Despite the serial greatness of J.J. Abrams’ Lost, I’m still more involved in the real-time legacy and Jack Bauer rescue antics of 24. Lost may have a more shocking ongoing plot, sure, but things happen too slowly. The island is supposedly full of gargantuan monsters, polar bears and vicious island dwellers but the only proof is an admittedly grisly murder of Flight 815’s pilot, a few kidnappings and the disappearances of the tailies we never knew or could care less about. The first big “stakes-rising” death came in the form of prettyboy Boone’s nose-diving accident, an albeit moving set of episodes, but not seeding any island fear in the audience. Same goes for Shannon’s unintentional shooting, which seemed more like a ratings stunt and the writers’ lazy way of dealing with the problem of a character who’s flashbacks would have to feature an already bumped actor (Shannon and Boone were incestuous half bro and sis). While the character interaction and development is unparalleled, some episodes are slow, and the big picture is taking too long to paint.
24 isn’t without its own problems (oh don’t worry, I’ll get to them), but it’s still ridiculously intense. At any given point in the show, something exciting is always afoot, lives are endangered and the time-bomb is ticking away, usually at the same time. Whenever the central plot is taking some RNR, the subplot of the day (however preposterous) is ready for the dramatic assist to ensure your heart keeps pumping. Yeah, Kim Bauer subplots were generally synonymous with poison (praise the Gods they axed her and Chase for Seasons 4 and 5) but season three’s Presidential dirty laundry with Milliken and his emotional turned homicidal/suicidal wife Julia (played with power by Gina Torres) was tenser sometimes than the main tale. The storytelling in 24 is relentlessly paced and outside the show’s annoying inability to kill off importants, its hard to predict (aside from big-ticket plot devices).
As we enter the fifth season of the Jack Bauer Action Hour, I hope to see three BIG changes if the show wants to remain atop my must-watch list.
1: Kill Key Characters!
How many times do Kim Bauer, Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler have to survive down-to-the-wire life-threatening kidnappings (all three have experienced at least one or two each), gunshot wounds to the neck and 100% mortality virus exposure (c’mon!)? They’re likeable characters, fine, but that’s why the writers should grow some balls and bite the bullet. We’ll be enraged! Consequently, audiences will become more emotionally involved in the stakes of the show. If we know a character has a zero-percent chance of dying when a gun’s next to his head, we know he won’t. The tensest parts of the show involve the lesser important regulars and guest stars, because you actually don’t have a clue if they’ll pull out or not. In season four (1 AM – 2AM) when CTU sends Chloe to decrypt some files, you’re actually unsure whether she’ll make it out of the sudden ambush alive. Another good scene involved the two campers in the desert unfortunately chosen at random to play heroes for the US government, hiding the nuclear football from the terrorists. We know these characters are around for only the episode, so its tense as hell to watch them dodge bullets.
2: More of Chloe O’Brian!
It was extremely annoying when Erin Driscoll sent Chloe O’Brian home for assisting Jack behind her back, but what a mistake. Chloe’s emotional bluntness and comp-nerd take on the Seven-of-Nine-style discover of one’s humanity is classic to say the least and the only redeeming comic relief in 24’s sight. Luckily Michelle Dessler brought her back (when it became clear to the producers that the audience missed her) and we were blessed with Chloe’s confused emotionlessness over having shot her first victim. Now don’t over-exposure or place her in life-threatening situations she’s obviously going to survive, but let her fill the oddball spotlight at CTU and instead send annoying eyesore Edgar home so he can stock up on Twinkies or do himself some justice at the company gym.
3: Keep the plot small and dramatic instead of grand and melodramatic!
I love hardcore danger (nuclear terror, viral destruction, presidential assassination attempts) but if you can’t hit us with the tragedy, spare us the hokiness of close-call heroics. Season three did it best when the first tube of virus exploded in the hotel. The ensuing episodes were hardcore depressing and raw to watch (optional suicides! Deathbed speeches!) and consequently demoed the destructive power of the villain’s threat. Sure the rest was perfectly intercepted, at least it wasn’t like season four, where nothing really succeeded for those terrorists. They rescued the senator and his daughter, stopped the power plants from melt-down (except the one that turned Edgar into a whimpering sack of flab) and shot the warhead out of the sky. The Air Force One attack worked well, but the lucky survival of the president amidst the wreckage was an unnecessary lessening of the blow and just why exactly did the terrorists aim the warhead at the city with an unstoppable CTU? Up the ante with more death, or focus on the subtler stuff, surrounding Jack Bauer and friends and all should be fine.
Those gripes aside, Season Five should be as wicked as ever. I’m uber-psyched to see Mr. Bauer play out the events post fake-death as a wanted man and the increasingly off-the-wall antics of nosey Chloe O’Brian. I’m equally excited to see Michelle Dessler’s name off the Fox.com Season Five character-guide, as I was never a fan of Reiko Aylesworth’s bad acting and fake-crying. But let’s be realistic: as if there’s any chance she won’t be coming in for a late (if not early) season shocker.
Bring on the terror, terrorists!
by Michael Sage, a freelance writer based out of Toronto. Feedback can be sent to mikewsage@gmail.com
