24: Day 8 Jack's Back

BreakABone · 01-17-2010, 06:02 PM

I figure there is even less of an audience for this show as there is for Chuck, but there may be other Bauer heads here, so tonight's the night.

TV's most captivating (so the commercials say) show returns.

After 6 seasons in LA, and one season in Washington, Jack finally makes his way to New York City. Will he face traffic? Crowded public transportation system? Will he go into Brooklyn?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aibZy...887&feature=iv

gekko · 01-18-2010, 01:43 AM

So I watched the first 2 seasons of 24 on DVD, and liked it. Watched last season just because I happened to see the premiere, and couldn't stop watching.

42 minutes into this season, and I want to go to sleep. Part of me hopes it gets better, the other part hopes it doesn't so I don't need to worry about missing an episode.

BreakABone · 01-18-2010, 02:29 PM

This was a slow burn I will grant you that, but I hope they are pacing themselves.

Some of the problems I have had with the lesser seasons is they throw everything to the wall so early that they have to keep introducing new plot points in order to keep the entire season going.

Let's see how the two hours tonight play out.

Thespis721 · 01-19-2010, 04:05 PM

Nothing this season makes sense.

Still think they should have ended it last season with Jack dying.

BreakABone · 01-19-2010, 04:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thespis721

Nothing this season makes sense.

Still think they should have ended it last season with Jack dying.

I think episodes 3 and 4 picked it up, and so far I like it. The problem 24 sometimes has is packing in too much in so little time, but they are slowly moving the story/action along.

With that said, you never know how magical time works on 24 until Jack is in your city. Jack was going across boroughs and city streets in insane time, and well Queens never looked so nice.

Thespis721 · 01-20-2010, 01:06 PM

That's all well and good but NOTHING MAKES SENSE! And I'm not talking about "Well why did they do that?" only to find out later "Oh! That's why!" but just the general lapses of logic that these characters have either in their own actions or the other characters being all right with the lapses of logic. And what's more the season highlights inconsistencies of previous seasons. I don't mean to be too literal about a show like 24, but being that it is a show that starts itself by saying "Events occur in real time", it demands it should be held under scrutiny. So here's a little rant:

The staple of the CTU director who doesn't listen to Jack is one thing, but the director isn't even not listening, but is just plain incompetent at his job. He makes poor decisions, mismanages his staff, advocates amoral practices in one regard but requires people being upfront in other regards. But it seems that 24 wouldn't be 24 without CTU having a poor human resources department. At least in the first season, the best season, while some of the characters may have been shady, they were damn good at their jobs. I mean, Jesus, you're understaffed and a veteran CTU agent, retired or not, walks into your office asking to follow up a lead that you have no manpower to do yourself and you disregard him?

And how many times did they have to tell the audience that Chloe can't keep up with the new ways? We got the first time. I don't need it repeated like I'm in a special ed class. Brevity is the soul of wit so STOP WASTING MY TIME! And how far in the future is this season that Chloe is so out of touch? Is this 20 years later and Jack and Chloe were trapped in ice in the Artic Ocean?

Then Jack is talking to Chloe, who just got off the phone with a TAXI DISPATCHER, and Jack, being the greatest CTU agent ever to exist asks Chloe if the TAX DISPATCHER knows what apartment bad cop Mikey went into. Why would a TAXI DISPATCHER know that? And why would Jack even ask that? That's like me asking the customer service line of American Airlines, how much a cup of coffee costs at the local coffee shop in San Jose.

And let's just take a second to think about CTU for a second. CTU, previously disbanded, now looks like something out of Star Trek, but Con Edison's bill is too expensive so they installed 1/4 the lighting a normal office would have. In the first season, CTU was an underfunded, low level, low budget government agency that was still getting its status. And you could tell by comparing it to the FBI office in season 7 which had the standard brightly lit flat office lighting. Now CTU is back and it would make sense for them to have low lights since they just started up and probably have little funding. But they aren't. Because every single thing in that place looks like it cost thousands to create including their iPhones and Palm Pres, which everyone owns. I didn't realize that Apple and Palm have the intense security for a government agency. I thought Blackberrys were the common smartphone for the government?

So what? Did they spend all their money on doors made of glass that open on their own and douchebag bluetooth headsets but the decided to only install one light over each desk? And is that light powered with a 30 watt bulb? I know Con Edison rapes us, but come on!

And this is a picky point that isn't this season specific, but it made the other seasons look inconsistent. Why is there a CTU based in NY all of a sudden? Wasn't it always in LA? I know what you're going to say. There are CTU offices everywhere. One in LA, one in DC, one in NY. Chase came from DC. Buchanan came from Seattle. But when Homeland Security had to shut down CTU, they went all the way to LA to do it. Why? If CTU is so widespread, wouldn't they just go to the DC office and shut it down? Wouldn't CTU DC be the biggest and most important office? Why would they travel to LA to slowly absorb it into Homeland if LA wasn't the ONLY major office? So wouldn't that mean that LA has the only main office and the rest are satilites? But this NY office doesn't seem like a satilite.

You know what that spells? LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAZY!

That's my biggest issue with this season so far. Now I haven't seen episodes 3 and 4 yet but these are just SOME of the issues I'm seeing already in the lazy, logicless writing that is going into the season. I'm not saying the season is bad yet, I don't have all the facts, and I'm still enjoying it so far, but if things continue like this, then it's going to be another Season 6 again.

Neo · 01-21-2010, 12:50 PM

They absorbed CTU LA because of all the problems they were having. It wasn't until later that they disbanded all the CTU's altogether.

gekko · 01-22-2010, 03:23 AM

I thought the show, from a standpoint of entertainment, was pretty lame for 3.5 of the 4 hour premiere. And here we are, complaining about lights?

Thespis721 · 01-22-2010, 11:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gekko

I thought the show, from a standpoint of entertainment, was pretty lame for 3.5 of the 4 hour premiere. And here we are, complaining about lights?

Yes I'm complaining about lights. But you're taking it too literally. I'm referring to the laziness of their attention to details, the logistical details of the show. I'm using these as examples of that laziness. The problem is that if this is the precedent that they show in terms of their connection, then the season is in for some serious trouble.

Ever since Season 1, the show has a serious lack of logic growing exponentially with every season. S1 wasn't perfect, but it was thought out, carefully constructed, and is the biggest reason why people love 24. This reached a height in season six when it seemed like NOTHING MADE SENSE and plots were mashed so much that they didn't make any sense. Then they tried to fix that with Season 7 and given the amount of time they had to plan, due to the strike, it was pretty successful. But now it feels they are falling back into Season six issues here in season 8.

If I were going to blame anyone, I'd blame the creative team. Biggest difference, from season 1 to season 2 and beyond. The director of S1 was no longer working with them and they replaced him with Jon Cassar... that jerk off.

BreakABone · 03-17-2010, 02:34 PM

So this show has been rather dry this season, not bad, which I think it sometimes hard to differentiate, but it just hasn't realy had that 24 spark.

Until this week's episode which seems to be finally kicking the show into high gear, and I hope it continues!

I mean sure the twists have been done before, but never in combination like that so curious how the rest of the season plays out.

Thespis721 · 03-17-2010, 02:54 PM

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Xantar · 03-22-2010, 01:04 PM

Let me know when the Zombie Plotline is over.

You know what I'm talking about. The lame storyline that. won't. die.

BreakABone · 04-06-2010, 03:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xantar

Let me know when the Zombie Plotline is over.

You know what I'm talking about. The lame storyline that. won't. die.

The zombie storyline is over.

But why oh why does 24 have to make me suffer?

The last few episodes including tonight have been some of the best middle-action stuff 24 has ever produced IMO.

I mean tonight's double whammy was nice.