This time last year, the seventh season of “24” was set to premiere. The new season was highly anticipated due to the fact that season six was not well received by fans and critics alike. However, the show was the biggest casualty of the 2007-2008 Writer’s Guild strike.
Due to this, the producers did not have the required time to air the show nonstop with no reruns (which they had been doing since season four), so they decided to postpone the premiere until January 2009, almost 20 months after the last episode aired.
To reward the fans for being so patient and to help bridge the gap to season seven, the creators of the show filmed a two hour made-for-TV prequel leading up to the premiere called “24: Redemption,” which aired in November. In “Redemption,” we find that former Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU) uber-agent Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) is hiding out in Africa from a subpoena to appear before the U.S. Senate on torture charges. While working at a school in the fictional nation of Sengala, Jack finds himself caught up in the middle of a military coup. Meanwhile, we are introduced to a whole crop of new characters who will all eventually tie into each other somehow.
As the violence rages in Africa, it’s Inauguration Day for President Allison Taylor (Cherry Jones) in Washington D.C. Her husband (Colm Feore) and Chief of Staff (Bob Gunton) are by her side, while her son Roger (Eric Lively) finds himself in trouble when he receives a visit from a friend. Roger’s friend informs him of a possible conspiracy involving the people he works for, which includes Jonas Hodges (Jon Voight).
As “Redemption” comes to a close, Allison Taylor is sworn in, her son’s friend is murdered by the men he works for and Jack Bauer gives in to the government's demands and agrees to travel to Washington D.C.
Season seven of “24” is a reboot of sorts. For six seasons the show has taken place place in Los Angeles—mostly in CTU headquarters. As we meet Jack again at 8:00 a.m. (where the new season begins) we find that CTU has been disbanded and the show has shifted its location to Washington D.C.
The change in location has definitely invigorated the series by giving it a better level of authenticity. Not being tied to Los Angeles gives the audience a feeling that anything big that happens this season is just that much bigger.
The first five episodes of the year set the wheels in motion for what could be one of the best seasons of “24” yet. The episodes begin begins four months after the events of “24: Redemption” and has most of the characters facing a dilemma right away.
The genocide in Africa still rages on as the new, progressive-minded President Taylor has to decide to keep her promise to the exiled/former Prime Minister of Sengala to send troops to stop the violence.
The action really starts up when FBI Agent Renee Walker (Annie Wersching) barges into Jack’s Senate hearing because he is needed to help with a crisis. Turns out one of Jack’s old colleagues, Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard), has switched to the dark side and is threatening the country by cracking a firewall that controls the U.S. infrastructure (power grids, air traffic, water supplies).
The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) is presented here in a totally different way than CTU was over the past six seasons. The strictly by the book, rule-following branch is run by Larry Moss (Jeffery Nording), who is skeptical of bringing Jack in due to his authority fighting past. Part of his team at the FBI includes tech whiz Janis Gold (Janeane Garofolo), and Special Agent Sean Hillinger (Rhys Corio).
We meet a new Jack Bauer at FBI headquarters. Years of service and sacrifice for his country has left him in a strange state of mind where he neither hates the country nor is he as patriotic as he used to be. Jack is like the rest of us; do a job too long and eventually you become slightly jaded. It just so happened that Jack’s job was to save the country on countless occasions.
Within the first hour of the show, the terrorists are able to take control of the nations air traffic and display their power and control when they nearly crash two planes trying to land at John F. Kennedy airport.
The First Gentleman Henry Taylor (Colm Feore) is trying to figure out what is really going on behind his son’s suicide. We now know that after the events in “Redemption” something happened to the president’s son after he learned of a conspiracy involving some shady businessmen and terrorist financing. Taylor bounces around town looking for information from Roger’s ex-girlfriend with the help of one of his secret service agents. By the end of the first five episodes, he finds himself drugged and double-crossed by his own protector, and we discover that the agent is involved with the people responsible for Roger’s death.
The best parts of the season so far were when the cameras followed around our favorite American hero Jack Bauer. Throughout the first five hours of “24,” Jack is working with the FBI, clashing with protocol and looking for answers as to why his old friend Tony would be attacking the United States.
In true “24” fashion, we find out that not everything is as it seems. After Tony is captured and interrogated by Jack, he whispers something into his ear, and all of a sudden Jack is breaking Tony out of FBI custody. The biggest twist of the season so far (and I’m sure there will be many more) was to find out that Tony is working deep cover for some former CTU pals Bill Buchanon (James Morrison) and Chloe O’Brien (Mary Lynn Rajskub).
As the clock ticks down on the fifth hour of “24,” Jack has joined up with Tony’s squad of terrorists, and they manage to kidnap former Prime Minister Motobo and his wife, along with FBI Agent Walker, who had been trying to track Jack down and bring him back into custody.
The final seconds find Jack having to murder Agent Walker (who doesn’t know Jack is now undercover) and bury her. Jack slyly shoots her, but does not kill her and as we see the dirt coming down on her, the clock fades to black.
“24” is a lot to handle all at once, but as the season goes on, the plot becomes less convoluted and more clear and precise. The premiere of “24” answered a lot of questions and solidified that the show has left last seasons less than par storyline behind and created a new, intense crisis to deal with.
The show is usually most effective when Jack can act on his instincts (usually meaning a beat down for someone), and the new season allows for the masculine melodrama to take front stage. Along with that, the writers have done a great job so far of emphasizing the most important plot points and keeping the narrative moving forward.
The first five hours of the show were fantastic, action packed and filled with a lot of intrigue which is sure to continue for the rest of the year. “24” airs on FOX, Mondays at 9 p.m.
