US TV
24
"Day 6: 5pm – 9pm"
With Wayne Palmer out of action, Vice President Daniels (Powers Booth) assumes power. Daniels is so right wing he makes George Bush look like a Democrat, and with a nuclear arsenal at his disposal he can’t wait to push the button. You have to wonder how Wayne got elected with the reincarnation of Adolf Hitler on the same ticket. Booth has clearly been allowed to be as over the top as he wants and he’s having a ball; what actor wouldn’t, given a psychotic world leader to play? Luckily Wayne comes out of his coma in the nick of time.
Having shown a little backbone, Lennox has suddenly turned into an invertebrate again. Or is he just hoping to keep loopy Daniels in check? Time will tell, but Peter MacNicol certainly excels at playing a sniveling toady.
Jack gets in a spot of bother in the Russian embassy but thankfully Ricky Schroder is on hand to rescue him. Having now reached the age at which he no longer worries about Ricky making him sound like a kid (he’s been going by Rick prior to 24), Schroder makes a favourable impression on this viewer almost instantly by getting Morris in a chokehold. He lets him go but at least his heart's in the right place. In fact, Ricky’s character, Mike Doyle, seems like a younger, better looking Jack Bauer. More than willing to get a little rough while performing an interrogation, he’s also not afraid to do the right thing, plus he’ll even bend the rules a little (though admittedly not to Bauer levels).
The answer to what happened to Audrey finally arrives (we all knew something was coming, right?) and it turns out she’s dead. Jack suspects foul play by the Chinese and no doubt in the time he has to spare from foiling the nuclear threat he’ll get to the bottom of it.
Let’s not forget Charles Logan! I mean who saw that coming? Just about everyone except the people in the room with Logan and his wacky knife wielding ex-wife.
Kiefer, obviously a tad bored with Jack Bauer, decides he wants the Tom Cruise role in Rainman 2: Nuclear Terror as he gets all touchy-feely with an autistic man. Hopefully he'll be back to being a real hard bastard next week.
Battlestar Galactica
“Maelstrom”
Starbuck starts seeing nonexistent Cylon raiders, on top of the weird visions about the strange pattern she painted in her home on Caprica. This is very much a Kara Thrace episode and Katee Sackhoff rises to the challenge, giving real depth to the tortured, self-loathing Viper pilot. It may be a little clichéd making her an abused child but it’s so well executed and downright moving that it’s easy to forgive. The shocking ending was clearly never going to be the end of Kara and it wasn’t much of a surprise when she returned for the season finale.
Article comments
1 - Margaret
You're allowed your opinion of Blood Ties but as a fan I feel you're wrong. It's supposed to have somewhat of a dark look. It is well written, well acted, humorous, camp, just exactly what a vamp show needs to be. Thank God not everyone believes critics or if they do, they occassionally watch the show to see if you know what you're talking about. Either way its good as you draw attention to the show. You just happen to have the wrong opinion about the show though, its great.