The following 24 review takes place between 6:37 a.m. and 6:52 a.m. Words are written in real time...

For about 20 minutes early on last night's episode of 24, we forgot all about the Cole and Dana storyline. Jack was figuring out a plan to trap the terrorists, Hassan was freaking out over his daughter and all seemed right in the 24 world.

We were happy, relieved, invested in the happenings... and then the scene shifted back to the New Jersey swamp and we let out an audible sigh.

Is this the end for the couple? We don't care. How will they cover up their absence when they return to CTU? We don't care. Can Freddie Prince Jr. talk in a believable Brooklyn accent? No, but we don't care!

The show desperately needs a major character to die in order to shake things up and we vote for either Dana or Cole. Ideally, this B storyline would have involved Dana's return to her former dark side and her killing of Cole. That would have given it some juice at least. Alas.

This episode did feature more of Hassan, which was a positive development. We expected his head security guard to reveal himself as an actual terrorist, and we still expect this to be the end result, but it's not a bad storyline to slow play a bit.

Anything that features Hassan and President Taylor over Dana and Cole is a good thing.

As for CTU, it's clear that a move to New York hasn't helped this shoddy operation very much. In Cole's absence, Jack leads a team that resemble middle-schoolers. Why did they lack field experience, as Jack said in his attempt to comfort Owen?

This does seem to be an important organization. You'd think it would hire the best of the best.

But at least Jack is the center of the action again. We just need that action to pick up. Find the nuclear rods, have someone important die, shift the narrative to a new storyline like 24 does halfway through each season.

This one really isn't going anywhere particularly unique or fascinating. Do you agree? Or, again, are we being too harsh on the show?

Matt Richenthal is the Editor in Chief of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter and on Google+.