First, a notice. If you haven't seen 24's fifth season yet, there are some spoilers as to how it ends in this review. The review is virtually spoiler-free concerning the premier. So to those who haven't caught up on the series thus far and want to be surprised, you've been warned.
During the second hour of 24’s sixth day, we see something that the previous 121 episodes never hinted at. Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland), the vicious superagent who specializes in saving the world through brutal and violent means, plunges a knife into the open wound of an Islamic terrorist, watches the man scream, and walks away. Looking listlessly out the window, he simply remarks "I don’t know how to do this anymore."
For the 24 hardcore, this is as shocking of a statement as any fictional terrorist attack. Jack has escaped death and endured colossal amounts of pain time and time again, but pop culture’s most textured killing machine has reached his limit. But it’s this kind of character progression that makes 24 the best, easily most gripping series on television.
Six seasons is beyond middle age in TV years, and much of the 24 territory is now familiar. Terrorists plan and launch strikes against America, Jack tries to stop them, CTU dispenses tech support and stormtroopers, bureaucrats all the way up to the White House debate the pros and cons. Yet 24 manages to keep a fresh feel on most of the proceedings, through cast changes and sharp writing.
These first four episodes are particularly political, dealing with Islamic terrorism and the possible erosion of civil rights in the name of security. Yet, the infamously right-leaning series shrewdly balances arguments of each side, never definitively throwing support behind either position. Muslims are shown as both the unfortunate victims of mass paranoia and as bloodthirsty murderers. The newly elected President Wayne Palmer (DB Woodside) is advised by neo-conservative Thomas Lennox (Peter MacNicol) and pragmatic liberal Karen Hayes (Jayne Atkinson), neither of whom is consistently right or wrong. 24’s portrayal of real-life issues as difficult without a clear answer resonates more closely to actual events than the series has since its second day.
Many familiar faces are there, including CTU head Bill Buchanan (James Morrison), pouty computer genius Chloe O’Brian (Mary Lynn Rajskub), tactical team leader Curtis Manning (Roger Cross), and even Milo Pressman (Eric Balfour), who seemed to drop off the face of the 24 earth siz seasons ago. These old favorites lend much weight to familiar scenes, a fact highlighted by the thus-far uninteresting additions. 24 has the unfortunate habit of running at least one dull subplot at once, and this time it belongs to Sandra Palmer (Regina King), a whiny lawyer who just so happens to be the sister of the current and ex-president. Only towards the end of the fourth episode does her subplot get interesting, and we can only hope it builds momentum from there.
Ultimately, the series belongs to Sutherland and his alter-ego, and that’s where the screen truly sizzles. Freshly sprung from a Chinese prison and laden with scar tissue, Jack finds himself traded to a terrorist in exchange for the whereabouts of an even bigger fish. Fayed, the terrorist in question, wants to kill Jack in the same way that Jack killed his brother (hint: it wasn’t a quick death). Of course a little torture is nothing Jack can’t handle, and before the first hour is up he is back on the streets, getting to the bottom of things.
His heroics are more instinct driven than ever before, his eyes suggesting a man who quite literally wants to lay down and die. But we know that he won’t, not just because the audience demands it, but because the character so many adrenaline-junkies have fallen in love with has yet to quit when American lives are at stake. The fourth episode doles out not one but two absolutely stunning surprises that are sure to shape the mood for the remaining 20 hours. We can rest assured that whatever dastardly new scenario occurs, Jack will be on it, and that simultaneous offering of a terrifying new thrill and watching an old master at work still makes for a compelling, unbeatable thrill ride.
4.5 out of 5
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