But in my heart I know (damn, I’m quoting a certain young Middle-Eastern Presidential daughter) that I would have found the time to write about 24 if the season was anything like the previous one.

But the sad truth is – I don’t care enough.

It’s not the lack of Tony (well, maybe partly). It’s more the overall impression the season is making. Our friend and admin Dan put it very well on the forum, which is why I’ll allow myself to quote him here:

Just seen 8×10, and my one word review is “shrug”. Really not caring about anything that’s going on, a little bored. No excitement, no tension, nothing really at stake.

Shrug.

And that one word review is probably the reason why I can’t seem to find anything to write about.

Everything has already been there, one way or another. Nothing grips you and keeps you interested, keeps you worrying, keeps you guessing. Nada. Shrug.

I’ve seen up to ep 12 now, and it finally seems like the season is picking up a little in the latest ep, but then again, I thought so a few eps ago, too and it didn’t really happen.

What’s wrong with 24? Or is something wrong with me? I’m seriously indifferent about this season. More so than ever. And again, I can do nothing but agree with the conclusion of Dan’s one-word review post:

Another two episodes like this and I may stop watching, for the first time ever.

I can see where you’re coming from, Dan. Seriously. I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to start watching when the season first rolled around. But now that I have, I don’t think I’ll stop, even though I would; mostly because I want to see whether it’ll pick up AT ALL, and well, I also want to see if they’ll kill off Renee. But then again, unlike you, I really didn’t expect anything from S8 to begin with, not since I heard that Carlos wasn’t returning, but FPJ and some chick from Battlestar Gallactica were in ;o). Sorry, nothing against the blondie, it’s just her storyline. It’s lame, and that’s phrased with goodwill. FPJ is actually a positive surprise. He’s actually pulling off the field agent thing really well.

So anyhow, I went into the season without any expectations really, or maybe expecting a “Shrug”. So I can’t say I’m disappointed. What’s happening to the show is sort of what I’d expected.

But this season is yet another proof that even great actors (or -at least- good actors) can really only do so much with a mediocre script. Whereas Renee and Jack could carry the whole season just on their shoulders, the others can’t. The subplots are irrelevant, I’m missing a vital tie-in, a build-up, and in another demonstration of poor judgement, they got rid of a good character (“Vladimir”) too soon – parallels David Emerson really – and now they’re stuck with … a bad-hair-day Middle-Eastern President whose family is derailed and a divorced American Pres who lacks meaningful screentime and whose role kind of feels like an extra pile of whipped cream slapped onto an already finished cake. While hers was a vital storyline in s7, and as such, her less meaningful scenes still had the right of existence, this year, Alison Taylor’s character seems to have been written into the season just because Cherry Jones had signed the contract. She doesn’t get to carry a plot or even a subplot. She’s a mere pawn and lacks an emotional anchor in the season. For the first time in her hitherto short life on the 24 shelf, President Taylor is really not necessarily necessary.

Let’s step back for a second. Season 7 was such a fulminant return that we were willing to overlook its weaknesses, its revivals of earlier story elements, thinking that most of those were nods to long-time fans. We all thought the writers had learned their lesson from season 6, they’d found a way to get back to the basics, remembered the importance of emotional anchors that would make the story believable, we (well, some of us) were excited about Almeida’s return, not only out of selfishness (hey, Almeidaists really did need to see Tony again ;o)), but also cause we knew and thought the writers had understood that Jack needed Tony as an anchor, that the chemistry between them was needed for the show to feel relevant.

Now it seems that the only reason the season came off so strong was the extra year the writers had been given to work things out (Almeida bless the writers’ strike! LOL).

This year didn’t have that luxury.

With Tony gone, this season, Jack’s emotional anchor is supposed to be Renee, at least now that Kim is gone to California (wasn’t there a song by that name?), and there is really nothing negative to say about Renee (in fact, so far, the MMS (most memorable scene) award so far goes to her*). Nothing negative about Jack or the chemistry between him and Renee, either, but most other stuff this season is just leaving me cold.

I find this a real pity, considering that this should be the final season. Should, not might.

Why couldn’t 24 have ended on a high note? YES, they should have let s7 be the last; that is, since they had insisted on carrying on post-season 3, which could just as well have been a good finish line.

But no, not FOX.

As always, they keep squeezing until the river runs dry.

Well, it is dry. The steam has run out.

Everything is a rehash, I don’t remember being on the edge of my seat ONCE this season (not even during the MMS, since it was clear that Renee would not die), the vast majority of the characters are leaving me indifferent, disinterested, and I can see through the plot before it happens.

And now there are talks about a possible 9th season… Now, if that happens, PLEASE kick HoGo’s butt out, and bring a fresh set of people to take care of the show. Otherwise, who will care to watch?

I know I won’t.

___

*MMS so far: Renee at the dock, with Vladimir holding the gun to her head. Brilliant.

__

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

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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

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

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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

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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.

Part one of the premiere, 4:00PM – 6:00PM, kicks off with us meeting some new faces and having our screens graced with some old familiars. So I might do a little character exposé on some of the main players and leave plot details for another time.

As far as fresh faces go we have Cole Ortiz, the new Head of Field ops. Being dubbed as mini Jack, Cole doesn’t have an extremely Bauerish feel to him as of yet. He reminds me of an aspiring student who looks up to their teacher, only their teacher is a terrorist killing machine. He’s young but that’s not to say he’s inexperienced. He proves his expertise at field ops early on. Cole seems to see the world as very black and white, like the early Jack, except that foundation is rocked relatively early on. He meets his hero, who, refuses to help. And then an hour later sees said hero going head to head with the new CTU director. It’s at this point you can see the cog’s in his head grinding along and beginning to understand that maybe things aren’t so clear cut. It’ll be interesting to see what side his allegiances fall to throughout the day, but my money’s on Jack.

Dana Walsh, played by the exceptionally talent Katee Sackhoff, comes off as, in the first two hours, easily rattled and carrying some pretty heavy and potentially damaging (who am I kidding? this is 24! Of course it’s potentially damaging!) baggage. The role definitely shows that the Battlestar Galactica Alumni has got more talent then just the action stuff. She showcases a vast multitude of emotions from weak and vulnerable, to compassionate, to reserved. She hasn’t got a massive amount of depth at this point, but Dana is being positioned in a way such that she could emerge as a truly great character.

Brian Hastings the new CTU Director sounds a little bit like he’s trying to exist in an Aaron Sorkin script. He comes into the scene bristling with prettily dressed up insults that he uses to hastily dress down much loved characters. He’s not quirky or witty as a Sorkin character, but he’s definitely got parts of the vocabulary down. Hastings comes off as a real asshole in the first two hours, trampling on our much loved old characters, and shouting down some of the newer ones. Plain and simple, he’s a Bureaucrat and is established as being quick to cover up his own mistakes with a little coercion here and there. He’s reminiscent of Brad Hammond, at least to me, and I can see him hanging some of his people out to dry as the day progresses. Though unlike Brad, the character has made a good impact on me. I have him picked as the character you’re going to love to hate for the season, or for however long his run lasts anyway.

Islamic Republic President Omar Hassan is excellent. He’s portrayed with conviction which has been a casting problem at times with some of the leads (Marwan in season 4 being the best example). He comes off as being a very strong leader, a reformist and someone who seems like he genuinely wants to bring peace and stability to a war torn region. As the first two episodes progress we also get to see him as flawed, imperfect and weak, a trait that brings his character a lot of humanity and makes him all the more three dimensional. We see snippets of his family life, and it’s clearly illustrated that all is not well on the home front. His wife is resentful of him and is displeased with his presences at certain times. He goes to touch her at one point and she gives him one of those harshly worded one liners that scorned politicians wives so often do. His daughter on the other hand has a softer, kinder feel to her. It could be 24 subterfuge though to have us think that the mother is bad and the daughter is good, when really it’s the other way around. All in all, Hassan is a well rounded addition to the show, and the casting apartment couldn’t have done better then Anil Kapoor.

As for the returning old characters we’ve got Jack of course.

This Jack is very different. He’s someone who’s at peace with everything he’s done in his life, someone who has put his life back together and is starting a fresh and rebuilding with his family. He is extremely reluctant to dive back into his old terrorist threat defusing ways, and I’m glad it wasn’t handled with Jack just going “Okay I’m back in!” straight away this season. It was well done and served to establish his character as s much changed man, actually trying to distance himself from everything as opposed to him being out for a maximum of five minutes in earlier seasons. Point blank asked by CTU he refuses, he compromises, he does whatever he can to stay out. New and old faces are shocked by his words, leading to some amazingly emotional and well written scenes, especially with Chloe.

The main highlight from the first two hours definitely drew itself from that conversation, the lines “I can’t, not me, not this time.” Echoing how changed he was as opposed to seeming hollow and meaningless. I was believing the emotions behind the words this time and actually see him as a man who wanted out.

On a side note, we get to see an awesome kill by Jack in the first episode, as we all know the man can’t go for more then an hour without killing someone!

We’ve got Chloe, and boy has she been shaken up. Her character’s matured a bit, and she’s been downgraded this season. Nobody has confidence in her at the work place and you can see that’s hit her to the core. Chloe’s afraid for her job, she lacks the belief in her abilities that she once had, and she hasn’t got anyone at CTU that she can turn to. It’s a nice dynamic to see her character in a new position such as this. Chloe’s really been taken out of her comfort zone and thus far it’s worked a treat.

President Taylor’s back. We get a few little details dropped about what ended up happening with her daughter and husband, which was nice. She’s still a woman of integrity and strength, and actor Cherry Jones still plays her like a charm. Early on she’s put in a predicament and compromises the integirty that she has otherwise shown until now. If this gets built upon both as a character point and a plot point it could pan out to be incredibly interesting. Nothing like a flawed commander and chief paving the way throughout the season.

Kim’s back, much the same as she was in Season 7. Mature and not incredibly annoying as per usual. Along side her is her husband, who by doing simple memory mathematics from my head, gets about four minutes of screen time in two hours. There’s really not much more to say, other then she shares a very heartfelt conversation with Jack and it leads to one of those precious 24 character moments that we all know and love.

This is in no way covers all the new and old characters, having been excluded are Rob Weiss, Taylor’s new Chief of Staff, and old Chief of Staff Ethan Kanin, hopefully I’ll have a chance to go over them later. As for the moment I’ll leave it there.

All in all the first two hours were well done. They weren’t the best two hours of 24 ever, nor were they the best two hours of a premiere, but they were definitely up there. Things are being taken nice and slow, and the plot and motivations are coming into focus bit by bit, as opposed to being rushed into head long and plot being burnt through like no one’s business. Here’s hoping mistakes from earlier seasons aren’t repeated and we don’t end up with a good start and a bad middle. I’m confident however that this won’t happen since the writers are taking there time with things and focusing on characters.

So what are my predications so far for the new season?

If it’s the last season, Jack is going to give his final curtain call on this day. I see some serious elusions to this. His dialogue to Chloe in hour two when he refuses to come back in, the conversation with Kim that follows. Never before have we seen Jack so adamantly refuse to help. It’s like he knows that if he takes one last dive into the world of counter terrorism, that this forray will be his last. Also the scene on the rooftop in the first episode between him and Cole, when Jack looks at him and the helicopter, it’s like he knows that he’s not getting out. That he’s stuck.

I feel like we might also be seeing the last of Chloe. Jack’s attitude towards her seems as if he’s taken her for granted, which I think will be a nice time to off her and really show a very vulnerable angle of Jack. Though this may also not be the case, I’ve got a feeling that she’ll go, and that the prior mentioned conversation between her and Jack in hour two was foreshadowing this in some way. That being said I’m not calling for her death, I like Chloe, she’s my tech girl.

The female news anchor from the start of hour one when Jack is watching T.V with Teri coming to play some prominent or important role. I picked up on this vibe because Jack perked up at her name and did his little frown thing that is key for “all is not well in the world”. Though he could have just been interested in the news segment more so then the reporter, I think it could be an interesting angle to work if done right later on down the track.

Cole taking the Jack Bauer route, pretty much a given.

Renee coming back kicking lots and lots of ass. I am totally psyched for Renee’s return. She has quickly become my favourite character and was fleshed out exceptionally well for season 7. She had an extremely diverse and well plotted character arc last season, and I’m hoping they’ll give her another one this time round. (If she can beat nailing a terrorist in the face with a shovel in season 7 I will be immensely happy.)

What do I want most from this season of 24?

Closure.

The only reason I can see for doing another season is to give some closure, as, from a story telling perspective, season 7 was the perfect place to end it. Jack had been redeemed, Renee was left hanging in the balance of moral ambiguity (not so much hanging in the balance as jumping off a cliff), the conspiracy plot from way back in season 5 had been brought to some semblance of a close, and Tony Almeida had (at least in my eyes) been given some valid reasoning for his actions throughout the course of the day. Jack’s fate was also left up in the air.

A nice ending point.

There were enough answered and unanswered questions for the season seven finale to also serve as the series finale.

So the only reason for an additional season is to tie up some loose threads, what happened with Renee and Alan Wilson? Even though that was very explicitly implied it’d be nice to get an idea of what the repercussions were and what information he gave up about the group. Where Tony is at, if Jack has seen him? Those sorts of things would be the kind of questions you’d want to answer in an additional season.

And if it is the last, we gotta have some Tony, especially at the end of the day. One last Jack and Tony scene, something honest, heartfelt, and truly emotional. I’m not going to denounce the show for not bringing him back this season, though I am going to say that I think it’s a mistake, as a dynamic that has always work well for the show is Tony and Jack playing off one another, especially evident in seasons 3 and 7.

And if it were me, I’d spend it focusing on the group, who have now been around since season 5 to form the mother of all conspiracies. It’d be nice to explore them, their motives, who they all are, and just how deeply they’ve imbedded themselves into American society and politics.

That would be something interesting to explore, especially as it’s become a pinnacle of intrigue in the 24 world.

But we are yet to see if it will be explored in the new season, only the next 18 hours of Jack Bauer’s, potentially last, very bad day will tell.

… although Fox hasn’t confirmed it, I’ll go out on a limb and say Jack Bauer isn’t returning this season. Even if the strike ends tomorrow, the earliest the show could get back on the air is this summer — and there’s no way in hell Fox is dumping 24 onto the summer season.

That leaves Fox and everyone else with a bit of thinking to do.

One solution is to just kick off Season 7 next January, but by then Jack will have been in hiding for nearly two years.

I’d say that’s a real stinker of an idea, since while the core audience is waiting around for now to atleast give season 7 a chance, I’m not sure they will wait forever. But Ausiello does offer up an alternative.

Another, and much more controversial, scenario being bandied about involves taking the eight episodes currently in the can and creating a 10- to 14-episode mini-season to air in the fall. That would be followed by another 10- to 14-episode mini-season — featuring a completely different plot — during the second half of the season.

Now, I know that possibility isn’t going to be all that popular with fans although I think that the “season of two half’s” as it where need not necessarily be two separate storylines. Those of us who have been watching 24 for any length of time know many previous seasons can be broken into two quite distinct halfs. They could simply formalise that a bit more and do what many shows now do and have a “mid-season cliffhanger”, which could even fit in with suggestions heard from some of the 24’s writing staff during S7’s preproduction that they may break the real time format for the first time ever and have a time jump mid season to get Jack from one location to another.

It’s a hard choice, but i’d rather split the season, than have to wait another 12 months! for new 24. Let us know what you think in the comments and on the forums. Click the link below to read the entire article.

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