I don’t know why I’ve had a hard time this week writing about 24.

I think it’s a combination of factors:

Tony is so utterly bad (unless he’s not) – boo! Chloe’s back – yay! Jack’s dying – boo! Jack went off on Janis Gold (otherwise known as Grimace, in some circles) – yay! Larry’s still dead – sorry, best I can do is neutral on that one. I only liked him for about 5 minutes before he was killed.

I can’t believe that Jack is going to die, and I assume that Kim is giving blood or spinal fluid or stem cells or whatever it is that she needs to donate in order to save Daddy, despite what he said. At least she’s no longer with Pony Boy.

Jack cannot die from mad cow. There’s another season to go.

There’s still a chance Tony might still be good, but I doubt it.

Chloe is totally Chloe, which makes me happy. But I also hate Mary Lynn Rajskub for looking that good so soon after having a baby.

Janis must be stopped. I don’t think she’s the mole, though. Unfortunately. It would be really sweet if she were.

But I realized Monday night how desperately Jack misses David Palmer. And how very much I, as a viewer, miss the character. He may well be the best president this country’s ever had.

Sure, Jack has mad cow and is slightly insane right now. But the reason he said Palmer’s name is that he knows Palmer would trust him, Palmer would know that if he said to do something, it needed to be done. And he also feels incredibly guilty for vouching for Tony.

Jack is at a crossroads.

Whatever happens at the end of this season, Jack will never be the same.

Next season will be different, even though CTU’s supposed to return. Jack can’t do this anymore. He’s given absolutely everything to his country and all that’s happened in return is that everything he’s ever cared about has been taken away, except for Chloe. She’s all he has left.

I remember when Chloe first started, she annoyed the crap out of me, as well as many other 24 fans. But she grew on you, like mold, in large part because of her unflinching loyalty to Jack. No one has ever had Jack’s back more than Chloe.

If Jack were to die, I truly believe Chloe would feel the loss deeper than anyone, even Kim.

Have faith, Chloe. We love you, almost as much as we love Jack.

P.S. I cannot take credit for coining “moozure” – it was, of course, my pal Adam over at The Jack Sack, who came up with that one on the fly Monday night. If you’ve never joined our liveblog over at Blogs.4Bauer.com, you’re really missing out. If you can’t watch and join in our liveblog at the same time, that’s what DVRs are for.