Sunday, January 16th marks the beginning of another very rotten day for stouthearted federal agent extraordinaire, Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland).
He slams his fist on his dashboard after getting stuck behind multiple slow drivers on his way to work, falls sleep at the important big meeting, gets chewed out by his demanding boss–and to top it off, the crammed deli completely messes up his lunch order.
No, wait. That’s YOUR bad day.
Jack’s four versions, so far, have featured him: getting hooked on heroin to fit in on an undercover operation; watching Air Force One get blown down to the ground by a terrorist-driven military jet; listening helplessly over a cell phone to the screams of his beloved; and being tortured by terrorists on a fairly regular basis.
FOX has high hopes for the fifth installment of the widely popular, testosterone-charged soap opera, unveiling four hours of the show over two nights, and allowing the season to run all the way through without reruns or preemptions. (FYI under-the-rock dwellers: each episode happens in real time, taking up one hour of a high impact day. 24 episodes to a season = 24 hours in a day).
When we last saw Jack Bauer, he was chin-deep in a terrorist plot to unleash a nuclear weapon on Los Angeles. Backed into a corner with no other avenues of pursuit, he knowingly violated international law as he raided the Chinese Consulate, looking for information on the stolen nuclear warhead.
The Consul was killed in the ambush (accidentally by his own men), and Jack, along with the U.S. government found themselves under heavy pressure from China for answers.
After all roads of the Chinese government’s investigation led back to Jack, our own unerring White House planned a covert mission to murder him in order to avoid a leak of the story, and deflect subsequent international scandal.
What resulted was a staged shoot-out between Bauer and his close pal Tony Almeida in order to avoid having others continue their quest for his life. When Jack was administered a shot of epinephrine after being announced dead; he sprung back to life and headed south for the Mexican border. He is ‘officially’ dead to everybody but Almeida, a few other C.T.U. (Counter Terrorism Unit) agents, and ex-President David Palmer.
It’s hard to guess how the creative team behind 24 can once again keep us grasping for more each and every week. We’ve seen C.T.U. foil a plot to assassinate the President in season one, deactivate a dirty bomb in Los Angeles in season two, and halt a deadly virus from being spread across the country in season three.
As always, it’s also unclear as to who among the supporting cast will be returning this time around, and if so, what their roles will be since many of them are facing closed doors.
Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard) and Michelle Dessler (Reiko Aylesworth) re-sparked their love at the end of last season, and solemnly agreed to leave the terrorist-hunting game for a quiet life of lemonade and horseshoes.
And David Palmer (Dennis Haysbert), after suddenly returning to advise the current President last season, also faces an uncertain future. If he isn’t the President, then how can they keep his character alive?
On the other hand, C.T.U. employees Edgar Stiles (Louis Lombardi), Curtis Manning (Roger Cross), and Chloe O’Brian (Mary Lynn Rajskub) will all be returning in one capacity or another; and ex-hobbit Sean Astin will join the cast, on the side of the good guys, playing Lynn McGill. Also three film industry familiar newcomers to ‘punch the clock’ at 24 are: Jean Smart (Garden State), Connie Britton (Friday Night Lights) and Brady Corbet (Thirteen). A widely known spoiler: Britton is supposed to fill the role of jack’s new love interest.
Though avid viewers are often required to suspend rational thinking for most of the action due to wildly far-fetched sequences, the show’s knuckle-whitening twists and ‘who’s behind that corner’ suspense steadily keeps both critics and audiences glued week-to-week.
Caught-up in the inevitable act of ‘reading’ the series, one can see a twisted side of reality in 24’s narrative, as it reflects aspects of visible threads in today’s world news. And in dealing with the current volatile state of our much-advertised unstable global relations, the show’s coverage often hits closer to home than anybody wants.
The political jabs and commentary on topical world issues are in abundance within the show. Last season featured a bumbling, unprepared Commander in Chief with Charles Logan. He cowered when dealing with issues that required taking action, and never knew how to respond correctly. Whether it’s attributed to being ‘intentional’ or ‘coincidental’, this portrayal of a vulnerable and oblivious President is clearly making pointed implications.
But aside from partisan shots, a genuine portrayal of what lies behind much of the world’s discord is laid out in an exchange between Jack Bauer and terrorist cell leader Habib Marwan in season four.
“Let the American people know that they cannot intervene in other countries with impunity,” Marwan utters. “The President only sees us as evil.”
“As you see us,” Jack replies.
Of course 24 isn’t going to clue us in as to how to rid the world of shady terrorists, but fans do appreciate the scattered intelligent aspects that it offers. Razor sharp writing hand-in-hand with exploding SUV’s; the typical Hollywood action blockbuster formula hasn’t quite graduated college, but with 24, at least it’s definitely out of kindergarten.
