Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Trainwreck of the week
Time for the first installment in my
But for now, the trainwreck is the ludicrous plot and story of this season of '24.' Oh, how far you have fallen, you pandering television drama.
24 was never realistic; it was never revolutionary. I never pretended otherwise. But it was fun to follow, and most episodes had you perched on the front of your chair at some point (tangent: the word "perch" always makes me think of a bird, which makes me think of "The Raven", which makes me think about Edgar Allen Poe, which makes me think about alcoholism, nevermore).
While I have followed this season rather intently, it's mostly because it's just a weekly habit. Last night's episode continued the plunge of the show into babbling, incoherent madness. We saw Jack take former president Charles Logan to the Russian consul's compound in Los Angeles because Logan thought the consul could help him find a Russian terrorist who had nuclear weapons. After Logan talked to this particularly intense Russian, he told Jack that the Russian was definitely lying. So Jack then took it upon himself to go back into the compound, in violation of every international law, and torture the consul until he got the information about the Russian terrorist who was working with the Arab terrorist, all of which is somehow coordinated by Jack's own father. In the process, Jack cut off one of the consul's fingers.
Meanwhile, the president of the United States lies in a hospital after nearly being killed by a bomb.
Got it?
Yeah, me neither.
Last season was a nice, simple plot. There was nerve gas in the hands of terrorists. They wanted to let the nerve gas out in public, and Jack was trying to stop them. The twist was that there was a government conspiracy and the president was involved. Beyond that, you just got to watch Jack run around a lot and yell. The show made you interested in Edgar, the Logans and Christopher Henderson. Hell, even Rudy/Samwise was interesting for the time he was on the show. Now we're just left with Jack and Chloe. Everyone else is bland and worthless (though I am glad to see Logan back this season).
This season, Jack does some of that characteristic running and yelling, but we also don't know who he's going after. Is it the Arabs? The Russians? His dad? The moles within the U.S. government? Where is Audrey? Why did they have to kill Curtis? Where did Jack get that suit he was wearing last night? I mean, you can't just find a well-fitting suit anywhere. Since when does Jack speak convincing enough Russian to fool one of the compound's guards? Why was I glad that Palmer was hit by a bomb? Are we officially past watching Palmer's sister have to do anything? Where is Jack's daughter?
When a show kills off pretty much every interesting character for pure shock value, it better be left with a compelling story and plot. There's still time for 24 to regain one in the last 12 hours of the show, but as Jack would say, damn it, Chloe, time is running out!
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Preach on, sister.
I also watch it out of habit. When I discovered the DVR had not taped it this week by accident, with two other shows already on schedule to tape in that timeframe, I almost didn't care. I read the detailed synopsis online and only downloaded it to watch while on the exercise bike. It was a boring exercise session.
It would get my attention back if they killed Edgar.
It's true. They should find a way to have Edgar come back, only to kill him again.
I think this one should be less dramatic though. Maybe some sort of nacho-related incident.