’24: Live Another Day’ Review: “8:00 P.M. — 9:00 P.M.”

Last week's episode of '24: Live Another Day' was one of the best episodes of the entire series, so how exactly do you follow that up? Read on for our recap and review of "8:00 P.M. -- 9:00 P.M."!

THE EPISODE:

Kate answers her phone from the scene of Jordan's murder and Jack tells her all about Navarro. He requests back-up and she agrees to send him some.

Navarro arranges to meet Cross at a nearby station. Chloe asks what's going on and Cross tells her. Yates didn't design the device. He did, and he wants it back. Chloe is aghast, but Cross assures her that it will save lives. When everyone has access to everyone else's weapons, no one will fight. He admits to selling information to the Chinese to fund its construction. Chloe is not happy about this, to say the least.

Jack spots Navarro on the street, so the former CIA boss knocks out a nearby soldier, takes his assault rifle and tries to kill Jack again. Jack dives behind cover and Navarro flees. They chase each other for awhile and it's all fairly exciting. Navarro loses Jack.

Navarro reaches the meeting place and calls Cross. He's told to slide the device through an opening in a nearby construction barrier. An envelope with a passport is waiting for him, but the car that was promised is not there. Cross hangs up, stranding Navarro. Jack and his back-up arrive, cornering Navarro and allowing Jack to apprehend him. When he notices that the device is gone, he runs into the station. He notices Chloe and Cross on board a subway just as it departs.

A few minutes later, Jack learns that they pulled the emergency brake and got away. Jack calls Kate and fills her in on Cross. Kate asks if Chloe is working with him and Jack says he doesn't know.

At the CIA station, Eric takes over Navarro's job and Kate asks another techie to dig into Jordan's work, just in case they find something helpful.

Heller talks with Audrey: Air Force One is ready to go and he's prepared to step down from the Presidency. On cue, Mark comes in with an emergency call from Eric, who explains that the device is more dangerous than they thought. Heller orders him to give Eric whatever he wants to break Navarro.

The CIA techie fills Kate in on what he's learned: Navarro was the one who sold secrets to the Chinese and he personally framed her husband. Just then, Navarro is led into the building and Kate runs to confront him. Eric stops her and orders her to go to her office. Jack tells Eric he wants to interrogate Navarro and gets the go-ahead. In typical Jack fashion, he responds with "I wasn't asking. I was being courteous."

In the interrogation room, Jack lays it all out for Navarro. He's looking at the death penalty but he may have the charges lessened if he cooperates. Navarro says he can find the device, but he demands full immunity for helping them. Jack, being Jack, says "Full immunity is not on the table, but your hand is!" and proceeds to smash Navarro's hand to bits with his gun. Guards storm in and pull Jack off Navarro and take him to medical.

Outside, Kate yells at Eric for even considering giving Navarro immunity. She and Jack share a telling look. Something is about to go down.

Mark orders his aide to write an immunity agreement for Navarro and meets with Audrey in his office. She apologizes for snapping at him, but that's not good enough for Mark. He knows she has unresolved feelings for Jack and demands to know where they stand. After Audrey storms off, Mark calls the Russian ambassador and gives him a code that will let them track Jack's phone.

Cross and Chloe reach their escape vehicle, but she grabs the device and makes a run for it. Cross pulls a gun and shoots, scaring her and getting her to stop. He orders her back into the car, her plan doing nothing but confirming that Chloe is still on the side of the good guys.

Navarro is geting his hand bandaged when Kate enters with a gun. She disarms the guard and punches Navarro, threatening to kill him. Jack enters and Navarro begs him to stop Kate, saying that he put a tracker on the device. Jack immediately relays the information to their techie buddy. Their plan worked. Kate promises Navarro that he's going to be executed for treason and promises that she'll be there to watch.

Heller is meeting with his military advisors when Mark enters with the immunity agreement. Heller tells him they don't need it anymore: they have the location of the device and Jack is leading the mission to get it back. Mark realizes he's made a huge mistake.

Jack and Kate drive to intercept the device and Kate has a heart-to-heart. Her husband only killed himself after she stopped believing he was innocent. Jack responds by recapping the final stretch of season eight, where he killed half of Russia to avenge his lover.

Chloe and Cross arrive at Open Cell's new location and see that everyone has been executed. Armed men enter and they're led by Chang, the evil Chinese government stooge last seen torturing Jack and Audrey during the events of seasons five and six (Chloe fills Cross, and us, in on the relevant details). It seems that he paid for the creation of the device and doesn't want Cross giving it away for free. Chang orders Chloe to break into a US military database of some kind (technical talk!) and shoots Cross in the leg to ensure her cooperation.

Mark calls the Russian ambassador and begs them to call off his men and not apprehend Bauer ... but no one is answering.

Chloe gets the Chinese what they want and they push her aside. Cross, knowing that he's not long for this world, confesses to Chloe that her family was not murdered. It was actually an accident and he lied to her to keep her working for him. Since he has nothing else to add to the plot, Chang decides that he's done with Cross and shoots him in the head.

Jack and Kate close in on the location of the device, but a truck comes out of nowhere and slams into their car. They crawl out of the wreckage and suddenly find themselves in a gunfight with heavily armed men speaking Russian.

Chang and his men use the device to send an order to a U.S. nuclear sub.

On board the sub, they read the order: they have to fire torpedoes at a nearby Chinese aircraft carrier.

From London, Chang and a horrified Chloe watch as the torpedoes find their target. Whatever Chang is planning, it's working.

OUR REVIEW:

Although new '24' fans will undoubtedly enjoy this episode, it's a smorgasbord of goodness for old school fans, offering up closure to events from almost a decade ago. Bringing Chang, a villain first introduced back in season 5, into the fold is a silly choice, but it's also kind of perfect. If this is going to be the last we see of Jack Bauer, at least he'll get a chance to tie up (and kill) one of the biggest loose ends from the rest of the series.

'24' has never been big on theme, but Chang's sudden reappearance has thematic resonance, too. This season has been all about Jack's past coming back to haunt him and you can now add his, uh, labored history with the Chinese to Heller, Audrey and the Russians on the list of things and people that Jack has done everything possible to ruin. With all of these sins coming back to haunt him, it's tough to imagine this season ending without Jack (or someone close to him) meeting their maker.

Of course, all of that comes on top of another hour of wacky action, sneering bad guys and some really excellent Bauer-isms. Even when it's being thematically tidy, '24' is still '24.'