After going into hiding at the end of Season 4, venerable hero and general tough guy Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) quickly gets sucked back into his old, action-packed lifestyle early into season 5 of 24. The series starts with a bang: the assassination of former president David Palmer, a particularly shocking opening scene for long-running fans of the show. All the evidence points to Jack as the killer, but it’s obvious that he’s innocent. At its best, the nail-biting tension and action sequences are still prominent during much of the season. However, much of season 5 is less dramatic than the previous days of 24. In the second half of the series, Jack is forced to roam around the country in a defiant bid to rescue a chip from the government. Unlike a similar plot in season 2, Jack is unable to fight many of his adversaries: the government agents are mostly innocent and hurting them would likely be deemed unacceptable by the show's sponsors and American audiences. The show tries to slide tension back into the show by adding more and more terrorist plots that kill more and more innocent civilians, but the producers forget that the audience has no attachment to these characters, drowns everything with an air of pastiche. The violence is close to being comical, yet the show is still demanding to be taken seriously.
At first it might seem like 24, with its serial plot, was a show perfectly suited to DVD. However, the show's weaknesses shine through when you watch them without a week long break in between each episode. It's the building of this tension that provides 24 with most of its dramatic impact, and by robbing this the DVD boxset of season 5 just reminds you that the show wasn't as good as it used to be.
Martin Gaston
1 comment:
Less dramatic?? I think people can't be arsed to invest some time into character development and are just looking for cheap thrills and explosions.
The plot line for Season 5 was fantastic - Palmer dying (not to mention a few others...), the whole preidential conspiracy, Chloe finally getting some - and not to forget Sean Astin.
Sure there will be some cross-overs in terms of plot (bio weapons and terrorism being the main consistent threads) but it all relates and reflects back to the issues prevalent in our own lives.
Will the format get old? maybe, but we are a couple of seasons away from that point.I can't wait for Season 6 - it's gonna be awesome and if you've seen the trailer online, Wanye Palmer plays a huge role! Not bad for an ex-buffy star. For me (and my family - we all watch it together)it just keeps getting better and better. Lets hope there is many more to come.
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