24



I am really behind the times, but last night I finished watching season one of the hit TV show "24".

All I can say is "wow!" This show is a pure adrenaline rush, from start to finish. More twists than Lombard Street. And so addictive that one of my friends calls it "the crack cocaine of TV shows."

The premise is that the season, consisting of 24 episodes, shows 24 consecutive hours of a single day in real time. So there are no flashbacks. The action moves around among about 5 different character groups and transitions are often done by showing several of the situations in small windows on the screen and then cutting to one of them.

The situation is that a director cum field operator of the "Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU)" in Los Angeles, Jack Bauer, is targeted by a group of terrorists who want to assassinate a presidential candidate and pin the blame on Jack. In order to gain control of Jack, they kidnap his daughter and then his wife and hold them hostage. It becomes clear early on that someone in Jack's own organization is working on behalf of the terrorists, so Jack doesn't know whom he can trust.

The show is exquisitely plotted. The writing is taut and the acting is believable and gripping. The situation, while perhaps a bit contrived in some respects, is largely amenable to suspension of disbelief.

Not that it's perfect. Some of the twists are just a bit too overdone, like the main character who develops amnesia, and another main character who survives an accident in which she is in a car that rolls off an embankment and explodes. She is apparently thrown clear and has nothing more than a bump on her head. No concussion, broken bones, or even singe marks.

The show has become famous for killing off main characters. This seems to be a new trend, because "Lost" is doing it too, and perhaps other shows as well. Viewers do not have any assurance that any of the main characters (with the possible exception of Jack Bauer himself) will survive. This appears to add to the drama, of course. I had the misfortune of reading a spoiler one of the main characters who would die in the first season (I won't give it away here; if you really want to know, it's probably not hard to find out online somewhere).

The other thing to mention is that this is a violent show. The body count is high; I think at least someone is killed about every episode, and sometimes more than one. If you do not like graphic violence, this show will not be your cup of tea. The show is high drama, and the mysteries are both impenetrable and well thought out. It's an intriguing show. But gun battles and car wrecks and murders are the lingua franca of the show. Consider yourself warned.

I've got season 2 of 24 queued up on my Netflix account, right after season 1 of Alias, another show that I've had recommended.

Posted: Sat - April 22, 2006 at 12:40 PM        

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