"24" is the first hit to employ a tactic of setting up each episode as another hour in a single day in which the characters must achieve or prevent a particular task from being done. At the center of the story is Jack Bauer, the equivalent of a volatile and flawed James Bond, because he does have a license to kill, and is unstoppable in his quest. But he doesn't have the same taste for women, being a rather sentimental widower and father of a grown daughter. Kiefer Sutherland gives Jack this intensity that makes his character believable. Jack isn't easy to like as the seasons progress. He kills and mames and breaks all sorts of laws for which he is not justly punished. But it's all in the name of American national security, so it's all good.
I started watching halfway through the second season. They defused the nuclear bomb, and a conspiracy was discovered to frame Middle-Eastern leaders as the perpetrators, when in fact it had to do with oil in the Caspian Sea. The president was temporarily removed from office, and Jack was forced to find proof that they were not at fault. And this just as Bush was going to war with Iraq. It was a twist that I appreciated very much, being against the Iraqi conflict and the motives behind it.
I had so much fun with that, that I decided to watch the whole third season. This season was decidedly less exciting. Our old enemies, the Mexican drug cartels, and a former MI-5 agent with a grudge against the American government were the opposition forces, and this time, it was a biological agent. The biological agents are certainly likely to be the terrorist weapons of the future, if they decide to remind us to be scared, but as the plot was set up, discovering the true enemy was found via a roundabout methiod that included staging a jail break for a notorious drug cartel, and much collateral damage as a means of setting up a sale of the virus to the cartels and nabbing them with it. On a plus side, we got to see Nina Myers get killed, and for people who had really followed the story, and held a grudge, Ryan Chappelle, Jack's boss, got it, too. The presidential story was boring for the most part. After the exciting political battle that ensued in the previous season, this was a major setback hi-lighted only by David Palmer's resignation at the end. Oh, and Sherry died, too. And the emotional stress that caused Tony Almeida at CTU (Counter Terrorism Unit) to betray his country offered some more interest. And we got to see Michelle Dessler in the field, which made me beg the question, why wasn't she doing this the whole time? Ultimately, since there are a few shows I follow regularly, and "24" is addictive rather than dramatically engaging, since in one hour the show can take a 180 degree turn, I tuned out, preferring to focus in on "Alias," not to mention two of ABC's new hits "Desperate Housewives" and "Boston Legal." The drama aspect in any of these shows is multiplied several times. In "24," don't get attached to anyone but Jack. Since the entire original supporting cast is gone, too, I have no idea who is who, only that the recent plot sparked controversy.
I started watching halfway through the second season. They defused the nuclear bomb, and a conspiracy was discovered to frame Middle-Eastern leaders as the perpetrators, when in fact it had to do with oil in the Caspian Sea. The president was temporarily removed from office, and Jack was forced to find proof that they were not at fault. And this just as Bush was going to war with Iraq. It was a twist that I appreciated very much, being against the Iraqi conflict and the motives behind it.
I had so much fun with that, that I decided to watch the whole third season. This season was decidedly less exciting. Our old enemies, the Mexican drug cartels, and a former MI-5 agent with a grudge against the American government were the opposition forces, and this time, it was a biological agent. The biological agents are certainly likely to be the terrorist weapons of the future, if they decide to remind us to be scared, but as the plot was set up, discovering the true enemy was found via a roundabout methiod that included staging a jail break for a notorious drug cartel, and much collateral damage as a means of setting up a sale of the virus to the cartels and nabbing them with it. On a plus side, we got to see Nina Myers get killed, and for people who had really followed the story, and held a grudge, Ryan Chappelle, Jack's boss, got it, too. The presidential story was boring for the most part. After the exciting political battle that ensued in the previous season, this was a major setback hi-lighted only by David Palmer's resignation at the end. Oh, and Sherry died, too. And the emotional stress that caused Tony Almeida at CTU (Counter Terrorism Unit) to betray his country offered some more interest. And we got to see Michelle Dessler in the field, which made me beg the question, why wasn't she doing this the whole time? Ultimately, since there are a few shows I follow regularly, and "24" is addictive rather than dramatically engaging, since in one hour the show can take a 180 degree turn, I tuned out, preferring to focus in on "Alias," not to mention two of ABC's new hits "Desperate Housewives" and "Boston Legal." The drama aspect in any of these shows is multiplied several times. In "24," don't get attached to anyone but Jack. Since the entire original supporting cast is gone, too, I have no idea who is who, only that the recent plot sparked controversy.