24: 8.00am – 9.00am [season premiere]
By fred | January 12, 2009
(S07E01) We’ve been waiting for him, and it never gets old: Jack is back! I don’t know about you, but as far as I’m concerned I tried, as always, to remain as much spoiler-free as I possibly could, because I just hate spoilers and I believe the only way to enjoy a show best is to come in having no clue what’s going to happen whatsoever, and be fully surprised (hopefully) along the way.
And despite a very boring “pre-start” with the movie we had to suffer through a few weeks back, 24: Redemption, I was still pretty excited about the long awaited return of the one and only Jack Bauer, and I really hoped this season would be good, making us forget the terrible mess that was last season. But in all fairness, last season, while really bad, wasn’t bad from the start.
No, in fact it even started relatively good, and it had some things going for it. For instance, opening right in the middle of the action rather than having a slow start where you really feel the need to have 4 episodes over two days, otherwise nothing would have happened for months. And this season did the same, it started right in the middle of things - and no, I obviously don’t mean the Senate part – and we’re soon thrown in the middle on a new crisis, one that of course will require the help of Jack Bauer.
But unlike what seen before, it doesn’t go too far. Last season we all remember how Jack survived a nuclear explosion in the middle of L.A. without a scratch on, or how little damages it seemed to have cause all together. This season almost feels realistic in the way things went down, but that doesn’t mean things are slow, not at all. Jack is rapidly taken away from the Senate committee as FBI special agent Renee Walker feels Jack can be useful to resolve the situation they’re in.
Why Jack? Well, that’s where things could be going wrong. The reason Jack is being brought in is because the FBI found out the the big bad guy of the season, for now, is no other than Tony Almeida! Yes, the very one that died in Jack’s arms a few years ago. Of course this doesn’t really makes sense, but either it was handled quite nicely or I’m in a good mood, because it didn’t really bother me.
I mean I laughed at the idea that he of all people was still alive and a “terrorist” now, then I accepted the idea and moved on. (Besides, I got to practice such exercise when Sara came back to Prison Break…) And so far, it’s been handled pretty well, and I’m intrigued as to what his motives are and what’ll happen when he and Jack meet again. Of course, Tony is the perfect symbol of things you’ve come to expect from 24 nowadays, that the bad guy isn’t really a bad guy, that there are moles everywhere, and that there’s another bigger evil hidden somewhere behind pulling the strings.
Because whether he had the whole thing planned long ahead, or it was someone else who orchestrated the whole thing, Tony didn’t just survived and then decided to hide it from the world. It was planned ahead, it took connections, power, preparation, influences and motives. Whatever is going on, whatever had Tony not tell anyone he was still alive, and come back from hiding now, it’s bigger than just revenge over his wife’s death, that’s for sure.
We have to be cautious, because usually 24 never sucks from the start, it always have at least a few hours that are good, much like last season did, but so far it looks pretty good. Of course Jack was sucked in, and it comes as no surprises that Walker doesn’t seem to mind Jack’s method – though she probably hoped that, as happened, Jack wouldn’t have had to go as far as actually putting his threats up into actions - nor that there might be a mole somewhere. I mean sure, maybe Tony was just watching over his old friend (Gabe, and/or Jack) just in case, but maybe they’ve got someone on the inside working for them. Any guesses?
Oh yeah, and as a follow up on the prequel movie, there’s actually a crisis going on in Africa and the new US President had to deal with that, too. Whether the two events are related and how is unknown yet, but I liked how none of that actually came in the way. In past seasons I’ve sometimes felt that the whole drama going on at the White House was both too much, and taking too much time away from the real meat of what makes this show what it is. So far, this didn’t happen, and even the First Husband and his secret investigation about his son’s “suicide” – which, as you know if you’ve seen the movie, was indeed not a suicide – was done in ways to both make it intriguing without taking us away from Jack.
I didn’t mention the whole thing about torture and how Jack feels towards it – which is he doesn’t regret it, as he’s convinced that that’s what his country expects from him, and what’s right to be done, take whatever action needs to be taken - because so far I don’t think there’s anything to be said about it. I just hope they won’t make too big a deal out of it, as I expect it’ll come back to haunt Jack, who might even start to change his view on the whole thing as the season progresses.
Alright, I’m now heading into another hour in the new day of our savior, in the mean time post away your thoughts about the return of Jack Bauer in the comments below!
