It's easy to twist every iota of suspense from Jack having to force the plane to land on a deserted stretch of interstate all while avoiding being shot down by an F-18. But to mine suspense and gut-twisting events from the pyschological plotline in the last half of the episode was masterful. As the final few minutes unfolded and it looked as if the noose was tigthening around Logan's neck for the final time, I kept wondering--what is going to go wrong? We've got three hours left and surely 24 wouldn't allow Logan to take the coward's way out so early. Watching Logan try to make amends one last time with Martha, then sitting down for a stiff drink and to do his duty was edge of the seat good. Then when he takes out his gun and contemplates what he sees as the only way out, only to get that phone call at the last second...wow, that was some great stuff. Again, I give a huge amount of credit to writer Manny "I saved Enterprise" Coto and I also have to give a ton of credit to Gregory Itzin. You could almost see the neon lights screaming "Emmy moment! Emmy moment!" written all over the screen.

And now we've got a new slimey weasel over at CTU. So Miles has decided to back the wrong horse...I wonder if and when that is going to bite him. Is he really that petty that he'd let the President get away with murder and treason just to show up Karen Hayes? Or to get back at them somehow? And again--why did Jack not play the audio recording for someone besides himself at any point during the last hour. Maybe he still respects the office of presidency and fears that if this tape got out that it's permanently undermine the United States. So he'd not play it in front of Curtis and everyone. But after the investment of trust placed in him by Hayes, you'd think he'd find a way for her to hear it and know that she's done the right thing. That way she doesn't have to keep wondering if her career is in the tank or not.

Of course, if Jack had played the tape for someone or sent a copy to Chloe, there'd be no suspense or drive for the rest of the day.

And was it just me or did this feel almost like the final hour of the season? There was this sense of finality and relaxing to the last half hour that you just knew that something had to happen to derail how easy it had suddenly become.

I know Logan will get what's coming to him, my question now is--how. I'm hoping for a tag-team match of Martha Logan, Aaron Pierce and Mike Novak all getting righteously midevil on him...forget the wrath of Bauer--those three would kick his glutteous maximus!