24 Recaps: “6:00-7:00 A.M.” & “7:00-8:00 A.M.”

First episode of 24 of the new season and I’m not being a very good 24 newbie.  I missed last night’s 2-hour premiere.  I have a good excuse.  See there was this football game (GOOOOO Pats!!), and there was this bar, so…But don’t you worry, I will be watching. With the Golden Globes tonight, it might take a day or two, but I was lying, I’m on board for Season 6.

Now on to LaLa’s recap.  Remember to show your love.  Comments are currency people.
Title: 6:00 – 7:00am, 7:00 – 8:00am
Original Airdate: 1/14/07

Beep… Beep… Beep… beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep

24!!!!

Yes, it’s finally back (Whoo-Hoo!), and in top form as usual.  But I have to say: this is not the same kick-butt-and-take-names, pulse-racing 24 that I’m used to.  This is, believe it or not, a much more subdued and morally thought-provoking 24 than ever before.  A lot of things have changed for the characters and the world they inhabit – and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.  In the past, the show was all about the “big terrorist threat of the day” gradually revealing itself and the crazy ways in which Jack Bauer kicked major bad-guy butt in order to find out who the ringleader terrorist was and then take them down.  This time, however, the formula is much different.  This time, many major terrorist attacks have ALREADY happened all over the United States – in the past 11 weeks over 900 U.S. citizens have been killed by these attacks – and this time, the government is helpless and practically powerless to stop them.

As a result, the mood of the world in the show is much more grim, and full of angst.  The people in the country are much more paranoid and unhinged, immediately suspecting anyone who looks at all Muslim or Middle-Eastern of being a potential terrorist – as with the poor Middle-Eastern looking man who was denied entry onto the city bus.  Of course, this man should thank his lucky stars that he was a victim of racist paranoia in this instance, because that bus was carrying a real suicide bomber (who was Asian, not Middle-Eastern), who promptly detonated his bomb and blew the bus and surrounding area to smithereens.  [The 24 moral here: Not all terrorists are Middle-Eastern]

Of course, if Jack Bauer had been there, you can be sure that all of these terrorist attacks would have been mostly prevented, and that the main bad guy would have been eliminated within 24 hours of Jack taking the job.  But that is neither here nor there, because Jack has been trapped in a Chinese Prison for the past two years, apparently getting whipped, burned, mutilated, and otherwise tortured every day.  Clearly, the experience has changed Jack.  When the Chinese return Jack to Bill and Curtis (after the new president paid a “heavy price” to get Jack back), the Chinese Diplomat informs them that Jack never gave up top secret information – in fact, he hasn’t spoken at all in the past two years – and that they were unable to “break” him.  But considering Jack’s serious reluctance to torture a key witness later on, it certainly seems that the Chinese did, in fact, break Jack, and that the man has gone soft.  “I don’t know how to do this anymore,” Jack tells Assad, who had managed to torture and get the key info from the witness after Jack refused to torture the man because he himself had just been tortured in the same way only an hour ago.  “You’ll remember,” Hamri Al-Assad firmly tells Jack.  Boy, let’s hope so!  Because while I appreciate the thought-provoking depth and story development displayed by having Jack be so conscious stricken and sick to his stomach about hurting people, even though they’re bad guys, I hope it doesn’t last too long.  Because, come now, Jack Bauer just isn’t Jack Bauer unless he’s yelling at people and kicking terrorist butt.

One thing, though, that thankfully hasn’t changed about Jack is his unrelenting drive to protect the citizens of the United States and defeat terrorists, no matter what the cost to himself.  As Jack explains to Bill, the only reason he fought to stay alive in the Chinese Prison is because if he had died there, then he would have died for nothing.  If Jack is going to die, then he will only allow himself to die for something – like saving the U.S. and stopping terrorists somehow by allowing himself to be killed by Abu Fayed, an old enemy with crucial info.  And that is why when Fayed revealed himself to be the true main baddie to Jack, telling of his dastardly plan to frame Assad and continue attacking the U.S. unabated, and that Jack would thus be dying for nothing, it was just the kick in the pants Jack needed to wake up out of his sad, submissive state and start kicking butt – starting by killing his inept guard by chomping into the man’s neck.  YUCK.  But hey, I really mean it when I say that Jack Bauer will do ANYTHING to get the job done.

Another thing that hasn’t changed about the show is the fact that people STILL don’t trust Jack!  I mean seriously, people like Bill, Karen, and Mr-suddenly-president-obviously-from-a-sympathy-vote-because-of-the-assasination-of-his-beloved-brother, Wayne Palmer, who know Jack and have worked with him/been saved by him before, should really know by now that they must always trust Jack implicitly.  Jack is always right because, unlike you people, Jack has the ability to think outside the box and is very effective at finding out the truth.  Yes, the man has been horribly tortured for two years, but c’mon, he was still totally lucid and rational – why would he suddenly make up false evidence?  I’m very disappointed in you three, especially Wayne, who is clearly too easily influenced by his advisors, particularly suspicious Chief of Staff Tom (played by Peter MacNicol).  But at least later on Bill was smart enough to keep Chloe’s satellite picture of Jack rescuing Assad a secret, and thus jump on the Jack Train even before he had the hard evidence CTU later obtained that Fayed was indeed the real bad guy.

And speaking of Chloe, girlfriend is looking hot and stylish!  No more green floral cardigans for her.  With her sassy new hairdo and her chic black business suit with heels, our girl Chloe has never looked so, well, grown up!  Not only that, but her ex-husband Morris is back working at CTU, and he is clearly very in love with her – going out of his way several times to try to comfort her, and/or make her happy.  But does she love him back?  Are they dating again?  And why exactly did they get divorced in the first place?  These questions have yet to be answered clearly, but one thing is for sure: of all the people in her world, Chloe definitely cares for Jack the most.  I’ve always suspected that she was secretly in love with him, but her utter devastation and heart-broken weeping over Jack’s seemingly-certain death made my suspicions even stronger.  But I’m glad that even though Chloe is dressing more adult, she still hasn’t lost her sassy, belligerent, authority-challenging edge (which is why she’s such a perfect partner for Jack), like when she essentially blackmailed her new boss Nadia into giving her the truth about Jack.  S-Nap!  You go, girl.  Can’t wait for you and Jack to team up again.

In other subplot news, Wayne Palmer’s sister Sandra (played by the always strong Regina King), who works as a legal counselor for the Islamic-American Alliance in Washington D.C., causes major trouble when she refuses to hand over the personal files of the Alliance’s staff to the FBI without a warrant.  But when the FBI later returns with said warrant, she destroys all the files before they can take them, and is thus arrested.  She argues that the FBI has no right invade these people’s privacy, citing the Constitution, but the FBI argues that during this time of war and constant attacks, these civil liberties must be suspended in order to protect U.S. citizens and stop the violence.  I applaud the 24 people for showing both sides of this issue, and (at least for now), seemingly leaving the situation ambiguous enough so that the audience can decide the answer for themselves.

But perhaps the night’s most morally thought-provoking story came in the form of teenager Scott and his suspected terrorist neighbor/”friend” Ahmed, played by the awesome combo of Michael Angarano (Sky High, Will & Grace) and Kal Pen (Harold & Kumar, Superman Returns) respectively.  After watching the FBI arrest and take away Ahmed’s father in front of his house, the neighborhood grows violently suspicious of Ahmed, and soon two men charge over to Ahmed’s house with the intention of beating the lad to a pulp.  But Scott and his father risk their lives to protect Ahmed from these men, as Scott is absolutely convinced that his friend’s family is innocent.  Well, Ahmed’s father may be innocent, but in truth, Ahmed is actually a terrorist who is working for Fayed – and now he’s holding poor Scott hostage.  “But we’re friends,” Scott pleads with him.  “Friends? You can’t even pronounce my name right,” retorts Ahmed angrily.  It’s a juicy, provocative sub-plot that, like this whole terrific new season, doesn’t give you easy answers and judgments.

LaLa is a writer who currently resides in LaLa Land, aka Los Angeles.  LaLa also likes to sing.  LaLa also knows some lawyers in a law office.  LaLa is also prone to making bad jokes, like this one.  And of course, LaLa also loves her some quality television shows with quality actors on them, like House… and The Office… and 24… and, well, pretty much any smartly written show that doesn’t include a fat guy with a hot skinny wife or the words “two and a half men” in the title.