Bauer by Hour: A Radioactive Episode

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Matt Swenson is really impressed with this season of "24."

The following takes place between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m.

Spoiler alert!!!!!!

YOU DON'T NEED to be a "Simpsons" fan to know about Fallout Boy.

After all, there's a popular band named after the sidekick made famous by one Milhouse Van Houton. Somehow lost in the shuffle, though, has been the "Batman" to Milhouse's "Robin" — namely Radioactive Man.

This comes to mind after yet another stellar episode of "24," in which one of two selfless acts by Jack Bauer includes our hero going in unprotected to stop a leak from a weapon of mass destruction.

How did Jack get this WMD?

Oh, he just stole it from same bad guys at an Alexandria port with the help of Tony Almeida.

(Aside here, the music before the big shootout sounded like it came from "Star Wars." All we needed was Emperor Palpatine.)

Alas, Jack is no Bart Simpson, as in he's no superhero. He's weakened as you might expect just as the bad guys catch up and take back the nuke via helicopter.

So there's a nuke on the loose, Jack may begin to glow or develop a third eye and, les we forget, Tony has been taken hostage by Jon Voight's henchmen.

Can Larry Moss save the day? Oh, boy. Let's go to the minutes.

» MAN OF THE PEOPLE: We said there were two selfless acts by Jack this week. The second — well, actually it happened first but is less important in this blog — was Jack living up to his word and shooting an evil-doer just to save some schmuck patrol officer who made a deal with the bad guys when he thought they were just stealing electronics. To be clear, saving the guy let the rest of the bad guys know Jack was there and turned a "surveillance mission into a firefight," as Tony bemoaned.

» STAR TREK: Anyone remember "Enterprise"? It was the really bad by "Star Trek" show that not even Scott Bakula could save. Either way, the afore-mentioned patrol officer played "Trip" on that show. Too bad the uber-hot Jolene Blalock doesn't get a cameo on "24."

» BYE GEORGE: This, of course, is not the first time a major character has been exposed to radioactive energy. The first, and best, case of this was when George Mason saved Day Two in the series history. He then later one went on to fly a nuke into the desert so Jack could live to fight another day.

» DISMISSED: To our surprise, the president's chief of staff, who was the evil warden in "" did resign just like the trailer made it seem. Score one for the cat-like president's daughter, who, as we thought, did tip off the media about the chief of staff's mistakes to force him to quit.

» MIA: Kim Bauer isn't there but you have to think a radioactive father may bring her out of the woodwork. Naked Mandy would be great for Starkwood (Jon Voight's evil group) but they haven't enlisted her skills yet.

» WHY THIS SHOW IS "24" AND YOURS ISN'T MOMENT: Back to when Jack saved the patrol office, Tony noted a gunfight would be two against 10. Right before Jack shoots the one bad guy, he corrects Tony that it would two against nine. Jack always uses his head.