"24": In the end, it was all about love

I asked my husband whether he loved me enough to murder a federal agent, threaten the lives of thousands of citizens, terrorize an innocent man, and attach a bomb to a friend, if someone had had me killed. He said yes.

Isn't that sweet?

OK, on the surface Tony's reasons for doing all of that to avenge his wife Michelle seems trite, but in truth, he's no different from the other lovers on the show. Love of a woman/country/power for Tony, Jonas Hodges, Gen. Juma got distorted, and turned into fanaticism. All three thought they were right and righteous, that their actions were justified because they had a cause they believed in. You could argue that those are the seeds of terrorism. And the terrorists look just like us.

Which is why it was so ridiculously cool that Jack found peace from a Muslim, the imam who talked to him about God and the state of his soul. The show's gotten beaten up a lot in the past for its depiction of browner folk as bad guys. It was a magnificent goodwill gesture to have Jack ask for the imam as he faced his final hours. See, we all can get along.

And what of Jack's advice to Agent Walker? Finally, we hear how Jack has dealt with the torture. It's not easy; he knows he should follow the law, but his heart doesn't always let him. Do what you can live with, he tells her. It's good advice, but you do you don't always know what you can live with when you make the choice.

Just ask poor President Taylor. She did what she could live with, and now her family has imploded. Are we going to see the first divorce of a President on '24'? More likely we'll discover what making her husband an enemy will mean.

It was a good season. No it wasn't plausible that all of this happened in one day but I give major points for the so very timely issues explored, the exploration of Jack's demons, the return and loss of beloved characters. It was a successful rebound in my book.

What do we have to look forward for season 9? Will it pick up just where we left off. We know Janis won't be back. Will Jack get cured quickly? In this EW story, he says this cryptic remark: "I can't really tell you in what context I'll be invovled with the show -- for a variety of reasons." Does that mean he spend the next day getting well? Or just that he violated probation for that head butt and won't be around?

Will Agent Walker beat the stuffing out of Wilson despite the fact that she looks like she weighs 89 pounds wet? Will one day be enough to explain the conspiracy that goes back to season 2?

I can't wait to see how they figure it all out.