Popdose: Sugar Water: “24″ and the Art of Viewer Torture
BobCashill
· 5 months ago
24 is a more of a force-of-habit show for me now. There was nowhere for it to go with it after the spectacular Season Five; it had reached perfection, with Itzin, Jean Smart, and Peter Weller, too, along for the ride. Six was a letdown, and Seven a climb back up the mountain that petered out somewhere mid-season, despite the best efforts of Jones and Jon Voight. What's mildly intriguing is that Eight should be more of a direct sequel, rather than a typical two-years-later scenario.
I don't think anyone would care if Cuthbert bought it. Or, sadly, Tony, who was obliged to act far beyond his pay grade this season. He's as sullen as a stone-bored porn star now. The brightest spot is Renee; if Audrey (shudder) comes back, I hope Walker ices her.
rwcass
· 5 months ago
Like you, I find myself watching mostly out of loyalty now, with one eye on another activity while I'm watching, which is why I missed the moment when Bill Buchanan died. But by that point season seven had already jerked us around with all the Sangala nonsense, especially the subpar villain Iké Dubaku, who a friend said sounded like Darth Vader with an accent. Didn't care about him, didn't care about his waitress girlfriend, didn't care about her sister. Didn't care about the mole at the FBI or his secret affair, either. The writers were going through the motions, and apparently the last six or so episodes were rewritten, supposedly to make Tony a bad boy once again -- I'll give them credit for the scene where he killed Larry Moss, because I didn't see that coming.
Season five was great, but like I said, it did a lot of damage. I think season four was the high point, with season five close behind and season one still a sentimental favorite because all of "24's" tricks were new at that point, even though it seems unfathomable now that Jack Bauer would've ever had blond highlights (I wonder if Teri had something to do with that).
I don't see how season eight can be a direct sequel since Jack's going to have to get up to New York City somehow, and it's been reported that CTU will be operational again, with Freddie Prinze Jr. playing a new CTU agent. Oh boy. But a friend of mine thinks season eight might start with Jack waking up from his coma, so I'll be happy to be proven wrong.
Carlos Bernard is from the Richard Gere school of acting: never speak above a sexy whisper if you don't have to. I was a little sad when Peter Weller was killed at the end of season five, because he was a welcome, creepy-as-hell presence. Then again, "24" doesn't do a great job when it brings back characters, e.g. Charles and Martha Logan's return in season six, which ended with Charles supposedly dead, but we never found out.
BobCashill
· 5 months ago
Moss was probably the last season's most successful element. Those characters are typically set up as straw men who are revealed to be completely hidebound and ineffectual, but he was smart and kept his dignity. And then he was offed. Life's a bitch on 24..
The one thing the show needs is a Sherry Palmer-type character to stir the pot between chases. (Who else from The Larry Sanders Show will it pinch for guest stars?) Olivia just wasn't it.
rwcass
· 5 months ago
I vote for Jeffrey Tambor next season. Sherry was great -- for two seasons. Season three had a strong second half, but that whole first half involving the Salazar brothers and Nina (again) and Tony getting shot in the neck at point-blank range but reporting back to work three hours later was silly.
Sprague Grayden (now, there's a name) was bad as Olivia; it was as if Reese Witherspoon had dyed her hair and lost her talent in the process. Not quite as bad as D.B. Woodside playing Wayne Palmer -- thank God he's gone, but I fear they'll bring him back next season -- but she had way too much to do this season.
Larry Moss did end up being a good character, and Jeffrey Nordling did a good job with the role once he got all the temple-rubbing out of his system. But has Jack ever seen his torture methods backfire? The New Yorker article brought that up, but I still don't think "24" has done that. The information he gets out of suspects is always a real lead, not just false information that will make him stop hurting them. The writers tried to solve story problems without torture near the end of season six because of all the pressure from anti-torture advocates, but I remember their attempts being hokey, like when Fayed (another subpar villain) shot Jack but it turned out CTU had set up the whole thing to make Fayed think he was getting away while they secretly tracked him.
All Comments
I don't think anyone would care if Cuthbert bought it. Or, sadly, Tony, who was obliged to act far beyond his pay grade this season. He's as sullen as a stone-bored porn star now. The brightest spot is Renee; if Audrey (shudder) comes back, I hope Walker ices her.
Season five was great, but like I said, it did a lot of damage. I think season four was the high point, with season five close behind and season one still a sentimental favorite because all of "24's" tricks were new at that point, even though it seems unfathomable now that Jack Bauer would've ever had blond highlights (I wonder if Teri had something to do with that).
I don't see how season eight can be a direct sequel since Jack's going to have to get up to New York City somehow, and it's been reported that CTU will be operational again, with Freddie Prinze Jr. playing a new CTU agent. Oh boy. But a friend of mine thinks season eight might start with Jack waking up from his coma, so I'll be happy to be proven wrong.
Carlos Bernard is from the Richard Gere school of acting: never speak above a sexy whisper if you don't have to. I was a little sad when Peter Weller was killed at the end of season five, because he was a welcome, creepy-as-hell presence. Then again, "24" doesn't do a great job when it brings back characters, e.g. Charles and Martha Logan's return in season six, which ended with Charles supposedly dead, but we never found out.
The one thing the show needs is a Sherry Palmer-type character to stir the pot between chases. (Who else from The Larry Sanders Show will it pinch for guest stars?) Olivia just wasn't it.
Sprague Grayden (now, there's a name) was bad as Olivia; it was as if Reese Witherspoon had dyed her hair and lost her talent in the process. Not quite as bad as D.B. Woodside playing Wayne Palmer -- thank God he's gone, but I fear they'll bring him back next season -- but she had way too much to do this season.
Larry Moss did end up being a good character, and Jeffrey Nordling did a good job with the role once he got all the temple-rubbing out of his system. But has Jack ever seen his torture methods backfire? The New Yorker article brought that up, but I still don't think "24" has done that. The information he gets out of suspects is always a real lead, not just false information that will make him stop hurting them. The writers tried to solve story problems without torture near the end of season six because of all the pressure from anti-torture advocates, but I remember their attempts being hokey, like when Fayed (another subpar villain) shot Jack but it turned out CTU had set up the whole thing to make Fayed think he was getting away while they secretly tracked him.