[TV] 24 4.1 & 4.2

A pretty stale opening sequence followed by a deft setting-up of the situation and the new characters. Hour One ended with the awesome build, build, building of tension culminating in a cool action climax.

Hour Two was a little more ‘meh’. Possibly could’ve benefited from an in media res opening in the previous hour’s climax. I mean, imagine if Ep 1 had ended just as the stinger screamed into shot and blew up the limo!

However, the show kept illustrating the basic lesson I first learned from it: that scenes really rock when there are 2 people in clear conflict. Check it out sometime; 24 will nearly always motivate characters in a scene in such a way that they end up at loggerheads – and out of that conflict is generated new story complications.

I’m liking that 24 is trying to deepen its portrayal of terrorism and its causes, humanising the terrorists and presenting two viewpoints (a liberal son & a worldwide internet trial) of America as a contributing cause of the world’s problems. Pretty ballsy stuff for a bubble-gum action thriller.

Very glad Hour 3 is on tonight … after the increasingly embettering Veronica Mars.

4.1 **** ½ (out of 5)
4.2 ***