If it were a sports team rather than a TV show, no one would have predicted “24’s” resurgence. When a team struggles, there are generally two options: rebuild with young players or sign good players from other teams. But without changing its writing roster or its formula a whole lot for Season 8, “24” (8 p.m. Central Mondays on Fox) has put together its best season since its first.
Season 8 seems to be the case of a veteran team of writers learning from their mistakes in Seasons 6 and 7 (of the 10 writers credited on IMDB, only two are new this season). They’ve done so in ways that aren’t blatantly obvious; they’ve just made key adjustments here and there. And in a way, the absence of a sweeping overhaul to the approach, characters or premise makes the storytelling turnaround all the more impressive.
No matter how stupid “24” got the past two years, my favorable view of Kiefer Sutherland’s performance as Jack Bauer didn’t waver much. During bad storylines, I thought: “It’s such a shame that Kiefer has to go through this. He deserves better.”
This season, Sutherland has gotten scripts he deserves and he seems to have relaxed into the role. He’s not trying to do too much, he’s just being Jack — the smartest guy in the room when it comes to this terrorist-tracking stuff, but not arrogant about it or frustrated that he’s not being listened to. He is at peace with his decision to retire after this mission and he’s acting like a calm, cool professional.
(His love interest, FBI agent Renee Walker [Annie Wersching], has taken over Jack’s old role of the hot-headed, rule-breaking agent. That’s why it’s believable that they’d be drawn to each other.)
In past seasons, CTU’s nemeses have been fictional terror-hotbed countries, and this year is no different. But in the past, I snickered every time someone said “Sengala” or something ridiculous like that. This year’s made-up country is Kamistan, but wisely, the name is hardly ever mentioned.
At any rate, we’re not asked to believe in something made-up, we’re asked to believe in something real — the performance by Anil Kapoor (“Slumdog Millionaire”) as Kamistan President Omar Hassan, who knows he has charisma and power but he’s not arrogant about it. Hassan truly seems to want peace between Kamistan and whatever its rival country is called (I suppose this is an Israel-Palestine thing or an Iran-Iraq thing). The veteran Indian actor is still in the process of learning English, and I think the deliberate, earnest way he delivers lines helps the performance. Besides, he acts with his eyes and facial expressions as much as he does with his words.
But a viewer worries about the fates of the good guys only if they are threatened by convincing bad guys. Season 8 has handed the baddie baton from a group of Russians to a group of terrorists who hate Kamistan and America. (Why is it that “24” is scared to have bad guys from Middle Eastern countries but it’s fine with using Russian bad guys? I never understood why it’s politically incorrect to have fictional terrorists come from countries that real terrorists come from, but it’s OK to have fictional terrorists come from countries where real terrorists don’t usually come from.)
The current bunch of terrorists, which aims to take out New York City with nuclear rods, is particularly, deliciously evil. (Speaking of delicious, every time they say “rods” it makes me want to eat a pretzel rod.)
Monday’s episode wrapped up the first half of the season with a bang by showing the intelligence of the bad guys via a surprise twist and, in the process, shaking up the whole storyline. Seemingly, the baddies are going to kill Hassan’s daughter, Kayla, if Hassan doesn’t deliver information on America’s security weaknesses. That is suitably intense, and Kayla’s escape is satisfying, if too easy. Then we find out why it was too easy: The getaway car she drives to CTU headquarters is rigged with an electromagnetic pulse bomb, which wipes out CTU.
I tip my hat to “24” for that twist. The writers found a way to blow up CTU yet keep most of the personnel alive. Now the next 12 episodes won’t be about CTU’s amazing technology (Season 8 is set roughly a decade in the future), it’ll be about the amazing skills of its technicians, including, of course, fan favorite Chloe (Mary Lynn Rajskub).
Even the sillier aspects of Season 8 are working for me. Right now, the “silly” label certainly has to be placed on the problems of Dana Walsh (Katee Sackhoff), who gets involved with two criminals (one an ex-boyfriend named Kevin) who end up dead. Now Kevin’s parole officer is asking Dana questions in the middle of the night at CTU, regularly offering to “speak to her supervisor” if she feels she must get back to her desk.
It’s a ridiculous scenario, and yet I feel smart for having already figured out that the officer, Bill Prady (played by the versatile Stephen Root), can’t possibly be who he says he is. No government employee is going to work all hours of the night to track down a small-time thief. The show’s choice of Root — who looks similar to Kevin and who is using similar facial tics in the performance — suggests to me that Prady is actually Kevin’s dad. You heard it here first.
I’m fairly confident that “24” can keep the winning streak going for another 12 episodes. The bad guys are legitimate threats, and I like the good guys — old favorites like Jack, new favorites like Hassan and even characters I used to dislike, such as Director Hastings (Mykelti Williamson) and Renee.
The momentum of the story will have to be jump-started a few more times before it’s over — that’s always the case with “24,” which is sometimes too fast-paced for its own good. I wouldn’t mind if it went into slow-boil mode for an episode or two, something it hasn’t been confident enough to try since early Season 1.
But Season 8 has already achieved it’s most important objective: It has made me care again.
Comments
It looks like “24” will go out on top. TV Guide reported that this will be the last season of “24.” There will likely be a movie within a couple years, though. (Presumably, the movie won’t be “24” hours long.)# Posted By John Hansen | 3/20/10 3:01 PM