Just a few hours left. Will the peace treaty be signed? Probably, sure. Will Jack Bauer, having saved the world, be hauled away in chains? Probably. No James-Bond end for him, with the beautiful woman and the fade to credits. Then again, I don't think he's really in the mood.

Some observations about last night's festival of merriment:

12:06 Sometimes you realize that it's noon, and no one's having lunch. Anywhere. No one has ever had lunch. You're telling me CTU has no cafeteria? No one brings in Jimmy Johns? It may be so high-tech that feeding tubes deploy from the chairs, and use super-thin needles to inject sustaining nutriments into the buttock of the computer jockeys. Yes, that's it.

12:08 Where did Agent Supermodel come from? CTU is hiring from Project Runway now? like the way she does the heel to toe catwalk stalk. See if she has computer skills. Specifically, whether she can open a socket and override the protocols.

12:14 Wondering when the parole officer stuffed in the wall will start to smell.

12:25 President Twitchy McNixon has signed off on the shooting of an American journalist by a Russian assassin. Since it's the last season, this means he will be dealt some Bauer-style comeuppance, but I can't imagine Jack will shoot him. That's hard to explain away. History usually requires that most Presidential assassins have a name, preferably three.

Maybe the other 364 days were fun.

What is Jack's real, full name, anyway? John Herkimer Bauer? Jonathan Agent Bauer?

12:35 Three - no, four job openings at CTU off-book Ultra Murder Secret Kill Squad. Qualifications: must not be so FLIPPIN' OBVIOUS when you're trying to shoot someone, like striding with great purpose while digging in your coat.

12:47 It's obvious the Russian assassin did something with his cellphone when he dropped it. But what? Activated the secret homing beacon? Texted his wife he'll be late for supper? It was so obvious we could see it at home, but Michael Madsen couldn't.

12:52 I think Jack just extracted a guy's tooth through his stomach.

12:53 Lemon juice? He had lemon juice handy?

12:54 Oh. Not lemon juice. The appearance of Mr. Blowtorch has just set a new standard for "24" interrogations, I believe.

12:58 I stand corrected. About new standards and the cellphone. Suggested Sprint ad campaign: we're not saying you'll need to worry about whether our phone cards can stand up to gastric acid. But if it happens, you're covered.

That was grim business, but we're en route to an ending with all the usual ambiguities. How do I know? Because there's a movie coming, and they have to give us something to look for. More on the movie, and an interview with the executive producer about the show and its final days, here.