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Sorry, Rusty. It took me a bit to start the thread…
So Jack's finally back on TV, but he's still up to the same old tricks. I was hoping all the extra time would allow the writers to come up with something great, but the show has been pretty average so far this year. I really like the character of Renee, and I like seeing Chloe and Bill again, but the show iself hasn't been up to snuff.
They've been really bad about convenient twists and stupid character actions this year. Most recently the Chloe “magic” to find the erased files was pretty obvious and pulled off in a really clunky way.
Hopefully the two-hour block they have tonight will be better than what they've done so far.
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2:23 pm
March 2, 2009
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Rusty James
Button Masher
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Most recently the Chloe “magic” to find the erased files was pretty obvious and pulled off in a really clunky way.
Think about it though. If the writers wanted they could've just had some one stop lame FBI lady decrypting the firewall protocol by reversing the polarity on the orgasmatron 3000. So it was an 11th hour psyche out for the sake of cheep thrills. I'm fine with that.
What bothered me more was at the end, when after all villains are vanquished. Whatsisdick shows up outta the blue and says “Ohhh noss, more terrorists that we forgot about!!!!!”. That's not a very creative way of extending the season. They may as well call next episode “More of the Same”.
But there's also been some interesting stuff this season. For starters, even more so than usual I find it's politics absolutly abhorent. Their self-righteous support for torture has turned into borderline propaganda. And at a time when public opinion has swayed back to sanity. That's ballsy.
Secondly, I thought the one where Agent SexyPants went to go kill a baby was probably the most interesting episode they've done.
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Evn teh m05t pr1m8ive 50c13tez hv an in8 rezp3ct 4 teh in5@n3
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10:35 pm
March 2, 2009
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Rusty James
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Well Polygon, your 24 thread is officially less popular than my Midea Goes To Jail thread.
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Evn teh m05t pr1m8ive 50c13tez hv an in8 rezp3ct 4 teh in5@n3
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That's probably because most of the people here never got into 24 in the first place. The show may be running on fumes this year, but that doesn't discount the several excellent seasons prior to now. I particularly enjoyed the first season and the fifth season.
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4:07 pm
March 3, 2009
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Rusty James
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I don't know I think I'm really liking this season. That double header was awsome. This whole season has been an on going dialogue about torture and human rights. It started out preachy and one sided but they keep developing it and it's getting better and better. I love how they do this fast paced action show but there's still these ideas behind it all.
Fucking Tony Todd is great. It looks like Kurtwood Smith has turned his role into a real character. Jon Voigt! The invasion of the Whitehouse was brutal and an awesome change up for the show. I couldn't believe when I looked at the clock and it was only half over.
The perfect 24 one two punch.
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Evn teh m05t pr1m8ive 50c13tez hv an in8 rezp3ct 4 teh in5@n3
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I missed last night's double-header. I'll have to check back in here once I catch up.
So far, I'm enjoying this season more than the last one, but that is partially due to 24 having been off the air for so long.
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5:59 pm
March 3, 2009
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Dinosys
Nerd
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i was on the fence about this season till the double header, those were two excellent episodes.
Was i alone in predicting president's daughter would be screwing things up by insisting on going along? why do characters always do that, don't they watch tv?
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I really enjoyed both of those episodes. I liked all the buildup in the first hour (especially Renee on the boat), and I loved the break-in during the second hour. I really hope Aaron Pierce gets to stick around for a while as he's a fun character and one of the few that's still around from the beginning of the show. I also enjoyed haveing Juma finally show up as so far he is making a much better villain than Dubaku did. I also hope we get to see a lot more of Jon Voight.
Hopefully this season will take off from here rather than falling flat like the previous season did.
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4:52 pm
March 4, 2009
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Rusty James
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Polygon_Wizard said:
ill take off from here rather than falling flat like the previous season did.
I’ve actually only seen one other season in it’s entirety (season 5) and bits and pieces of other seasons. Everything I’ve seen has been great. Was last season the one where a nuclear bomb went off in LA? That was brutal!
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Yeah, last season was the one where the suitcase nuke went off in LA early on. The first few episodes of the season were great, but it went downhill from there on a “greatest hits” tour of previous plotlines. It was just a big letdown after the overall excellent fifth season.
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8:27 pm
March 10, 2009
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Rusty James
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Y'know what would've been killer… if the rest of the season were about the seige on the Whitehouse. It would've made more sense too. Somewhere there's a post where I compare 24 to Heroes. They both rely on the same 4 or 5 tricks to keep themselves going.
2 episodes ago Tony came to jack saying “there's another target!!”. Well they tied that one off… but OH NO THERE'S ANOTHER PLOT!!!
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8:27 pm
March 10, 2009
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Rusty James
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It's more like an obstacle course than a plot.
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Yeah, 24 has degenerated somewhat into putting a bunch of obstacles for Jack to run through. Perhaps that because the show has killed off every single interesting character they previously had. There are still a few people around, but they aren't as compelling as they were before.
Sure, the show has always centered behind Jack, but part of what made the first several seasons so good were all the great characters around Jack. They all had compelling stories as well (other than Kim, blah). One by one, they've all fallen victim to the chopping block in one of three ways:
A) the character is turned into a villain and killed, probably by Jack
B) the character is killed off in some shocking way in order to make things more personal for Jack
C) the character makes some sort of noble sacrifice so that Jack doesn't have to
They've done this so much now that it's hard to come up with anything that isn't similar to what they've done before, and the plot “twists” and turns aren't anywhere near as well-written as they used to be. They are definitely running out of rabbits to pull out of the hat.
The show has gotten more and more Jack-centric with each season, and they seem to fogret about how to include other characters. I miss David Palmer, Sherry Palmer, Wayne Palmer, George Mason, Nina Myers, Mike Novik, the Drazens, the Salazars, the REAL Tony Almeida (not the undead version from this year), Michelle Dessler, Ryan Chapelle, Curtis Manning, Audrey Raines, Charles & Martha Logan, and Jame Heller.
Heck! I even miss some of the minor characters from previous seasons like Adam Kaufman (played by Zachary Quinto before Heroes), Milo the hacker (Eric Balfour), “naked” Mandy, Gael Ortega, and Edgar Stiles.
There have been so many great characters on this show, and most of them are now dead or MIA. 24 has an extremely high death toll for major characters. Even JAck himself has died more than once before being brought back.
So, I have been enjoying this season, just not as much as seasons past. I do like most of the new people this year, especially President Taylor and Renee Walker.
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7:51 pm
March 12, 2009
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Rusty James
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Post edited 5:51 pm – March 12, 2009 by Rusty James
C) the character makes some sort of noble sacrifice so that Jack doesn't have to
There's an interesting variation of this in the baby torture episode. Jack comes up with the plan; he goes to heroicly track down the dangerious terrorist, while poor agent Walker somehow lands on baby killing detail. How did that work out?
Of course, America is never going to root for a hero who once threatened the murder a baby in front of a sobbing terrified mother. So Jack gives the big speech condemning the weak senator for his lack of moral fortitude and celebrating the virtues of the morally reprehensible. But it's Agent Walker who actually exists to carry the moral burden (female, sensitive, unthreatening, de-sexed but still appealing. The perfect patsy.)
That's why I think the show still works as a hagelian dialectic on the issue of torture even if it's intent is maybe more one sided. They've got Jack advocating methods that they can't actually bring him to commit.
And maybe one day evil african terrorists will sieze the Whitehouse and we'll need to torture babies. But do we need new laws that provide for that scenario and protect baby killing under certain scenarios? It's so outlandish and poorly argued that it almost ends up making the opposite point.
I think a really interesting ending for the season would be to have Agent Walker arresting for kidnapping and attempted infantcide while Jack Bauer accepts a medal of honor for his heroism.
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