Spoilers. Day 7 continues at a brisk pace, the plot pushing onwards and developing nicely. After six seasons, it's true that practically everything is just tweaking old ideas now -- but it's still good fun, and the ensemble feel to this seventh series is working really well.Jack (Kiefer Sutherland) and Agent Walker (Annie Wersching) take the captured Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard) back to the FBI Field Office for interrogation, but Tony proves impossible to crack. Jack is still struggling to believe his friend is in cahoots with the terrorists, but during a particularly heated "discussion", Tony hisses a codeword that leads Jack to discover the truth: Tony is actually deep, deep undercover, trying to expose a conspiracy in the White House linked to the military coup in Sangala. Something the TVM 24: Redemption has arguably spoiled, because we know the traitor is Jon Voight's character. Anyway, Jack also learns that his former boss Bill Buchanan (James Morrison) and loyal Chloe O'Brian (Mary Lynn Rajscub) are the brains behind Tony's secret mission, working from a makeshift CTU.
Even though Jack knows the truth, he can't blow Tony's cover, so must help his friend escape from the Feds and ensure he's plausibily reinserted into his terrorist cell, led by former-SAS tough-guy Emerson (Peter Wingfield). The meat of hour 3 is therefore an extended break-out, with Jack forced to disable Renee and steal Tony away mid-interrogation, then navigate a way out of a building full of armed agents, guided by Chloe (who's hacked her way into the security cameras.) There's even time for a brief "battle of the geeks" sequence, as Chloe-clone Janis (Janeane Garofola) tries to counteract the system hack.
In the White House, President Taylor (Cherry Jones) faces an impossible decision after receiving Dubaku's (Hakeem Kae-Kazim) terrorist demand: withdraw US troops in Sangala and condemn thousands of innocent Africans to death at the hands of warlord Juma, or accept mass American deaths on homesoil now that Dubaku has control of America's infrastructure.
Meanwhile, First Gentlemen Henry Taylor (Colm Feore) is still trying to prove that his son was murdered -- but, despite the fact Chief of Staff Ethan Kanin (Bob Gunton) gives him a credible reason to accept his son was shamed into suicide, it appears Henry is onto something when his son's fiancé Samantha (Carly Pope) admits there was foul play. While definitely the weakest storyline right now, the links to the conspiracy/Sangala story (and its foreshadowing in 24: Redemption) is appreciated, and helps keep it engaging.
Indeed, none of Day 7's subplots are time-filling stinkers, which makes a change. Well, unless you're cynical enough to hate FBI tech Sean's (Rhys Coiro) attempts to contact his sister, who's aboard one of the flights stuck in a holding pattern because of the terrorist threat. But, come on, even that puts a human face on the air-traffic dilemma, and crosses Sean off the list of potential FBI moles -- so I can live with it.
By episode 4, Jack has agreed to go undercover with Tony, and they concoct a plausible story for Emerson to swallow: Jack will help the terrorists kidnap visiting Sangalese President Matobo (Isaach De Bankole), in exchange for safe passage out of the US to avoid his Senate hearing. Emerson takes some persuading, but eventually Jack is accepted onto the team as a valuable asset and the cell plot their kidnap.
Of course, with nobody aware of Jack's motives, it appears that he's aiding and abetting Tony Almeida and has defected to the enemy. Renee is upset that she trusted Jack and believed his lies, and the President is likewise frustrated that Jack has helped Almeida escape. Suspension of disbelief is definitely required here, to be honest -- considering the number of times Jack has (literally) saved the world, and gone "rogue" for honourable reasons, hasn't he earned a little faith? Still, it all means there's added excitement in seeing Jack, Tony, Chloe and Bill try to achieve their aim with the entire US government on their tails.
Season 7 also continues to approach its torture sequences with a bit more thought. Agent Moss (Jeffrey Nordling) refuses to turn a blind eye to Jack's violence when he interrogates Tony, and Renee finds herself in two-minds about torturing a hospitalized terrorist who could provide vital intel. Of course, this being 24, wanna-Bauer Renee goes through with bending the patient's oxygen pipe and achieves a positive outcome. Maybe it's time 24 has a scene where someone is tortured and gives misinformation just to make the pain stop (which is a more typical outcome in reality), or actually dies when things are taken too far and the torturer's career is ruined?
Overall, these episodes were of similar strength to the first two hours -- but perhaps not as tight. I'm enjoying getting to know the new characters (particularly Renee), but I'm less enthused about the return of sour-puss Chloe. 24 has always known how to push audience buttons -- making us grit our teeth and grip our sofa arms at regular intervals -- and that still holds true. Inevitably though, Day 7 is lacking the compelling freshness of earlier years, and there's nothing here that hasn't been done before (a conspiracy in the White House? Season 5. Jack undercover as a terrorist? Season 3.) But, it's rarely boring, and the mix of plots and characters have more direction and purpose than is customary by episode 4. A good, solid start.
19 January 2009
Sky1 9pm
Writers: Manny Coto & Brannon Braga (7.3) / David Fury & Alex Gansa (7.4)
Director: Brad Turner
Cast: Kiefer Sutherland (Jack), Carlos Bernard (Tony), Janeane Garofalo (Janis), Mary Lynn Rajskub (Chloe O'Brian), Cherry Jones (President Taylor), James Morrison (Bill Buchanan), Annie Wersching (Agent Walker), Colm Feore (Henry Taylor), Bob Gunton (Ethan Kanin), Jeffrey Nordling (Agent Moss), Rhys Coiro (Sean Hillinger), Carly Pope (Samantha Roth), Peter Wingfield (Emerson), Frank John Hughes (Tim Woods), Mark Derwin (Joe Stevens), Warren Kole (Agent Brian Gedge), Mark Aiken (Nichols), Hakeem Kae-Kazim (Dubaku), Tonya Pinkins (Alma Matobo), Marina Black (Christina Hillinger), Ian Paul Cassidy (Morgan), Steve Cell (Litvack), Dameon Clarke (Alan Tanner), Adetokumboh M'Cormack (Zeze Eto'o), Billoah Greene (FBI Guard), Carly Pope (Samantha Roth), Isaach De Bankole (Ule Matobo) & Ever Carradine (Erica)
