I'm just catching up on this season of 24-- I'm about 5 episodes in-- and I'm not impressed. If our real governmental agencies are run as poorly as CTU, be very afraid. This place has a bigger mole problem than Cindy Crawford. After Nina in season 1, you'd think they'd tighten their security procedures just a tad. And how exactly did Chappelle, who sided against the President in season 2, manage to keep his job? And apparently becoming a trained computer tech at a government agency where your father works is as easy as saying "plot device." Still, it beats being stalked by a cougar.
I'm disappointed at how the writers seem to be revisiting their own themes-- Jack on the run from CTU, a mole in the ranks, the President having possible betrayal issues with the people closest to him. Part of me hopes this whole situation is an elaborate setup to get Jack back in with Salazar and root out his terrorist contacts, except that it wouldn't make a shred of sense. I've got a couple more episodes stored up on TiVo, so I'll give the show the benefit of the doubt for now and see where things go. But the clock is definitely ticking.
Update: Watched the rest and am now up to date. And whaddya know, I was right-- it was an elaborate setup to get Jack back in with Salazar, and it doesn't make a shred of sense. I mean, come on-- government agents orchestrating a prison riot, wherein guards are bound to get killed? The worst offense is how they didn't play fair with the viewer. We see Jack, Tony, and Gael act in ways that make no sense if they're in on the whole scheme. And Tony keeping it from Michelle? I don't buy that at all. Feh.
Posted by Peter at January 4, 2004 06:31 PMI loved the first season of 24. What a great concept for a show! But I couldn't even make it through the second season, much less try watching the third.
If they had properly recognized how important the concept was to the first show they could have come back much stronger.. by centering the show around different characters. Yeah, Jack is great and all, but the real success of the show was in showing how a family reacts to a once in a lifetime trauma. Having them relive it each year loses the impact.
It would have been much better if they had centered the show around a totally different cast of characters each year, and had individuals from previous seasons make cameos as the script allows.