Another "24'' casualty: R.I.P. Robert Tippett

It was a double ''Damnit!'' night – one from Jack, one equally good from the Prez – but the real exclamation point came with that ''Holy crap!!!'' after the van Jonas Hodges was in was blown to smithereens just as he was about to be a free man.

Sigh. So much for one of ''24's'' most compelling villains.

But on the bright side, at least ol' JoHo doesn't have to go through the rest of his life with his new Federal Witness Protection Program name of Robert Tippett. Anybody who deals in bio weapons and bashes people to death with liquor decanters is so not a Bob.

But I had the feeling something bad was going to happen during that rather ominous transport scene, didn't you? I was bracing for sniper fire, not a car bomb. But then again, didn't see that mirror becoming a deadly weapon, either.

So is the Prez's super-annoying daughter responsible for JoHo's demise? She made all the shady arrangements to put a hit out on him, but when it came time to transfer the funds to activate the kill, she eventually hit ''Cancel'' not ''Execute'' on her computer. (Felt a little bit like a scene from ''You've Got Mail''/''My Best Friend's Wedding'' there for a couple of seconds, didn't it?)

The poor girl was genuinely freaked out when she got word of what happened, so she thinks she's responsible, but is she? Remember last week, when she made that off-the-cuff comment to poor, two-lines-an-episode Aaron that short of killing JoHo there was really nothing he could do to help her.

But would Aaron really have taken that comment and run with it? Doubtful. Although you couldn't blame him if he was so bored by his current duties – opening and closing doors for the Prez's daughter – that he decided to spice things up. There have been no lack of smoke-and-mirrors camera shots implying there might be something up with Aaron, but that’s an old ''24'' trick (that still works).

We still don’t know who the mastermind is behind the bio weapons. We learned nothing new about the Dirty Dozen introduced last week as the next layer of string pullers. I'm still betting on Prez Logan to show up somewhere in this whole thing.

In other non-developments, Tony is STILL evil.

He showed no mercy toward poor Jibraan – the innocent citizen who is being made the fall guy for the upcoming attack on a subway station -- and his brother, Hamid. But did you notice at the start of the episode how gingerly he took the duct tape off Jibraan's mouth? Come on, a guy who violently suffocated Larry Moss to death and blew up a bunch of FBI agents would've ripped off the tape! I'm reaching, I know, but maybe there's still some good somewhere in Tony?

Anybody tear up when Chloe learned that Jack is dying? It was a touching scene between two longtime friends -- with some seriously good lip pouting from Chloe – but not quite weepy worthy.

As we head into the final three hours, it looks like Jack isn't going to get that quick miracle cure from Kimbo before the day’s over – although, the chronic boomerang that she is, she appears to be coming back. Again. We obviously know he doesn't die before 8 a.m., because he's back for Season 8.

On the "Late Show with David Letterman'' last week, Letterman wasted all kinds of prime "24'' dishing time by talking to Kiefer Sutherland about things like being a dad and a grandpa. Dave is obviously not a watcher. Kiefer said viewers automatically assume his character is going to make it, but implied maybe he could be in a coma for hours next season. Nice try with the tease, Kief, but what fun would that be?

Speaking of next season, Entertainment Weekly has reported that it will be set in New York City and that CTU will rise from the ashes.

"But this isn't the CTU of the past – it's a CTU set five minutes in the future,'' say exec producer Howard Gordon.

Jack's back, along with Chloe, Prez Taylor and Freckles ("Some part of her past will be necessary in the context of the next crisis,'' Gordon says). Anil Kapoor, the sleazy game show host in "Slumdog Millionaire,'' will join the cast as a Middle East leader.

That all sounds fine and good, but what about Tony?!?!

-- Kendra Meinert, kmeinert@greenbaypressgazette.com