As someone who has watched every minute of Fox’s 24 since the series began in 2001, tonight’s fifth season premier completely blew me away.
When we last left CTU Special Agent Jack Bauer he was a man without a country, without an identity. Forced to fake his death when the Chief of Staff to a President who is either corrupt or inept ordered his execution, he is leading the life of a common laborer when reality intrudes and his former life is brought to the forefront. I will not give away any details for people who haven’t seen tonights two hour premier yet, but suffice it to say that, within the first 15 minutes, everything you’d come to know about the series over the past five years is, quite literally, blown away. By the end of the episode, Jack is back in action and in the middle of yet another threat to national security which appears to involve the same Chief of Staff who ordered his execution.
The one thing about 24 that is most interesting is the fact that it has featured the story of a man who, as Rick Moran points out, is exactly the kind of law enforcement officer we’d want in when faced with threats from fanaticial terrorists. In the face of horrific terrorist threats, Jack Bauer takes actions that, under ordinary circumstances, most of us would deem to be beyond the pale; but, given what is at stake and what we, as Americans, have experienced and know to be possible, it is clear that Jack Bauer is a post 9/11 hero.
Ironically, the opening season of 24 began production before the September 11th attacks even occured, and the opening sequence of the first episode of Season One, which involved a terrorist attack on an airplane, was editied by producers at Fox after the 9/11 attacks to delete some of the more “graphic” scenes.
I don’t follow too many television shows religiously, but this is one I will not miss.
And if you haven’t seen the first four seasons of 24
Technorati Tag: 24
