Monday, January 10, 2005

24 Review - 7am to 9am

Last night's 2-hour season premiere of 24 started off with a bang and only got better from there. Taut and well-paced, the season began with a train derailment and quickly introduced 5 other distinct storylines, advancing each while introducing a host of new characters and giving us just a moment to reconnect with our favorite man-on-the-edge. The older characters are not missed or even mentioned except for the revelation that Jack's daughter Kim has married Chase and they just bought a house together somewhere in LA. No mention of Palmer or Tony Almedia or Kim's sad and lonely one-legged exboyfriend. This show goes through characters like I go through coffee. If you did not see the episodes (2 1-hour episodes were shown back-to-back), be warned. There be spoilers here...

1. Jack is Happy: The show introduces a completely new and original character-a smiling, happy Jack Bauer. He's been fired from CTU for his heroin dependency and has moved on, living and working in D.C. for the Secretary of Defense, a new character played by the former Senator from California Greg Sumner - oh, sorry, I mean played by esteemed character actor William Devane. Jack is happy, secretly dating the Secretary's daughter (played by Kim Raver from NBC's Third Watch) and getting on with his liife. He's back in L.A. for a budget meeting with Erin Driscoll, the new woman in charge of CTU and the person that fired Jack.

2. Storylines a-Plenty: Hold on, here is a rundown. The train derailment was a cover to snatch a metal briefcase, the contents of which have yet to be revealed. A sleeper cell of Islamic terrorists is involved somehow, orchestrating their plans from a small suburban home in Los Angeles. A young man discovers strange codes being planted all over the Internet and calls Chloe at CTU (yes, she's still there, and still so FRUSTRATING) to let her know. When he returns, he finds all of his coworkers dead. He runs away and a man follows, cornering him at a train station and kidnapping him.

3. Jack Goes Rogue: It only takes Jack about a half-hour to go rogue, seeing that Erin Driscoll is not handling things in the way that he would handle them. CTU is interrogating a suspect who won't give them anything, so Jack storms into the briefing room and shoots the poor chap in the leg to get him to confess the next target: Secretary of Defense Heller. I'm sure the guy doesn't believe it, but he got off lucky - last year Jack cut a guys head off in that same room. Maybe Jack should have just mentioned that to the suspect, or just waved a saw around. No torture needed. I was hoping this season would be 100%-torture free as last year there were people being tortured seemingly on every single episode. Oh well.

4. The Plots Thicken: Secretary of Defense Heller and his daughter Audrey were successfully kidnapped just as Jack calls to warn them. They are whisked into a van and are being held by Islamic terrorists in an undisclosed location in the city.

5. On Trial: As the 2 hours end, the terrorists announce an online, Internet-televised trial of Heller, warning solemnly that if he tried and convicted, he will be punished 'according to their laws.' Sounds like a potential beheading to me. Yuck.

6. Loose Ends: We aren't told why the Internet was being targeted but it might have been a precautionary measure to make the War Trial broadcast untraceable. The contents and purpose of the metal briefcase are not revealed, although the young man delivering the case to the secret compound is followed by his heartbroken, soon-to-be-dead girlfriend. He tells her to leave but the boy's father gives him an ultimatum - kill the girlfriend because she knows too much.

7. Where Do We Go Now? Here are some predictions: Looks like Jack has managed to find the Internet designer who first noticed the Web attack and his kidnapper - the rumor is that Jack will corner them both in a convenience story by pretending to rob the place. The trial of Secretary of Defense Heller will begin on-line. The boy and his girlfriend will somehow escape, probably assisted by his mother, who also mentioned something about a device. God only knows what that is. The briefcase might contain nuclear missile launch codes for the Secretary of Defense to use in a war - in that case, the terrorists might be able to use the codes and the Secretary to launch an attack, possibly on Israel. Jack will continue to be as 'rogue-y' as possible, and at some point there will a large explosion. I guarantee it. Stay tuned - another 2 hours are on tonight and then the show will settle into its regular Monday night slot next week.

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