renee walker is the new jack bauer.

*SPOILERS AHEAD (but only of previously-aired "24" episodes)*

I'm not a diehard fan of "24," and have lost interest during some of the past years, whenever the storyline gets less personal and more political. But this season, with the return of old boss Bill Buchanan, the formerly-dead Tony Almeida, and my personal favorite, the still awesomely awkward hack-master Chloe O'Brian, I have been pretty rivited.

My favorite part of this season is probably one of its new characters: FBI agent Renee Walker. I knew I was going to like her from the moment she gave Jack the go-ahead to do whatever he needed to do to get whatever information they needed from whatever forgettable subsidiary bad guy they had in the first episode. Then when Jack and Walker went after Tony together, they proved to be a great team. Finally, Jack has a female sidekick who isn't a traitor (Nina), a bit socially retarded (Chloe), or compelled to constantly speak in a half-whisper while making brooding faces (Tony, who still seems to be bitter he lost out on that Batman role to Christian Bale... and yes, I just called him a girl).

Sure, she works for a real government agency rather than an imaginary one, and she may betray more emotion than mere urgency, showing us a few weeks ago that she really "feels pain," but other than that, Agent Walker has a lot in common with Jack. She goes after the bad guys alone when her boss tells her not to. She's narrowly escaped death time and time again--even after being shot in the neck and burried alive. She even shed her her suit for an edgier jeans-and-jacket ensemble. And most importantly, she doesn't seem to mind a little light torture. She does what she has to do to get the job done.

I'm hoping for a little Walker-Bauer romance before the day is out, because whatever relationship they've been hinting at between Rene and her FBI boss seems super boring, and the FBI boss seems super shady. But even if they don't go that way, I'm stoked she's a part of the show. I hope they let her survive the season.