(10:00 P.M. - 11:00 P.M.)
Review/Commentary
Reviewer: D
‘24’ is a relentless emotional rollercoaster and frankly I think the writers are cruel sometimes. For instance, my excitement was palpable (and I think you know what that means) when, early on in this episode, Nicole, the USAF seductress and the hottest woman on ‘24’ in this Kim-less season, showed up at Anderson’s apartment. Maybe she would become an integral part of the plot! Maybe Jack would take her hostage and use her to get to Marwan, guaranteeing her appearance in a few more episodes! Maybe he would have to interrogate her in ways that involved leather restraints, the rending of garments and the judicious application of lubricant?
But no. Even worse than having her walk away like in Hour 14, Jack went and killed her! (Though I have to admit, the shots-through-the-pillar bit was pretty nifty – I imagined building inspectors all across the country yelling out, “that pillar was NOT up to code!”) So Nicole will apparently terrorize no more – except in my dreams.
Personally, I loved this little cat-and-mouse interlude with Jack and the disposable “Agent Hart” in the apartment with Nicole (but what’s with the popularity of “knife to the neck” style executions? Was there a special seminar on this technique at some recent “Spies and Bad Guys” conference?). So much of ‘24’ plays out in grand strokes (oh, like in the blowing up of airplanes and such – hold your horses, we’ll get there…); the claustrophobic tension of these scenes was a welcome change of pace. The funny thing is that, as fraught with tension as these scenes were, they weren’t even the best part of the episode.
In fact, as I’ve tried to gather my thoughts to talk about this hour, I just get overwhelmed at how much was crammed into 44 minutes of slickly produced television. Hey Emmy committee, are you watching? The season is two-thirds over now and the pace has not lagged even a smidge. Meanwhile, what’s happening over at “Lost” or “Desperate Housewives” or, even worse, “Everyone Loves Raymond”? Does anyone care? I’m sorry, there’s not a question in my mind – ‘24’ is the best thing on television right now by far.
The show is so good that I thought I’d spend at least a moment talking about a couple of elements of the show I haven’t heaped praise upon so far this season, and that’s the music and sound editing. Did you notice your adrenaline starting to pump at the end of the show when the threat on Air Force One was becoming imminent? I’m guessing none of that had to do with Chloe scowling at her computer in anguish. More than likely, at least part of your reaction was due to the hard-driving music that played through those scenes, ratcheting up the tension a notch.
And how about this little sound editing moment: when the camera pulls away from Buchanan giving Michelle a little shoulder squeeze revealing Tony looking on, there’s a sharp “shah” sound that’s almost like a curtain being drawn back. Which figuratively is what is happening for Tony. J and I have both harped on this before: it’s these little things that really make ‘24’ the awesome show it is.
OK, enough blatant pandering for an invite to the ‘24’ wrap party (Fox marketing guys, you know where to reach me!), let’s get back to the action. And this episode was packed with it. ‘24’ has consistently delivered a whiz-bang first 12 minutes, and the assault on Marwan’s compound was yet another example. Oh, it was a tad ridiculous that Jack was the only guy who went in without full battle gear but by now we know he is protected by a magical “series star” force field anyway, so I was willing to roll with it. While this may be the third or fourth “attack on compound” interlude this season, this one was distinguished by Jack’s knife work, taking out a henchman and then holding him upright while he scoped around for other hostiles. Take this in conjunction with the aforementioned shots-through-the-pillar trick, and you realize Jack is getting more “James Bondian” all the time. In fact, let me take a moment to nominate Kief for the currently vacant Bond job. Who says only those prissy English types can do Bond; I for one would like a little grit mixed into the double-oh-seven recipe. I’m sure Kief could do the accent – hell, he played dead in “Flatliners;” is British really that different?
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