Last week's episode of "24" (day 7, 8:00-9:00 pm) was a pretty good microcosm of everything that's gone right with this season of the show. To be sure, looking better than the awful mess that was season 6 is not a very high bar to surmount. And I don't know if the show will ever be as good as it was in its heyday (season 5?). And of course, it's still full of the ridiculous things that have come to define "24," like the ability of computer nerds to access and control virtually any aspect of American life with a keyboard and T1 line.
Still, let's review what was so good about the episode. In case you've forgotten, the hour began with Sangalan General Juma holding President Allison Taylor, her daughter, Jack Bauer, Bill Buchanan, and dozens of White House staff hostage, while FBI agents waited outside for the go-ahead to storm the building. Only, the feckless -- or perhaps conspiratorial? -- Vice-President insisted on having a clear picture of where the President was before authorizing an attack. (But how are the FBI agents supposed to have a clear picture if they don't storm the White House? - Hey, I didn't say this season was perfect!)
1. Bill's sacrifice
At the beginning of this hour, Juma is going to force the President to admit to all kinds of war crimes, etc. on an Internet-streamed video. Jack decides the only way to stop this is to create a distraction. He notices a gas leak and figures that one gunshot in the right spot will ignite the gas, kill some terrorists, and allow the hostages to fight back. Of course, he is going to be the sacrificial lamb, but then Bill Buchanan tells Jack to get to the bottom of the conspiracy and sacrifices himself. The ruse works, and 15 minutes into the episode, Juma is dead and Jack has saved the President.
Don't get me wrong -- I like Bill Buchanan. He was a decent, level-headed guy, the kind you'd want running someplace like CTU. But "24" has always been pretty ruthless about killing off long-time characters. (At this point, Jack,Tony Almeida, and retired Secret Service agent Aaron Pierce are the only survivors from season 1, and even if you go back to season 3, you only add Chloe O'Brian to the list.) The question is whether beloved characters get to die in a meaningful way, or a stupid and pointless way.
Take CTU agent Curtis Manning, who for a while seemed like the only competent field agent other than Jack. The writers contrived a silly situation that forced Jack to kill Curtis, just for shock value. Only, it required that Curtis act totally out of character. I get the desire to "stain" Jack's soul with another killing of a friend/colleague. But it was done much better in season 3, when he was forced to assassinate Ryan Chappelle to stave off another biological virus attack.
So, having Bill sacrifice himself to save the President, while tragic, was a heroic, not pointless, death, and befitting of the honorable character.
2. Special Agent In Charge Larry Moss
Jack has always had issues with his superiors, and not surprisingly, because they are usually portrayed as simpering bureaucrats who get in his way, are wrong about the ground situation, and sometimes turn out to be allied with the bad guys. About the only competent superior he's had had been Bill Buchanan, and Bill was usually on his side.
What I like about SAIC Moss is that he's not portrayed as a buffoon (even though Jack is right), and I especially liked his first encounter with Jack, where after rejecting Jack's suggestion for some kind of action, faces Jack off when Jack stands up with that intense look and then said, "What, are you going to torture me now?"
3. Worth Adversaries
Juma didn't really hold his own as an adversary for Jack (which was probably a waste of fabulous actor Tony Todd), but the new sub-arc has brought Jon Voight's group into focus. As Jack interrogates a traitor in the hospital, the conspiracy's assassin -- a kind of anti-Jack Bauer -- does a nifty job of infiltration. Not only is he as skilled as Jack is, he even carries around an equipment bag, much like Jack did during seasons 4 and 5! And wow, you have to admire a bad guy who can come up with a plan that involves looping the video feed of the hospital room to conceal what happens next, then dosing Jack and the traitor with a paralyzing nerve gas, then getting Jack's fingerprints on a shard of glass from a broken vase, using the shard to cut the traitor's throat and stab him in the heart, and then escaping -- thus setting up Jack to look he murdered the traitor!
Jack deserves worth adversaries. It makes for more interesting TV when the writers create intelligent and resourceful adversaries.
Recent Comments