Warning: If you have not watched Season 5 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 3 of 24, or Season 3 of LOST, and you intend to, DO NOT READ THIS POST.
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We reached it, people! Day 30--the final day of the TV Meme. And today we're discussing the saddest character death. Of the three choices I came up with, my actual answer is the second of the three. So let me explain the others first.
My first thought, of course, was Charlie Pace from LOST. Sure, his character started to get a bit annoying in Season 2, but then he begins redeeming himself in Season 3. And right when you start to love him? He dies. Sacrificing himself within the Looking Glass Station, Charlie saves Desmond by locking himself in a flooding room. Then comes the iconic moment when he places his hand on the glass with a note declaring "Not Pennys Boat," Desmond putting his hand to the other side. And then he dies. The full scene can be seen here:
The final one I came up with is one I'm surprised actually took me that long, considering it's the most recent one of the three I've seen. The death I'm talking about here is, of course, Ryan Chappelle from 24. Chappelle was a very hateable character. Almost not even in a love-to-hate him kinda way. You just disliked this guy. But then comes the moment when Jack is told that he needs to kill him. Ryan is immediately flustered, showing he's not the tough a-hole he appears to be on the outside. The majority of the episode is dedicated to them trying to find the terrorist, but they end up in the wrong location, and time runs out. Jack takes Ryan to the designated train yard. They have their final talk. Ryan tries to dignify it by killing himself, but he can't go through with it. Jack then takes the gun and does it himself. I have to say, this episode had amazing writing. To take a character you hate and, in less than an hour, make you care for him so much to where you're nearly in tears by the time he's dead... wow. But it's not the best one (or saddest), in my opinion.
The winner, if you haven't guessed it by now from the warning at the top of this post, is Joyce Summers in Season 5 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Previously Joyce having thought she was over her brain tumor, it suddenly resurfaces and kills her. The episode begins as Buffy walks into the living room and sees her mother dead on the couch. The rest of the episode is how everybody deals with the death (which also leads in to Willow and Tara's first on-screen kiss). I think what helps the sadness in this episode is the fact that there is no music playing throughout the entire episode. It's just this uncomfortable stillness and silence. Most movies or TV shows always accompany their major death scenes with dramatic music. This episode shows you how to make a highly effective death scene without it. Here is a short video of clips from the episode set to "Mad World":
And that's my saddest character death.
Thanks to everybody who made it through this last 30 days with me! It's been fun (and challenging) to come up with answers for every day, with some days where I just felt too lazy to do it. But I did it anyway! Below is a list of all the days over the past month and my answers:
Day 01 - An Unfairly Canceled Show (Dead Like Me)
Day 02 - A Show Needing More Viewers (Greek)
Day 03 - Favorite New Show From This Past Season (Glee)
Day 04 - Favorite Show of All Time (Boy Meets World)
Day 05 - A Show I Hate (Dancing With The Stars)
Day 06 - Favorite Episode of My Favorite Show ("And Then There Was Shawn")
Day 07 - Least Favorite Episode of My Favorite Show ("On The Fence")
Day 08 - A Show Everyone Should Watch (Glee)
Day 09 - Best Scene Ever ("Bohemian Rhapsody" - Glee)
Day 10 - A Show I Thought I'd Hate But Ended Up Loving (Battlestar Galactica)
Day 11 - A Show That Disappointed Me (Leverage)
Day 12 - An Episode I’ve Watched More Than 5 Times ("Road to Rhode Island" - Family Guy)
Day 13 - Favorite Childhood Show (Power Rangers)
Day 14 - Favorite Male Character (Eric/Cappie/Lafayette/Spike/Dexter)
Day 15 - Favorite Female Character (Sue Sylvester)
Day 16 - My Guilty Pleasure Show (iCarly)
Day 17 - Favorite Mini-Series (Harper's Island)
Day 18 - Favorite Title Sequence (Jack of all Trades)
Day 19 - Best TV Show Cast (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
Day 20 - Favorite Kiss (from Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
Day 21 - Favorite Relationship (from Gilmore Girls)
Day 22 - Favorite Series Finale (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
Day 23 - Most Annoying Character (from Dexter)
Day 24 - Best Quote (from Greek)
Day 25 - A Show I Plan on Re-Watching (Dexter)
Day 26 - Biggest Season Finale Shocker (from Dexter)
Day 27 - Best Pilot Episode (Glee)
Day 28 - First Show Obsession (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)
Day 29 - Current Show Obsession (True Blood)
Day 30 - Saddest Character Death (from Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
Thanks again, and I hope you enjoyed it!
Showing posts with label 24. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 24. Show all posts
5.16.2010
TV Review: 24 - Day 4.
Warning: Here be spoilers.
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Season Four: Day 4.
Season 4 picks up 18 months after Season 3. Jack works for the Secretary of Defense, James Heller, and is in a serious relationship with his boss' daughter, Audrey. He was fired from CTU due to the drug addiction problem from the previous season. CTU also has a new director, a woman named Erin Driscoll, who took over after Tony was sent to prison for breaking protocol (and the law) to save his wife, Michelle. And we have a new President, Keeler (and eventually Logan) after Palmer refuses to run again for a second term. But when Heller and his daughter are kidnapped, Jack is forced to help out CTU yet again to get them back... which leads into yet another set of master plans to attack the U.S. There's really only one way to describe this season: Lame.
Let's look at the character stories.
Jack Bauer
Jack is too... nice... in this season. I mean, right away he starts off in a great
mood, loving his life with Audrey and not being at CTU. Not to say I want Jack to be disgruntled and/or depressed the whole season, but there was something about him this season--he was missing his usual edge. Most of it has to do with Audrey, who I'll get to later.
But most of what Jack does in this season feels like it has no real emotional impact. Kim is completely absent from this season, so she's not kidnapped or in any immediate danger. And after the first few episodes, Audrey isn't in any real danger (not like I cared while she was... but again, I'll get to that). There was just no emotional connection to anything he was doing, so his part of the story was boring. And since he's the center of the show, if Jack's story is boring, the whole thing is boring. There's also a torture theme going on, where he (or CTU) are constantly torturing people and with little to no real care about what they were doing.
James Heller and Audrey Raines
There seems to be a common theme going on with introducing a new family in each season. This season we have 2 families, the first of which is James Heller and his two kids, Audrey and Richard (Richard not being all that huge during the bulk of the season, but still mildly important to the story).
Here was my issue with these two main characters: You're introduced to them, given no real emotional connection except that Audrey and Jack are dating and James is his boss, and they are almost immediately kidnapped. Well... so? While they were kidnapped, I couldn't give a crap about either of them, and they bored from "who cares?" to annoying, particularly Heller. However, Heller did become more likable as the season went on; Audrey, on the other hand, went the opposite direction. Once her husband (who she was separated from) returned, she started heading back to him over Jack, which severed whatever care I had for her (I did like Paul--her husband--though. He was a pretty good character, and I liked the relationship he ended up building with Jack).
And after that, Audrey is just... kind of always around, bouncing between meddling in people's affairs at CTU, getting in the way, and whining about everything. And I honestly just did not care about her one bit.
The Araz Family
This is the second major family of this season. Like the previous family, I
found it hard to care about most of them, sans one. The plot with this family is that they are connected to the terrorist plot of the season. There's the father, Navi; the mother, Dina; and the son, Behrooz. The father is your typical unwavering, "all for the cause," evil terrorist. In the middle was Dina, who was kind of an interesting character. While all for the cause, she would also do what was necessary to protect her teenage son, Behrooz, even if it included helping CTU and foiling her husband's plans. And then there's just the opposite end of the spectrum: Behrooz. He's really one of the first characters of the season I could actually connect with. He knew what his parents were doing was wrong, didn't want to be a part of it, and eventually tries to get out of it completely. He did have the tendency to get really whiny at times, but at the same time, he was a scared teenager afraid of dying and/or going to prison for the rest of his life. It fit.
The only major problem I had with this family is that, at one point, Behrooz is traded for Jack by the terrorists... and is never seen again! I mean, what the hell happened to him? According to Wikipedia, there is bonus footage on the DVDs that show him getting rescued by CTU, but I would have liked something to be shown on the actual show. It was just an open-ended plot point, and that annoyed me... especially after playing up his character for the bulk of the season.
Habib Marwan
Unlike other seasons, you pretty much get to know the main villain from close to the beginning. And instead of there being two distinct acts (the show being split into two halves), there are a bunch of mini-acts, as it were, and that got kind of annoying. Marwan himself was a great villain, and his portrayal by Arnold Vosloo was really good. But the character got way too repetitive. For instance, this is pretty much how it went: CTU finds somebody connected with Marwan, interrogates/tortures them, gets a location, sneaks in, gets found out, and chases Marwan. Then something blows up and Marwan escapes. Now multiply this by about 5 or 6 (yeah, it literally happens about 5-6 times) and you have most of Season 4.
Here are all of the mini-acts: We start with the Heller/Audrey kidnapping. Then we have the race to stop nuclear power plants from melting down. Then it starts coming out of nowhere... suddenly there's a guy attempting to steal a stealth jet to shoot down Air Force One. From there, we go to Marwan attempting to steal the nuclear football, which holds all nuclear codes and whatnot for the American arsenal. And then, finally, they steal and launch a nuclear missile. Some of the transitions aren't as fluid as others, but some work (the strangest transition was from nuclear meltdown to stealing of the stealth jet). Overall, it was just like Marwan had a million ideas on how to take down the U.S. and couldn't figure out which one he wanted; meanwhile, they portray it as if it was all one master plan, and it just didn't feel like one. Oh well.
CTU
Here's where I started having some other issues with this season. For the first chunk of the season, there are almost no returning characters, save for Jack and Chloe. But even Chloe leaves the show after the first few episodes, her character getting essentially replaced with a guy named Edgar. But Tony and Michelle are no longer at CTU. There's the new Director of Field Ops. There's the new commander guy at Division. Chase isn't back. Hell, even Kim is gone. Let's look through the characters we do get one at a time.
First we're given Erin Driscoll, the new Director of CTU/Field Ops. And
she's so annoying. I couldn't stand her. She was just so incompetent at her job, but she acted like she was the be-all, end-all of what to do. We're also, eventually, introduced to her schizophrenic daughter (who is almost equally annoying, but in different ways). Fortunately, we don't have to deal with her for the entire season, as her incompetency at her job is doubled after an issue with her daughter (though the hypocrisy that comes from her actions after how she treated Edgar added to my annoyance of her).
Speaking of, we are also introduced to a new guy in the tech department, Edgar Stiles. I actually really liked Edgar. It took a while for him to grow on me, as he was essentially a male version of Chloe, but with a bit more heart to him. After Chloe leaves the show, his character gets really interesting, as he has to go from incompetent newbie to head-of-show real fast. Unfortunately, his character pretty much peaks soon after the "nuclear plant meltdown" mini-act, and then he starts to get slightly annoying--especially once Chloe comes back in. He does, however, still have some likable moments throughout, and does regain tolerable-ness by the end.
And then there's Chloe, who returned from the
previous season. She's actually quite a bit more bearable this season, mostly because we start off with a friend of hers in danger and you get to see her actually care about something. She's given more personality and actual heart, and she's not just a bland, blunt, seemingly uncaring character. She even has some pretty awesome moments this season, like near the end when she's forced to go on a field mission. (And not to skip ahead, but I've watched the first episode of Season 5 as of this writing, and she's even more likable already).
There are a couple other CTU characters introduced, like Marianne, Sarah, and Curtis, but really the only one I cared about was Curtis. Marianne wasn't around very long, and there was just something about Sarah that bugged me. Curtis, on the other hand, was pretty cool, being another regular field agent. But he did have some things about him that bugged me, too (such as his dislike of Tony's eventual return). There was also Bill Buchanan, who took over Chappelle's position, basically. He didn't really evoke feelings from me one way or another. He wasn't an asshole like Chappelle, but he wasn't particularly incompetent at his job like... well... half the people this season. He's just kinda... there.
Finally, there's Tony and Michelle, both of whom come in about halfway through the season (Michelle a little after Tony). It's funny that Tony has essentially become one of my favorite characters, as I couldn't really stand him in Season 1 (then again, I don't think we were supposed to). Sure, he has some personality flaws, but they don't upset me like those of other characters. You can really feel the friendship between him and Jack and the trust that has been built over however many years they've known each other. Michelle, on the other hand, just got on my nerves this season... mostly for how she treated Tony. Yeah, Tony apparently became a drunk bum for a while, but the dude lost his job and went to prison to save her life. And how does she reward him? By leaving him. And on top of that, she treats him like crap when she returns, and then when she's put in a similar situation as he was the previous season? She damn-near acts uppity in the situation... yeah, I really liked her in season 3, especially during the Hotel stuff, but she lost most of my caring this season (which really put a damper on the Season 5 opening).
The Presidents (Keeler/Logan/Palmer)
I never really had strong feelings for President Keeler one way or another, except that I found it strange he was on Air Force One for the majority of the season. At one point he says he'd been flying for 20 hours. Where exactly was he coming from? Did it even say? If it did, I don't think I caught it.
(Vice) President Logan, on the other hand, annoyed the crap out of me. I swear, a theme this season had to be "people incompetent at their jobs," because they were all over the damn place this season. And Logan at the top of that list. And on top of that, he would ask for help, then act superior and unthankful when he got it. And he would bounce between pathetic and needing of help to "I got this, bitch" in the span of 3 seconds... and he did it way too often.
Eventually, Mike Novick, whose giant head makes a
triumphant return this season, brings in David Palmer as an adviser to help Logan in his Time of Crisis. Thank God they brought back Palmer, despite it only being in the last 4-5 episodes. He was sorely missed for the majority of the season, having been central to the show for the last 3 seasons (and yes, I was like "Gasp!" at the start of season 5). He's not given too much to do here, but as I said, it was a welcome return to an overall boring and/or lame season.
Overall Thoughts
The season does pick up near the end--but its a too little too late kinda deal. Mandy-The-Hot-Assassin returns yet again, which is part of how the season kind of returns to its old self, as it forces Jack to regain his old personality (since it deals with Tony, as well... somebody he cares about). And there's an almost random Chinese consulate subplot that plays out for the last handful of episodes and leads into Jack's fate and Season 5. And it almost felt tacked on to the main plot like a last minute idea to segue into a plotline for Season 5 (or at least a way to kick off said season). This season had a much different feel from the previous seasons. Ironically, I felt the show held more Republican views of things (such as torture), while the season also gained a Republican President (instead of the Democrat Palmer). There's even a bit of "I'm gay, so you must hate me" in there near the end. But overall, the characters were boring, I only cared about those who were mostly innocent and/or inconsequential (Chloe's friend at the beginning, Behrooz, etc.), and half the cast were annoyingly incompetent at their jobs--with only one really overcoming that obstacle (Edgar). It was an awfully lame season that I probably won't be revisiting... but it is a necessary one, as it sets up Season 5... and from what I've seen so far--one episode--well... damn.
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Season Four: Day 4.Season 4 picks up 18 months after Season 3. Jack works for the Secretary of Defense, James Heller, and is in a serious relationship with his boss' daughter, Audrey. He was fired from CTU due to the drug addiction problem from the previous season. CTU also has a new director, a woman named Erin Driscoll, who took over after Tony was sent to prison for breaking protocol (and the law) to save his wife, Michelle. And we have a new President, Keeler (and eventually Logan) after Palmer refuses to run again for a second term. But when Heller and his daughter are kidnapped, Jack is forced to help out CTU yet again to get them back... which leads into yet another set of master plans to attack the U.S. There's really only one way to describe this season: Lame.
Let's look at the character stories.
Jack Bauer
Jack is too... nice... in this season. I mean, right away he starts off in a great
mood, loving his life with Audrey and not being at CTU. Not to say I want Jack to be disgruntled and/or depressed the whole season, but there was something about him this season--he was missing his usual edge. Most of it has to do with Audrey, who I'll get to later.But most of what Jack does in this season feels like it has no real emotional impact. Kim is completely absent from this season, so she's not kidnapped or in any immediate danger. And after the first few episodes, Audrey isn't in any real danger (not like I cared while she was... but again, I'll get to that). There was just no emotional connection to anything he was doing, so his part of the story was boring. And since he's the center of the show, if Jack's story is boring, the whole thing is boring. There's also a torture theme going on, where he (or CTU) are constantly torturing people and with little to no real care about what they were doing.
James Heller and Audrey Raines
There seems to be a common theme going on with introducing a new family in each season. This season we have 2 families, the first of which is James Heller and his two kids, Audrey and Richard (Richard not being all that huge during the bulk of the season, but still mildly important to the story).Here was my issue with these two main characters: You're introduced to them, given no real emotional connection except that Audrey and Jack are dating and James is his boss, and they are almost immediately kidnapped. Well... so? While they were kidnapped, I couldn't give a crap about either of them, and they bored from "who cares?" to annoying, particularly Heller. However, Heller did become more likable as the season went on; Audrey, on the other hand, went the opposite direction. Once her husband (who she was separated from) returned, she started heading back to him over Jack, which severed whatever care I had for her (I did like Paul--her husband--though. He was a pretty good character, and I liked the relationship he ended up building with Jack).
And after that, Audrey is just... kind of always around, bouncing between meddling in people's affairs at CTU, getting in the way, and whining about everything. And I honestly just did not care about her one bit.
The Araz Family
This is the second major family of this season. Like the previous family, I
found it hard to care about most of them, sans one. The plot with this family is that they are connected to the terrorist plot of the season. There's the father, Navi; the mother, Dina; and the son, Behrooz. The father is your typical unwavering, "all for the cause," evil terrorist. In the middle was Dina, who was kind of an interesting character. While all for the cause, she would also do what was necessary to protect her teenage son, Behrooz, even if it included helping CTU and foiling her husband's plans. And then there's just the opposite end of the spectrum: Behrooz. He's really one of the first characters of the season I could actually connect with. He knew what his parents were doing was wrong, didn't want to be a part of it, and eventually tries to get out of it completely. He did have the tendency to get really whiny at times, but at the same time, he was a scared teenager afraid of dying and/or going to prison for the rest of his life. It fit.The only major problem I had with this family is that, at one point, Behrooz is traded for Jack by the terrorists... and is never seen again! I mean, what the hell happened to him? According to Wikipedia, there is bonus footage on the DVDs that show him getting rescued by CTU, but I would have liked something to be shown on the actual show. It was just an open-ended plot point, and that annoyed me... especially after playing up his character for the bulk of the season.
Habib Marwan
Unlike other seasons, you pretty much get to know the main villain from close to the beginning. And instead of there being two distinct acts (the show being split into two halves), there are a bunch of mini-acts, as it were, and that got kind of annoying. Marwan himself was a great villain, and his portrayal by Arnold Vosloo was really good. But the character got way too repetitive. For instance, this is pretty much how it went: CTU finds somebody connected with Marwan, interrogates/tortures them, gets a location, sneaks in, gets found out, and chases Marwan. Then something blows up and Marwan escapes. Now multiply this by about 5 or 6 (yeah, it literally happens about 5-6 times) and you have most of Season 4.Here are all of the mini-acts: We start with the Heller/Audrey kidnapping. Then we have the race to stop nuclear power plants from melting down. Then it starts coming out of nowhere... suddenly there's a guy attempting to steal a stealth jet to shoot down Air Force One. From there, we go to Marwan attempting to steal the nuclear football, which holds all nuclear codes and whatnot for the American arsenal. And then, finally, they steal and launch a nuclear missile. Some of the transitions aren't as fluid as others, but some work (the strangest transition was from nuclear meltdown to stealing of the stealth jet). Overall, it was just like Marwan had a million ideas on how to take down the U.S. and couldn't figure out which one he wanted; meanwhile, they portray it as if it was all one master plan, and it just didn't feel like one. Oh well.
CTU
Here's where I started having some other issues with this season. For the first chunk of the season, there are almost no returning characters, save for Jack and Chloe. But even Chloe leaves the show after the first few episodes, her character getting essentially replaced with a guy named Edgar. But Tony and Michelle are no longer at CTU. There's the new Director of Field Ops. There's the new commander guy at Division. Chase isn't back. Hell, even Kim is gone. Let's look through the characters we do get one at a time.
First we're given Erin Driscoll, the new Director of CTU/Field Ops. And
she's so annoying. I couldn't stand her. She was just so incompetent at her job, but she acted like she was the be-all, end-all of what to do. We're also, eventually, introduced to her schizophrenic daughter (who is almost equally annoying, but in different ways). Fortunately, we don't have to deal with her for the entire season, as her incompetency at her job is doubled after an issue with her daughter (though the hypocrisy that comes from her actions after how she treated Edgar added to my annoyance of her).
Speaking of, we are also introduced to a new guy in the tech department, Edgar Stiles. I actually really liked Edgar. It took a while for him to grow on me, as he was essentially a male version of Chloe, but with a bit more heart to him. After Chloe leaves the show, his character gets really interesting, as he has to go from incompetent newbie to head-of-show real fast. Unfortunately, his character pretty much peaks soon after the "nuclear plant meltdown" mini-act, and then he starts to get slightly annoying--especially once Chloe comes back in. He does, however, still have some likable moments throughout, and does regain tolerable-ness by the end.And then there's Chloe, who returned from the
previous season. She's actually quite a bit more bearable this season, mostly because we start off with a friend of hers in danger and you get to see her actually care about something. She's given more personality and actual heart, and she's not just a bland, blunt, seemingly uncaring character. She even has some pretty awesome moments this season, like near the end when she's forced to go on a field mission. (And not to skip ahead, but I've watched the first episode of Season 5 as of this writing, and she's even more likable already).There are a couple other CTU characters introduced, like Marianne, Sarah, and Curtis, but really the only one I cared about was Curtis. Marianne wasn't around very long, and there was just something about Sarah that bugged me. Curtis, on the other hand, was pretty cool, being another regular field agent. But he did have some things about him that bugged me, too (such as his dislike of Tony's eventual return). There was also Bill Buchanan, who took over Chappelle's position, basically. He didn't really evoke feelings from me one way or another. He wasn't an asshole like Chappelle, but he wasn't particularly incompetent at his job like... well... half the people this season. He's just kinda... there.
Finally, there's Tony and Michelle, both of whom come in about halfway through the season (Michelle a little after Tony). It's funny that Tony has essentially become one of my favorite characters, as I couldn't really stand him in Season 1 (then again, I don't think we were supposed to). Sure, he has some personality flaws, but they don't upset me like those of other characters. You can really feel the friendship between him and Jack and the trust that has been built over however many years they've known each other. Michelle, on the other hand, just got on my nerves this season... mostly for how she treated Tony. Yeah, Tony apparently became a drunk bum for a while, but the dude lost his job and went to prison to save her life. And how does she reward him? By leaving him. And on top of that, she treats him like crap when she returns, and then when she's put in a similar situation as he was the previous season? She damn-near acts uppity in the situation... yeah, I really liked her in season 3, especially during the Hotel stuff, but she lost most of my caring this season (which really put a damper on the Season 5 opening).
The Presidents (Keeler/Logan/Palmer)
I never really had strong feelings for President Keeler one way or another, except that I found it strange he was on Air Force One for the majority of the season. At one point he says he'd been flying for 20 hours. Where exactly was he coming from? Did it even say? If it did, I don't think I caught it.
(Vice) President Logan, on the other hand, annoyed the crap out of me. I swear, a theme this season had to be "people incompetent at their jobs," because they were all over the damn place this season. And Logan at the top of that list. And on top of that, he would ask for help, then act superior and unthankful when he got it. And he would bounce between pathetic and needing of help to "I got this, bitch" in the span of 3 seconds... and he did it way too often.Eventually, Mike Novick, whose giant head makes a
triumphant return this season, brings in David Palmer as an adviser to help Logan in his Time of Crisis. Thank God they brought back Palmer, despite it only being in the last 4-5 episodes. He was sorely missed for the majority of the season, having been central to the show for the last 3 seasons (and yes, I was like "Gasp!" at the start of season 5). He's not given too much to do here, but as I said, it was a welcome return to an overall boring and/or lame season.Overall Thoughts
The season does pick up near the end--but its a too little too late kinda deal. Mandy-The-Hot-Assassin returns yet again, which is part of how the season kind of returns to its old self, as it forces Jack to regain his old personality (since it deals with Tony, as well... somebody he cares about). And there's an almost random Chinese consulate subplot that plays out for the last handful of episodes and leads into Jack's fate and Season 5. And it almost felt tacked on to the main plot like a last minute idea to segue into a plotline for Season 5 (or at least a way to kick off said season). This season had a much different feel from the previous seasons. Ironically, I felt the show held more Republican views of things (such as torture), while the season also gained a Republican President (instead of the Democrat Palmer). There's even a bit of "I'm gay, so you must hate me" in there near the end. But overall, the characters were boring, I only cared about those who were mostly innocent and/or inconsequential (Chloe's friend at the beginning, Behrooz, etc.), and half the cast were annoyingly incompetent at their jobs--with only one really overcoming that obstacle (Edgar). It was an awfully lame season that I probably won't be revisiting... but it is a necessary one, as it sets up Season 5... and from what I've seen so far--one episode--well... damn.
5.09.2010
TV Review: 24 - Day 3.
Warning: Here be spoilers.
---------------
Season 3 picks up 3 years after Season 2. After the cliffhanger, the main thing on your mind is "is David Palmer still alive?" And, thankfully, he is. He survived the biological virus that nearly took him out, leaving a large scar on his hand and wrist. But that only foreshadowed the coming events. The main plot this time out deals with a biological weapon threat against the United States. The season is really a basic rehash of the first season, but mixing in elements of the second. And like the previous season, this one is like two different halves, one better than the other. So which half is better?
Let's look at the character stories.
Jack Bauer
Jack is back, work
ing at CTU. But there's more to it than that. He'd been working undercover for over a year with a Mexican family, the Salazars. And in order to keep his cover, he had to become addicted to heroin. After a body shows up at a lab infected with a super-virus, Jack takes it upon himself to try to find and stop the virus from being released on the States. At first, it appears that the Salazars are involved, but there's really more to the story, more than Jack, Tony, and a man named Gael are letting on.
Jack has a really interesting story this time around, making it more personal again. He spent a year of his life with the Salazars and even came to the point of drug addiction. It also turns out, come the second half of the season, that Jack has more involved with the plot than it first let on (as does President Palmer), and it all pretty much ties back to part of the plot in Season One. But believe it or not, the best moments of the season always involve Jack's part of the story (though it is good). Oh, and Nina Myers returns again... but she's not the main villain by a long shot.
The Salazar Family
With the Warners out of the picture (after only a goodbye phone call from Jack to Kate in the first episode), the Salazar comes in as the new family that will only be relevant for the first half of the season. The Salazars are drug cartels, with one of the brothers being in jail. Jack has to break him out and get him down to Mexico, which is where you learn a major twist in the story that I won't reveal in too much detail. Let's just say that Jack works with the Salazars to try and get his hands on the virus.
The Salazars are, for lack of a better term, stupid. Or lame, rather. I never cared for their storyline, and the brothers flip-flopped how they felt about Jack so much I couldn't remember which one was which (shows how developed their personalities were). Thankfully you don't have to deal with any of them after the halfway point, despite the entire beginning of the show being almost completely about them.
CTU
There are quite a few different storylines going on in the CTU building this
season. First, there is the introduction of a couple new characters: Chloe, Adam, and Chase. Let's go in order. Chloe is horrendously annoying. She speaks her mind in all the wrong ways. It's like she's the nerd who thinks she's cool and tries to stand up to everybody who messes with her, but just continually makes an ass of herself. And despite being smart and helpful, nobody can stand her... and the more people can't stand her, the more Chloe feels the need to prove herself, which just makes everything worse. Her story in this season is basically just as a plot device, used only when things go bad electronically. But there's also a subplot about a baby that nearly goes nowhere, and the baby just disappears from the show about halfway in, despite supposedly being still there (unless I missed something).
A
dam is, for all intents and purposes, Chloe's partner. Played by the ever-present Zachary Quinto (of Heroes and Star Trek fame), Adam is one of the few likable characters this season (I'll get into that later). His character starts off a bit rough, but he grows on you pretty fast. And his story is basically the same as Chloe, minus the baby. He's just there for plot purposes. He does get a bit of minor development near the very end of the season, but nothing monumental.
Then there's Chase. But I can't talk about Chase
without talking about Kim Bauer. Kim is now working at CTU as one of the tech squad (in other words, she works with Chloe and Adam), given the job by her father to that she can stay safe and out of trouble--a smart move considering the previous two seasons. Anyway, Chase is Jack's partner, as well as Kim's 3-month boyfriend. There's another twist involving him, but I won't go there here. Chase is impulsive and will go to any means to prove himself. In fact, he often nearly screws things up many times, like when he follows Jack to Mexico to rescue him not knowing Jack had everything under control. And outside of this impulsiveness, he's mildly likable.
Let's not forget Tony and Michelle. Unlike every other relationship in this show, this one actually lasted more than one season. Now married, Tony and Michelle face quite a few hardships throughout the season. From Tony getting shot to Michelle getting caught up in the virus epidemic (the whole string of episodes in the hotel were some of the best parts of the season). Tony's basic story is that, while he's supposed to be running CTU now, things keep happening to put his ability to run the place into question. Michelle, being the second-in-command, doesn't have too much to do throughout the season until the second half, when her moment(s) really come into play.
And then there's Ryan Chappelle. Ryan plays a bigger role in this
season than he did in the last, and he's still a total ass. In fact, he's probably a bigger ass in this season than he was in the previous. However, there's an episode late in the season dealing with Ryan that nearly made me cry, despite my dislike of the character. I really think that shows how good this show is, capable of making you go from hating a character to really feeling for them in the span of one or two episodes.
President Palmer
Palmer's story, like a few other things this season, is a complete rehash of Season One. Palmer is up for re-election, so he's in campaign mode. There's scandal involving a psychiatrist (this time his current girlfriend), as well as Sherry being Sherry and a scandal involving a murder cover-up that can't get out to the media, all stemming from something a male relative did (this time his brother instead of his son).
I have to be honest here, Sherry is actually likable for the bulk of her appearance in this season. It isn't until after the murder cover-up stuff starts that she goes back to her old ways. But I thought prior to that, the use of her character was refreshing. David Palmer also gets slightly darker and more serious. He still tries to uphold the right thing, but he has to make some incredibly tough choices this season, putting him in that morally ambiguous area that he rarely ventures into.
But then there's Palmer's brother who he hired as his personal consultant, figuring he could trust him well enough. And the dude is a prick. I couldn't stand him and just wanted him to get fired. But no, David trusted him and needed him, so he had to stay on.
The end of his story is satisfying enough, however, leaving Palmer in a positive light. He's able to stay an ultimate good figure on the show... at least at this point.
Overall Thoughts
As I said before, this is a season in two halves. I said that the first half of Season Two was the better half. For Season Three, I have to say that the second half is the better of the two. We get away from the Salazars and start dealing with the real villain(s) of the season. Things begin to get more suspenseful, including the hotel episodes, as well as the requests that Palmer is forced to go along with if he wants the country to stay safe, not to mention the episode focusing on Chappelle. But the second half isn't without its faults, either. There are a lot of inconsistencies. The baby disappears. Jack's drug addiction just stops. Things that happen to Tony are never mentioned again (I think he collapses at one point, and at another point his wound re-opens... neither issue is ever brought back up). And I'm sure there are numerous other things I picked up on, but that I can't remember at the moment. But the season ends with one of the very rare instances of Jack showing a crack in his hard shell. The stress and emotion of the day catches up with him, and he just breaks down, and that was very nice to see there at the end. Unfortunately, I'm a little ways into Season 4 and... ugh... just... ugh.
---------------
Season Three: Day 3.
Season 3 picks up 3 years after Season 2. After the cliffhanger, the main thing on your mind is "is David Palmer still alive?" And, thankfully, he is. He survived the biological virus that nearly took him out, leaving a large scar on his hand and wrist. But that only foreshadowed the coming events. The main plot this time out deals with a biological weapon threat against the United States. The season is really a basic rehash of the first season, but mixing in elements of the second. And like the previous season, this one is like two different halves, one better than the other. So which half is better?
Let's look at the character stories.
Jack Bauer
Jack is back, work
ing at CTU. But there's more to it than that. He'd been working undercover for over a year with a Mexican family, the Salazars. And in order to keep his cover, he had to become addicted to heroin. After a body shows up at a lab infected with a super-virus, Jack takes it upon himself to try to find and stop the virus from being released on the States. At first, it appears that the Salazars are involved, but there's really more to the story, more than Jack, Tony, and a man named Gael are letting on.Jack has a really interesting story this time around, making it more personal again. He spent a year of his life with the Salazars and even came to the point of drug addiction. It also turns out, come the second half of the season, that Jack has more involved with the plot than it first let on (as does President Palmer), and it all pretty much ties back to part of the plot in Season One. But believe it or not, the best moments of the season always involve Jack's part of the story (though it is good). Oh, and Nina Myers returns again... but she's not the main villain by a long shot.
The Salazar Family
With the Warners out of the picture (after only a goodbye phone call from Jack to Kate in the first episode), the Salazar comes in as the new family that will only be relevant for the first half of the season. The Salazars are drug cartels, with one of the brothers being in jail. Jack has to break him out and get him down to Mexico, which is where you learn a major twist in the story that I won't reveal in too much detail. Let's just say that Jack works with the Salazars to try and get his hands on the virus.The Salazars are, for lack of a better term, stupid. Or lame, rather. I never cared for their storyline, and the brothers flip-flopped how they felt about Jack so much I couldn't remember which one was which (shows how developed their personalities were). Thankfully you don't have to deal with any of them after the halfway point, despite the entire beginning of the show being almost completely about them.
CTU
There are quite a few different storylines going on in the CTU building this
season. First, there is the introduction of a couple new characters: Chloe, Adam, and Chase. Let's go in order. Chloe is horrendously annoying. She speaks her mind in all the wrong ways. It's like she's the nerd who thinks she's cool and tries to stand up to everybody who messes with her, but just continually makes an ass of herself. And despite being smart and helpful, nobody can stand her... and the more people can't stand her, the more Chloe feels the need to prove herself, which just makes everything worse. Her story in this season is basically just as a plot device, used only when things go bad electronically. But there's also a subplot about a baby that nearly goes nowhere, and the baby just disappears from the show about halfway in, despite supposedly being still there (unless I missed something).A
dam is, for all intents and purposes, Chloe's partner. Played by the ever-present Zachary Quinto (of Heroes and Star Trek fame), Adam is one of the few likable characters this season (I'll get into that later). His character starts off a bit rough, but he grows on you pretty fast. And his story is basically the same as Chloe, minus the baby. He's just there for plot purposes. He does get a bit of minor development near the very end of the season, but nothing monumental.Then there's Chase. But I can't talk about Chase
without talking about Kim Bauer. Kim is now working at CTU as one of the tech squad (in other words, she works with Chloe and Adam), given the job by her father to that she can stay safe and out of trouble--a smart move considering the previous two seasons. Anyway, Chase is Jack's partner, as well as Kim's 3-month boyfriend. There's another twist involving him, but I won't go there here. Chase is impulsive and will go to any means to prove himself. In fact, he often nearly screws things up many times, like when he follows Jack to Mexico to rescue him not knowing Jack had everything under control. And outside of this impulsiveness, he's mildly likable.
Let's not forget Tony and Michelle. Unlike every other relationship in this show, this one actually lasted more than one season. Now married, Tony and Michelle face quite a few hardships throughout the season. From Tony getting shot to Michelle getting caught up in the virus epidemic (the whole string of episodes in the hotel were some of the best parts of the season). Tony's basic story is that, while he's supposed to be running CTU now, things keep happening to put his ability to run the place into question. Michelle, being the second-in-command, doesn't have too much to do throughout the season until the second half, when her moment(s) really come into play.And then there's Ryan Chappelle. Ryan plays a bigger role in this
season than he did in the last, and he's still a total ass. In fact, he's probably a bigger ass in this season than he was in the previous. However, there's an episode late in the season dealing with Ryan that nearly made me cry, despite my dislike of the character. I really think that shows how good this show is, capable of making you go from hating a character to really feeling for them in the span of one or two episodes.President Palmer
Palmer's story, like a few other things this season, is a complete rehash of Season One. Palmer is up for re-election, so he's in campaign mode. There's scandal involving a psychiatrist (this time his current girlfriend), as well as Sherry being Sherry and a scandal involving a murder cover-up that can't get out to the media, all stemming from something a male relative did (this time his brother instead of his son).I have to be honest here, Sherry is actually likable for the bulk of her appearance in this season. It isn't until after the murder cover-up stuff starts that she goes back to her old ways. But I thought prior to that, the use of her character was refreshing. David Palmer also gets slightly darker and more serious. He still tries to uphold the right thing, but he has to make some incredibly tough choices this season, putting him in that morally ambiguous area that he rarely ventures into.
But then there's Palmer's brother who he hired as his personal consultant, figuring he could trust him well enough. And the dude is a prick. I couldn't stand him and just wanted him to get fired. But no, David trusted him and needed him, so he had to stay on.
The end of his story is satisfying enough, however, leaving Palmer in a positive light. He's able to stay an ultimate good figure on the show... at least at this point.
Overall Thoughts
As I said before, this is a season in two halves. I said that the first half of Season Two was the better half. For Season Three, I have to say that the second half is the better of the two. We get away from the Salazars and start dealing with the real villain(s) of the season. Things begin to get more suspenseful, including the hotel episodes, as well as the requests that Palmer is forced to go along with if he wants the country to stay safe, not to mention the episode focusing on Chappelle. But the second half isn't without its faults, either. There are a lot of inconsistencies. The baby disappears. Jack's drug addiction just stops. Things that happen to Tony are never mentioned again (I think he collapses at one point, and at another point his wound re-opens... neither issue is ever brought back up). And I'm sure there are numerous other things I picked up on, but that I can't remember at the moment. But the season ends with one of the very rare instances of Jack showing a crack in his hard shell. The stress and emotion of the day catches up with him, and he just breaks down, and that was very nice to see there at the end. Unfortunately, I'm a little ways into Season 4 and... ugh... just... ugh.
5.06.2010
TV Review: 24 - Day 2.
Warning: Here be spoilers.
---------------
Season 2 picks up 18 months after Season 1. The main plot this time deals with a nuclear threat on L.A. Jack must deal with the consequences of the last season, stop the bomb, and help President Palmer figure out who is behind it all. But the season really seems, much like Season 3, to be split in half. The first and second halves are quite different in feel to each other. But which half is better? It's really the characters that make one half better than the other.
So let's check out the character stories this time through.
Jack Bauer
After the death of his wife at the end of last season, killed by the one person he thought he could trust, Jack leaves CTU and basically becomes a bum. Kim hardly talks to him. But after the government tortures information out of a man that somebody was going to drop a nuke on L.A., newly appointed President Palmer requests Jack Bauer to head the mission.
This season isn't as personal as the first (or even the third), but it's still
pretty intense. Jack's not connected to the baddies this time out, and he only has two real personal issues: protecting his daughter by getting her out of the city, and having to work with Nina--who killed his wife--to help stop the bomb. But besides the Nina angle, it's really not until Jack teams up with Kate Warner (who I'll get to next) that his story becomes really interesting.
The Warner Family
T
he Warners are new to the show this season. Their story begins as younger sister Marie is getting ready to marry a man named Reza who works for her father, Bob. Older sister Kate is trying to get everything in order, but she doesn't exactly trust Reza. Eventually, Bob and Reza are taken into custody, both accusing the other of being involved with the terrorist plot, having done business with the man supposedly behind the threat. Kate, on the other hand, eventually teams up with Jack to help him locate the bad guys. And the budding romance that begins between them starts to help Jack slowly get over the death of his wife.
The Warner plot really only holds up for the first half of the season and then disappears until near the end. The interactions between Jack and Kate are fun. There's one episode in particular that I thought was excellent, wherein Kate infiltrates a Mosque in order to locate CTU's prime suspect. I won't spoil everything here, just in case, but only Kate really continues as an important character in the second half of the season. But overall, the Warner plot is interesting and added a nice change of pace to the story.
George Mason/CTU
The CTU building itself has its own plot. At one point, in order to stop
CTU from helping, the bad guys plant a bomb and nearly destroy the place. So for most of the first half of the season, they're working through rubble and trying to get things back up and running. Meanwhile, George Mason--who took over for Jack during his rogue spell last season and just stayed in charge after Jack left--gets exposed to a high dose of radiation. So for the whole of the first half of this season, George is slowly dying, and he tries to keep it a secret from most people, only letting a few people (like Jack and Tony) in on the secret. And speaking of Tony, he's essentially the second in command now (though eventually taking over for George), and this season is when he begins his relationship with Michelle, another CTU employee.
George Mason has one of the most interesting stories this season, despite you knowing exactly how it's going to end (and I don't mean dying of poisoning). I think anybody with a brain could figure out what he would decide to do. And it's once his story ends that the season shifts. Tony's story is interesting, too, especially now that you know he's a good guy (after all of last season having you never know until the end). Also, the second half of the season, I believe, is when we finally see Ryan Chappelle, the big boss man at Division (the people who control CTU). And he's a total ass... but I'll get more into Ryan in Season 3.
President Palmer
After successfully becoming President of the United States, David Palmer is immediately hit with all sorts of crazy issues. First, there's the whole nuclear bomb threat. Then there's the fact that, apparently, there are people in his party that want to overthrow him. In fact, there might be a lot more of a connection between that and the nuclear threat than originally thought. Sherry Palmer also makes a return, having been forced into divorce from her husband after the last season. She's a little less unlikable this time out, but she's still awfully unlikable. Anyway, the second half of the season primarily focuses on Jack and Palmer. There's a voice clip that connects the bombing to a foreign country. Jack tells Palmer that he thinks the tape has been forged, and, of course, Palmer believes him. But the rest of the government does not. They do everything they can to remove Palmer from office, while Jack tries as quickly as possible to find proof of the tape's unauthentic nature.
This is probably Palmer's most interesting storyline (thus far, anyway). There's really not all that much to say about it. Jack is tied directly into Palmer's storyline, as Jack has to race against time to get information that will help both Jack's part of the story and Palmer's part of the story. The character of Mike Novak returns, as well, and he's always been a pretty likable character, though I'm not sure I cared for him in the second half of this season. And speaking of things I didn't care for...
Kim Bauer
Here's the weak link of this season. It was the only plot that wasn't directly
related to anything of importance. Kim starts off as a nanny for a young girl of some rich family. But after she realizes that the father of the family is a psychotic asshole, the mother tells her to take the girl and leave and get to safety. And then, after her father finally lets her know of the bomb threat, she calls up her kung fu boyfriend to help out. All sorts of stuff happens to Kim during all of this. She has to kidnap the girl twice, gets arrested for murder, gets into a wreck, gets lost in the woods and chased by a mountain lion, and then shacks up with a crazy man for one episode that we never see again. You can really tell that the writers were like "Well, we have to keep her in the story somehow... but we don't want to tie her directly into the main plot again. Let's keep it fresh. How about... mountain lions!"
Overall Thoughts
It's a pretty good season with a couple rough spots here and there. I asked a question earlier: Which is the better half? If you couldn't figure it out from my comments, I think the first half of the season is the better half. It gives us most of the good Warner stuff, the suspense of finding the nuke, the bombing of CTU, and George Mason's story. The second half is good, but not up to the par of the first half. The Warners all but disappear, George Mason is gone, CTU miraculously goes from rubble to completely operational, Tony miraculously goes from crutches to hardly a limp, and we switch from finding a nuclear bomb to finding proof that an audio tape is forged. Most of the good of the second half comes from Palmer's storyline, as you're just rooting for him to overcome his cabinet and persevere. Not to mention the season ends on a major cliffhanger dealing with him. So, yeah, the first half is better than the second, but it's all around a pretty good season. But it's nothing compared to Season 3.
---------------
Season Two: Day 2.
Season 2 picks up 18 months after Season 1. The main plot this time deals with a nuclear threat on L.A. Jack must deal with the consequences of the last season, stop the bomb, and help President Palmer figure out who is behind it all. But the season really seems, much like Season 3, to be split in half. The first and second halves are quite different in feel to each other. But which half is better? It's really the characters that make one half better than the other.So let's check out the character stories this time through.
Jack Bauer
After the death of his wife at the end of last season, killed by the one person he thought he could trust, Jack leaves CTU and basically becomes a bum. Kim hardly talks to him. But after the government tortures information out of a man that somebody was going to drop a nuke on L.A., newly appointed President Palmer requests Jack Bauer to head the mission.
This season isn't as personal as the first (or even the third), but it's still
pretty intense. Jack's not connected to the baddies this time out, and he only has two real personal issues: protecting his daughter by getting her out of the city, and having to work with Nina--who killed his wife--to help stop the bomb. But besides the Nina angle, it's really not until Jack teams up with Kate Warner (who I'll get to next) that his story becomes really interesting.The Warner Family
T
he Warners are new to the show this season. Their story begins as younger sister Marie is getting ready to marry a man named Reza who works for her father, Bob. Older sister Kate is trying to get everything in order, but she doesn't exactly trust Reza. Eventually, Bob and Reza are taken into custody, both accusing the other of being involved with the terrorist plot, having done business with the man supposedly behind the threat. Kate, on the other hand, eventually teams up with Jack to help him locate the bad guys. And the budding romance that begins between them starts to help Jack slowly get over the death of his wife.The Warner plot really only holds up for the first half of the season and then disappears until near the end. The interactions between Jack and Kate are fun. There's one episode in particular that I thought was excellent, wherein Kate infiltrates a Mosque in order to locate CTU's prime suspect. I won't spoil everything here, just in case, but only Kate really continues as an important character in the second half of the season. But overall, the Warner plot is interesting and added a nice change of pace to the story.
George Mason/CTU
The CTU building itself has its own plot. At one point, in order to stop
CTU from helping, the bad guys plant a bomb and nearly destroy the place. So for most of the first half of the season, they're working through rubble and trying to get things back up and running. Meanwhile, George Mason--who took over for Jack during his rogue spell last season and just stayed in charge after Jack left--gets exposed to a high dose of radiation. So for the whole of the first half of this season, George is slowly dying, and he tries to keep it a secret from most people, only letting a few people (like Jack and Tony) in on the secret. And speaking of Tony, he's essentially the second in command now (though eventually taking over for George), and this season is when he begins his relationship with Michelle, another CTU employee.George Mason has one of the most interesting stories this season, despite you knowing exactly how it's going to end (and I don't mean dying of poisoning). I think anybody with a brain could figure out what he would decide to do. And it's once his story ends that the season shifts. Tony's story is interesting, too, especially now that you know he's a good guy (after all of last season having you never know until the end). Also, the second half of the season, I believe, is when we finally see Ryan Chappelle, the big boss man at Division (the people who control CTU). And he's a total ass... but I'll get more into Ryan in Season 3.
President Palmer
After successfully becoming President of the United States, David Palmer is immediately hit with all sorts of crazy issues. First, there's the whole nuclear bomb threat. Then there's the fact that, apparently, there are people in his party that want to overthrow him. In fact, there might be a lot more of a connection between that and the nuclear threat than originally thought. Sherry Palmer also makes a return, having been forced into divorce from her husband after the last season. She's a little less unlikable this time out, but she's still awfully unlikable. Anyway, the second half of the season primarily focuses on Jack and Palmer. There's a voice clip that connects the bombing to a foreign country. Jack tells Palmer that he thinks the tape has been forged, and, of course, Palmer believes him. But the rest of the government does not. They do everything they can to remove Palmer from office, while Jack tries as quickly as possible to find proof of the tape's unauthentic nature.This is probably Palmer's most interesting storyline (thus far, anyway). There's really not all that much to say about it. Jack is tied directly into Palmer's storyline, as Jack has to race against time to get information that will help both Jack's part of the story and Palmer's part of the story. The character of Mike Novak returns, as well, and he's always been a pretty likable character, though I'm not sure I cared for him in the second half of this season. And speaking of things I didn't care for...
Kim Bauer
Here's the weak link of this season. It was the only plot that wasn't directly
related to anything of importance. Kim starts off as a nanny for a young girl of some rich family. But after she realizes that the father of the family is a psychotic asshole, the mother tells her to take the girl and leave and get to safety. And then, after her father finally lets her know of the bomb threat, she calls up her kung fu boyfriend to help out. All sorts of stuff happens to Kim during all of this. She has to kidnap the girl twice, gets arrested for murder, gets into a wreck, gets lost in the woods and chased by a mountain lion, and then shacks up with a crazy man for one episode that we never see again. You can really tell that the writers were like "Well, we have to keep her in the story somehow... but we don't want to tie her directly into the main plot again. Let's keep it fresh. How about... mountain lions!"Overall Thoughts
It's a pretty good season with a couple rough spots here and there. I asked a question earlier: Which is the better half? If you couldn't figure it out from my comments, I think the first half of the season is the better half. It gives us most of the good Warner stuff, the suspense of finding the nuke, the bombing of CTU, and George Mason's story. The second half is good, but not up to the par of the first half. The Warners all but disappear, George Mason is gone, CTU miraculously goes from rubble to completely operational, Tony miraculously goes from crutches to hardly a limp, and we switch from finding a nuclear bomb to finding proof that an audio tape is forged. Most of the good of the second half comes from Palmer's storyline, as you're just rooting for him to overcome his cabinet and persevere. Not to mention the season ends on a major cliffhanger dealing with him. So, yeah, the first half is better than the second, but it's all around a pretty good season. But it's nothing compared to Season 3.
5.03.2010
TV Review: 24 - Day 1.
I've put this off long enough. A little while back I started watching 24 via Netflix, figuring it was time I try getting into the show. And then it got even easier once I got my Instant Streaming and discovered that all 24 episodes are available there. In other words, I didn't have to wait forever to get the next disc of whatever current season I was watching. So now that I've watched the first 3 seasons, I'll start giving my thoughts, one season at a time.Warning: Some spoilers ahead.
Season One: Day 1.
This first season hooked me in pretty fast. However, it wasn't perfect. Granted, I've only watched the first three seasons at this point, but the first season is really the only one where I've noticed one particular issue: making things overly complicated to do what should have been an otherwise easy task. For instance, near the beginning, an assassin woman gets a seat next to a photographer on an airplane to L.A. from Europe (I forget where specifically), chats him up to gain his trust, then kills him, steals his I.D. card, and jumps out of the plane with parachute after blowing up said plane. She then lands in the desert and buries the I.D. card so that someone else can come pick it up to deliver it. Seriously? Whatever happened to just jumping the guy in the street or robbing his house?
Anyway, the plot of this season centers around an assassination attempt on Senator Palmer, a Presidential Candidate, on the day of the Primary. So it's up to Special Agent Jack Bauer, head of CTU (Counter-Terrorist Unit), to save the day. But it's not that easy, as his daughter Kim and, eventually, his wife Teri--who he just got back with after a separation--are kidnapped. And the bad guys are using them against Jack to force him into carrying out the assassination himself. So Jack also has to save his family while avoiding assassinating Palmer and figure out just what his connection to all of this is.
As the show is split into multiple stories, I'll focus on each individual plotline and talk about its strengths and weaknesses. And I'll start with the major one.
Jack Bauer
The show really starts off showing you that our main character
is no protagonist, as it were. No, we're dealing with an Anti-Hero here. Jack will go to any lengths to do what is necessary. At one point he threatens to shove a towel down a guy's throat and have it settle in his stomach just long enough for the acid to latch it to his stomach lining... and then pull it back up and out. That's pretty hardcore. Of course, he never does it, but just threatening to do so it crazy.And that's Jack Bauer for you. You know he'll do whatever is necessary, but you can never really tell if he'll actually do it or not. He's a great bluff... or is he really bluffing? And how is all this stuff really affecting him? He keeps a hard outer shell that I don't think ever cracks until the final minutes of season 3 (which I'll get to soon).
Anyway, Jack corresponds with CTU, despite being away from headquarters for most of the season. He doesn't know who he can trust, as there is apparently a spy in their ranks. So while trying to stay away from the likes of the ambiguous Tony Almeida and sticks with Tony's girlfriend and Jack's former flame, Nina Myers. He also keeps confidence with one of the main computer techs, who can help him with anything technical he might need done.
Now, I'm usually pretty good and picking up on twist endings, and despite me basically figuring out any twists early on, the show has a way of making you second-guess yourself. So kudos on that. Overall, Jack's story, being the primary one, is interesting and action-packed. It has to be. It's the driving force of the show.
Kim and Teri Bauer
Their story starts as Kim sneaks out to hang out with a friend and some guys she knows. Well, it turns out the guys were hired to kidnap her. Fortunately, one of them--Rick--realizes he's in over his head and tries to persuade his crazy friend to stop doing what they're doing. But things get a bit out of control, leaving Rick in the driver's seat, so to speak. And there's a bit of a romantic angle between Kim and Rick, allowing the feelings between them to help Rick overcome his fears and try to help them out as best he can without getting caught or killed.Meanwhile, Teri travels around with who she thinks is Kim's friend's father, but he turns out to be working for the bad guys, too. Teri ends up in the same place as Kim, and they have to work together (along with Rick) to stay safe and try to escape.
Overall, this plot gets old after a while. It's just repetitive. They get caught, they escape, they get caught again, they escape again, they get caught again... seriously. And at one point, both Kim and Teri escape together, but after a car accident, they get separated and Teri gets trauma-induced amnesia after thinking Kim is dead. I know that happens all the time, but it was still a bit ridiculous.
Oh, and is it just me, or did Teri and Nina look incredibly similar? If Teri grew out her hair a little more, they would look damn near like twins. Anyway...
David Palmer
Palmer's story isn't very interesting, especially in comparison to the next
season. Years before, his son murdered a guy who raped his daughter (the son's sister). But it was leaked to somebody who decided that she must release it to the press. So while Palmer sees no real way to stop it from being leaked, his wife tries to cover it up, all the while yelling at her husband for potentially having their son go to jail. Of course, he didn't know about any of the bad stuff, as his wife had covered it all up after it happened. And all she cares about is keeping her husband's image positive so that he will win the election and get her into the White House. And she'll do whatever it takes to gain that power.
I really liked David Palmer as a character. And, of course, the whole plot centered around him. But almost everybody else in his plotline was annoying. Sherry, his wife, was actually more unlikable than the real villains of the show. You know how in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Delores Umbridge is more despicable than even Voldemort? It was similar here. I loathed Sherry with a passion in this season, but really had no strong feelings for the real villains. And then the Palmer children were just kind of annoying. The daughter was alright, but she wasn't really on screen very much. The son, however, irked me, too. And I'm glad after Season One, he's pretty much in one episode and only for about 3 minutes.Palmer himself, however, is really, really likable. He's just a good guy all around. He wants to do what's right and gets conflicted if put in a position of moral ambiguity (i.e. where Jack stays through the whole show).
Overall Thoughts
This season is a really good one, which is obvious considering it spawned another 7 seasons after it. There are obviously some things I disliked about the season, but they weren't things that destroyed it for me.
What really hooked me into the show, besides the suspense/tension, was its style. The way the show handled the multi-screens to show things happening in different stories at the same time. And, of course, the counter. The premise is that the show takes place in one day, and every episode is one hour of that day. Granted, when you're not watching it with commercials and 4-5 minutes will pass in about 5 seconds where commercials should be, that bit of the concept is lost. But it's still fun.
I think the best thing about this season was the tension and the twists. The secondary characters get better plots in the following seasons, but here they do what is necessary for the story. It's definitely a "season one," trying to find its place, but as I've seen mentioned elsewhere, even a below-average season of 24 is a better season than most other shows. Not that I'm saying this is a below-average season. It's not. I was just making a point on the quality of the show. And I think that about does it for the first season.
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