‘24’: O’Brien’s off the deep end, Renee’s got a gun and Dana is, oh, never mind!

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Tonight as a special treat, we will offer our summary and analysis of ‘24’ on a segment-by-segment basis.

4 a.m. -- 4:12 a.m. A car driven by Kayla, the daughter of Kamistan President Omar Hassan, has exploded inside CTU headquarters and disabled their systems although all the main characters have survived. ‘Tell them to use a pen and a damn legal pad,’ CTU chief Brian Hastings barks to Dana Walsh about how to proceed. Jack Bauer calls a buddy at the National Security Agency and has him shut down all the bridges and tunnels in and out of the city. That means for once neighborhood folks will be able to get a seat at their favorite Lower East Side bar.

Meanwhile the IRK terrorist group thinks the coast is clear. ‘CTU is blind, deaf, and dumb,’ proclaims one operative. The IRK, led by Samir and Tarin -- the turncoat aide to President Hassan and Kayla’s lover -- are trying to get their weapons-grade uranium into the city to launch a dirty bomb. Bauer and Ortiz are in hot pursuit, but drive right into an ambush in Brooklyn and, of course, did not ask for any backup. They get caught up in a shootout with some IRK terrorists. Samir and Tarin escape by boat with the uranium and are headed back to the city.

4:16 a.m. -- 4: 23 a.m. Hastings is getting the lowdown on the bomb. Three are dead and more wounded inside CTU. Meanwhile, the NSA has arrived and doesn’t want to play ball with CTU when it comes to doing repairs. Can’t imagine why the NSA doesn’t think CTU is up to the task.

Chloe starts hassling Hastings about sending a team out to look for Bauer and then, using all her Chloe charm, starts to pester the NSA about its efforts to repair the computer systems. ‘Forgive me if I don’t bow to your expertise,’ an NSA agent barks at Chloe. Desperate, Chloe calls Renee, who is hanging out at Jack’s apartment. Apparently her meds have kicked in because she barks at Chloe to make the NSA listen to her and then she reaches into one of Jack’s gym bag and grabs a gun. Looks like it’s her turn to rescue Jack, who is still being pinned down by sniper fire.

4:28 a.m. -- 4:35 a.m. Dana Walsh huddles with the pesky probation officer who is still trying to get ahold of video that would show her knucklehead ex-boyfriend ripping off a NYPD storage facility. She tells him the bomb wiped out the video servers and he says he’s heading back to Little Rock. Let’s hope so.

Chloe tries again with the NSA, but her winning personality doesn’t work so she, uh, pulls a gun on them and forces them to leave so she can try to fix the computers. ‘If you don’t leave right now, I will shoot you,’ she barks. Back at the docks in Brooklyn, Bauer and his team have managed to put together a piece of armor to make their way across the dock. Unfortunately, one of his team screws up and gets shot. Agent Owen (remember him?) risks all of their lives by trying to rescue him and gets himself severely wounded in the process. The man he was trying to rescue is dead.

4:39 a.m. -- 4:46 a.m. Kayla has returned to her parents. ‘You were right,’ she tells her father. At CTU, Hastings goes in to try to stop the postal O’Brien. ‘She’s gone off the deep end,’ Hastings says. Of course, we all know Chloe will end up being right. Just once, wouldn’t it be nice if she was wrong? Dana could have helped Chloe convince Hastings she knows what she’s doing but chooses not to do so. Hmm. What’s up with that? Nonetheless, Hastings decides to give Chloe 10 minutes to get the systems back online.

4:50 a.m. -- 5:00 a.m. Surprise! Chloe got the systems back up. In Brooklyn, poor Agent Owen didn’t make it. I feel bad for Owen. He was a true innocent. Bauer and Ortiz are pinned down by snipers. Renee shows up out of nowhere to save the day, but not before Bauer gets shot. That’s right, after Bauer is down but not out.

Bauer getting shot might have been a good spot to end the episode, but we get one more Dana Walsh scene with the parole officer who just won’t go away. So she goes Godfather on him and garrotes him. And then, the big shock, she’s working with the IRK!!! Well, that’s good news because now at least we know sooner or later her character will bite the dust.

-- Joe Flint