24 is one of those series that is dangerously perfect for DVD. I watched the series as it aired for the first time last year. The previous seasons I soaked up via the DVD box sets. I say dangerously perfect because once you start one of these box sets it will monopolize your life until you’ve finished it. I remember when I picked up season one I watched the entire set in one weekend, and have watched the subsequent box sets in a similar addictive manner. This is the true serialized show of our generation. It came before LOST and before Heroes, and if this first four hours is any indication, it still does it better than those series. I know it isn’t really fair to compare 24 to LOST and Heroes as it’s a very different kind of series than they are but I’m just speaking on the serialized style of the shows nothing else, nothing about the content. Previous seasons of 24 have been edge of your seat rollercoaster rides and this new season kicks things off with a bang, looking to be another plot twisted action packed season.
Agent Jack Bauer saved the United States from terrorists last season, but to do so he had to come out of hiding. He had faked his own death previous to last season in order to hide from the Chinese government who wanted him for the death of a Chinese Consulate in the Chinese Embassy. At the end of last season, the Chinese caught up to Jack and kidnapped him and sent to China on a freighter. They beat and tortured him for months trying to get him to “talk”. He didn’t, so when the President, now Wayne Palmer brother to the first President of the series David Palmer, works a deal to get Jack back he returns scared mentally and physically having not spoken at all since he was taken by the Chinese. Jack Bauer is basically Captain America, the uber patriot ready to make any sacrifice for his country, and he almost has the super powers to back up the name too! He learns that he ahs been brought back in order to be traded to a terrorist who wants him dead for information on the man behind several terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. Bauer says he is fine with that and that it’ll almost be a relief to him after what he’s been through. He’s happy to actually die for a purpose rather than rot away for nothing in a Chinese prison. When the trade is made the first plot twist is revealed. The terrorist does give the U.S. government the information they are looking for but it rather than lead to the man in charge of the terrorist attacks it leads to a man trying to stop them. The terrorist that now has Jack as his captive is in fact the terrorist that is running the show. Jack’s sitting tied up ready to die until he learns this, and until the leader tells him that he will die for nothing. Then he gets determined once again and he starts kicking ass, first by ripping a man’s throat out with his teeth!
We are in familiar territory with this new storyline; terrorists are trying to set off nukes on American soil and CTU (Counter Terrorist Unit) is leading the charge to try and stop them. Rather than change that formula, the creators of the series have decided to change the main character. Sure Jack has experienced lose of friends and early on in the series one of his friends was a turncoat and was responsible for the death of his wife. All of that is finally weighing heavy on him, and his many months of torture have broken him. At the end of the four hours he has to kill off a main character in the series and it nearly destroys him. He calls Bill Buchanan and tells him he’s done, he can’t do this job anymore. We of course know due to the closing moments of the first four hours and previews for next week that he will come back to work but it seems that everything he’s been through will continue to affect him, making him a deeper and more complex character something the show has needed from Jack Bauer.
I was at first a bit disappointed with how easily Jack came back from China but now I’m intrigued at what exactly the high price was that President Palmer had to pay to get him back. I’m sure we’ll begin to see that trickle into the storyline and perhaps into next season as the week’s progress. The one thing I might have to say is a little disappointing after the four hours is Wayne’s sister. The storyline is fine and it seems like it’ll develop nicely to connect with the overall plot but the actress that plays his sister, Regina King, is not good in this part. She delivers her lines flat and doesn’t inject any charisma into the character. I can remember seeing Regina in Enemy of the State and Friday and I thought she did a good job in both of those films. Something’s just missing for me here. On the subject of characters, a lot of old favorites are back including the best supporting character on the show Chloe sporting a new darker hairdo, the previously mentioned Wayne Palmer, Curtis Manning, Mike Buchanan, and others, all accompanied by a new group of characters each bringing something new to the series, other than Wayne’s sister of course. She might get better, we’ll see. I did mention that one of the main characters gets killed by Jack at the end of the four hour premiere, I’m not mentioning any names in case you TiVo’d the show, but that death serves as a wake up call not to get settled into the idea that the popular characters are never in any real danger. Hardcore fans don’t need to be told this with such examples from previous seasons as Jack’s wife and Edgar from last season.
The first four hours do not disappoint as they offers a bunch of plot twists and plenty of edge of your seat action. There’s more action in these four episodes than on any other series on TV although Prison Break does come close. The first four hours has us wondering “What did the President have to pay for Jack’s release?”, “Is this one time terrorist really turning his beliefs around and working with CTU or is he waiting for his opportunity to strike?”, “How far will these near concentration camps go before the President does something about it?”, and so many other questions it would take to long to list them. Kiefer Sutherland is at his best in these first four getting to be more than just a bad ass, but a deeply scared individual with more to deal with internally than he’s ever had before. It’ll be a long wait to next Monday, but if the four hour premiere is any indication it’ll be worth it.
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