TV Review: Two Hours of 24

Last night’s two-hour broadcast of the amazingly fresh series 24 left me numb but also agitated enough not to be able to sleep for a while. So I sat up and started thinking about this season (now at the halfway mark) and how it has been such a great ride, even if I was forced to sit through those few brutal final seconds when Edgar met his end.

The way things have been going thus far, I knew one of the canisters would actually go off and kill people. The terrorists got a few in the mall, but they really hit a homerun at CTU headquarters. The problem is that so much of this is identifiable from previous seasons (especially think the virus from Season 3), and it seems no one has learned anything more about stopping such things.

Another recurrent (and increasingly annoying) issue is the infiltration of CTU by malevolent persons. I mean it is getting more and more frustrating seeing how easily these people can get through CTU security, do some damage, and end up being whacked by Jack. It is almost implausible that a counter-terrorist unit would have such terrible security.

Then there is the security of CTU itself, manned by those guys in red shirts just like on the old Star Trek series. As a nod to that show, it seems the security guards are as dispensable as they were on the Starship Enterprise. (You know how Kirk would beam down with three security guards and they’d be promptly killed?) Perhaps this team should start wearing a less obvious uniform. Remember what the Americans did to the Redcoats?

Of course, Kim Bauer has returned and found a way to pucker her lips, tell Papa Jack that she’s not into a big reunion since she buried him, and get herself into a jam all in the matter of 60 minutes. The good news is that Jack is with her (had he been in the past, that mountain lion would have been dead, as would have been the survivalist dude and other menacing punks).

Now, it was pretty cool the way Curtis ran that canister out to the holding van and it erupted without harming anyone. That set up a false expectation that Jack could do the same thing, but he didn’t have the time. I thought Edgar might be a hero and throw his rotund body on top of the canister after he found Carrie dead, but Edgar was shrewd and started back to the control room.

The final moments were really the best of their kind on 24, and the deference shown to Edgar’s demise is commendable (after he died the final clock was seen but not heard, a kind of reverse on a tolling bell of sorts). As Edgar looked at Chloe, who was safe behind the sealed doors along with Jack, Kim, Audrey, Bill, and that weird guy with the beard (who was once a star of some magnitude but I can’t recall from what or when or where), there was that solemn puppy-dog kind of look that Edgar has perfected so well.

He says one word in the form of a question: “Chloe?” Then we get a shot of Chloe’s contorted face as she watches the puppy dog realize his fate. Edgar collapses and we get a slap upside the head: hey, anyone and I mean anyone can die in the world of 24.

So, as we wait impatiently for next week, we can only wonder how Jack will get them out of this one. Oh, and that Henderson (former Robocop) guy was looking more like a robot at the end there, almost as if he were still capable of doing some damage. Jack had better watch that one. By the way, Jack’s interrogation scene with Henderson and his wife Miriam was first-rate. Jack was going by the playbook (which Henderson wrote) and it wasn’t working, so Jack shot the wife. Pretty cool move, but Henderson didn’t give a damn.

Just an amazing two hours of the best drama and action on television. Twelve hours to go and counting and I can’t wait for every minute of it.