24: Season 6
It becomes evident to this viewer as the 6th season begins that America in the 24 world is a vastly different place than what we’re used to in real life: America is under a now constant siege by terrorists, and one in particular has offered to give up the location of his leader if Jack Bauer is handed over to him to be tortured and killed. Bauer finds himself released from the Chinese prison and forked over, only to discover that the terrorist he’s been handed to is the real leader, and off we go on what is certainly the most depressing season the show has ever had, with the first four hours featuring a teenage Arab boy as a conspirator (the laughably miscast Kal Penn) all leading up to the death of a major character and the actual detonation of a nuclear bomb that kills tens of thousands. For the show to take this step resulted in some major controversy and criticism, and really seemed a step in the wrong direction given that they take the Sum Of All Fears route and maintain that we will persevere in the face of such annihilation, even though this viewer believes that even one nuke detonated in aggression will be the beginning of the end as we know it. Regardless, the show shoulders on, and as far as the regulars are concerned, they’re still solid: Kiefer will always be the only man to play Bauer as far as I’m concerned, so inside this character’s skin that we feel there is no one else there; Mary Lynn Rajskub’s Chloe spends the whole season sitting in the CTU office helping where she can, and seems mostly out of the orbit until her big revelation in the final episode; James Morrison’s Bill Buchanan continues to be a pimp big daddy, putting his career and life on the line to help Jack; and DB Woodside fumbles about as the now-President Wayne Palmer (obviously using his dead brother’s name to get votes) whose liberal appeasement tactics soon get him taken out of the big picture but at least showing some balls on the way down. Some of the problem lies with the newcomers: Eric Balfour’s Milo and Carlo Rota’s Morris come across often as whiney and wussy, but Marisol Nichols’s Nadia brings some beauty and tempered sex appeal to the proceedings. As for the villains, Adoni Maropis brings little of the presence that the past season’s baddies like Julian Sands, Arnold Vosloo, and Paul Blackthorne did, though his big showdown with Bauer in episode 17 is epic, but ultimately the BigBad in this season is Jack’s own father, Phillip. As played by James Cromwell, he’s certainly one of the most ruthless villains (willing to kill his own son and grandson to cover his ass). While certainly casting Donald Sutherland in the part would have been killer, Cromwell still does a very nice job here, never letting you know what’s going through his mind while playing multiple sides against each other. Among the other great guest stars we also get Powers Boothe (pimping it up as well as the Vice President), Peter MacNichol as the Chief Of Staff (and having great acting showdowns with Boothe), Paul McCrane as Jack’s duplicitous brother, Chad Lowe as an emotionless assassin, and Ricky Schroder really surprising me as a fellow CTU agent who seems to be an asshole but develops into an interesting figure as time goes on, plus we get the brief reappearances of Charles and Martha Logan (Gregory Itzin and Jean Smart) along with Glenn Morshower’s Aaron Pierce. So, while certainly the casting department seemed loaded for bear, the show nonetheless suffers from having a few too many repetitive elements from previous seasons, like another trial for the President’s competency (like in Season 2), or Jack storming another foreign embassy to get answers (like in Season 4). And while the hour-to-hour nitty-gritty can be a great thing, things run out of steam a bit at about the ¾ mark, making the last 5 to 6 hours a bit of a slog to get through. Regardless, a necessary view for fans of the show, and still the greatest TV series of all time…
7/10