NEW YORK (AP) — Jack Bauer and his long-estranged daughter, Kim, had a tearful reunion on "24."

They hadn't seen each other in several years, when woebegone Jack sent Kim away to spare her further misery as the daughter of the most put-upon patriot since Nathan Hale.

Now she's back (played by the comely-as-ever Elisha Cuthbert). But Jack (Kiefer Sutherland) wasn't happy about it.

"I am dying!" he seethed to the FBI agent who broke the news that Kim had returned. "Do not drag my daughter into this!"

That's right: Jack is dying. Jack was exposed to a deadly biochemical weapon. Now, through some sort of stem-cell therapy, his daughter might be able to save his life.

Nothing doing, Jack told Kim.

"I'm dying, and whatever small chance there is to stop that from happening is not worth the pain to let you sit there and watch me die," he said in an odd bit of circular reasoning (but, heck, he's starting to shake and hallucinate, so cut him some slack).

Kim's reappearance wasn't the episode's most notable development — not by a long shot.

Spoiler alert: Tony Almeida (played by Carlos Bernard) pulled yet another presto chango.

Two seasons ago, Jack's pal and counter-terrorist colleague had left the CTU, feeling betrayed by the U.S. government, then supposedly died. Then this season he re-emerged as a mercenary terrorist plotting against the government and going head-to-head against Jack. But then it turned out he was really working undercover, so he and Jack teamed up again like old times.

What will Jack say on finding out what viewers saw Monday — that (apparently) Tony is a terrorist after all, which he demonstrated in the episode's last moments by (apparently) suffocating FBI Agent Larry Moss. A guy this sneaky could have made it big on Wall Street!

FRAZIER MOORE
AP Television Writer

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