24 is back and we were glued to the tube last night for the opening episode. The no-commercials (they were all attached to the beginning and the end) ploy worked well, moving the action along - it was tough to decide when to pee. In case you have been in a cave, the conceit of 24 is that all the action takes place in real time over a twenty-four hour period. Here is the episode guide to last year's series. The character guide for this year's cast is here.
The plot gist for this year is simple: it's 18 months later, Jack has been in a serious funk over the death of his wife (and his misreading of the mole-bitch Nina no doubt), his daughter is somewhat estranged, he has a bad beard, he is retired from spying. But then word comes in to President Palmer that Islamoterrorists have a nuke and are going to use it on LA - today. Jack has history with one of the terrorists, Palmer trusts Jack, Jack is (reluctantly) called in.
Jack is tough, Jack doesn't mess around: the first thing Jack does is shoot in cold blood a smug, child pornographing, murdering a federal witness who is the only link to the terrorists. This is both terrifying and hilarious: ordinary rules of comportment - like not shooting handcuffed prisoners in the interrogation room - don't apply to Jack (episode guide here).
Here is what my wife Dawn had to say about the episode:
- The first episode was tonight - and as expected, I was compelled to scream at the TV at least once.
I love this show. It is the only thing we watch regularly and I think the writers are great.
L.A. is about to get nuked by.....that's right you guessed it: Islamodickweeds.
Jack is back. Kim is in peril. Some COCKSUCKER beats his wife, Kim and his kid - oooh I can't wait until Jack gets a hold of his ass.
Looks like another great season.
I predict that the wife/Kim/kid beater is some low level schmuck in this terrorist organization and is on some type of serious drugs using his low level terrorist activity to pay for his drug habit.
Just a guess.
Article comments
1 - Sean Hackbarth
I found a plot hole. The sister of the bride (don't recall her name) is suppose to be working for CTU (never mentioned), yet she hired a private detective to so a background check on her future brother-in-law. Has she no pull in CTU? Last season, Jack got phone numbers and addresses for anyone when his daughter was missing.
2 - Eric Olsen
Sean, I read the character description of the sister and see where you got the CTU connection since it is written vaguely. But I believe what it is saying is that CTU is investigating HER background, meaning they haven't had time to come up with a character description for the website.
3 - Bill Sherman
My sense is that they're keeping coy on Kate's background info: we don't know much about the family business, for instance, and this may be a plot point several episodes down the road. (What business would interest a possible terrorist? Shipping, perhaps?)
4 - jme whyte
eric olsen.... you're a frikkin moron and no wonder the world hates you yanks..... islamdickweeds? you idiot.... words can't express... and it enrages me my country backed your war of terror.... not only is bush a joke but it's precisely people like you that understand nothing about europe, africa, south america, asia or anywhere..... idiot....
5 - Al Barger
yeah, frikken olsen... how dare you call these islamoc0cksuckers "dickweeds" just because they've killed thousands of our people...great offense to religion of peace...shouldn't have to face criticism...sputtering...dickless illiterate european...morally superior...smarter than stupid american, as you can tell by...sentence structure, punctuation...message too important for grammar...disjointed hysterical ranting that can't form sentences very convincing...to any intelligent...person...
shooting fish in barrel to mock monsieur whyte?... not sportin? ...yeah, but can't...help myself... he begging it for to have in him... it broken off
6 - Eric Olsen
Mr. (or Ms?) Whyte, afraid I have to go with Al 100% on this one - can't call terrorists "dickweeds"? Thank God your country didn't listen to your mindless appeasing dead ass - your "rage" is a good sign your country did the right thing. By the way, all terrorists are asshole fuckwads, whether Islamic or otherwise, the point wasn't their religion but their status as terrorists, dumbshit.