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Once again, Kiefer Sutherland rules in the most taut and exciting action show on series television
Once again, 24 kicks off its latest season with a four-hour two night event and being the 24 junkie that I am, it didn’t take long to suck up the first two hours in one manic, edge-of-the-seat sitting.
Of course, after I finish the review, I will watch the remaining two hours, but to be fair to this review of the first night (airing Sunday on Fox starting at 8:00 pm), I felt it was better to stop where I was at and review the show as viewers will experience it.
First off, all that can really be said about the writers and creators of this series is "Damn." This is fine television, still relevant, still exciting and still edge-of-your-seat thriller that does action better than any big budget theatrical action movie.
While you would think the writers would have completely run out of ideas, they manage to come up with new mechanisms and new threats every year that expand upon the themes that have populated this real-time drama since Season 1.
Picking up two years after Season 5, Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) has been released from his Chinese imprisonment/torture for very special reasons (none which will be revealed here). It’s a matter of life of death for our country and not surprising Bauer holds the key to saving our country yet again.
His release was aided by new president Wayne Palmer (DB Woodside), brother of former President David Palmer and a staunch Bauer ally from the beginning. Terrorist attacks have been happening at an alarming rate in the United States as the new season begins, and they know exactly who is causing them and must stop at nothing – even infringing on civil liberties to try to stop the bloodshed. It’s something Presidential advisor Thomas Lennox (Peter MacNicol) has been planning for and is pushing leading into the series.
It’s a radical approach to the series, which has always been about avoiding the big attack, but with Bauer out of the picture, it’s obvious the world needed Jack more than ever.
There are many new and returning faces to the series and some major romantic developments that have happened during the time Jack was being tortured. And Jack isn’t all himself either. As the first hour begins, he hasn’t spoken a word for nearly two years, so there’s been a lot of introspection going on in his head and certainly much pain that has reshaped the things he’s done in the past and perhaps could reshape what he does in the future.
How this will all play out in the coming season, is still one of many mysteries that will slowly unfold. One of the major questions still to be answered: What exactly was the big price that President Palmer paid to get Jack Bauer released from the Chinese? Also, with so many new characters, loyalties, good guys and bad guys are still being sorted out. And since the series is smart enough not to paint things in solid black and where most shows would wait a half a season before things are fully revealed), the first two hours gives a whole load of information before it’s over.
Another nice breath of fresh air is actually seeing the President in the White House, instead of conveniently in Los Angeles when a new attack is imminent. It should add to the flavor of the new season – but I wouldn’t be surprised if the President isn’t hopping a plane at some point during the season – it wouldn’t be 24 without the President and Jack Bauer having face-to-face time.
While in-fighting between characters and power struggles in the White House staff and CTU are obviously still very much a part of the show, and Jack going off and being a renegade is never going to cease, the series nonetheless feels as fresh as it did six years ago. It’s faster paced and it doesn’t pull any punches. And these two, four-hour kick-off episodes are designed in two, two-hour movie blocks to get you hooked right from the start. It’s some of the most exciting hours on television, and thank God the series has lasted so long and continues to get the ratings and credit it deserves – especially when it looked like after Season 1 the series might not last past a Season 2.
Credit the wonderful casting of the show, that manages to find fresh new and familiar faces to populate an ever-rotating cast of characters. Credit the producers for not being chicken to have more than one big adventure during a given season or afraid to kill off a major character to make a point. And credit Sutherland himself for being the dark, black heart of one damn fine show.
24 is the real deal – television at its finest that comments on the political climate and surroundings and makes us look at the dangerous world we live in with a very critical and ingenious set of eyes. It’s drama and action at its finest and you will be hard-pressed to find two better hours on television all season.
