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One thing I noticed is that the shorter, 12-episode, format means that characters get bumped off a lot quicker than before.
Then there’s the “Dammit!” count. It was uttered three times over the two episodes – one per episode from Bauer, but both of these were beaten to the punch by snooty Navarro, who got his in first when Kate Morgan (Yvonne Strahovski) disobeyed an order not to try and chat Bauer up while he wasn’t looking. In fact, I wonder if she’s been given the surname Morgan because the last big series she was in was Dexter, where she played Mr Morgan’s psycho-squeeze Hannah McKay. That’s my theory, anyway. Sadly, despite Ms Strahovski being hotter than the sun, hear she wears a dowdy cardigan for most of the double-bill’s running time. Maybe she’ll get taken to Hawaii to run about in a bikini on the beach. Well, you never know.
Oh, and since they’re filming in London for the first part of this series, how come all the CTU staff were American? Don’t they have an equal opportunities policy that states they must hire local talent, like when the BBC relocated some of its departments up to Salford?
So, what’s the problem that Bauer wasn’t to stop? It’s actually a drone hijack that’s being put together by Derek Yates (below), in an attempt to bump off Heller. Unfortunately, for our drone-whizz, he’s bumped off by his girlfriend Simone (Emily Berrington, bottom pic), who knows he has an important and expensive device that would sell to the right bidder for a lot of money, so to say she doesn’t just stick the knife in but she twists it as well, is a 100% accurate statement, since she does it in the right-hand side of his head. And to think she seemed such a nice girl when she recently played the part of Aussie student Stacey in Outnumbered!
In fact, the actor playing Yates seemed very familiar at first, but I couldn’t place him, so before the episode finished, I looked him up. He’s an actor called Joseph Millson, and I remember him from Channel 4’s Campus, where he played smoothie lecturer Matt Beer. Unfortunately, when I looked him up, initially, and didn’t see his character listed on IMDB, I searched elsewhere… and found a ‘24‘ website which detailed the fact that he would be dead by the end of episode two. Whoops!
(Note to self: Don’t search for anyone online until the broadcast episodes have finished!)
Overall, 24 was full of its usual implausibilities but still reasonably entertaining with it, although it sagged on occasion when Jack was off-screen, eg. who cares about Boudreau’s (Tate Donovan) lovey-dovey times with wife Audrey (Kim Raver)? Yes, she’s been through a tough time and she’s Heller’s daughter, but both actors are more wooden than the cast of Eldorado!
And will former Secretary of State, now President, Heller (William Devane) make it to the London/US changeover now he’s seemingly got early onset Alzheimer’s? Well, since they’ve mentioned his condition at the top of the show, you just know things are going to go tits up for him.
24: Live Another Day is broadcast on Sky 1, Wednesdays at 9pm.
Score: 6/10
Director: Jon Cassar
Producer: Iain Smith
Screenplay: Robert Cochran and David Fury
Music: Sean Callery
Cast:
Jack Bauer: Kiefer Sutherland
Chloe O’Brian: Mary Lynn Rajskub
Kate Morgan: Yvonne Strahovski
Steve Navarro: Benjamin Bratt
Mark Boudreau: Tate Donovan
President James Heller: William Devane
Erik Ritter: Gbenga Akinnagbe
Adrian Cross: Michael Wincott
Jordan Reed: Giles Matthey
Ron Clark: Ross McCall
David Yates: Joseph Millson
Simone Al-Harazi: Emily Berrington
Chris Tanner: John Boyega
Chell: Mandeep Dhillon
Lt Lucas Miller: Nick Donald
Margot Al-Harazi: Michelle Fairley
Audrey Raines: Kim Raver
Prime Minister Alastair Davies: Stephen Fry
Belcheck: Branko Tomovic
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.