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DVDfever.co.uk – 24 Season 7 Episodes 1 & 2 review by Dan Owen
Season 7 Episodes 1 & 2 8:00 AM – 10:00 AMBroadcast on Sky One, Monday January 12th, 2009 As premiered ondanowen.blogspot.com
Season 1-6 Boxset:
Redemption:
Director:
- Jon Cassar
Writers:
- Howard Gordon, Joel Surnow & Michael Loceff
Cast:
- Jack Bauer: Kiefer Sutherland
Renee Walker: Annie Wersching
President Allison Taylor: Cherry Jones
Henry Taylor: Colm Feore
Ethan Kanin: Bob Gunton
Larry Moss: Jeffrey Nordling
Sean Hillinger: Rhys Coiro
Janis Gold: Janeane Garofalo
Tony Almeida: Carlos Bernard
Senator Blaine Mayer: Kurtwood Smith
Donnie Fox: Maximiliano Hernandez
Sid Paulson: William O’Leary
Admiral Smith: Ryan Cutrona
Agent Brian Gedge: Warren Kole
Kevin Aldridge: John Rosenfeld
Chuck Toland: Murphy Guyer
Phil: Chris Williams
Mark Dornan: Vic Chao
Alan Tanner: Dameon Clarke
Masters: Nick Chinlund
Tim Woods: Frank John Hughes
Michael Latham: John Billingsley
Gabriel Schecter: Tommy Flanagan
Joe Stevens: Mark Derwin
Angela Nelson: Lesley Fera
FBI Agent In Car: Bobby Hosea
Nichols: Mark Aiken
Ule Matobo: Isaach De Bankole
Dubaku: Hakeem Kae-Kazim
Samantha Roth: Carly Pope
Emerson: Peter Wingfield
Beware spoilers.
The clock’s been idly ticking for 19 months, but the alarm has finally sounded for Day 7 of 24; the award-winning thriller’s attempt to wash away the stain of the terrible Day 6. Ironically, redemption didn’t come with 24: Redemption (the interim two-hour prequel), so fans have their fingers crossed Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) hasn’t become a pop-culture relic, in the mild-reinvention presented here…
After his African safari, Jack is back on home soil and being questioned in the Senate about his unlawful use of torture as part of the now disbanded CTU. Senator Blaine Mayer (Kurtwood Smith) essentially acts as the liberal face of the media who often condemn 24’s right-wing, morally-questionable stance — with added yuks in having Jack chastised for torture by RoboCop’s sociopath Clarence Boddicker.
This season’s terrorist plot swings into action when security expert Michael Latham (John Billingsley) is kidnapped by masked men after they ram his car in a city street. The FBI’s Washington-based counter-terrorism squad, led by Special Agent-In-Charge Larry Moss (Jeffrey Nordling), are soon on the case — having followed a series of high-tech thefts in recent weeks. They come to the conclusion that terrorists are trying to penetrate the country’s vital CPI firewall (software that protects the nation’s infrastructure; electricity, water, telecoms, etc) and are plotting to hijack air-traffic control.
FBI Agent Renee Walker (Annie Wersching) subpoenas Jack into helping her office mid-hearing, after they identify the lead terrorist as his supposedly-dead CTU colleague and friend Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard). It appears that Tony faked his own death, and is now trying to avenge his wife Michelle’s murder — who was killed in a car-bomb planted by a corrupt government administration. So, he’s grown bad-guy stubble, shrugged on a black leather jacket, and has embraced the terrorism he spent his career trying to thwart. Yeah, I don’t buy it either.
In the White House, female President Allison Taylor (Cherry Jones) is knee-deep in dealing with a coup in the fictional African country of Sangala (see: 24 Redemption), distracted by news of the threat to the CPI firewall. Meanwhile, her husband Henry Taylor (Colm Feore) is secretly investigating the alleged suicide of their son, whom he suspects was murdered and has assigned a private investigator to unearth the truth.
For all its talk of reinvention, you don’t take a wheel back to the drawing board, you just improve the traction. This is still the 24 we know and love, only with cosmetic changes: the empty flatness of L.A’s bright suburbs replaced by white Washington architecture and pastel hues. The loss of CTU isn’t really felt (beyond the lack of those chirping phones) because the FBI’s open-plan Washington Field Office is essentially a small-scale CTU redress — complete with Chloe replacement Janis Gold (Janeane Garofalo), a tetchy office worker, a stickler boss, and the old standby of a mole.
Despite the familiarity, the significant amount of new faces does help keep things fresh. There’s rarely much time to get to know anyone, but the script does a great job of introducing characters, giving you a feel for their temperament, before spinning them into their own little plots. After so many years on-air, the writing machine is dexterous and sustains momentum, while ensuring the audience aren’t left scratching their heads.
Already, Wersching’s steely beauty is a nice partnership for Jack out in the field (she’s sympathetic to Jack’s methods, and even utters the first “dammit”), Nordling will hopefully build on a decent start as the by-the-book boss, Garofalo is a more pleasing variant of sour-faced geek Chloe, Jones holds your attention as the liberal female President, and Feore’s performance as the First Gentleman pulls you through the premiere’s weakest subplot.
As ever, Sutherland makes for a magnetic and commanding presence, but the decision to bring Bernard back in a villainous capacity doesn’t seem plausible yet. I can just about accept Tony Almeida faked his death, but not that he’d threaten the lives of innocent airline passengers over misplaced grief. Fortunately, Jack is just as disbelieving as the home audience, which helps, and perhaps there’s a greater mystery to Tony’s actions. Is he deep undercover for someone? Is he being manipulated?
In some ways, 24 is a maddening show to review because of its hourly, serialized format. It’s akin to reviewing the first two chapters of a thick novel; many of your criticisms and gut reactions could be disproved, or make sense with hindsight after reaching the epilogue. Therefore, I’m willing to cut 24 some slack over “Evil Tony” and a very other slips for now, and hope the way the situation links to Sangala isn’t as clunky as I suspect.
Overall, the first two hours of Day 7 were an entertaining and lively start, but lacked the urgency and excitement of previous beginnings. Season 7’s Die Hard 4.0-style plot should at least justify having various terrorist attacks focusing on different aspects of the US infrastructure, and there are plenty of faces (old and new) still to make their entrance. So, count me in for more…
Not quite the radical revamp we were promised (too many tropes of 24 are already being recycled) but it’s certainly freshened things up, introduced some appealing new characters, and laid its groundwork very swiftly. Unlike previous seasons, Day 7’s production schedule means the storyline can’t be altered based on audience reaction, so it will be interesting to see the writers tell a pre-planned story from beginning to end. They certainly can’t blame another bad season on a lack of time to get it right.
Join in the discussion about this episode atDan’s Media Digest
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.