spry he is at 40, scrambling up onto the roof of a suburban home to rescue the pilot of a helicopter hanging off said hacienda, having been knocked out of the sky by shock waves from the blast.

Jack calls Bill, and Bill is all like, "I thought you quit?" (Jealous, anyone? like Jack would want your desk monkey job, Bill!)

After repairing to a bunker (which appears to be in the basement of the White House, probably near the bowling alley) The President goes on TV, after he tenderly confides his fear to the guy from Ally McBeal. "W" is allowed a little fear -- he's just 28, and he's one of only two living black man on 24.

Bill tells Jack something about Jack's dad. "M" and I are so shocked that I can't even remember what it was! But Jack starts trying to call his dad. Instead, he gets someone named Sam, who we assume is Jack's dad's partner. (And there is not anything wrong with that! But a surprising departure...knowing Fox, the guy will have to be an interior designer.)

Then, we find out that Jack has a brother! He was the Flat Faced Mastermind from Season 5 who had something to do with the canisters, Bierko, and Robocop last season. I seem to remember him escaping into a helicopter.

It turned out that he must have had to get home to Rena Sofer (widely believed in the blogosphere to be the kiss of death to any TV show, I still remember her from General Hospital about 20 years ago) and his son.

Or maybe not. Jack's bro may be raising the spawn of Jack, based on the meaningful smoldering glances that ensued after Jack forced his way into his brother's house. (The house is pretty nice, so the whole canister thing must have worked out well for him.)

His brother, whose name is either Graem, Graham, or Gray, seems to have unresolved issues about their childhood, and also seems to be in denial about Dad's sexual orientation. He refuses to tell Jack Dad's whereabouts, positing that Dad's probably with one of his "hot" girlfriends.

Gray actually brings up some childhood WOP, which cracks "M" and I up as embarrassingly plausible for 40-something siblings.

Somewhere in here, W's sister's client, detained by the Man in a domestic Gitmo type of center for the suspected, has managed to parlay an overheard word in an unnamed middle-Eastern language into an opportunity to wear a wire and go deep under with some of the other suspected terrorists in the detention center.

I don't really get that. As comparatively together as the 24-verse government appears to be, what with being able to pull up any bit of data and send it to any PDA, regardless of whether you're underground or in the outlying blast area of a suitcase nuke...would they really trust the guy they've detained?

Oh yeah, this guy is black, too. Dude, hope they told you when you signed up for this series: your days are numbered. (Now that Curtis is finally gone, all bets are off.)

And the guy from Ally McBeal/Numbers threatens W's sister, prompting "M" to predict that the administration will ultimately "deal" with her.

I've lost sight of the drama within CTU, but there is tension between Chloe, Milo, and Miles. I'll have to pay better attention to that this week. "M" and I were too busy yakking about Jack's brother, Dad, son/nephew and trying to remember anything that happened last season at all.

(Other than losing Eggar. Sob.)

Jack goes all medieval on his brother's ass, tying him up and preparing to interrogate him to find out where dad is. "M" and I are assuming that Gray has killed Dad, but then all of a sudden it is time for previews, and we see that Dad is being played by the second husband from Six Feet Under.

"M"? Anything I left out?