If you're wondering what to think about the first four hours of 24: Season Seven, you've come to the right place. Here are my observations:Hour One: Jack looks good in a suit. He seems to have a little bit of an attitude problem, and he still does not understand the concept of "above the law," even when questioned about it directly. "I adapted," he said to the Senate investigation dude, rationalizing his various choices outside of the bounds of that annoying Geneva Convention.
(In an interesting connection to real life in today's news, a senior Bush official officially admitted that the U.S. had tortured a 9-11 suspect held at Guantanamo. For those of you who desire further reading on the definition, nature, and ethics of torture, here's a four-part article in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.)
I like the befreckled Agent Renee Walker, AKA Agent Freckles. She's cute and tough. Kiefer seems to like her, too, even though he usually doesn't go for those Type A beyotches. It doesn't take long for him to double-cross her, though.
Walker's jefe, Boss Moss (tm Television Without Pity, AKA TWOP) appears far too twitchy and sneaky-looking to actually be a bad guy.
I've come up with a new drinking game: DRINK! every time Kiefer tells someone he's working with that they're making a mistake to handle things one way, but that they should do it his way (i.e., off-book, dark, sneaky-like, or illegally) instead. The first time happened about 45 minutes into episode one.
Hour Two: JoMama and I decided that it would be too difficult to orchestrate the collision of two specific planes on intersecting runways the way EvilTony did, thus blowing the credibility of the entire show. Because all that other stuff is completely believable.
M. Giant, the 24 recapper at TWOP agrees with JoMama and me, of course:
...not to belittle the vital work that air traffic controllers do, but I would almost think it would be harder to purposely crash one plane into a specific other plane than to keep them apart. Wouldn't Tony and Masters have been more likely to have put GSA 117 into the path of another plane on approach if they didn't know what they were doing?
DRINK! About 27 minutes into hour two, Jack tells Agent Freckles she'd be making a mistake to call in another agent to follow the bad guy they just spotted because of his tan workboots. She agrees, grabs car keys, and inexplicably tosses them to Jack. Why wouldn't she keep control and let him ride shotgun?
There are a bunch of characters showing up from 24: Redemption that I only vaguely remember. Like Colonel Dubaku from Sangala, for example. Wasn't he supposed to have been blown up when Jack's friend Robert Carlyle stepped on a land mine right next to him? Didn't he even get facial scar out of that? And that reminds me: when is this day taking place? Did we get a placeholder shot of the timeframe?
I like the Janean Garofalo character, Janis: she brings the funny without too much personality chafing. I'm looking forward to watching her and Chloe have a geek-off. Meanwhile, Janis does the triangulation thang to locate Jack and Freckles.
Best sexual non-sexual line of the night: Agent Freckles telling Kiefer, "I'll engage him. Cover my flank." I loved how Kiefer gets a little turned on by this, but at the same time, he's not sure if he wants the girl on top. He allows for it, because Freckles is very convincing. They kill the extraneous bad guys, and after a fierce tussle, Jack shoves EvilTony up against a wall, his arm against ET's neck, and they kiss.
Oh, no they don't. But don't tell me they didn't want to.
Stay tuned for Hour Three and Four. And please, let me know what you thought? Are you totally back on board the 24 train? Are you optimistic that the writers are taking their time to set up a story arc that won't collapse under its own weight?
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