Friday 24 March 2006

Friday 24 March 2006

24 - S05-E14

Wow! This has been a tremendous season from 24!

Last year they managed to keep the momentum up throughout the entire 24-episode run, but at the expensive of plausibility. Seasonal pace was a common concern with 24. Season 1 hit a major wobble when Jack's family were rescued mid-season (as the show was only allocated 13 episodes originally) before hitting on the whole Drazen plot, season 2 exploded a nuke mid-season but took awhile to build its WWIII threat afterwards, while season 3 had the interminable Mexican bartering mid-season before things got back on-track in L.A with the virus.

However, in season 5 this year, events have been more realistic and evenly spread throughout the season. Things build into each other much more fluidly, without the breathless "stop/start" feel of season 4.

It has helped that the first two episodes were shown together in the US, the mid-season episodes (11 and 12) were a double-bill, and a 2-hour finale is planned. This has meant the season has simply flown by at breakneck speed - it's episode 14 already?! Of course, in the US, the show starts it run in January and doesn't have unwanted breaks to break the flow - a common curse in US TV that has badly affected Lost's second season.

Anyway, episode 14 itself was one of those "realignment" episodes, where new plots and characters are properly introduced into the mix. As such, the episode wasn't particularly great itself, but did a wonderful job of sending us off into another direction.

Mind you, as with most 24 episodes, it had a beautiful cliffhanger. Those stuck a few weeks behind on Sky One are in for a treat..