The following review takes place between 6:51 a.m. and 7:13 a.m. Words are written in real time...

This was one of the weaker episodes of season nine. For starters, far too much time was dedicated to Dana's weak B storyline.

Granted, any number of seconds is really too much to spend on yet another example of how terrible a screening process CTU has for its employees, but the 10 p.m. hour actually went to commercial twice on this development. The suspense of the ticking clock doesn't exactly build when the only thing at stake is Dana's job.

The show really needs to end this storyline or somehow tie it into the bigger picture, and soon. How many more weeks does it plan on going with everyone at CTU - Hastings, Chloe and Arlo - wondering why Dana is so distracted?

As for Renee, we'd have wagered a month's salary on her murdering Vladimir at some point, so at least 24 didn't drag out this obvious development for too long. We also didn't see her stabbing of Jack coming, so that made for a nice surprise.

His recoery didn't, of course. It's gonna take more than one knife wound to keep Jack Bauer down! It doesn't get much better than watching him remove a knife from his own body and fling it directly into the neck of a terrorist across the room.

Or shoot blindly through a wall and kill another.

It does make us wonder where these bad guys were when Jack initially ran in to see about the commotion between Renee and Vlaid, but that curiosity was quickly eclipsed by Hastings' hilarious reaction to Renee killing Vladimir:

She had sex with him 30 minutes ago. I don't understand!

First, did we miss something? How, exactly, did Hastings know about Renee's romp on the couch in Vlad's office?

Second, get a clue Mr. Hastings! You just recruited this former spy and FBI agent out of nowhere; thrust her into a nuclear situation despite her unbalanced mental state; and the one thing that causes you confusion is how she can sleep with a bad guy one moment and stab him the next? You clearly don't know women, or 24.

We were happy to see Jack and Renee switch places, at least, as he's the one we want to watch in the center of the action.

It seemed rather convenient that there was a tunnel leading straight to Vlad's headquarters and that CTU would be unaware of that fact - but we can roll with whatever allows Jack to overcome another interrogation session and kill lots of bad guys.

Our favorite development from the hour involved Hassan. He's growing into a layered character, far more interesting that the drama's usual, one-dimensional villains. His paranoid transformation is going along nicely and actually makes sense for someone in his position.

We'd love to spend more time with him than Dana and her ex-boyfriend. Heck, we'd love to spend more time with our mother-in-law than Dana and her ex-boyfriend.

Hopefully, 24 will eliminate that storyline soon and focus more on the fragile peace talks and Jack's enemy infiltration. That would get this season back on track nicely.

What did you think of the episode?

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