Liam Carey looks back at
Broadcast on
Running time: 45 minutes
Year: 2001-2002
Sound: Dolby Surround
Languages: English
Widescreen: 1.77:1 (16:9)
16:9-Enhanced: Yes
Directors:
Stephen Hopkins, Jon Cassar, Davis Guggenheim, Winrich Kolbe, Bryan Spicer
Producers:
Michael Loceff, Andrea Newman and Cyrus I. Yavneh
Creators/Writers:
Joel Surnow & Robert Cochran
Music:
Cast:
Jack Bauer: Kiefer Sutherland
WARNING: Spoilers are contained throughout this review.
So, it's over. For the time being, at least.
Yet, come midnight, his wife Teri would be found dead, having been unfortunate
(some would say plain stupid) enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong
time, walking in on dastardly double agent Nina Myers (a.k.a. Yelena) just as
she was planning a swift, untraceable exit once the Drazens were finally taken
down shortly after 11.30pm.
You could say Jack's day had been a success...sort of. But what of the programme
itself?
Left to right (above): Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland ) has proved to be one of
television's most memorable and popular creations; Teri Bauer (Leslie Hope )
copped plenty of flack from fans for her infamous cardigan and ultimately
copped it as well; Kim Bauer (Elisha Cuthbert ) aged about 18 months in one
"day" and went from curly mop to straight cut as the hours wore on, but never mind...
Left to right (above):
the hapless Ira Gaines (Michael Massee ) was a better and more interesting
villain than Victor Drazen (a lazy, late-in-the-day guest star turn from
Dennis Hopper ); she was a mole and she's now in the hole - Nina Myers (Sarah
Clarke ) had viewers on the edge of their seats wondering if she was or wasn't
dirty... pity the script shortchanged her character; finally, has there ever
been a more dignified, honourable and downright electable Presidential
candidate than Senator David Palmer (Dennis Haysbert )?
Originally given the greenlight by Fox for an 8-episode run after the
commissioned pilot's positive reception, 24 was then extended to 13 "hours",
before eventually securing the full monty of one whole day as per its concept.
Unfortunately, the uncertainty and continually varying parameters endured by the
show's writing team is reflected in the contrasting quality and narrative
consistency between the earlier episodes and the concluding installments.
Disappointingly, 24 as a whole does not quite pull off its ambitious and highly
intruiging premise with quite the panache it suggested initially. Indeed, the
original comparisons with The X-Files, Heat , and water-tight attention
to detail began to look somewhat misguided by the final third of the series,
with increasingly silly manoeuvres more akin to an episode of Dynasty or some
other ludicrously tongue-in-cheek confection than the straight-as-a-die cerebral
approach the early hours used to such dazzling effect.
Left to right (above): doomed Janet York (Jaqui Maxwell ) and her best bud Kim
Bauer realise their secret double-date with a couple of frat boys isn't going
quite to plan; by 4.00am the parents - including someone who isn't all they
claim to be - are checking local hopsitals for any sign of the now-missing
girls; CTU computer specialist Jamey Farrell (Karina Arroyave ) is interrogated
by District Director George Mason (Xander Berkley ) under suspcicion of being
the "mole" between 3.00am and 4.00am
Left to right (above): Agent Pierce, head of Secret Service and
assigned to Senator Palmer, discuss urgent security threats with his charge;
shifty businessman Ted Coffell is cornered by Jack Bauer just before midday
and a subsequent revelation of the reason behind events; being locked up in a
disused barn by Gaines' crew begins to take its toll on Teri and Kim; the
Bauers prepare to make a run for it as Gaines and co. try to stop Jack
rescuing his family...
What began as a hi-tech conspiracy thriller with a mind-boggling array of
possible scenarios and potential double-bluffs somehow degenerated into a
routine and hackneyed spin on the typical terrorist-themed action movie. The
writer's aforementioned uncertainty over exactly how many episodes they would
have to convincingly wrap up the various plot strands gave us an unevenly-paced
series. 12.00am-8.00am crammed in a tremendous range of gripping storylines and
some genuinely shocking twists, before the first third climaxed with the
thwarted hit at the Palmer breakfast speech. Setting up mercenary Ira Gaines
as the initial bad-guy hired to take out the Senator for some unspecified
reason created superb tension and endless scenes of almost unbearable suspense.
All kinds of mayhem were unfolding, with the CTU forever busting a collective
gut to keep abreast of the situation while being undermined from within by an
known dirty agent. Because of the real-time format, details would be revealed
in chronological fashion, the true motives behind the day's events gradually
unfolding.
Then, perhaps as an inevitable anti-climax, 8.00am through to 1.00pm seemed to
exist purely to set up the next major revelation, when a lead traced to a
high-flying businessman takes Jack into Gaines' lair for a protracted but
gripping attempt to rescue the captured Teri and Kim from certain execution.
Once Gaines had been removed from the equation, however, and his bosses, the
Drazen brothers, activated their Plan B, 24 began to lose its way. It's easy
to see how the 13th episode was designed to provide a conclusion of sorts if
the powers that be didn't extend the show's contract to the full 24 shows.
1.00pm onwards is definitely a rather different beast, driven as it is by the
decision taken by the writers on the mole's identity halfway through the
programme and their task of how to best set up 11.59pm's bombshell. It all
pans out fairly neatly, if the purpose of 24 was to degenerate into cliche and
abandon a host of fascinating plot threads just so they have a supposedly good
twist right at the end. Red-herrings were doubtless to be expected, of course,
but unless the second series has some tricks up its sleeve and reveals an even
bigger picture, too much of these 24 episodes contained details that ultimately
meant little or just took the story up a stylised blind alley for a while.
It would have been satisfying to find the resolution of 24 long hours afford
its audience more respect than the rushed, almost anti-climactic last 30 minutes
after Jack's all-guns-blazing assault on the Drazen's riverside HQ. Even that
was somewhat banal in its execution after so much cat-and-mouse for 23 and a
half hours. All that intricate planning, synchronization, hiring of great
teams of mercenaries, the complex backstory with its call for payback.... and
what does it boil down to? Oh, let that Jack Bauer come find us, the
terrorists-with-dodgy-accents say, then he can drive one of our unattended
vans straight into our hideout, shoot everyone on his own, and kill us too
without any trouble at all. Simple!
Except 24 has literally shot its load a full 30 minutes early. What
happens now? Oh yes, we'll take the seemingly compassionate, trustworthy
confidante and colleague of the main character and turn her into a murderous,
duplicitous maniac with a Russian accent. Ha ha! And it will add up because
the last 11 episodes featured so many unbelievable plot devices and daft
behaviour from supposedly intelligent characters just so our twist would make
sense.
Er, right.
Left to right (above): Sherry Palmer (Penny Johnson Jerald ) has some tough
decisions to make concerning her son Keith (Vicellous Shannon ) and the
cover-up they kept from the Senator; Jack continues to trust Nina, unaware of
her devastating betrayal; Elizabeth Nash (Kara Zediker ) and hitman Alexis
Drazen (Misha Collins ) canoodle under the surveillance of CTU, minutes before
disaster strikes and Nash gets the knife out
Left to right (above): Eez dat Deneez Oppa? Vot eez ee
douwin een 24 wiz dat derribal ackzent? Bauer confronts Victor Drazen with the
big questions shortly after the covert military drop-off at 7.30pm; The one
and only time all three Drazens are onscreen together, as youngest brother
Alexis takes his dying breaths while both father and big bro Andre watch
helplessly; Nina reassures Teri just after 11.30pm - "Everything is going to
be fine..." - lies, damn lies!; finally, father and daughter are properly
reunited..... but where's Mom? Oh no....
It's only entertainment. Sure. Don't take it so seriously. Okay. The writing
team admit they made mistakes, and forgot to tie up certain loose ends. Nobody's
perfect. The production crew, hampered by their schedule and the weather
conditions, goofed up the continuity in later episodes simply because logistics
for the time of year made it near impossible (hence errors, such as the gentle
evening sunset at 6.59pm becomes total darkness a couple of minutes later when
the 7.00pm episode begins, slipped through). Fair enough. Kim Bauer's hair
straightens completely in the space of less than a day. Maybe she needs more
powerful curling tongs.
Seriously though, of all the eventualities the developments
of 24 's opening dozen episodes might have pointed towards, the one
actually offered was the dullest imaginable. Two-dimensional villains from the
Baltic states on some pathological mission of revenge, aided from the inside by
a two-faced bitch with a well-concealed Russian accent....? What of the menacing
behind-the-scenes machinations of Senator Palmer's campaign backers and the
insidious Carl? Or the possible links between the rapist who was accidentally
killed by Keith Palmer seven years earlier - and the resulting cover-up - to
any security risk or plan to undermine Palmer's election hopes? Was it just
there to open the Senator's eyes to how little he really knew his family? Is
Sherry just a power-mad wife from hell, and up to nothing more sinister after
all? Oh well.
For much of the final third, 24 only remained compulsive viewing for the chance
that, come midnight, something special, something worth waiting for, would
occur or be revealed. The main problem with the hours 1.00pm to 12.00am was
they merely went over the same ground as their morning counterparts - and sometimes
more than once. Bad guy wants Palmer dead. Still. Jack foils assassination.
Again. Teri and Kim are kidnapped. Again. They escape. Again. Then recaptured.
Again. And so on.
A procession of sketchily-written or purely annoying characters came and went
in what followers of 24 term the "Drazen hours" (as opposed to the "Gaines hours").
Too many by half, in fact. Teddy Hanlin, the sniper with a chip on his shoulder,
was the worst example. Victor Drazen, a pivotal role, was given to a hammy
Dennis Hopper, long the stereotyped bad guy in Hollywood and as such burdened
by predictability when the very opposite was needed. Some, such as the enigmatic
Dr. Phil Parslow and the brave DoD agent DeSalvo, were better but sadly
underused.
Tony Almeida, meanwhile, was criminally reduced to a constantly hovering role
throughout, something which the next series of 24 would do well to rectify. He
and George Mason were surprisingly durable and ultimately appealing creations,
which at around about 2.00am looked unlikely. Jack Bauer, Nina Myers (until
11.59pm) and David Palmer were all superbly realised by their respective
actors... Kiefer Sutherland, especially, carving out a quite iconic role in
contemporary action drama and a part with which he will be strongly associated
with for some time to come, one would imagine. Denis Haysbert made the most of
Palmer's massive screen presence and gravitas, and anyone who ever saw Heat
or
The Thirteenth Floor
A second season has been comissioned and already filming is in progress with
the first episodes due to air Statside in October 2002. What future awaits
24 ? After early rumours that the real-time format would be axed proved
unfounded, there is at least a good chance that series two will draw upon some
of the lessons learned during the making of the first. Then again, perhaps the
direction taken by the programme towards the latter stages of series one is
the way the show's producers wish to pursue from now on. We can only wait
and see...
DVDfever Dom adds: Yes, there isn't a DVD review of Season One
online, but the only extras are an alternate ending and a Season 2 Preview
and while the DVD benefits over the VHS from an anamorphic widescreen
transfer, upon its August 19th release the final five episodes were put out
in their US TV censored versions. Only discs 5 and 6 are affected and replacements
should be available by late September, so send your DVDs to:
Twenty Four DVD returns
Review copyright © Liam Carey, 2002.
E-mail Liam Carey
Keep up to date with the "24" timeline:
2010 24: Season Eight Episodes 1 & 2: 4.00 PM - 6.00 PM 24: Season Eight Episodes 3 & 4: 6.00 PM - 8.00 PM 24: Season Eight Episodes 5 & 6: 8.00 PM - 10.00 PM 24: Season Eight Episode 7: 10.00 PM - 11.00 PM 24: Season Eight Episode 8: 11.00 PM - 12.00 AM 24: Season Eight Episode 9: 12.00 AM - 1.00 AM 24: Season Eight Episode 10: 1.00 AM - 2.00 AM 24: Season Eight Episode 11: 2.00 AM - 3.00 AM 24: Season Eight Episode 12: 3.00 AM - 4.00 AM 24: Season Eight Episode 13: 4.00 AM - 5.00 AM 24: Season Eight Episode 14: 5.00 AM - 6.00 AM 24: Season Eight Episode 15: 6.00 AM - 7.00 AM 24: Season Eight Episode 16: 7.00 AM - 8.00 AM 24: Season Eight Episode 17: 8.00 AM - 9.00 AM 24: Season Eight Episode 18: 9.00 AM - 10.00 AM 24: Season Eight Episode 19: 10.00 AM - 11.00 AM 24: Season Eight Episode 20: 11.00 AM - 12.00 PM 24: Season Eight Episode 21: 12.00 PM - 1.00 PM 24: Season Eight Episode 22: 1.00 PM - 2.00 PM 24: Season Eight Episodes 23 & 24: 2.00 PM - 4.00 PM
2009 24: Season Seven Episodes 1 & 2: 8.00 AM - 10.00 AM 24: Season Seven Episodes 3 & 4: 10.00 AM - 12.00 PM 24: Season Seven Episode 5: 12.00 PM - 1.00 PM 24: Season Seven Episode 6: 1.00 PM - 2.00 PM 24: Season Seven Episode 7: 2.00 PM - 3.00 PM 24: Season Seven Episode 8: 3.00 PM - 4.00 PM 24: Season Seven Episode 9: 4.00 PM - 5.00 PM 24: Season Seven Episode 10: 5.00 PM - 6.00 PM 24: Season Seven Episodes 11 & 12: 6.00 PM - 8.00 PM 24: Season Seven Episode 13: 8.00 PM - 9.00 PM 24: Season Seven Episode 14: 9.00 PM - 10.00 PM 24: Season Seven Episode 15: 10.00 PM - 11.00 PM 24: Season Seven Episode 16: 11.00 PM - 12.00 AM 24: Season Seven Episode 17: 12.00 AM - 1.00 AM 24: Season Seven Episode 18: 1.00 AM - 2.00 AM 24: Season Seven Episode 19: 2.00 AM - 3.00 AM 24: Season Seven Episode 20: 3.00 AM - 4.00 AM 24: Season Seven Episode 21: 4.00 AM - 5.00 AM 24: Season Seven Episode 22: 5.00 AM - 6.00 AM 24: Season Seven Episodes 23 & 24: 6.00 AM - 8.00 AM
2003 24: Season Two 24: The Aftermath 24: Season One
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