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My name is Michael
Edwards. Today is the longest day of my
life.
6:00 am – 7:00 am: Wake up
7:00 am – 8:00 am: Get out of bed
8:00 am – 9:00 am: Wake up and get
out of bed after having lain back down…
for just a minute.
Okay, so my day isn’t all that bad.
Not when compared to some of the days that
Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) has had.
I mean, first he had 24 hours to stop an
assassination plot against Presidential
candidate David Palmer (Dennis Haysbert).
Then, a scant 18 months later, he has to
not only keep a nuclear bomb from going
off on U.S. soil, stop a war from breaking
out under false pretenses (oh where was
Bauer when we needed him in real life?),
and try and take down the masterminds behind
the entire scenario. For Jack Bauer, it’s
all in a day’s work.
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When the first season of “24” aired
in 2001, I knew it was a show I had to watch.
But with my busy schedule I knew I wouldn’t
always be available to watch it when it aired,
so I did what any red-blooded American TV watcher
does, I taped it. I figure I would only get one
or two episodes behind and catch up in an evening.
Well, as fate would have it I finally watched
the first episode right about the time the 18th
hour was airing. At that point I thought I’d
watch a couple of episodes a day until I caught
up. I was caught up in 3 days. Every time one
of the hours would come to a close, I just had
to move on to the next. The show was that compelling.
For those unaware of the concept, “24”
bases itself on the premise that an entire season
takes place in one day. 24 episodes, 24 hours.
The story unveils itself in ‘real time’,
complete with a ticking clock that reminds viewers
from time to time how much time has elapsed. This
had to wreak havoc with the continuity people.
I was amazed at how well the show was written
and edited, and even more so mostly kept within
the realm of plausibility. Occasionally there
would be a stretch of the imagination to make
something work, but rarely.
When the 2nd season of “24” started,
I almost did the same thing. I thought I would
record the episodes for several weeks, and then
sit down to watch. But I couldn’t wait.
Actually my wife and I couldn’t wait. It
ended up being the one show that we made time
for every week for the entire season. It was hell.
Knowing every time an episode would end, we would
have to wait a whole week as opposed to just fast
forwarding on the VCR. But it was worth it. In
its 2nd season, “24” proved itself
to be more than just a flash in the pan. It had
legs and would probably run as long as the creators
wanted to keep churning them out.
I mentioned earlier part of what the plot was
in the 2nd season, though there were also several
sub-plots that run concurrently and usually tied
in to the main story at some point. And here was
where I found the weakness I can pick out of the
entire series. It goes like this… in both
seasons, Jack is having a bad day. Oddly enough,
his daughter Kim (Elisha Cuthbert) is also having
one, too. In the 1st season it was believable
since a part of the plot involved kidnapping Jack’s
family. However, in the 2nd season she is employed
as a nanny to a family that includes a child beating
lunatic who is out to get her, ends up on the
run from the cops herself, meets up with a guy
who tricks her into an underground shelter, etc…
none of which is related to the main story. Now
really, what are the odds that this would happen
on the exact same day as her Dad’s ‘bad’
day? Point made. I’ll move on.
The 3rd season took the storyline 3 years after
the events of the 2nd, where we learned that Palmer
was still in office and Jack had been involved
in an undercover operation that had taken an extremely
hard toll on him. Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard)
was now in control as the head of the CTU office
and was married to Michelle Dressler (Keiko Aylesworth).
I was glad to see so many of the characters back.
Until I saw Kim. She was almost the nail in the
coffin for my hopes of a good season, and though
I could have done without her character anywhere
in the series during the 3rd season, at least
the writers made her an employee of CTU in order
to explain why her day would be as bad as her
Dad’s.
As each season has progressed, the stakes have
gotten higher and higher. You never really know
who might live or die (and I was shocked to see
a really major character bite the dust in the
3rd season), and the some of the choices that
had to be made in the interest of national security
were mind-blowing. The plot of that season went
all over the map, with the threat of a major bio-weapon
being unleashed on U.S. soil. I’ll admit
the first of the season was a little slow, but
once we hit about the 5th hour, I was biting my
nails on every week’s episode. Granted,
as with any series of this type, I had to make
some suspensions of disbelief, in this case is
was more the major globe-hopping that took place
all in the space of ’24 hours’ that
was a little hard to swallow, but aside from that
I had no complaints.
The 4th season, if you can believe it, was every
bit as powerful as the pervious ones. Major characters
had been pushed to the back, or at least that
is how it seemed as some familiar faces started
to pop up hour by hour. Eighteen months had passed
between ‘Days’ and Jack Bauer was
no longer with CTU. He now worked for Secretary
of Defense James Heller (William Devane). When
his new boss is kidnapped, he found himself caught
up in an all-new plot to assassinate the new president
of the U.S. as well as a terrorist threat that
could result in the death of millions of people.
Now, we finally get to the 5th season. Even I
had to wonder if they could do it again. I had
intended to watch them as they aired, but life
started to get in the way. Then I considered recording
them but thought better of it. Why not wait for
the DVD, that way I could see with the best quality
picture and sound, and even better… no commercials!
During this period, we also started loaning the
previous seasons to my in-laws (who had never
seen "24." Over the course of a month
they watched all four seasons and were clamoring
for more. When we received the 5th season for
review, they immediately started begging to borrow
it, but we needed to watch it first!!
As for whether or not they could pull off a successful
5th season, they not only did… they surpassed
all the previous seasons. The first episode hit
us with several shocking assassinations, and the
anxiety level did not dissipate for the entire
24 hours. At the end of the 4th season, Jack had
to fake his own death and live his life incognito.
Here, the assassinations bring him out of seclusion
and directly into the action as he is unofficially
re-instated into CTU to investigate the assassinations,
stop a terrorist takeover of an airport and find
several containers of nerve gas before they are
used to kill hundreds of thousands of Americans.
But to make matters worse, there are people in
control of the day's events that that are not
only shocking in their revelation, but probably
not too far from the truth in our current governmental
situation.
All 24 hours of the 5th season kept us on the
edge of our seats, the only small nitpick I have
being that there were a few plot points that seemed
contrived. For example, there is a point of the
plot where Jack is unconscious and handcuffed
in a room around the corner from where some nerve
gas is going to be released. There are two terrorists
taking care of the deed. One tells the other to
go in the other room and kill Jack. Okay…
they are about to release the nerve gas. Why bother
taking the time to go in there and shoot him?
The gas will do the trick. But what this does
is give Jack the opportunity to escape by taking
out the terrorist who conveniently gets close
enough to him to shoot. There also seems to be
a little too much of the C.T.U. team doing things
behind each others backs or not following protocol.
There are times when a situation is kept secret
from everyone else for no real reason. HOWEVER,
regardless of these little issues this, season
of "24" was the best yet.
The season was also elevated by the casting of
some excellent actors in various roles. For terrorists,
we were given the likes of Julian Sands, Gerant
Wyn Davies and Peter Weller. Weller's character
was exceptional as an ex-C.T.U. agent turned bad.
He is probably one of the most cold-blooded of
any of the villains we've seen. I was also thrilled
to see Sean Astin cast in the role of a high ranking
C.T.U. official. After so many nice guy roles,
I wasn't prepared for how coolly he was able to
deliver a no-nonsense type who would talk down
to the rest of the agents. And as the situation
grew worse, his demeanor began to unravel almost
to the point of psychotic. Astin was excellent.
The absolute standouts if the season were Gregory
Itzin as the President and Jean Smart as the First
Lady. Smart was nominated for an Emmy for her
performance, but Itzin should have been as well.
As the President, his character had to convey
both the strength of the office paired with the
weakness of the man. Yet even his weaknesses had
their share of cold calculation. Itzin tore through
this role with gusto and deserved to win an Emmy.
If any of you haven’t had the opportunity
to see any of the five seasons of “24”,
and don’t know anyone who has them recorded
and sitting in the closet, you can acquaint yourself
with it on DVD. The 1st through 4th seasons are
already available and the 5th season hits the
streets this week (just in time to promote the
upcoming 6th season premiere in January). I can’t
recommend these sets enough, if not for the extra
features (that I’ll get into later) but
for the amazing transfer of the video. The episodes
on these discs look tons better than they ever
did on broadcast TV.
The earlier sets were extremely well produced,
and each one got a little better, and the 5th
season set continues with the excellent quality
of the 3rd and 4th. The 1st season set had only
an alternate ending and that was pretty much it.
The 2nd season set added a 7th disc into the set
just to house most if the extras, which was repeated
in the next two seasons. The 5th season set is
every bit as good. Each disc has its own set of
extra features, in the form of commentaries and
deleted scenes. All of the commentaries are extremely
well-produced, and include many members of the
creative team as well as the cast. It was especially
intersting to hear Julian Sands, Jean Smart and
Gregory Itzin on some of these commentaries.
Once you get to the 7th disc, you’ll find
an exclusive Season 5 prequel that sets the stage
for what’s to come when the new ‘Day’
begins. Now, before I get to the other features,
I would like to comment on this 'prequel.' As
was the case with the prequel for the 5th season,
it really was more of a car commercial. Except
this one was a lot more blatant. Here we have
an extravagant rescue from a Chinese prison, and
the rescuers grab their target and trot off into
the brush. There they uncover a SILVER Toyota
SUV to use for their escape. Not a black one mind
you, that might perhaps blend into the darkness…
but a silver one that looks great on film, but
those giving chase can see from a mile away. It's
still a cool prequel, but the obvious commercialism
involved made it a little laughable.
That said, in the way of featurettes there are
several. There is a sampling of a new Behind the
Scenes book written by John Cassar (which includes
a video introduction), a look at the supporting
players of the series, a featurette about the
show's music, and a tour of the retreat where
President Logan spends much of his time this season.
You'll also find a featurette on the 100th episode
as well as all of the deleted scenes collected
together (which have optional commentary).You
really couldn’t ask for more from a DVD
set.
“24” is an awesome and addictive show.
I absolutely recommend adding all four DVD sets
to your collection, but if you start watching
them you’ll be hard-pressed not to do it
marathon style.
Starring: Kiefer Sutherland
Extras: Exclusive Season 6 Prequel Bridging Seasons
5 & 6, Cast/ Crew Commentary on Selected Episodes,
23 Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary, A
Behind-the-Scenes Book Sample, Supporting Players
Featurette, Unsung Heroes - 24 Camera Department
Featurette, Music by Sean Gallery Featurette,
Logan's Retreat Featurette, 100th Episode Reel
Specifications: Widescreen (1.78:1), Dolby Digital
5.1 Surround Sound
Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Release Date: 12/5/2006
Region 1
MPAA Rating: NR
Website
We'll give 24: Season 5 an A.
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