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WARNING: Contains details about 24 episodes that have already aired in North America

The first several episodes of the second season of 24 -- the primary plot of which seems, so far, to be the threat of a nuclear bomb going off somewhere in Los Angeles -- involved the efforts of Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) to infiltrate an anti-government militia group thought to be responsible for planting the bomb. Jack is successful in getting into "Wald's crew"; a few episodes go by with Jack getting involved in some pretty heavy shit, all in the name of finding his way to the big boss, Wald. He even kills Wald's whole crew before making his way to the pivotal meeting with Wald. The Big Bad! A crazy bomber ordering around other crazy bombers! The man so high up in the terrorist organization that he's insulated from the planting of the first bombs, safely ensconced away from the operation! Wald! Wait -- so if Wald is so big and scary and important, why is he being played by Jon Gries?

Playing Wald represents a major promotion for Jon Gries; it's several rungs up the criminal ladder from the sorts of minor scumbags Gries usually plays. Crooks? Sure. And losers. And crooked losers. But crooked losers on the level of Dylan's heroin dealer on 90210. And as for being in charge of anything...well, sure, Jon Gries can handle your rickshaw (Seinfeld), or chauffeur a van full of really illegal aliens (Men in Black). We had no idea he had the wherewithal to bomb a government building. Only when 24's supposedly formidable Wald gets scared shitless, flees from Jack, barricades himself in a concrete bunker, and blows his brains out, does it become clear that Wald is, after all, a textbook Jon Gries role.

Though Gries is recognizable from his many roles as low-level functionaries in the thugocracy of organized crime, he has developed a sideline, in recent years, playing a weasel of a different kind: yes, lawyers. In Twin Falls Idaho, Gries advised a prostitute who'd been hired for a naughty weekend by a pair of conjoined twins. On ER, he defended Sally Field from commitment to a psychiatric institution. But it's fitting that he came back as a criminal capo on 24: if Wald had to be a towering figure who then proved not to live up to all his hype, turning coward, selling out his associates, and dying unmourned, Jon Gries is the man for the job. It's just too bad the 24 scribes couldn't figure out a way to get Wald to compound his treason by ripping off an official CIA rickshaw.