In 1987, Alan Moore stunned readers with his comic book series "Watchmen." He effectively broke down the psychology behind the desire to be a superhero and the dangers a society faces in trusting these superheroes. Fox's show "24" succeeds on all these levels, and then serves up a healthy dose of ankle-twisting action, arguable "Watchmen"'s one failing. After seeing the first four episodes, "24"'s sixth season is starting to look like the best yet. This is truly the longest day of Jack's life.
The character of Jack Bauer is a real superhero, a man with ideals and principals who will stop at nothing to protect the American people. Like the characters in "Watchmen," his methods are often questionable. What separates him from, say, the military, is that Bauer's primary focus is to save America. If he is given an order that distracts him from this goal or works counter to this goal, he has no problem ignoring it. But he also values democracy itself, and will defer to the president, even when the corrupt president resembles Richard Nixon. At the end of the day, Jack will get the man arrested, but until then Jack knows that the president's safety is vital. But enough about everyone's biggest crush. Here's the new season:
We pick up 20 months since season five, and a few things have changed. Jack is being tortured by the Chinese. Bill Buchanan (James Morrison), the CTU head who could not smile is now married to Karen Hayes (Jayne Atkinson), who is now the National Security Advisor to the president. The president, by the way, is Wayne Palmer (D.B. Woodside), promising perhaps the best leadership since the late David Palmer (Dennis Haysbert). The annoying Chloe (Mary Lynn Rajskub) inexplicably still works at CTU despite the fact that she consistently disobeys orders. Thomas Lennox ("Ally McBeal"'s Peter MacNicol) has President Palmer's ear and wants to detain Muslim citizens. Oh, and by the way, America has been experiencing 12 weeks of devastating terrorist attacks.
The President is sent an offer by Abu Fayed, a terrorist leader (Adoni Maropis): surrender Jack Bauer and pay $25 million and Fayed will turn over the whereabouts of the man behind the attacks. This means that Palmer must make a very unfavorable deal with the Chinese to get Jack back, only to sacrifice him to save America, something Jack's been itching to do since the first season (maybe even earlier).
The season starts off with a huge explosion in downtown L.A., and more occur within the first four episodes. This sense of immediacy gives the show a huge jolt: this is not a "we-need-to-find-the-bomb" scenario; this is an oh-my-God-there-are-bombs-everywhere scenario. And Jack just got back from 20 months of being tortured by the Chinese, a period he spent completely silent. And yes, his first word is "Audrey." (Forget her. What about her beat-down dad?)
The fourth episode ends on a huge cliffhanger. It's like watching early, pre-Paolo "Lost," but better because Jack has a man's voice and gets the job done instead of whining. If these are the cards being played early in this season, we can only imagine what the producers yet have in store for us.
Character-wise, this is also a very rich season. Word is that "Six Feet Under"'s James Cromwell will be playing Jack's father later in the season. CTU has also added the employ of Nadia Yassir (Marisol Nichols), a woman who finally speaks Arabic and is otherwise pretty. Regina King, the oft-overlooked "The Boondocks" actor, plays another Palmer (do we see politics in her future? Or death?), a lawyer who represents the American Muslim Alliance and serves as the "If we suspend civil rights this country won't be worth saving" voice that is standard on this show. Such a character has recently seen more action, when it seems that if a Muslim character is accused of being a terrorist and the liberals defend him or her, the character is a terrorist. In that vein, this season continues to raise those important safety-vs.-freedom issues that the show has made its hallmark (we know where Jack stands on the issue).
In returning cast members, Milo (Eric Balfour) has somehow returned to a position of some prominence within CTU, as has Chloe's ex, Morris (Carlo Rota), who has gone from being pretty cool to being Chloe-style annoying. We still wait for the ever-beady eyes of Mike Novick (Jude Ciccolella) to pop from behind those expert specs, the man ready to give solid advice but who can still be pretty weaselly. And dear God, let Agent Pierce (Glenn Morshower) appear.
And for those keeping track at home: Jack kill count: 1. CTU perimeters set up and immediately broken: 2. It'll be a great season.
