I know that when it comes to watching
24, there are times I've just got to turn my brain off and go with the flow. Jack can get across L.A. in rush hour in five minutes--check! Jack or someone can be tortured/shot/greviously wounded one minute and five minutes later be up and around like nothing happened--check!
But as much as I'm willing to suspend my disbelief most weeks to enjoy the thrill ride that is
24, there are some times when the what's happening is so overwhelmingly unbelieveable that you can't help but stop and go--huh?!? Like this week where, once again, Marwan eludes CTU (again). Honestly, this man has more escape routes than Carter has pills. And he's the luckiest terrorist in the world. CTU is sending in someone to replace Jack because the secret service is there to arrest him and a car happens to drive by and alert Marwan's look out so he can escape. Yeah, that is a bit much for me. Also, would it have hurt CTU to send one or two guys in undercover into the night club to intercept Marwan should things go awry? Sure, I know that it's fun to see Jack going in and being super-spy Jack, but he can't do the whole thing all by himself? Also, couldn't the Secret Serivce guys realize--hey, it's national security and we can arrest this guy when he comes out? Surely they could wait five minutes.
Of course, we've seen the danger of being on the wrong side of President Logan, who I am now going to call President Prissy-Pants. Far too concerned with what people are going to think and how they're going to react rather than being a decision maker. At least about the important things. I love how quickly he's set to arrest Jack after Jack disobeys his orders but he can't make a firm, hard decision on how to extract information from Pratto in less than half an hour and without getting everyone's advice.
It's also apparent that Mike Novak has learned nothing from the last time he got canned. He got canned for keeping the president in the dark and yet he walks a dangerous line toward doing the same exact thing here. And then he calls in Palmer to come in and handle the crisis. Good thing Palmer is a news junky and was staying up all night. Oh, and here's a note to FOX and the media. Watching 24, I was pretty sure they were trying to keep Palmer's eventual appearance a secret...they worked it so that Dennis Haysbert wasn't listed in the guest star credits and the first scene with Palmer showed that. Now, I know it's been all in the media these past few months that he was coming back, but it was ruined here. Not just by the previews but by articles in USA Today about it...and not just in the body of the story but in the headline. I love that 24 is getting some good publicity, but I hate that we're having to give away plot twists before they happen on screen. Knowing Palmer is coming back is one thing....knowing the exact episode he's coming back in kind of ruins the fun.
Meanwhile, Chloe gets sent out in the field and kicks some butt. Chloe leaves no doubt that the terrorist attacking them is dead. I could go into the fact that the recoil on the machine gun would knock her to the ground, but I won't.
Something I learned from this episode..if you're a terrorist, you should really not be dating. Too often, your significant other will check up on you and see through your lies.
Also, it was nice to see Keith Szarabajka getting some work, though I'm such a huge
Angel fan I kept seeing him as Holtz from Angel's third season and not as evil terrorist helping man. All he needed was the trenchcoat.
posted by Michael Hickerson at 4/26/2005 08:19:00 AM |
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