“24” is, at this point, less of a “television show,” so much as it is “event-level rearranging of various plot points and character beats.” And so in that sense, it’s probably the most excitingly predictable show on television.
If you’ve never bothered to sit and watch 24, here it is. Here is the plot to every single season – and how the writers in all likelihood, choose the small variations that make it count as a different season (other than which new jacket Kiefer Sutherland has decided is comfortable enough to wear for the entire year):
“Jack (Kiefer Sutherland), must foil a terrorist plot by (Arab Guys/Russians/Mexicans) who have secretly been financed by (evil white guys/evil white guys/ look, it’s always evil white guys). Meanwhile, at CTU (insert secondary staffer) is dealing with (insert unlikely family melodrama), while (insert temporary head of CTU) is busy (meddling with CTU agent investigations/fending off meddling from supervisors).”
But of course, the devil’s in the details, and on 24, the details tend to get kind of insane, fairly quickly – because ironically, for a show that needs to meticulously plot out a complete 24-hour arc, the writers also have no long-term planning ability. They will do WHATEVER, regardless of whether it puts them in a corner two hours down the line. And if they end up in that corner, you know what they’re gonna do? BLOW THAT CORNER UP WITH SEMTEX. It’s actually kind of admirable.
So how’s the new season shaping up so far, four hours in? Well, plot-wise, we’ve already filled in about half the multiple-choice answers in the above outline. But 24 deals in some other metrics this season needs to meet:
How’s Kiefer starting his day?
Happy. Which is a nice change of pace from previous opening episodes, which have found him either suicidal, heroin-addicted, or traumatized after 18 months in a Chinese prison. So…a rare low-key opening for Kiefer this time around. Read more »
