Just as he’s set to begin testifying before a Senate committee probing the actions of the disbanded CTU, Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) is hauled in by FBI Agent Renee Walker (Annie Wersching), who needs his assistance on a domestic terrorism case involving Jack’s old partner Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard), a man who was seemingly killed in the line of duty several years before.

When Tony is captured and brought in for questioning, he tells Jack he is working undercover to infiltrate the terrorist cell, which is threatening to down jetliners in Washington unless President Allison Taylor (Cherry Jones) recalls U.S. troops deploying to the war-torn African nation of Sangala. Jack joins Tony in his quest to quash the terrorists’ plan; after that things get complicated...

CRITIQUE

I was completely and utterly lost for much of this latest season of 24. Not because of the numerous twists of the plot, but rather because I went in absolutely cold. See, this is yet another immensely popular television series of which I had not seen a single episode. I remember the deluge of promotion that preceded the first season’s initial airing (speaking of--talk about timing), and I know more than a few people who follow the show with more fervor than hippies in old VW vans follow The Grateful Dead, but I just simply never bothered to tune in. But I’m not one to back down from a challenge (note: that’s a lie), so when these discs arrived I ripped off the wrapping, sat down to watch the first episode, then shut it off fifteen minutes in and hopped over to Wikipedia.

After reading plot summaries of both the first six seasons and the recent Redemption movie (which, by the way, took forever; watching the actual episodes would likely have taken less time), I plowed back in. Lost or not, I was entertained. It’s easy to see why people enjoy this show, what with it being about a guy who goes up against terrorists and actually achieves something (it’s surprising just how cathartic and satisfying that is), but exactly why it’s caused this much of a stir still eludes me (although not to the degree that the appeal of The Grateful Dead eludes me; those guys simply suck). It’s decent enough entertainment, but take in too much of it in one sitting and it gets old kind of fast.

Let me put it this way, I probably would have enjoyed the show a lot more had it been named 12. Sitting through one day-long story gets to be wearying. I generally prefer long plots to short ones (i.e., movies and books to television), but enough is enough; get it over with already. And while the show’s concept was a big selling point, I don’t think it’s all that practical. See, this series asks you to take your disbelief, lock it in a lead-lined safe, then drop that safe to the bottom of the Marianas Trench and forget about it for twenty-four weeks; practically nothing here is the least bit plausible, and the technology is so bogus no one even attempts to explain it.

But having it all take place in the span of one day is really a bit much. Don’t these people ever eat, sleep, take a shower, or go to the bathroom? And how many times can one person get beat up, shot, blown up, or exposed to a biological weapon over the course of a single day and still not need a breather? Is everybody here hopped-up on a mixture of crystal meth, caffeine pills, and Jolt Cola? And do they all have Wolverine’s healing factor? Granted, I did watch this entire season in a compressed amount of time, which undoubtedly affected my feelings here (it’s probably easier to swallow this stuff week-to-week than it is hour-to-hour), but come on. Really, would it kill the producers to show someone yawn every once in a while?

Another reason I wish the stories were shorter is because they quickly become repetitive. There’s very little character development here; each episode is plot, plot, and more plot. The pacing is relentless, which is a major plus, but because the stories are so damned long, and because it’s all about the story, and because any character who appears in more than three scenes is apparently required to get his/her own subplot, you get halfway through the season and then everything more or less begins to repeat itself.

One character makes an unexpected appearance, then you get three more of the same (all of them accompanied by some boring, awkward exposition intended to catch everyone in the audience up). You get double-, triple-, and quadruple-crosses (some of which you can see coming a mile away, which makes Bauer look like a fool much of the time). Everything get’s so complex that it becomes almost silly, and you just know there’s no way to satisfactorily tie it all together, and there isn’t.

The final three or four episodes of this season (which were totally rewritten at the last minute) are a major disappointment. The story limps to the finish line, and one major player makes a few completely out-of-character decisions (so much so you have to wonder if it even is the same character; things get so New Age-y I almost expected Yanni--or at the very least John Tesh--to show up and start playing), which in this case is a serious mistake.       

First experience with the show or not, I have to wonder how long the producers can keep this sort of thing up. As much as I love the Bourne movies, that franchise will likely collapse in on itself if it does continue. Given its template, I’m not sure how 24 will manage to keep trudging along. It may come to the point where the only thing left to do is kill the main character and start anew. Either that or have Bauer start fighting guys who’ve built massive undersea lairs or their own personal space stations. Don’t look at me like that; it’s happened before.

THE VIDEO

The 1.78:1/1080p transfers--encoded with AVC and spread across six 50GB discs--look good, but at times they’re riddled with the same issue that plagues so many television shows released on home video: compression artifacts.

I’d always assumed that Blu-ray’s storage capacity and advanced codes would send this particular flaw the way of the dodo, but I guess I was wrong; it was visible on the Firefly Blu-rays, it was visible on the Sarah Connor Blu-rays, and it’s visible here.

The show has somewhat of a gritty look, although at times it can be very slick; colors often run just this side of hot, adding up to a visual scheme that’s appropriate to the story being told. But the artifacting is impossible to miss, knocking what could have been a very good presentation down to merely good.

THE AUDIO

The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 isn’t up to the standards of your average blockbuster movie, but it’s damned impressive for a television series.

There are enough explosions, car crashes, and gunshots to please action fans, but there’s a surprising amount of atmosphere built into the mix; again it’s not as exacting as a film mix, somewhat lacking in finesse and subtlety, but an impressive effort nonetheless. The low end pushes very deep at times, and dialogue generally comes through clearly, although Sutherland’s signature whisper can often be a little difficult to make out.

No other audio options are available; English SDH, French, and Spanish subtitles are included.

THE EXTRAS

Like the episodes themselves, the extras here--all of which are presented in high-def--are spread across all six discs; here’s a breakdown:

Disc One features two commentaries. Episode One has a track by executive producer/director Jon Cassar and actor Carlos Bernard, while Episode Three has a track by executive producers Manny Coto and Brannon Braga, who are also joined by Bernard. Also on this disc is The Fimucité Festival Presents: The Music of 24 (14 minutes), which is footage from a concert in which composer Sean Callery showcased selections from his score.

The sole extra on Disc Two is a commentary by Cassar and actress Annie Wersching for Episode Five.

Disc Three sports three commentaries. Episode Nine features a track by executive producer David Fury and actor Hakeem Kae-Kazim. Episode Ten features a track by Coto, Braga, and Wersching. Episode Twelve’s track features executive producer Brad Turner and actor Tony Todd.

Disc Four comes with two commentaries. The track for Episode Thirteen features Turner, Callery, and actor James Morrison, while Episode Fourteen’s track features executive producers Evan Katz and Juan Carlos Coto, actor Bob Gunton, and Wersching.

Disc Five has only one commentary, this one for Episode Eighteen, which features executive producer Howard Gordon, actor Jeffrey Nordling, and Bernard. Also on Disc Five is Hour 19: The Ambush (13 minutes), a featurette on the creation of Episode Nineteen’s central action sequence.

Finally, Disc Six weighs in with three commentaries. Episode Twenty-two’s track features Katz, actress Mary Lynn Rajskub, and actor Glenn Morshower. The track for Episode Twenty-three features Fury, executive producer Alex Gansa, and Morshower. The track for Episode Twenty-four features Cassar and Gordon.

Also on disc six is a collection of fourteen deleted scenes (25 minutes), all of which are completely superfluous; executive producer Stephen Kronish and producer Paul Gadd provide optional commentary for these scenes.

Closing out the extras is 24-7: The Untold Story (15 minutes), a making-of featurette about the season’s writing process with interviews by the writing team.

When it comes to the commentaries, they’re a bit of overkill, as the producers have a tendency to cover the same topics. If you’re going to give them a listen, I’d suggest sampling the first and last tracks, which should give you a nice overview of the season as a whole.

FINAL THOUGHT

My one experience with 24 was entertaining enough, but that one experience may very well be enough.