Latest Episodes

All of Matt's 24 reviews are now available for your listening pleasure. Subscribe to the "24 - iPodObserver iTunes TV Review" podcast via iTunes and you'll get them automatically as soon as they're released.

• 24 Season Finale (Episode 6.23 & 6.24) - "4:00 AM - 6:00 AM"

  • So, hour one of the two-hour season finale of 24: Eh. I almost slept through it. Almost. Then the second hour kicked in. Yet as action-packed as this final hour of season six was, it's that last ten minutes or so that sticks to my bones

• 24 Episode 6.22 - "3:00 AM - 4:00 AM"

  • Let's talk about hair. Specifically, the hair of one Mr. James Cromwell, the heavyweight Special Guest Star whose off-handed gravitas has added immeasurably to this sixth season of 24.

• 24 Episode 6.21 - "2:00 AM - 3:00 AM"

  • The invasion of CTU pretty much takes the cake for this week's episode, with the rest of the action dwelling on stale plot points a bit too long. Suddenly, the Lisa Miller thread has grown stale, since we've already enjoyed the comeuppance part; she's hated by the Vice-President of the United States, and she's committed treason, so escaping without serious prison time is probably the best she can hope for.

• 24 Episode 6.20 - "1:00 AM - 2:00 AM"

  • When I started watching this season of 24, I expected the thrill ride. I expected the loopy plotting and cliffhanger endings, the ticking plunk of a clock at the end of every hour telling me it would be another seven days before I'd find out the fate of 24's free world. What I didn't really expect was to become so involved, so engaged, with the CHARACTERS.

• 24 Episode 6.19 - "12:00 AM - 1:00 AM"

  • The worm turns slowly, but it turns. That seems to be the theme emerging in this unexpected "coda" to the main storyline of 24's sixth season. Up until a few weeks ago, we all thought we'd be chasing Fayed and the crazy Russian right up until the end of May, when some shocking and explosive finale would result in the country saved (yet again) and probably Jack Bauer unhappy (yet again.)

• 24 Episode 6.18 - "11:00 PM - 12:00 AM"

  • As I mentioned last week, the idea of ending what seemed to be the season's main storyline early so that a form of suspense-packed "coda" could evolve, slightly connected but seemingly unrelated to the main storyline...it's an interesting concept. In theory.

• 24 Episode 6.17 - "10:00 PM - 11:00 PM"

  • Hey, everybody! It's Fake-Out Week on 24! Seriously, was it pure plotting kismet, or a supreme act of laziness that left us with not one, but TWO major plot twists that hinged on totally PSYCH moments?

• 24 Episode 6.16 - "9:00 PM - 10:00 PM"

  • Nutty. Just freakin' nutty. That's my overall reaction to this episode. Which is funny, because for the first half or so, my overall reaction was more like, "Yawn. Can I get away with reading this comic book AND following 24 at the same time?" (Answer: Not really.)

• 24 Episode 6.15 - "8:00 PM - 9:00 PM"

  • Ostensibly, this week's hour hits a plot mark that we've been waiting for weeks to occur--Gredenko is finally brought in by CTU. So it's a pretty big week, as Gredenko is one of the major villains of the season. There should be lots of shooting and fighting and Jack grumbling into cell phones, right?

• 24 Episode 6.14 - "7:00 PM - 8:00 PM"

  • First and foremost, we get the "Oh, by the way, Jack. The love of your life from before your time being tortured in a Chinese prison? She died trying to save you. We forgot to mention that. Sorry." I suppose it's possible that this is a seed being planted for later, and thus cementing Jack's reputation as perhaps the WORST judge of character in the history of people.

• 24 Episode 6.13 - "6:00 PM - 7:00 PM"

  • As a Lost fan, I've become accustomed to ignoring the madcap platitudes of network television's marketing machine. As a 24 fan, however, I admit to being intrigued. This is a show that could promise the most shocking moment, like, EVAR and then deliver that moment. For realz, yo.

• 24 Episode 6.12 - "5:00 PM - 6:00 PM"

  • Powers Boothe is treading lightly on libel territory with his performance as the Vice President. Which is, of course, what makes it such wicked fun. At best, 24 is a political mess; it's fairly common knowledge that co-creator and exec producer Joel Surnow is an unrepentant right-winger.

• 24 Episode 6.11 - "4:00 PM - 5:00 PM"

  • Peter MacNicol's got to emote while crouched on the floor in this gritty space, and also while black tape covers his mouth. He gets to gasp a few lines, but mostly it's increasingly intense, frantic gawks. And damned if he doesn't sell it to the cheap seats every time he's on camera.

• 24 Episode 6.10 - "3:00 PM - 4:00 PM"

  • "Everything is going to be fine," Jack Bauer screams to his dead brother's widow as he dashes up a stairwell to save his nephew from his EVIL DAD. I'm not sure I can envision a scenario in which everything can ever truly be "fine" again, if that is your life.

• 24 Episode 6.8 & 6.9, "1:00 PM - 2:00 PM" & "3:00 PM - 3:00 PM"

  • This week's episodes were pretty great, especially James Cromwell as Daddy Jack, who is SO so great still at being kindly and evil at the same time. Imagine your grandpa pulling a gun on you in a hotel room, and you've got the picture.

• 24 Episode 6.7, "12:00 P.M. - 1:00 P.M."

  • This episode of 24 was truly some squirm-worthy television. Every time Jack Bauer gets serious about interrogating someone, it's squirm-worthy, but there's usually something kinda bad-ass about it too. You're squirming, but deep down, you're thinking, "You GO Jack!"

• 24 - Episode 6.6, "11:00 A.M. - 12:00 P.M."

  • That's right--we're at 11:00 A.M. on the sixth-longest day of Jack Bauer's life. Next week: Lunch! Seriously, one of the big comments people make when they first hear about the premise of the show is, "But when does he eat? When does he shower? When does he go to the bathroom?"

• 24: Episode 6.5, "10:00 A.M. - 11:00 A.M."

  • I will review this episode by simply saying that it kicked me in my bottom parts. What sent me into the stratosphere this week was another gutsy move, this one not on so much a plot level as it was on a character level--the introduction of Jack's weirdo family.

• 24 - Season 6.3 & 6.4 "8AM - 9 AM," "9AM - 10AM"

  • Jack Bauer has also saved the world. A lot. And the other night on his TV show, a dirty nuke went off in Los Angeles. The loss of life, factoring in the radiation poisoning, will be in the hundreds of thousands. The war against terrorism, previously a series of tiny skirmishes by comparison, now has its Hiroshima. And the writers just freakin' DID it.

• 24 - Season 6.1 & 6.2 "6AM - 7 AM," "7AM - 8AM"

  • It's so good to see you, even if you're wearing a silly beard and probably smell like a urinal because those nasty Chinese haven't let you shower in 20 months. We need you now more than ever, because the entire country has gone %#$@*& as usual, and who else can we call? Bill Buchanan? Milo? Chloe?

Matt Springer's writing career has spanned magazine journalism, PR and marketing, and random online babblings, including stints at Cinescape and the Official Buffy Magazine. His first novel, Unconventional, is a tale of sex, booze, and geeks; learn more about it at Alert Nerd Press.