Episode 6.5, "10:00 A.M. - 11:00 A.M."
Airdate: Sunday, Monday 22nd, 2007

We're five episodes into season six of 24, and I finally feel like I can TRUST you. We're simpatico. Compadres. Amigos, you and I.

Wanna know a secret? Come closer. Take that toothpick out of your mouth. Look into my eyes.

There's a sense in which 24 is a review-proof show.

That's the big secret of my existence at this humble interoutpost--at least, it's a big secret to me, since saying it out loud like that will inevitably cause you to slowly grow disinterested with my weekly ramblings on the series. "If the show's review-proof, as you say," you will say, "then why would I waste my time reading a review? Also, take your hand off my leg."

Okay, fine. But the day will come when you will WISH for my hand on your leg.

What makes 24 "review-proof" to an extent is that this is a mostly plot-driven show. Character evolution is merely gravy, although this season, we have been lathered in that gravy.

An example: President Palmer and his team are down in the bunker, writing Palmer's speech after the dirty bomb. Tom Lennox, one of the President's top advisors, wants to push hard for using the speech as a platform to introduce his wide-sweeping plans for stripping away America's civil rights in the name of "protection" and "defense"--detainment camps, warrantless searches, the whole nine yards.

Palmer and his other staffers are like, "No, Tom, we don't want to exploit and rule by fear," and I'm thinking, "DUDE, the fear is THERE. We just had a NUKE go off on U.S. soil--maybe we SHOULD round up a few suspects, take away a few rights. Cause I'd rather err on the side of caution and NOT live thru a nuclear winter, myself."

To me, that strained credibility. It also challenged me to consider my own thoughts on these critical national issues, something you can't say about most other shows.

On that occasion, and others when the show has strained my limits of suspending disbelief (Jack Bauer rescues a guy from a flaming helicopter on the roof of a house--in UNDER TWO MINUTES!), I realize I do not really care. I am having too much fun on this ride to ever take apart the logic of this show. Sure, I can discuss where the logic has limits--I can, essentially, REVIEW the show--but who cares?

It's fun. It's a blast. It works. It's 24.

(Which is, incidentally, what makes this show the PERFECT addition to any iPod in existence--it is endlessly watchable, easily digested in chunks of virtually any size, and supremely addictive. So cha-CHING there, Fox and Apple. Enjoy those $1.99 download fees.)

Having said all that, 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.

I NEVER saw that coming. I've even read news on different sites regarding the casting of James Cromwell as Jack's father, and it never clicked in my brain that they'd be a major part of the plot of the series.

Think about where Jack Bauer has gone in the past five seasons of television--he has been confronted on every personal and professional level, been beaten and taken captive by nefarious government agents, busted caps in asses and slapped around criminals and the innocent alike.

But we've never gotten inside his history as we are going to get inside this season--or at least, as I hope we will get inside this season. Are Jack's dad and brother helping the bad guys? Are they some kind of deep undercover good guys? Are they just jerks who don't know much of anything at all?

I can't wait to find out. And even if it makes no sense, I still probably won't care. Except when I write these reviews. Then I care OODLES, sweetheart.

Can I touch your leg again? No? Okay.

iTunes Links

24 - Series
24 - Season 6
"10:00 A.M. - 11:00 A.M."