Breaking Down Bauer: Tackling the New Season of 24
Written by: Rob Van Winkle, CC2K Staff Writer
1-16-07
WARNING! MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!
The two-day premiere EVENT(!!) of 24 is now over, and I have to say that they picked it up a great deal in day two. By the end of these two episodes, we have already had a major character die, a horrific disaster occur on US soil, and even some comic relief thrown in to boot!
In brief, hours three and four found Jack Bauer hot in pursuit of the terrorists plotting further attacks on US soil, working in tandem with the FORMER terrorist who now wants to negotiate for peace. As they race for a lead to discovering Fayed's whereabouts, Fayed contacts CTU and offers to stop his bombings if the US will release over a hundred dangerous terrorists from a California detention facility. Obviously taking a page directly from the official US Government policy of never negotiating with terrorists, President Palmer acquiesces to Fayed's demands without so much as a minute of hesitation. Shockingly, this prisoner release was all a subterfuge! The entire thing was all designed to get one man free on US soil, a fact that CTU uncovers in its entirety 100%, mere seconds after it's too late to stop it. (Side note: where can I get one of those computers that can take a laptop that had been in an explosion, and extract all available information from it within ten minutes? Can you even IMAGINE the caliber of IMovie that a machine like that could create?)
With that man free, the race is NOW on to stop him from completing his task of arming a nuclear device that Fayed somehow possesses. (Side note: Where can I find a course that will allow me to retain information like the character Nadia from CTU? When the subject of a suitcase nuclear bomb comes up, she rattles off, off the top of her head, that they were of Russian design, made in the late 80s, that they were all destroyed, but rumor had it that one of them had escaped destruction, and that it made its way into the hands of a terrorist, whose code name was ____. I'd like to see HER on Jeopardy!) Jack's efforts get the location, and a raid is commenced on the building where Fayed and his men are hiding. (But Jack is not there. This does NOT bode well for the men on this raid…) After teasing us with the classic "Do they have the right building?" shots, we discover that they ARE in the right place, but the evil prisoner has armed the bomb. With everyone in the building, he detonates the device. A nuclear bomb has exploded in LA!
Here's what I liked very much about these eps:
1. The balls – The first several years of 24 featured Jack trying to stop something terrible from happening. he had to prevent David Palmer from getting assassinated, or a bomb from going off, etc. You knew that he was going to prevail, so the tension was mitigated somewhat. However, in the past few years, a biological weapon was set off in an LA hotel, coordinated attacks killed off major characters, and now, a freaking NUCLEAR BOMB goes off in downtown LA! With that kind of nerve, a 24 viewer truly has no idea what to expect anymore!
2. The Chloe/Morris interaction – Chloe O'Brien has to be the least likely sex symbol ever on television. She was an irritating and abrasive presence on Season three or four, and had morphed into a fan favorite, despite never softening her bitchy persona one iota. THis year, her ex-boyfriend works at CTU, and they are back together. For the first three episodes, her boyfriend (Morris)'s boss keeps yelling at Morris, who is a total douchebag in turn. Finally, Chloe attacks them both. She admits to Morris that she and this other guy did indeed date a few times, but nothing came of it, so cut the shit. To the other guy, she reminds him that the decision to stop dating was mutual, so he should stop the dick wagging contest with Morris. She runs off, and the two of them are completely cowed into submission. It was great.
3. Jack's fragility – By this, I don't mean that Jack has gone soft; already, we have watched him torture a man for information, get tortured by a terrorist, shoot a friend and co-worker at point blank range to protect an informer, and lead two separate raids. However, at least in the early going, the writers are doing their best to make Jack severely affected by his ordeal in China. He thinks he has lost his touch, and he's scared that what he's doing is wrong. After he shoots his co-worker, he rushes off to the side, starts to cry, and throws up. When CTU calls to assuage his guilt, he tries to quit the assignment, because he's not sure he can do this work anymore. It's a pure, raw moment, and it makes him more human. I don't know if they can keep this up, and suspect that, like his Heroin addiction from season three, it will probably just be dropped when it's no longer convenient to the plot's forward momentum, but for now, it's an awesome development.
And here is what's bothering me so far about the ep:
1. CTU agents as Red Coats – I can't remember the name of the act, but I'm pretty sure that one of the things that drove the US Colonies to war with the British was the fact that British soldiers had the power to do just about whatever they wanted. They could enter your home forcibly and stay there, and of course they had almost unlimited legal powers. Now, I'm not going so far as to say that Jack Bauer and CTU are akin to imperialistic militiamen, but I am saying that the citizens of LA are not safe from ANYONE, terrorist OR agent. In this ep, Jack needed a car, so he ran up to a man about to get into his car, threw him to the ground, and warned him not to even stand up. This, if you're keeping count, is already the second car he has stolen in this season. How are these people supposed to recover their property? Did Jack leave a card at the scene of the crime? Does State Farm (or, sorry David Palmer, All State) have Secret Agent insurance? Man, that would be a TERRIBLE claim to have to file.
2. pro-Patriot Act Propoganda – This has been discussed before, and by better writers than me, but 24 clearly has an underbelly of pro-war, pro-Bush HOO-RA bullshit going on. It's only by ignoring it that I can enjoy the show at all. However, I am REALLY bothered by what's going on right now. President Palmer now has a sister, and she's a civil rights lawyer. When she destroyed personnel files to prevent the government from seizing them for no reason, both she and her Muslim boyfriend/co-worker were arrested. She was released, but he was detained and kept in a makeshift prison. Here's the thing: once he got there, a man confides in him that the US is going "to pay" for this injustice. Later, he overhears two guys speaking in Arabic, and memorizes one phrase he hears repeated. When the lady Palmer tries to release him, he asks to stay so he can try to learn more. That phrase is translated, and through it we learn more about the unfolding plot against America. In other words, detaining people without cause turned out to be the RIGHT move, in that it captured a criminal, and in doing so, it helped the cause of the good guys. So you see? Civil rights aren't necessary! Removing them SAVES LIVES! End of story. I don't like where this is going.
And now, we're on to normal one a week 24 Eps. Am I the only one watching? I guess time will tell…