To listen to Slate's Spoiler Special about the first four hours of Season 6 of 24, click the play button on the player below:  

You can also click here *  to download the MP3 file, or you can subscribe to the Spoiler Special podcast feed in iTunes by clicking here. 

"Four hours, two nights, one-dimensional" is how Slate's TV critic Troy Patterson described the opening episodes of 24's sixth season. Sure, Jack Bauer's superhuman feats defy credibility, many of the plot twists are preposterous, and that endless tick-tock is stressful—yet for many viewers, the show is addictive.

Is the new series too didactic? Do the characters on 24 ever crack a smile? Should we feel guilty for enjoying the show? In the first of what we hope will be regular "post-view" discussions of Season 6, Slate's Meghan O'Rourke, June Thomas, and Julia Turner tackle these and many other questions.

Because we reveal plot twists in these chats, we recommend—but don't insist—that you watch the show before listening to the program.

Here are links to our previous Spoiler Specials:
Notes on a Scandal
Dreamgirls
Casino Royale
Sleeper Cell
The History Boys
Fur
Borat
30 Rock
The Prestige
Marie Antoinette
The Departed
The Black Dahlia
Snakes on a Plane
World Trade Center
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
Miami Vice
Scoop
Lady in the Water
My Super Ex-Girlfriend
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
The Devil Wears Prada

* To download the MP3 file, right-click (Windows) or hold down the Control key while you click (Mac), and then use the "save" or "download" command to save the audio file to your hard drive.