24: Live Another Day. SPOILERS DAMNIT.

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inflatable dalek
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24: Live Another Day. SPOILERS DAMNIT.

Post by inflatable dalek »

Watched it after I got in from my night shift....


Mostly enjoyed it a lot. The show is as silly as it ever was and yes, Jack and Chloe are still the only competent people on the good guys side, but it still had that utter conviction in its silliness that always made it such a tense watch.


Heller doing the Regan senility thing was a surprise, and effectively means we already know from the off how this latest President is going to be doomed.

Jack's silence for most of the first episode (my, Sutherland can glower) and precision planing of his escape were all perfectly done. I liked the subversion of the (well, my) expectation Jack would have been living on the streets alone for the last four years as well, he's actually got-dodgy-friends and tech support.

Also, the reveal he was there to rescue Chloe and then the double reveal he only did it for his own agenda rather than their friendship (as it's an amazing coincidence she would need rescuing from him the same day he needs her help in a complicated plot did Jack actually set her up to get caught in the first place? Or is that too dark, even for him?) were two genuinely surprising twists from a show that can often be quite predictable once you've twigged it was always try to have the least likely thing possible happen in any scene.

By that token, the skanky girlfriend being a trained assassin was really obvious right from the off and kind of dampened the second cliffhanger. The other main flaw was Kate's (and they've used that name before for one of his blonde female potential interests haven't they?) story arc looks like it's going to be exactly the same as Rene's from season 7. Though I will put a fiver on her turning out to be working for the Chinese after all right now.

I was mildly surprised it was set in consecutive hours as I thought they were going to skip every other one, I wonder when the time jumps will come (if they're planning to move the story to America at any point there's a good few hours flight there they can skip).

I wonder if "Head of station" and a character called Tanner were nods at Bond? Though in the case of the former I suppose as Fleming knew his stuff then MI6 could not only divide it's foreign offices up like that but the CIA (which he of course had a hand in helping to set up) might as well.

This could well wind up being the first season of 24 I watch on a week by week basis rather than a big DVD (or blu ray I should say these days) spurt.

All in all, what's not to love about Jack Bauer driving a knackered old Volvo about a run down council estate?
REVIISITATION: THE HOLE TRUTH
STARSCREAM GOES TO PIECES IN MY LOOK AT INFILTRATION #6!
PLUS: BUY THE BOOKS!
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Slayer-Fan123
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Post by Slayer-Fan123 »

The episode ended too early, but that's what 24 DOES.

I saw the Russian assassin coming, but I didn't think she'd off the hacker guy that quickly in the season.
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inflatable dalek
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Post by inflatable dalek »

I have used the same tube station as Jack Bauer! I am as officially cool as him.

Second episode was a bit slower, but still good fun. I'm not sure what was going on with that address to parliament though, was it supposed to in the House of Commons and they just couldn't be arsed to use to use one of the standing sets there must be at least a couple of in the UK? Or do visiting dignities addressing them in session usually mean everyone has to shuffle off to a different room?
REVIISITATION: THE HOLE TRUTH
STARSCREAM GOES TO PIECES IN MY LOOK AT INFILTRATION #6!
PLUS: BUY THE BOOKS!
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inflatable dalek
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Post by inflatable dalek »

Late to the party in terms of finishing this due to me (as always, how does anyone manage it one episode a week?) waiting for the blu ray, indeed I've just overdosed on 24 by watching all of Live Another Day across 24 hours (the first disc yesterday, and six hours solid today), so I may have gone mad as a result...

But this was overall top quality 24. It was insanely silly and ticked off every single thing you'd expect from the show:

Jack a renegade who gets reinstated; Presidential Death (wonderfully told to us straight right from the start, and despite the double bluff that's exactly what will finish Heller at the end of the season); Jack finding blonde's especially helpful; major character death (I was genuinely expecting Chloe to be at the end of the road, Audrey buying it knocked me for six); Moles; Jack being the one and only competent agent working for America (and by extension the world, as a Uker I do object to the Brits only attempt to fight against the terrorists on their soil being to blow themselves up with one of their own grenades), twists, surprising returns (Chang!)... and probably many more things anyone playing the 24 drinking game to get super pissed on (damnit! I was disappointed it took till around episode 7 for someone to shout "Federal Agents!").

But it was such huge fun, and got the portrayal of the UK more right than any other American TV show I can think of (Heller giving his speech to parliament being the only real misstep).

It was probably the best return of a cancelled TV show since....Ohhh... Doctor Who back in 2005? Certainly the other announced "Beloved American shows retun for a mini series" that are almost certainly a result of 24's success... Well, I think only Twin Peaks (if done really right, and 24 has the advantage of not ending on a big cliffhanger and not being seen as "Art") has a chance of topping it. Does anyone care about Heroes coming back as well?

And at the very least, both the cliffhanger- which is sort of a decaf version of how season five ended- and the short on the Blu Ray setting up not only Tony's return but a new Mysterious Villain (tm-who seems to have realised the show is set well into the future by this point and has made Tony hologram glasses)- has to be a sign the showmakers are sure we'll be getting more soon. And I look forward to it.

Lest we forget: the next season (regardless of episodes) will be the tenth, which I think is a big enough event to centre it around Tony (especially as the 9th wound up resolving Chang). And I am bloody well looking forward to it.

Was anyone else surprised by how old Carlos Bernard looked in the short? It's not just his absence as this season featured people we haven't seen for longer, he just looked like leather that had been beaten under a hot sun once too often. Kieffer enjoys life, but he's not that haggard.
REVIISITATION: THE HOLE TRUTH
STARSCREAM GOES TO PIECES IN MY LOOK AT INFILTRATION #6!
PLUS: BUY THE BOOKS!
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