Soccer Dad

153

This is the first season of 24 that I've been watching in its original broadcast. I watched the first 6 seasons on DVD. So finally I can comment on the current state of the show. Spoilers alert.

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For a complete synopsis plus a complete body count and snark check out Right Wing Nuthouse.

This is from Jamie's 24 Blog:

I illustrated the whole "Brian" issue last week as he allowed himself to get taken out by a paralyzed man who was thirty years his senior. This week, we flash forward to his buddy sitting in the car outside Sam's apartment....and sitting....and sitting...and sitting. By my math, he was sitting there for an hour. And that's not just any hour - that's an hour from 24 - which is kind of like measuring in dog years. According to the plan - Sam goes in, gets stabbed, Henry gets hung and Brian comes out. The whole process should've taken 10 minutes. And an HOUR later, that clown is still sitting in his car waiting? And you though Mr. Ford waited around too long to fire Matt Millen? Even Mr. Ford would have gone into the apartment at that point knowing something was wrong.

How did Henry overcome his younger assailant? And why did the other guy wait outside until he heard the APB. When Brian wasn't out in, say, 20 minutes after Samantha arrived, he should have realized something was amiss.

Still this episode was more like it. The gun battle was great. The plant manager sacrificing himself, though ultimately in vain, is one of the trademarks of 24. Someone realizes that a lot of people (or sometimes one other) will die if he doesn't act. So he acts disregarding the danger.

Still I can't help feeling a bit cheated. In the first 3 seasons the threats were two levels. The first twelve hours CTU would chase down one threat, then the nature of the threat would change and CTU would adapt to the new situation. But we've only just completed hour 7 and the main villain has been defeated. He still poses a threat. (Ordering his henchman to bring him the first dude on public transportation - that's either gutsy or stupid.)

Dubaku despite aspiring to rule a country (even a third world country) seems rather lame as a villain. Once he discovered that his confederates had been tracked by Tony and Jack he didn't realize that obviously Maboto was somehow tracked. He should have at least yelled at the idiot, "Fool, don't realize that they tracked Maboto?"

However, I'm not convinced that the destroyed CIP device was the only one. I'm wondering if what was destroyed was a decoy.

Dubaku's girl friend presents an interesting wrinkle will she 1) be turned by the CTU folks and betray Dubaku, like the younger Drazen's girlfriend in season 1 2) become an inconvenience to Dubaku and get knocked off by him like the daughter of the older Drazen's friend in season 1 or hte teenage girlfriend at the beginning of season 4 or 3) will she prove to be Dubaku's vulnerability like Sanders' daughter in season 3?

When Jack told Bill that he needed more resources to continue fighting, I was kind of expecting him to ask how Bill managed to put together such a sophisticated operation on his own. Not that he wouldn't necessarily have the skills, but Bill was a mid to high level bureaucrat before his wife fired him. Where'd he get the resources? They were able to afford a leather jacket for Renee. Those things aren't cheap.

I'm still suspicious of Bill. How did he get the resources? But if he's in the pay of some evil genius, what's his game and why's he acting against Dubaku? I'm guessing right now that I just have to make believe. I'm guessing that at the end of the day, President Taylor will decide that CTU is just too essential and reconstitute it.

More proof that the traitor in the cabinet is the Homeland Security guy: the Secret Service is now part of DHS, it's been moved out of Treasury.

Overall, Hour 7 was very exciting, but the climax appeared to have occurred too soon. Still, I guess that the writers still have a few tricks up their sleeves.

jack bauer