kevlar girdles are very chicSome spoilers may be included in this article though none of them earth-shattering to anyone who watches the opening titles or who knew anything about the last few seasons or who has used the Internet much.
Sunday evening 24 returned with some fanfare but more concerned misgivings.
After the general apathy surrounding last season, 24 needs a return to form with the urgency that Jack Bauer displays when stabbing someone in the head with whatever is at hand (including his hand).
One of the reasons I personally got tired of last season's 24 was the politicisation of the show. It seemed each episode was a call to torture and a protestation against the criticisms of those bleeding heart liberals and their "legality" and "morality" complaints.
Don't those pig-headed do-gooders realise Jack Bauer has a country to save? Jack himself had been brought up at various Republican conferences as a shining example of what the good ole USA needed and what on earth was a Geneva Convention anyway?
Becoming the poster boy for Bush propaganda certainly didn't endear the all-new more-torture Bauer for me, but it was mainly the repetitive plot conventions and the foregoing of tension for inventive object insertion in various ethnic stereotypes that pushed me away.
Jack didn't use his wits to sort problems out, unless his wits were a brand of pliers or a fancy new blowtorch-chainshaw combination. The tension of the show was petering out, the shaky camera caused by yawning cameramen rather than quivering anticipation of what revelation would happen next(a mole in CTU? NOOOOOOO!).
So with the writers strike delaying the full season, 24: Redemption was released to some positive responses but certainly not with the anticipation one would have expected 3 seasons ago. However the tv movie did prove to be a palate cleanser to get the fetid taste of the 6th season out of the mouth even if it wasn't a full return to form of the first three seasons.
Jack shoots dwarf
What I liked the most about 24: Redemption was that it was Bauer being the unequivocable good guy, it is difficult to be more of a good guy when saving a village full of photogenic war orphans from genocidal warmongers. There were no attempts at being thought-provoking (in the same way that Fatal Attraction was thought provoking in the US, ie it wasn't anywhere else) by having Jack make tough decisions all the time, which were mostly decisions about whether to be lawful or stab someone in the kneecap to make them instantaneously want to divulge everything they knew and certainly not just make up crap that they thought might make the bad man stop.
Season 7 begins with Jack under investigation for his actions. Kurtwood Smith plays the smugly self-righteous senator who berates Bauer for his actions and flagrant disregard for the law. My toes were starting to curl just as Jack is served a subpoena and forced to help the FBI with a matter of national security.
"I'll take Kitchen Utensils in Orifices for $1,000 Alex"
At this point I will be more general as I don't want to ruin anything.
Although the question on just how far one should abide by the law in order to save the day is touched upon (spoiler alert: Law 0 - Mavericks United 3) more time is spent building the plot and making events important than on blood and bluster.
Jack even gets to seem competent when investigating the latest threat to the USA (though this does make most of the FBI seem like well-dressed radishes).
Devil with a pant-suit on?
The new President (gasp it is a lady! And she's more Hillary than Caribou Barbie!) is introduced, her husband is hinted to be mental (harkening back to a previous presidential spouse) and subplots are introduced and quickly brought together with the main thread of the story arc.
This in itself is a pleasant change from the interminable side stories that have gone nowhere in past seasons and were mainly used to fill time while we wait to get back to Jack saving the day.
GILF: Chloe never looked better
New faces are introduced (it is nice to see Janeane Garofalo as the requisite uber-geek and reassuring Liberal) and old ones return (I won't say who, but speaking of old faces: Jack's is certainly starting to show the wear and tear of being shot a lot while shouting "DAMMIT!").
By the end of Monday's episodes, the first 4 hours were done with but my interest wasn't.
Yes there are a lot of reused plots and familiar character types, but it still felt more like the 24 of old where the daftness was easy to overlook in pursuit of regular thrills and dramatic payoffs.
Even my wife who has never watched an entire season of 24 was checking that Mondays were the regular night for the show as she has been drawn in by the opening episodes.
Could this be the revival of the Bauer Power Hour?
I hope so, though if it does NBC might be hammering nails in Heroes' coffin.
Ho hum.
