Jack is most definitely back!
Brad Wilson gives us his take on the opening 2 hours from 24: Live Another Day.
The following article
takes place between “Thank God” and “It’s back!” What a
great return for Jack Bauer. Our tortured soul of a hero has come
back and it’s awesome.
First of all, It was
like seeing an old friend back in the schoolyard. Jack Bauer and
company haven’t missed a beat. Right out of the gate fans of the
original series are welcomed back with familiar dialogue, camerawork,
and action. And that carries through the entire episode. But enough
about the past.
The main thing that
sticks out to me, and makes me excited about the miniseries, is how
much it looks like the one of the main plots is torn right out of
today’s headlines: The use of drones. I’ll touch on this later.
A subplot that relates
to our 2014 world, is Chloe's decision to join a hacker collective
that acquires and “disseminates” classified material (a la
Wikileaks, Julian Assange, and Edward Snowden). I love this. It’s
current and a hot button issue, especially with Snowden still facing
espionage charges in the U.S. I really hope this gets explored.
Chloe has been captured
by what I think is a a CIA branch titled “Special Projects.” And
from the context clues given in the episode, some pretty nasty stuff
goes down with those guys. Anyway, the CIA’s base in London thinks
they have a lead on capturing Bauer.
In case you forgot,
Bauer is a fugitive after the end of Day 8. He tried to kill the
Russian president and now everyone pretty much thinks he’s a
criminal. But, of course, you and I, the smart ones, know he is not.
So, they catch him and
bring him in for questioning. But, of course, it’s not that simple
with Jack Bauer. We quickly learn Jack got himself captured so he
could rescue Chloe. Now, how we learn this is through the mind of who
I’m assuming is supposed to be the modern, female version of Jack:
Agent Kate Morgan.
The actress playing her
is Yvonne Strahovski of “Dexter” fame. So far, her character is
my only complaint of the premiere. I just don’t buy her as a badass
CIA field agent. I feel like they’re trying to paint her as the new
rogue agent who knows better than everyone else, and that’s fine. I
*do* buy she’s smart. But as a field agent, not so much. (I didn’t
really buy Renee Walker as one either, but she proved me wrong, so,
I’ll give Agent Morgan a chance).
Turns out the reason
Jack resurfacing four years after disappearing is because he stumbles
across plan to kill the American President. For this day, James
Heller is president. You may remember him from the old days as the
Secretary of Defense and Audrey Raines’ father. At the end of Day
5, Jack was captured and subsequently tortured by the Chinese. Audrey
ends up going after him, but is captured and tortured herself. After
her rescue, Audrey was basically in a catatonic state. President
Heller blames Jack for this.
Mark Bourdreau is
serving as President Heller’s Chief of Staff and is apparently
Audrey’s new love interest. His character is quintessential to
this show. A good guy who loves his wife and his country, but has the
fatal flaw of hating Jack Bauer. But this time, you can understand
it. I mean, the dude spent the last four years trying to bring Audrey
back from the abyss she apparently fell into. And he, like the rest
of America, blames Jack.
Another subplot we’re
introduced to is the slipping memory of Heller. It sounds like
Alzheimer’s Disease and that’s a interesting thread to pull. A
sitting American president with a disease that slowly takes your
mind? I foresee a lot of stressful moments because of it, and we already
saw some in these two episodes.
The reason Heller is in
London is to sign a treaty with the British allowing the U.S. to have
a drone base on their soil. (Drones, another plot pulled out of
today’s headlines). But, of course, after Derek Yates hijacks a
drone and bombs a British-American convoy, President Heller has his
work cut out for him. Oh, and Stephen Fry is the British P.M.? Um,
THAT’S awesome!
Also, apparently
Catelyn Stark is alive! But, now her name is Margot and
she and her daughter are hell bent on killing a lot of people.
I’m really excited to
see how all these threads pan out. You’ve got an American president
whose mind is slipping, his daughter holding onto sanity, her husband
trying to protect the President but scared to death of what Bauer
could do to his family. Then, you have hacker groups, drones, and
what looks like an elaborate attempt to kill millions of people.
If that’s not “24,”
then I don’t know what it is. It was a great premiere and it has me
excited to take one last ride with Jack Bauer.
Brad Wilson lives in Southwest Florida where he writes every day at
his job as a television news producer at WINK News. He doesn’t have a
blog up yet, but it’s coming. In the meantime you can follow him on Twitter @bradwilson86.
