Previously on 24: 4am - 5am

Here's Kiefer, looking a little tired, apparently doing the right thing late last week, turning himself in at a Manhattan police precinct.

The Post or Daily News had a photo of the bloodied Kiefer the night before, with a headline like, "Jack cracks," or something equally intelligent.

Sigh. Kiefer, even if someone offends Brooke Shields, headbutting is never an appropriate response in real life.

Use your words instead!

Poor guy.

That said, his fictional alter ego is also having a very bad day. I wasn't too excited about last week's episode, let's see what I can remember.

In the meantime, Tony is still sucking face with his evil girlfriend, and calling shots on when the bioweapon attack should take place. Tony and co. have bullied this poor guy -- who only came here from an unnamed (or unremembered) Middle Eastern country so that his brother could access the American dream -- into being a patsy for the Canister attack. There's all kinds of IT drama loading stuff to his computer, etc.

Jon Voight/Hodges/Daddgelina has been given immunity, and he starts to prepare for his boring life as a possibly still evil denizen of some suburb in a big square state somewhere far west of here. There are all kinds of intimations about the special country club treatment that he'll have at the Betty Ford Center for witness protection...

...and simultaneously, Oilivia is plotting to have him killed, having had a White House tete a tete with someone she apparently may also have "dated" who she believes can connect her to a hit man. After lots of discussion about the potential consequences of this action, he agrees to help her.

Aaron is oblivious. Or is he?

In the meantime, Jack and Chloe have identified the Muslim guy, Jibran, and his imam. Renee and Jack head off to the mosque so that Jack can abuse a religious leader, who rises to the bait and acts belligerent and resistant, refusing to tell Jack where the supposed terrorist lives.. Jack throws some cuffs on him, and they drive off towards Jibran's place.

Tony gets poor Jibran to tell his brother that he's a terrorist, and the kid spits in his face. Tony and Jibran leave, apparently to do something nefarious that will reflect badly on Jibran. Tony has convinced Jibran that he's saving his brother's life by cooperating....I don't think so.

Olivia has voice contact with a mysterious disembodied being who will pull the trigger on Hodges, so to speak, as soon as she presses "execute" button on her computer screen that will apparently initiate a $250K wire transfer. (Heh heh, "execute", get it?)

At the last minute, Oily Olivia has a change of heart, and presses "cancel" on the transaction screen. She skips off to the White House ICU; the First Man has been moved from West Arlington hospital pending the Canister attack.

The First Family shares a tender reunion.

Hodges is released into the custody of witness protection wallahs by Janeane/Janis. (WTH? We thought she was in IT.)

(And may I digress? As if this whole blog weren't a digression. What the heck was anyone thinking about Janeane Garafolo, period...and then, what about the character of Janis, one of the least interesting characters ever to come to 24? I mean, bring back Milo!)

Hodges gets into the back of a black SUV, which then blows up real good.

Word gets back to the White House. Olivia swings back to the "stupid" side of the evil vs. stupid game, and makes a panicked phone call to the macher (I've always wanted to use that word!) who set her up with the hitman. They agree to a predawn meeting at some park.

(Hopefully there's a Starbucks nearby. I'm gonna suggest that Olivia get one of those big pink frappucino drinks. You know, the ones with the whipped cream on top that require the extra long straws. She could use the calories -- 570 with whipped cream, per the Starbucks website, which seems like a bit of creative marketing unless the pink stuff is just water and pink ice, blenderized -- and should avoid the caffeine.)

(And another aside. The nature of this season's WMD has taken some of the pleasure that the Women of the 24 Blog used to get from using the word "nucular." Sigh.)

Oh, yeah, Chloe and Jack, bla bla, tender moment, one day to live, etc.

Due to Chloe's studly IT skills, she's learned that Jibran is being framed. Jack and Renee impress the Imam with their mental flexibility. Jack is in a World of Pain. The Imam reminds Jack that it's never too late to find one's relationship with God.

Jack and Renee surprise the guy holding Jibran's brother. The brother quickly breaks a mirror and starts slashing the heck out of the bad guy. Eew. He's subdued quickly enough, and Jack roars iconic words, "We need a medic," in hopes of keeping the bad guy alive long enough to find out the Canister's target.

As the show closes, Mme. President wants to know who on the inside could have had Hodges blowed up, and Tony and Jibran are apparently preparing for an attack on the Metro.

Previews show Jack wailing on Tony, Kim pouting, and Olivia slinking around.

We are gonna hope for some of the good old time 24 writing: Hodges isn't really dead; Aaron -- working in cahoots with the also undead Nina -- has somehow prevented this from happening.

Bloop, bloop. See you in a few hours.