I watched the two-night/four-hour '24' season premier, and while
it's still entertaining escapism, I have a few issues so far.
While "24" by its nature strains credulity, I have found this
season especially hard to swallow, particularly the scene when
Jack Bauer busts Tony Almeda out of FBI headquarters. I mean,
Almeda is a top suspect -- and the only lead -- in a major
international terrorism case that puts the nation's air
traffic control system, water supply, and electrical grid at risk
and that is being used to coax the President to call off a
military invasion aimed at stopping genocide in an African
nation. The idea that a single guard would be securing Almeda,
was too distractingly absurd, and I wish they could have found a
more clever way to pull off the escape.
Also, it's getting to the point where Jack Bauer's actions are
even more difficult than ever to justify in terms of preventing
terrorism. Working on the same team as the terrorists to break
into a State Department safe house
and kidnap a foreign leader is just too far adrift from what the
audience can be expected to accept of Bauer, even knowing it's
just television.
