The problem with this season had been the same as season 6. After a string of episodes that ranged from decent to stellar, it ran into a brick wall at high speed. Almost from the moment the Russian Mafia stopped being a factor (and to be honest, I was really liking the direction THAT was going in), really. The reintroduction of Middle Eastern terrorists wanting to do massive damage to another American city was something that has been done over and over in the series, ad nauseum. Then, on top of that, the whole redneck subplot was a massive interest drain. The way they handled that was impossibly stupid.
That said, this week's episodes were among the series' best, and really brought back the "old" 24, so to speak. Things actually went places, and the ending of the second episode is probably one of the hardest-hitting since (SPOILER WARNING!!!!) George Mason suicide-piloted the nuke away from Los Angeles in S2. (End Spoilers.) The rest of the season shows great promise - hopefully, they don't muck it up like they did Season 6.
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