Why 24 Is Awesome
I saw a great t-shirt the other day that said: If Jack Had His Way, The Show Would Be Called 12.
24 premiered its eighth season with 4 episodes over two nights, and it did not disappoint. I promise I will not give away too many spoilers, as I’m sure there are some people waiting to watch the whole season straight through on a rainy Saturday when it comes out on DVD.
While the tired formula might have caused some viewers to give up on the writers, I must say, each season they get the most out of that formula, and for good reason. There will always be the “traitor right in front of our eyes” and the “there’s another bad guy above this one pulling the strings” and “Holy Crap! He just cut off that guy’s hand!!!” and “OMG I can’t believe they killed off that main character!!!!” But for some reason, to me at least, it never gets old.
I know a lot of people who have seen a few episodes or seasons and brush the show off as unrealistic and ridiculous. These things couldn’t possibly happen. They’re not allowed to torture people! A nuke went off in LA?? Jack kills 4 people with nothing but a ball-point pen??? Come on.
But I will argue that the reason 24 is such an awesome, successful show, is BECAUSE it’s unrealistic and ridiculous. Of course Jack can’t drive 20 miles in a 3 minute commercial break. Of course he can’t take a torture session that kills him, only to be revived with shock paddles, only to wake up and kill his captors and stop the bio-weapon from going off an hour later. In the 3rd episode this season, he takes a 15 minute beating while tied up in a chair before escaping. 10 minutes later, there is no sign at all that he was just spitting up blood.
Like with Avatar, you have to put aside certain expectations. The “events occur in real time” is a gimmick. It sets the pace. It makes everything rush rush rush we gotta hurry to solve the problem. It creates structure. And I do a shot every time I hear a bad guy say, “It will go down before the hour is out.”
So when you watch 24, put it all in the back of your mind. Enjoy Jack slamming a fire axe into a guy’s chest and throwing the other guy with a machine gun down a flight of stairs. Don’t think too much when Chloe has a cover story for two people going undercover in 20 minutes prep time. And certainly don’t watch two episodes back to back and hope that the time between the clock striking zero at the end of last episode will line up with the events that happen at the beginning of the new episode.
Just enjoy it.
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One Comment
I agree, Josh. Keeps me on the edge of my seat and biting my fingernails the whole time. We do find those little inconsistencies, too, and laugh at them.
My only qualm is halfway through the season, I can’t remember what time the season started, so I don’t know how much longer we have. The very first one started at midnight “on the day of the presidential election” which was easy to remember, and the fact that there was an important event that day made for more drama. Now just reiterating at the beginning that the following events take place between this time and the next hour, just somehow is not thrilling enough.
Regardless, Jack is my hero.