So incase you didn't read my review of Season 8 of 24, here is my review, part 1 and 2. That's important because I might make reference to that. But if you don't know from that review of both the season I watched and the pilot, 24 is my most favorite show of all time. Yes, its redundant sometimes and after season 5 the terrorist plot to tear down America gets kind of old and you start seeing tropes that repeat themselves from previous seasons, and eventually, I'm convinced they kind of gave up and wrote nonsense, as you will see in the second part of my Season 8 review. But despite all that, the show continues to have a special place in my heart, and all the Doctors, Starks, Walter Whites, or Frank Underwoods can ever take away from the fact that I just have the most fun known to man when I watch 24.
While I had my problems with the 8th season, I really liked how the show closed out and to be honest, I wasn't wild about the new season, even if it was a mini series. Of course I was excited to see Kiefer Sutherland again, but in the back of my mind, I had my reservations about the return of Bauer.
Before I continue, I should let you know that this is riddled with spoilers. If you want to watch Season 9, stop reading this.
HOWEVER, I love this new Jack Bauer. Because he isn't working with any government entity in this one, because he apparently has nothing to lose and no friends, Jack Bauer will do anything and everything. Now that's hard to believe that anything has changed since Jack Bauer has always been a little bit of a wild card. But dear lord, this new Jack Bauer is ruthless, from the get go. This is Jack Bauer to a whole new level.
Kiefer Sutherland is followed by a large cast of characters that I am still kind of out on. Some characters are some of the best characters since season 5, while others really don't shine that much. I'll talk about the characters later but another good choice about this season was that there was no CTU. Perfect, I love it. Keep CTU out, it should be gone. Never bring them back again. Have CTU be something Jack and his friends reminisce about, not an actual thing. Instead, the government agency going after him this time is the CIA. Which was a great choice. Furthermore, they're going after him in London. This brings an element we've never seen before, an organization working on foreign soil. Everything is very stealthy, and very smash and grab. Its a lot of fun.
Jack returns when he is hunted by the CIA in London on the same day now President James Heller (reprised by William Devane) is in London to renew the lease of a military base, in the middle of a political debate on drones. Again, perfect, bring in a hot topic in the political world, the same way season 7 questioned torture and the "old" way of doing things, this season can question drones and eventually freedom of information and stuff like Wikileaks. Perfect 24, you're off to a good start.
Furthermore, the CIA is headed up by Benjamin Bratt from Law and Order, not a bad choice and has a couple well known actors in its ranks like Gbenga Akinnagbe as Eric Ritter, and Yvonne Strahovski as disgraced CIA agent, Kate Morgan.
I think if there were going to be any weak links in this cast, it might be the CIA. That's not to say I don't like any of these actors, espeially Bratt and Strahovski, but I think Gbenga Akinnagbe was incredibly downplayed and was not as great as he could have been. I think this show could have gone on without him and I don't think it would have been much different, he really just kind of follows Kate around and doesn't have an incredible defining moment besides yelling at Jack and Kate at one point. Not saying he's horrible, he was just kind of dull and underused.
On the side of the White House and government, of course you have President Heller again, which I'll get to him, but I think the main reason they brought him in as the President was to bring back Audrey Raines (played by Kim Raver).
I thought this was an interesting choice to not only bring Audrey back but an Audrey that has kind of moved on from Jack... sorta. I was worried of how exactly it was going to end, none of the outcomes I really liked that much. I was kind of wondering if Audrey was going to end up with Jack in the end, leaving her husband. I was wondering if there was a possibility that she was not going to end up with Jack, that she loves her husband regardless, an outcome that would have been sad but I think one that I would have liked a little bit more. All of this I'll talk about in the ending but while I thought it was interesting, it was a choice I was interested to see where they were going and depending on which way they would go, I would decide on whether or not it was a good choice.
But lets get to the bad guys.
The first few episodes play the bad guy off as a computer hacker that worked for Adrian Cross's organization. Of course they always played him off as a pawn to the larger villain. This hacker creates an override device that is able to commandeer US drones. This. Was. Brilliant! Too many times its been bombs, or nerve gas, or biological weapons, but a drone itself. That's a turn that I don't think anybody saw coming.
Thus you introduce Margot Al-Harazi.
Initially Margot was suppose to be played by Judy Davis. Which honestly, I haven't seen her in anything. I wasn't opposed to it, I just didn't know anything about her. But then I heard that Davis dropped out. And who do they replace her with?
This was absolutely perfect. 24 banking off the popularity of Game of Thrones. Using a great actress like Michelle Fairley. This was just a brilliant move.
And furthermore, Margot is a great villain. Sure she has her daughter Simone (played by Emily Berrington) but Margot is the main villain and she's brilliant. I only wish Margot had had more than a half season because this is a 24 villain. And she's a good one as well. She's ruthless yes, she's cunning and will kill without hesitation. But there is humanity in her as well. This season really did a good job in developing characters and making them have human rationale for everything they did.
There's a point where Margot gives the President the choice, either surrender his self to her, or she'll run the drones a muck in London. At the same time, Heller is dealing with early onset Alzheimers. Again, something I'll talk about later. He decides that since he's going to be resigning soon, and there's no real leads on Margot, if he turns himself in she agrees to destroy the rest of the drones once he's dead.
This actually brings up a great moral dilemma for Margot. She never expects Heller to turn himself in, so should she honor that deal or continue the use of drones. It really puts a human side to Margot's actions. Its not condoning terrorism, but it really puts a rationale and goals for people who do this. While you want her brought down, you can't help but understand her situation, what would you do if you were brought to those lengths and suddenly your goals are met?
Its farfetched but hey, if it allows for the character development I saw in those episodes, I love it.
Later on in the season there's a shift in the villains and there's a whole new situation that arises from this overdrive device. One of them being the return of a certain villain that I'm kind of ehh on.
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| Cheng Zhi |
Now Cheng is in no way comparable to Darth Vader as a villain. I wasn't wild about him in Season 6 and I'm kind of lukewarm on him now. I think it was necessary to finally bring that storyline to a close, but he wasn't anywhere nearly developed as Margot. Furthermore, in many ways, it was like a soap opera where a character was thought dead and suddenly he returns and everyone flips a shit. Now for the sake of the impending threat of World War 3, Cheng had to be considered dead by everyone, killed in a Chinese prison escape attempt. But suddenly he's alive and the reactions to him coming back were a little cheesy.
It was kind of funny that all of Jack Bauer's foes come together in one last showdown, the Russians and the Chinese. While interesting, it was a little bit forced and ridiculous if you really think about it. But, if World War 3 was going to happen, this is an interesting way of how it was going to happen, so I have to give the show credit.
Character-wise, I'm still kind of out.
My gut reaction is that this is actually one of the better casts in a long time. I think the reality is that some characters are done really well, while others are not quite as good.
Jack Bauer of course is amazing.
Once again, Kiefer Sutherland brings it and really makes me feel for this character who cannot catch
As I said before, this is a Jack Bauer with literally nothing to lose. While I'm not wild about how he came to be this way (Season 8) I really like how things ended up in this season and how, while clunky, the end of Season 8 opened up for a ruthless, give no fucks Jack Bauer.
But this isn't just a totally new character, you can still see the character of Jack Bauer in this season, he's just been through a lot, he's been through some events that changed him forever.
Furthermore how he's a fugitive, he must go to all lengths to get what he wants to do done. From shooting protestors in the leg to cause a riot to get in the American Embassy, to throwing subdued terrorists out of windows because... you know, America!
As Jack Bauer himself has said, there really is no going back for him... Until there is.
Later in the season, Jack is given a Presidential Pardon for any crimes he committed in the past. Something that is really glanced over. Perhaps this really ties with the ending, which writing this I'm realizing might turn into a post on its own. But suddenly Jack has a chance to go home. He has a chance to see his daughter again. Suddenly there is a going back for Jack... I'll leave it there for now.
Yvonne Strahovski is a good actress. She's gorgeous, she's really gotten better at her American Accent (watch the first season of Chuck, its hilarious), and Kate Morgan is a good character.
Honestly, I wasn't wild with Strahovski in the pilot. Her reasoning for staying on with the CIA for the search for Bauer was not exactly a strong case and I wasn't exactly sure how this whole "her husband was a traitor"thing was going to work out.
In the end though, I think Kate Morgan was a good enough partner for Jack Bauer in this season. She didn't blow me away but she was in no way bad. I think that's pretty much all I can say about her. She was good...
Really that's it.
The rest of the CIA though is kind of hit or miss. In the first few episodes, I would say they were really boring. Their way of operating, especially on foreign soil, like I said, was a great move. But the characters were just kind of bland. Steve Navarro (Benjamin Bratt) was pretty dull, Eric Ritter was kind of boring, that guy that had a crush on Kate was pretty boring. No one in the CIA really stood out. Until the later parts of the season.
When Navarro is finally revealed as a traitor, that is when things get interesting with him. He was kind of bland leading up to it, but that interrogation scene where he's very confident that he'll get immunity for what he knows about the override device, that was really good. His story was wrapped up really quickly though.
Everyone else still remained kind of boring. That's what I've decided. The CIA was kind of boring in this season but I think the fact of how they operated was so different, I think I'll give them a pass.
Then there's Chloe.
But Chloe has a very interesting story in this season. She's suffered tragedy. She's lost, trying to find a way to move on from the death of Morris and her son. She's no longer working for the government and instead is using her skills as a hacker for an organization like Open Cell. Its so different and yet it feels so right. Chloe was really kind of the wild card in the entire season. You never knew if she was still with us or if she would run and disappear. I love that atmosphere about a character.
And Open Cell was really interesting. Again, the equivalent to Wikileaks, Open Cell was a bunch of teenagers. No one had the capability to be the bad guy in Open Cell. While I'm a little disappointed in that, it made a lot of sense.
And I guess that brings me to Adrian Cross.
Honestly, a part of me is a little disappointed in Adrian Cross. On one hand, he's a really good equivalent to Julian Assange, but I think they could have done more with him. There's a point where we're meant to believe that he's the main target, that he's the main villain. I kind of liked that idea, especially since Chloe was so torn between he allegiances to Jack and her allegiances to Cross.
While I liked the split allegiances and dilemma of Chloe I thought that that whole relationship kind of neutered Adrian Cross and by the time Cheng showed up, he was just an ascot wearing weakling. Personally, I think that's a little bit of a waste.
I think I would have liked Cross to be a little bit more charismatic, make a statement to the United States government, or put out a video making him even more like Julian Assange. In many ways,
I like Michael Wincott and while he was never really built up as a main villain, I think there was something that could have been done besides all of his people getting killed by the Chinese and him just getting axed off when he suddenly didn't serve a purpose.
I get that Wikileaks and Cross are probably in a different league and don't even compare to the likes of Jack Bauer and the high stakes action that goes along with 24, but I think there's a chance to have some intelligent game of cat and mouse with the internet there and really make more of a statement on organizations like this. I'm not saying that Julian Assange wouldn't have been any more of a pansy than Adrian Cross was in the end, but I think I would have liked Michael Wincott to be utilized a little bit more. Its not a huge deal because I didn't hate how they handled him and Open Cell, I would have just been okay if they had done more with him.
And then there's the White House.
I think I like the people in the White House more this time around because everything is personal. We didn't have to show Heller doing a lot of boring stuff to get us to like him because we've already seen him before. We didn't need to get introduced to Audrey and begin to like her, because we've already seen her before. And Mark Boudreau, though we needed to get to know him a little bit was in this from the beginning by being married to Audrey. Things were already personal here.
But like I said, it was more of an opportunity to bring someone back who was familiar, especially with only 12 episodes and an expedited story, let's not waste time. Furthermore, it was an opportunity for Audrey to return and for there to finally be closure between her and Jack. So while I'm not wild about William Devane, I think he served a purpose in this season and he had enough good moments that I can give him a pass. The bit about him being diagnosed with Alzheimers was sad enough to be effective, especially with Audrey and his relationship with other people in the government sphere, and it wasn't overplayed, it wasn't like he was forgetting people during the show, its mentioned, its in place, but it doesn't hinder the plot. Well done 24.
What I did have a problem with was his willingness to surrender himself to Margot later in the season. At first, I was kind of on the fence about it. He brought up good points that he's going to be resigning soon anyway, this is more of a personal thing, and he wants to save a lot of people. That's an interesting choice and sacrifice to make. And even I was on board for it for a while. But then he walks out onto Wembley Stadium, a sacrificial lamb ready to be slaughtered, and then I was kind of pulled out of it.
This is the President of the United States. It doesn't matter if he resigned, it doesn't matter if he's going to have Alzheimer's and he's going to die anyway, it doesn't matter if this is a personal sacrifice he's willing to make. Having the President of the United States murdered by terrorists would shake our country to the core. It would be embarrassing, it would be tragic to a nth degree. I don't know what the repercussions would be, that's how absurd it is. Especially if there was no guarantee that Margot would follow through on her side of the bargain. Its a selfish, stupid act that, while played up nicely, in reality would never happen in the history of ever.
But what's more is I'm not exactly sure I was happy when they didn't actually go through with it.
While I soon realized the folly in this plan, I was going along with it, and truly believed Heller was
And because of that, I had a moment where I truly thought, the President was dead. He gave into terrorist demands and now he's dead. What are the repercussions? What does the United States do when this happens? While absurd, I was actually really interested to see where they went with this... and then he was alive... I think there was an opportunity that was missed here.
The whole scene I go back and forth with. On one hand it really gives a great moment of shock when Margot realizes she got what she asked for, it was a really well done shot, it made me believe the President was dead. It was sad, it made me feel.
But on the other hand it was all a trick. Suddenly Heller doesn't seem as honorable, suddenly that unthinkable scenario was all a ruse. I think it had to happen the way it did, and they did a good job at the ruse, I just think there's something there that they missed out on.
And who didn't see this coming. Audrey needed to come back. There was no question about it. There needed to be more resolution to her and Jack's story.
And Audrey is really good in this season. There's no much else to say about it, her reactions to things was very expected of someone in her position. She does some really smart things, she's not just the woman that needs to be saved.
She has some legitimate dilemmas with her husband and Jack. There is no doubt that she is still in love with Jack. Which at first I thought was going to go all soap opera-y and get really convoluted, but it really didn't. It was subtle, it was not exactly dealt with in haste because that's a big issue that needs to be dealt with in more than 12 hours.
I'll talk a little bit more about Audrey in the rant I have about the ending, but in short, I really liked Audrey in this season. I think I've always liked Audrey but in this season, she does a really good job.
And she brings light to a character I actually think was one of my favorite characters, and that came at a surprise.
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Mark finds himself in a really difficult situation. He came to be the husband of Audrey mainly through her recovery. In all senses of things, Mark is a good guy. So when Jack Bauer shows up, he only sees the problems that Jack can bring and believes it is best for everyone involved, The President, the country, and Audrey, that Jack is captured and handed over to the Russians.
I'm not saying it was a dumb move for Mark to forge the President's signature, in fact, it was a really dumb idea. He marks it up to be that he didn't want the President's hands to get dirty, but handing Jack over to the Russians isn't exactly an action that would have gotten the President's hands dirty.
So I think the main reason he signs it is because he's jealous of Bauer. Mark is the unpopular not athletic kid at school who just can't compete with the more likable, football star, Jack Bauer. While he never truly admits it, there's a tragic story in Mark Boudreau. So when Jack and the President figure out that he's been working with the Russians to get Jack apprehended, I was actually really sad when the President charges him with treason. Yeah he deserved it, but at the same time there's a good amount of sympathy I had for the guy, I didn't want him to go to prison. It seemed like he was legitimately sorry for what he had done and he just got caught up in what he thought was the right thing. It was in fact the wrong thing but he did it for the right reasons. That's a really tragic character.
Furthermore, he had a legitimate claim in his fights with Audrey. He wasn't just the asshole husband, he legitimately cared for Audrey and she acted like kind of an asshole towards him for no good reason. So maybe I take back a little bit about what I said about Audrey, I see a lot more good in Mark than I think a lot of people did and I actually really liked him. I thought Tate Donavon did a good job. I really think Mark was one of my favorite characters of this season, and definitely one of the more interesting and developed ones at that.
Overall, the 9th season of 24 is a good, kind of fresh take on the franchise. I say kind of because there are a lot of things taken from previous seasons. While the show was condensed a little bit, for the best, it still had 24isms. But I'll chalk those up to be the tropes that make the show good. Some people may find it redundant, I find a charming part of the show. Regardless, the show really has some great characters and the story is pretty good as well. I didn't even talk about the action but I don't think I really need to, its 24, of course its going to be good. But with the use of drones on the streets of London, its far fetched, its absurd, its 24, and its awesome.
I've decided I'm going to make this a two parter... ish. I mainly want to talk about the last episode and the future of the franchise. So stay tuned for that.
But what do you think of 24: Live Another Day? Did you think it was good? Did you think it was fresh or was it just 24 recycled. Comment and Discuss below! Also Follow me on Twitter @cmhaugen24, where you can get updates for the blog and watch me try to be funny.
Stay tuned for Part 2
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