Episode 7 may prove to be a watershed moment for the season, as noted by many forum members…
I’m a happy man again. Steveb
There were some great moments in this story. Jack and Renee’s tender exchange. Steveb
President Hassan’s descent into madness is a nice angle, and the havoc it may wreak on the peace treaty. hardy24
As the clock ticks on so does the debate, and generally speaking episodes five and six did not meet with universal acclaim…
The good old 24 pitfall of it taking too long for nothing to happen was very much in play. And I don’t really understand why. SteveB
It was all about Renee, and actually her story was quite interesting- and thanks to the excellent casting of Callum Keith Rennie it was worth watching. SteveB
I find myself very much liking individual element, individual characters and individual moments, and the amount I liked in these episodes was much more than in previous episodes, hardy24
it feels like a proper slow burn story, and not simply stalling. hardy24
aside from renee & jack’s story, which is really good and interesting, all of the other stuff just feels like fillers to me. stalling J_A
As Season Eight continues so does the debate.
Renee Walker that chick’s insane – right? no, she’s totally bauer. not only did we have the “I’m gonna need a hacksaw” moment there in ep 4 (“I’m not gonna cut the bracelet”), J_A
talk about a deathwish… what she’ll need in order to snap out of it is a purpose, J_A
Episode Four was by far the best episode we’ve seen. We finally have a plot. The Jack/Renee dynamic is sizzling. Kapoor is acting everyone else off the screen. hardy24
We’ve all heard the Movie rumours before, every time they emerge they appear to have a little more weight and reality behind them, and while it’s started to become a little boy who cried wolf, the latest batch that have arisen today have more weight than any previous.
Reports in Variety.com and and Entertainment Weekly’s website have the same common details. Fox have recently heard a pitch by “scribe Billy Ray (“State of Play,” “Flightplan”) … which takes Jack Bauer to Europe”.
Both articles point out the circumstances under which the project would move forward. “Fox doesn’t have a deal for a ninth season of “24” and hasn’t yet decided whether to order another season.”, Ratings in the coming weeks are apparently the key factor in the possible renewal for the ninth season. While not laid out explicitly in either article, it would appear that Fox as a corporate entity aren’t facing a straight choice between a ninth season and a Movie. Rather the Fox Television Network must decide if they wish to enter talks over a ninth season. If the network pass then it’s up to 20th Century Fox TV and Film Studios to decide if to move forward with the Movie.
There is however a third option, if the Fox Network pass, 20th Century Fox could offer a ninth season of the show to the other U.S. networks. With all these complex corporate dealings to be undertaken you do start to wonder exactly where and if the creative process of the show weighs in on the decision. As ew.com note… “A decision is needed soon; … the producers are preparing to write the 23rd and 24th episodes of the current season so they need to know whether to pen a series finale.”
Personally i’ve always thought a 24 Movie would be interesting, although if the decision is made because the number don’t add up on a ninth season and not because creatively the producers thought it was the way they want to go, then suddenly i’m less interested.
It’s been a little over a week since I saw episodes 3 & 4 and been trying to straighten out my thoughts on the first four episodes, and with episode 5 & 6 set to air in the U.K. tonight i’ve run out of time to let my thoughts settle.
What strikes me most about the first 4 episodes is just how uneven it has been. One minute i’m very much in the story, i’m going with it, we may have seen it all before, but it’s interesting enough and the continuing stories of Jack, Chloe and Renee has enough pull that i’m very keen to know what happens next in there lives. However the next minute I find myself not caring about the character on screen.
To be clear this isn’t as simple as me caring about the old characters and not about the new characters. I find myself very much engaged with President Hassan played with understated perfection by Anil Kapoor, and Cole Ortiz shows a lot of promise and is closer to a Tony or a Jack than he is too a, hmm, you know those other CTU Action Hero’s whose names we’ve forgotten. The same goes for many of the new characters. Except for the new head of CTU who I really can’t stand. Continue reading The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
Below are a few comments from the Forum discussion on the first two episodes of Season Eight. In general people agree that there’s a lot to like but that the episodes haven’t done enough to get everyone “hooked”.
The opening episodes were good certainly, but didn’t have the same dramatic punch that last season’s premiere did. Steveb
I can see this series being very slow, but having a very good pay off- particularly if this is the last season. Steveb
The futuristic CTU is an interesting idea, but they need to establish some rules fast about exactly how advanced they’ve gotten, or it will get old fast, if almost everything is solved quickly. hardy24
When i watched it i just thought, cool, he took out 2 guys with an Axe, awesome. 24nut
Below the first piece by new contributor and long-time forum member Matthew Maguire, a.k.a NeroMaguire
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So the two-night four-hour premiere has come and gone for the edge-of-you-seat, nail biting, adrenaline fuelled thrill ride of 24’s Eighth Season, leaving in its wake a body count, some new characters, some not so new plot concepts and what will undoubtedly be another very bad day for Jack Bauer.
Hailed as potentially being the last season of 24, Day Eight doesn’t begin with a bang. It does, however, get back down to the basics (aside from the super sleek looking CTU). The first two hours have been a nice and slow, character driven start. It may not have the break neck pace that some of the earlier seasons started with, but it works well as a piece of extremely cohesive and well done writing.