Monday, January 15, 2007
24 - 6:00 - 8:00
Welcome back Jack Bauer! (spoilers below)
The season started off with a bang to say the very least. America is under attack - suicide bombings happening all over the country - this has to be one of the most realistic, plausible settings for our CTU show.
The show acts as a prism of what we are facing as a nation. We have Islamic fundamentalists attacking our country, the political correctness of racial profiling, civil liberties coming under attack, mention of the ACLU, simple minded chief of staff at the White House (Dr. Harry Fleinhardt from Numb3rs), and a very large debate happening in the White House between Homeland Security and civil liberties.
We find out the Jack is coming back via a negotiated release from the new President Palmer (the kid brother Wayne) but only to sacrifice his life for the location of the suspected ring leader of these terrorist attacks.
I am not going to recap the entire episode, there are plenty of good sources out there but I am going to note the predictable plot themes.
Sympathy for our English speaking next door neighbors. I knew immediately the kid was dirty once I saw him make is appearance. Interesting how the FBI did have the right family, just the wrong member.
Chief of Staff - the villain of the show - there needs to be a major character in the plot line to create the drama and he so far is the guy to create the tension between Grandma Hays and himself.
Jack will always be Jack - In spite of his 20 month ordeal (being tortured by the Chinese) Jack always finds away to bounce back and do what he does best - KILL people. Got to love him, did ya get a good laugh on how he escaped? That had to be one of the best scenes in 24 so far!
The hanging chard theme. The way Jack looked back to his Chinese tormentor, you know this isn't the end between them. Let's just say, I am sure payback will be a bitch.
Heroes will be villains and vis versa. How long before one of our good guys ends up being really a bad guy?
As I mentioned earlier, the sympathy theme. The President's sister is an attorney, representing an Islamic - American alliance will not turn over personnel records to the FBI - plus she has a relationship with Commander Lock from the Matrix movies. This may be the major plot theme of the story as it progresses throughout the day. Is Lock dirty? Is Ms. Congeniality 2 being duped? Ahh, only time will tell.
My plot predictions
- A nuclear dirty bomb will go off somewhere in the US and Jack will not be able stop it.
- There is a spy working as a staff member in the White House
- CTU still doesn't know how to screen employees as I am sure one of them will end up being a double agent.
- Chloe will break some rules (she has already) but Henderson will protect her.
- Many of these new characters will die! - that's a really bold prediction by me eh?
- Jack will get his mojo back.
- Jack will not go to the bathroom this entire day.
- Jack will not eat anything for the rest of the day
Comments:
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Well, well, well... the first show worth blogging about for the New Year and I let Joe beat me to the punch. Tsk, Tsk. I shouldn't be surprised. I also liked the episode. Of course, you still have to make a few allowances for plot problems.
for example, do we really think that our "we don't negotiate with terrorists" government would simply pay a known terrorist $25 mill and turn over one of its country's greatest heroes, in return for the terrorist's promise?? Come on! They even acknowledged that they had no way to know if the terrorist (Fayed) was even going to honor the deal. On top of that, give the terrorist access to all of their surveillance protocols!??! He could have used that information for a lot more than simply checking to see if CTU was honoring their deal.
The writers have a tough chore though. They need to let us know that Jack has definitely been affected by his nearly two year imprisonment, but at the same time, he still has to be Jack "One man army to save the day" Bauer.
As usual, he has his trusted allies, which is always a very short list, but which always seems to have Chloe at the top. Hopefully the writers don't decide to kill her off this season as a plot twist, like they did last season with Edgar.
I agree with Joe, we have to find the formula characters from this season. The formula always calls for someone working against the President, someone working from within CTU against the greater good, and at least one major incident that raises the stakes (Joe predicts the dirty bomb).
Whatever the pieces are, we already know that Wayne is starting out as half the President his brother was. Let's hope he puts his trust in Jack.
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for example, do we really think that our "we don't negotiate with terrorists" government would simply pay a known terrorist $25 mill and turn over one of its country's greatest heroes, in return for the terrorist's promise?? Come on! They even acknowledged that they had no way to know if the terrorist (Fayed) was even going to honor the deal. On top of that, give the terrorist access to all of their surveillance protocols!??! He could have used that information for a lot more than simply checking to see if CTU was honoring their deal.
The writers have a tough chore though. They need to let us know that Jack has definitely been affected by his nearly two year imprisonment, but at the same time, he still has to be Jack "One man army to save the day" Bauer.
As usual, he has his trusted allies, which is always a very short list, but which always seems to have Chloe at the top. Hopefully the writers don't decide to kill her off this season as a plot twist, like they did last season with Edgar.
I agree with Joe, we have to find the formula characters from this season. The formula always calls for someone working against the President, someone working from within CTU against the greater good, and at least one major incident that raises the stakes (Joe predicts the dirty bomb).
Whatever the pieces are, we already know that Wayne is starting out as half the President his brother was. Let's hope he puts his trust in Jack.
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