Sorry for the delay folks. Yesterday, I was feeling like Jack’s backup Tac Team — dead. Much better today and rarin’ to go.

So to pick up from yesterday’s item to ponder, I have to ask: What is up with Muppet Baby Palmer?

I actually was shocked (and it takes a lot to shock a veteran “24” viewer) when I saw the nuclear launch had already taken place and it wasn’t going to take place in the next hour, as things are wont to do.

But Muppet Baby Palmer launching nukes? I think he’s totally hopped up on adrenaline and the folks who just fought to keep him in charge may be in the unenviable position of now trying to get him out of power. Of course, Daniels is no better. Or maybe he is. He actually believes in bombing the Mideast to glass. Palmer is so juiced that he probably can’t even remember his name, never mind that he just ordered the nuking of an unnamed country in the Middle East. Love the previews where it showed him freaking out and banging on the table a la Nikita Kruschev, but without the shoe. Or perhaps, as Adam on The Jack Sack opines, Palmer is about to turn green and grunt while smashing apart a room.

How much did you just want to plant a wet one on Tom Lennox when you found out he’d bugged Daniels’ office? C’mon, just a little bit? He’s gone from pretty much my least favorite character of the season (OK, I liked Sandra even less, but she’s beginning to redeem herself by not whining so much) to one of my favorites. He actually is what he says he is — someone who has the country’s best interests at heart. He’s like a Mike Novick of sorts.

But when they were voting on whether to keep Muppet Baby as president, did you have flashbacks to Season Two, with the 25th amendment invoked and David Palmer out of the loop? That, of course, was when we first were introduced to Secret Service Agent extraordinaire, Aaron Pierce. Ahh, the good old days.

So anyway, I’m anxiously awaiting next week’s episode when we see the results of them nuking … wherever the heck it is they’re nuking.

Meanwhile on Monday’s episode, another shocker was Gredenko chopping off his arm. I figured when Jack went into the room that perhaps they were in the ceiling tiles (a favorite hiding place, going all the way back to the infamous Breakfast Club scene where Judd Nelson crashes through the library ceiling) and were going to drop down on Jack or something like that. I knew it couldn’t be as simple as that, but I just couldn’t figure it out. Then. They. Showed. The. Arm! OMG (ya know, no matter who says that and why, it just sounds like a Valley Girl), that’s definitely a contingency CTU was not prepared for. When they made such a big deal about how he couldn’t just get rid of the tracer, it seemed a bit weird, but I went with it. Afterward, it seemed obvious why they’d done that. Question: Is Gredenko going to go out with the tide? When will they find that out? Episode 23?

I actually giggled when Gredenko sold Fayed out in the middle of this bar on the Santa Monica Pier (oh, by the way — Culver City to the Santa Monica Pier in 10 minutes? What? That’s Mapquest estimated time, not real-life time in the LA metro area).

The bad thing about Fayed being sold out is that he actually had a plan as to where he wanted to use the nukes and how. Plans can be disrupted, foiled, ruined. The guy who seemed to be his second-in-command, who now has the nukes in his possession, doesn’t give a fig about plans. He just wants to nuke anything, anywhere, doesn’t care how or who. Should be interesting to see what happens w/the nukes now. Fayed’s not going to give up any intel and now the plan that was in play is totally out the window. Only Jack can save the world now!

But, of course, he might be out of commission, as per the preview. Or is he? Now, I love Jack; he’s the tops. But even Kiefer has admitted it would be an incredible shocker if Jack died. Not that I think he’s going to. But they are kind of lining up Doyle to be Jack, part deux.

Doyle’s “I’m still looking for my answers” convo with Nadia was a joke, tho. But very 24 in its ham-handedness.

Speaking of Nadia, why on earth is she interested in Milo? But for those of you waiting for it (TheJackSack, for one), Nadia did smile. Admittedly, she did smile at Milo, but beggars can’t be choosers.

Oh, but I still believe Milo is a mole. I don’t think he “forgot” to do whatever the hell it was that he supposedly forgot to do. I think he did it on purpose so the system would be compromised. And I think he hoped Nadia would get blamed for it. Even though he has the hots for her. He felt kind of badly that she was being blamed, but not so badly.

MILO IS A MOLE. How? Why? Huh? None of that matters. All that matters is that he’s a mole. I can feel it deep down in my bones.

And with that, my friends, I leave you until next week — when Remote Access hosts the Carnival of Bauer!

All photos by Kelsey McNeal, courtesy of Fox.