Monday, February 23, 2009

24 Season 7: 5PM-6PM Quick Review


This episode is an instant classic.

Let's be real for a minute, fellow 24-fans- this show wasn't good last season. I still liked certain aspects of Day 6, but things got mighty ridiculous in the end. So, with all the off-season problems that hit the show over the past 2 years (Kiefer going to jail, the constant delays, the Writer's Strike, the re-writes, etc.) I was worried that this season was going to be a letdown. And then tonight's episode happened. We're out of the danger zone- this season of "24" is officially good, and here's why:

1) Loose ends get tied up in a timely manner- If this was last season, Dubaku would have crawled away from his Jeep flipping over while Jack and Renee were attempting to rescue Marika. It would have been another 3-6 episodes of Jack chasing Dubaku if that were the case. Thankfully, the writers closed up this plotline quickly. And connected to Dubaku was the uncovering of the overall conspiracy- involving the moles, etc. (apparently Sean Hillinger had over 100 co-conspirators!). And speaking of Sean, he messed up and he got nailed for it. Again, congratulations to the writers for knowing when to box-in the bad guy. Letting Hillinger and Dubaku continue to run around would not make for a better story. In fact, giving Bauer a "win" in the middle of the day is a great set-up to the next big attack, which looks amazing.

2) Finally, Jack has a foil- Renee Walker is smokin' hot, we all got that figured out. But the writers and Annie Wersching have gone and made a real counterpart for Jack. I saw the preview for tonight a few days ago where Renee slaps Jack and thought "Holy Mother, they're going to make this a soap-opera" (Wersching used to work on soaps). Thankfully they got it right- Jack takes two slaps and then growls at her about either toughening up or quitting. And then Renee promises Jack that she was ready to shoot him earlier. And ya know what? I believe that dizzy broad!

3) Tony is back for real as of tonight- The scene between Jack and Tony on the National Mall at sunset was straight out of a William Friedkin movie. Did these guys even look one another in the eye? I don't think so! It was like watching two wolves, circling around a hunting ground, sniffing out the next threat. Hats off to the team for putting that classic scene together. I'll be watching that interaction again when it hits hulu.com

In fact, I'll be watching this entire episode again, because it was incredibly well-done (how about Bill Buchanan going to bat for Jack? Or Chloe saving the day?!? Practically no Janis Gold either!). This is a top-shelf hour of television. And next week looks insane (2-hrs of real mayhem). I'm stupid-happy over how this season has turned out. Let's keep this vibe going.

3 comments:

Rickey said...

TERRIFIC episode. This is shaping up to be as strong a season as the second one. The real challenge is going to be keeping it going strong when [SPOILER!] Kim returns.

Brian Pelts said...

My hope is that, in the spirit of tying up loose ends, they're bringing Kim back to finally get eaten by that mountain lion.

I love the interaction between Renee and Jack as she struggles with having to "become what Jack is". That much is obvious, but I think there were moments last night where Jack recognized his lost innocence or whatever in Renee. It seems that he's walking a fine line between not wanting to lead her down the same path he has been down, but at the same time he needs her to (wo)man up and get a little soulless.

And I agree that tying up this part of the story helps make this a great season. Especially since, unlike previous Days, you can't blame the bad guys' constant escapes on the incompetence of CTU. We've basically taken the four parts of CTU that don't suck and made them sleeker, darker, and lethally effective. I get the feeling that this day may end with President Taylor wanting to reinstate CTU, but I'd rather see Jack, Tony, Bill and Chloe keep fighting the tera as an off-book, quasi-black-ops team. Maybe that's what they've got in mind for the movie...

Anonymous said...

extra plus marks for episodes with less Janis Gold...

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