Kieran loaned me the box set of the first series of 24 last week, and I’ve been going through episodes like Jack Bauer goes through cellphones and cars. I’d been wanting to watch this show for ages, and Kieran had been meaning to lend me his copy for so long that I avoided watching any of the following series.
After putting in Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings, I think I’m up to 18:00 now, so a couple more sessions viewing will have me through it in the space of a week – quite good going considering I’m more of a games player of an evening than a tv watcher.
I cant help but think the series would probably have been better if it had just been called 12… or maybe 13, instead. The first six hours were gripping, and led to quite an exciting conclusion to that half of the day. But since that point the amount of ass pulls has served only to detract from the quality of the first twelve hours for me.
That and Jack’s wife and daughter being two of the most fucking annoying characters ever to grace a tv series. I cant believe Kim actually made it to puberty – she has the decision making ability of a lemming with chronic depression and a personality so vacuous that I’d probably shoot her even if I was a good guy. Yeah, I’ll admit that the mens mags have a point – she has vertigo inducing cleavage and, you know, who wouldn’t? His wife, on the other hand, has none of these annoyance offsetting traits! If Jack had any sense he’d have stayed seperated from that flakey bitch when he had the chance!
It also gives the impression that FBI agents are so poorly trained that scores of them can be rubbed out by just a couple of determined bad guys. It seems bizarre that Jack ends up under internal investigation for breaking protocol when every other agent seems intent in stumbling to their death without first calling for back-up or securing the area. What makes Jack such a loose cannon? Is it because he keeps getting away with it?! Surely he should be training the other guys in how to approach the enemy without getting killed techniques, rather than him getting fucked over for single-handedly neutralising a terrorist cell and rescuing his flakey wife and tart of a daughter at the same time.
Anyhow, I’ve gone this far with it, so I’m interested to see how the whole day turns out. Although I have set my expectations markedly lower after the aforementioned ass pulls – I’m not entirely convinced the writers can raise their game enough in the few episodes I have left to counter the afternoon downturn.
