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Airplanes make kissy-face, Tony Almeida continues to rule.

24/7 continues this week and, as always, some of it rocked and some of it not-so-rocked. So what rocked? What not-so-rocked? What rocked and not-so-rocked so much that it rocked my socks off? Read on!

What I Loved:

1. Welcome Back: Renee’s unburied within the opening minutes of the episode thanks to Shadow CTU operatives Bill and Chloe. Good to see them back after being benched in the previous episode.

2. Tony’s Got Moves Pt. 1: Tony has to take a shot at his friend/terrorist David Emerson, who has taken Jack hostage. Jack had to do this last season against his old pal Curtis Manning, who he shot and killed to protect an important terrorist witness. What does Tony do? He squeezes in a money shoulder wound to Emerson. There ya go Tony, freeing your friend without having to — oh, wait. Jack just shot him in the throat. Ah, what can ya do.

3. D is for Dubaku Pt. 1: Ike Dubaku is one of the more enjoyable 24 villains in quite a while. Unlike this idiot Emerson, Dubaku isn’t taking risks. He tells his underlings to kill Emerson’s entire crew — which includes Jack and Tony — after they recover the Sengalan prime minister. Now that’s a bad guy I can get behind!

4. Tony’s Got Moves Pt. 2: Whoawhoawhoa. Did Tony facilitate Emerson’s death? The dude was definitely on the way out, but I got the sense that Tony pushed him along. If he did, was it a mercy killing? Or was he pissed that Emerson wouldn’t accept his apology? I’m really digging the new Tony.

5. D is for Dubaku Pt. 2: This is getting to be a habit. Look, I just dig some characters, alright?! And Dubaku further shows how righteous he is by crashing two airplanes right above the nation’s capital. This guy means business.

6. Hello Madame President!: Alright, thank you, Allison Taylor! It took long enough to get a peak into your real character. Taylor is still a little flat, but her unwavering stance on the Sengalan crisis at least shows she has real backbone. It was nice to hear her justify that position to the rest of her cabinet. Let’s just try and get some more personality out of her, and she may yet have potential.

7. Shadow CTU Reunion: One of the reasons why Shadow CTU is so awesome is that they’re constantly on the field. This is the second time this season that Bill has been out of the “office,” if you can even call it that. In previous seasons, we’d have to wait through several episodes for something like that. Great to see these four working together. Not to mention…

8. Reserve Player: Renee is sorta kinda on the shadow squad now, though she doesn’t have much say in the matter. I dig the character and hope she can get on board with Bill and the gang before too long. Four is a solid number, but five shadow operatives would be that much better. Plus, anything she can do to make Larry Moss freak out and cry some more. Really.

9. Tooth Fairy: Chloe puts a transmitter in the Prime Minister’s tooth. Five bucks says that someone’s gonna try and yank that tooth out in the next two episodes. Get in touch if you wanna take that action. Also, nice nod to Chloe’s motherhood status, which was set up at the end of season six. Does that mean Morris is at home watching the baby right now? Where the crap is that raisin-headed chap anyhow?

10. Chirp Chirp Chirp: Shh! Be quiet — do you hear that? That’s the sound of little-to-no FBI plot line in this episode. Ah… sweet, sweet satisfaction.

11. Headshot: Jacky boy’s always had a killer arsenal, but his sniper rifle at the end of this episode is just way too cool. Maybe my favorite Bauer gun in the series. I gotta look that up.

12. Tony’s Got Moves Pt. 3: This guy has real patience. Tony’s about to get iced by Dubaku’s men, and after Bauer picks off all but one, Tony tells the guy to just hit the road and they’ll go their separate ways. Now, maybe this is why I’m not a covert agent, but I would’ve probably killed that dude, or at least shot him in the butt or something. Not Tony. He’s a man of great discipline. Must be that soul patch.

13. Who Called the Ghostbusters?: Did anyone notice that hilarious boogeyman riff when Dubaku’s henchman took off with the Prime Minister in tow? It felt like listening to cheesy ’70s Halloween music. Super awesome.

14. Begin: With one word, Dubaku chillingly sets up the next episode. Will that order spiral directly into the next installment or will it play out over several weeks? Hopefully it means that next week will be chalk-full of craziness. That would be great.

15. MVP: New feature! This week’s most valuable player award goes to Tony Almeida who proves that he can at least stand toe-to-toe with Jack Bauer, if not surpass him. He’s got a deadshot aim, might be a mercy killer or a straight up d-bag, and he’s got the resolve of a bearded Buddha. Welcome back to 24, Mr. Almeida.

What I Hated:

1. Larry Moss: Recurring theme here, I guess. Even though Larry only has one scene, it was annoying as phark. Hop off Billy Walsh’s nuts, Larry. He’s just trying to be a good, supportive pal. Larry needs to turn up the a-hole attitude without coming off as whiny, and then I’ll lay off his skinny keester.

2. LAME: Okay, the Almeida resurrection thing is going way too far. I’m glad that Tony’s back from the dead — see above MVP status — but chill out with all the crazy explanations. So, Henderson meant to jab a hypodermic needle to slow Tony’s heart down? Wasn’t trying to kill him? Seems a little convenient, since Tony came at Henderson with the needle, not the other way around. Just leave it be, writers. Tony’s back, you explained it pretty well already, don’t beat a dead horse. Taking it way too far.

3. Shut up Shawshank!: Every episode, President Taylor and Chief of Staff Shawshank Redemption Warden bicker back and forth about whether they need to pull out of Sengala or listen to the terrorist demands. Could you guys just shut up? Please? Just be quiet and not have the same conversation every episode? Maybe try being interesting, compelling characters instead? Possibly? You’ll try? Thanks.

4. I Don’t Believe in Ule Matobo: Hey, Prime Minister Matobo. You seem like a good guy. You’re willing to sacrifice your own life and your wife’s to protect Sengala. But then JB rolls along and you’re not prepared to do whatever he says? Just look into his eyes! That’s a real American hero right there! Even your wife knows! Just play along with whatever Jack tells you to do. He’s got your back. So listen up, broheim.

5. Stupid Gitch Pt. 1: If you’ve been reading this column, then you know by now that I hate Agent Gitch. What follows for the rest of this article is a barrage of hate-spewage directed straight at Agent Gitch. First off, it takes so freaking long for his plan to go into effect. We don’t even see him until almost 40 minutes into the episode, which means his plan has taken over an hour to start. Terrible 24 bad guy. He should have that shiz in lockdown within 20 minutes.

6. Stupid Gitch Pt. 2: By the way, I found out that his name is Gedge, not Gitch. Which makes me hate him even more. I’ll keep calling him Gitch.

7. Stupid Gitch Pt. 3: Gah! Damn you, Gitch! Killing super hot Samantha! Ruthless, ruthless idiot! She was so hot! Dammit! Grrrrrrrihateyoustupidgitch

8. Stupid Gitch Pt. 4: Straight out of Melrose Place, Henry Taylor tackles Gitch and the two fall off a balcony. Gitch breaks the fall and dies, while Taylor rolls over and all is okay. So… he’s dead? Gitch is dead? That’s it? Well… well, okay! That’s, that’s great! That’s awesome… I’m so happy…

9. LVP: New feature! Given the unbridled Gitch bashing, you’d think he’d wind up in this category. Guess again. Henry Taylor is this week’s loser. Why, you ask? Well, he killed Gitch, and as much as I hated the character, I kind of enjoyed hating him. Now he’s gone and I’ll have forgotten about him in a week or two. I mourn the loss. Plus, look at Taylor’s stupid hat, pictured right. (Alright, alright, you caught me. That’s Julius Caesar.)

Come back every Tuesday morning for new installments of 24 Things I Hate/Love About 24!