24 will return to our screens in the coming months and though many people scoff, I’ll still be watching. In Season 8, Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) must come out of retirement to deal with assassination threats made during a peace conference between President Allison Taylor of the US and President Omar Hassan of the fictional Islamic Republic of Kamistan.
“I’m transferring an informant vital to national security”
It’s been said that 24 jumped the shark a couple of seasons ago, and arguably the show did drop in quality around Day 5/6, but the majority of the last season was as good as anything they’ve ever produced. Biological weapons, the return of Tony Almeda, the genuine threat that Jack Bauer might die - it had it all. Granted the horse was well and truly flogged by the final few episodes.
It’s also been argued that all realism went from the show a number of seasons ago. Let me remind the nay-sayers that the second season had Jack’s daughter Kim (Elisha Cuthbert) being chased by some kind of leopard in the hills of Los Angeles. The show always pushed the envelope of believability, it always stretched things as far as possible - the result is to keep the viewer on the edge of their seat. It’s pulp television, but it’s damn good pulp television.
Without a doubt, Day 3 is where it all went right. While struggling with a heroin addiction, Jack had to re-infiltrate a Mexican drug cartel in order to acquire a deadly virus being marketed underground. Meanwhile, in one of the best sub-plots so far, President David Palmer is preparing for a live presidential debate in the run up to elections.
24 returns with a four hour opener over two nights on January 17th and 18th 2010. Will you be watching?
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