24- Jack's Crying Game

It's been a long time since I've written about 24, mainly because this season has been so bad, but a couple of developments from the past two episodes have made my typing fingers itchy.

We got ourselves another silent clock with the death of Renee Walker. Other than the first one ever, I always seem to get a little sad when the clock is silent. It's the realization that another main character has left us. The first one ever was, of course, the death of Teri Bauer. I was so happy to see that terribly annoying character gone that I had no way of feeling sorry for Jacky B. As I look back on it, maybe it would've been worth having to see Teri through the years if it meant that Jack wouldn't turn into a sad sack over every new girl he finds.

I really love watching Jack Bauer torture people, scream at the top of his lungs, chase down terrorists and everything else that makes him the baddest dude on the planet. But what I don't love is when he becomes a sappy sad sack. If I want to see an action star with a sensitive side, I'm gonna break out the tissues and turn on an episode of Chuck.

He had his wife of so many years die in his arms, and since then it's been Kate Warner, Claudia Hernandez, Audrey Raines, Diane Huxley and most recently Renee Walker. I mean I'm all for Jack being a ladies man, but why does he have to act like a pathetic sap when they get shot, go mentally insane or go back to Texas? I'm not saying there should be only one woman for every man, but there is no way he should be crying over six different women in eight seasons? Give me a break Jack.

Our favorite criminal President has returned. This was the first thing to get me excited about this season. An older, more doubly chinned Charles Logan is back to help with the U.S./Russia relationship. Sure he committed treason as the President of the United States, helping terrorists enact a terrible crime on his own country, but the good people of America could always use his help right? Awesome. He's up to no good an I love every second of it. Take that woman President down a few notches. Show her how we really do things in the oval office.

And finally Dana Walsh. It's incredible how 24 can change the appearance of a character after we find out who they really are. Although I couldn't stand a second of her in the early going, I still found Dana Walsh dumb and unassuming; not evil. Now that the audience has been let in on the secret that she is dirty and was a mole for the terrorists she just looks like pure evil every time she's on screen. Is it just that I'm looking for it now? Or does she has an evil scowl on her face 24/7 at this point?

Still not a great season so far. Let's see if Logan, and hopefully an improvement from Cole Ortiz, can pick things back up down the home stretch.

24- Showing Respect to Mr. Bauer

Last night we began viewing the eighth longest day of Mr. Bauer's life. The first thing I need to mention is that I wasn't left with any spark after this two-hour season premier. There was something to the beginning of last season that had a fire to it and got me extremely excited for the rest of the season. Maybe it was the fact that they took a year off and it was great to have it back, or maybe this season's just not going to be as good, but I wasn't left as excited this year when the clock hit 11:00 p.m.

Having said that, there were a lot of things I liked about the season premier of 24. After the cold open hits us with some random dudes shooting at each other, we get to see what I (and the people of Tropic Thunder) like to call Simple Jack. This is when we get to see Mr. Bauer doing normal every day things. The only other time we really get to see him act this way is the beginning of season one when he's at home with the first Teri and Kim. Sure in season 5 he is eating breakfast with Tami Taylor, but he is doing it under a false identity and he's hiding out from people. Not the same. In season 8 we get to see a once gain retired Mr. Bauer relaxing with his granddaughter, the second Teri, watching some cartoons. The whole relaxed atmosphere makes the change that much better when he has to turn his killing face on.

We're now in New York City, which is a great change of scenery. If there is something that got stale from 24, and it wasn't the fact that they repeat story lines, than it was the location. There's only so many horrific things that can happen in Los Angeles. The skyscrapers. The jam-packed streets. The underground entrance to CTU NY. It's all a nice change of pace. The CTU NY inside itself is really cool looking.

Then we get to the new guy. Cole Ortiz, played by Freddie Prinze, Jr., is the head of field ops CTU NY. AKA the new Chase Edmunds. I like what I've seen so far from Cole. When he first hears that Jack Bauer is bringing in a guy with information about the hit on President Hassan, he simply asks, "Jack Bauer?" The subtle, yet surprised, nature of his reaction shows that he knows what that name means and unlike some that have come before him, Cole has a grasp of the historical relevance of what Mr. Bauer has done for this country. Then we get to the point where me continuing to call Jack, Mr. Bauer makes sense. Every time that Cole talked to Jack, he called him Mr. Bauer. The respect that he showed him was awesome to see. This is the kind of admiration that all young government agents should show Jack Bauer. And I might continue to call him that as long as Cole does. When the chopper lands on the roof and Cole meets Mr. Bauer for the first time he again simply state, "It's an honor to meet you, Mr. Bauer."

The man getting everything done (or not done) at CTU NY is Brian Hastings, played by Mykelti Williamson. (Update: I can't believe I didn't realize this was Bubba Gump at first)  I love how wrong he has been about everything so far to start the season. I also love how confident he has been in everything he has done and said during the first two hours. Incompetence like this, we have not seen from the head of CTU since Lynn McGill.

Chloe is back. She is at CTU NY for some bogus reason. Something to do with Morris. This is the one thing that got me angry during the premier. This is just too coincidental. Chloe just happens to be working in New York now that Mr. Bauer is here. I much would've rather seen Mr. Bauer get twisted up in the situation in New York and then have him call her in because she was the only one who could help out. She was the only one to get things done the right way. Maybe bring her in for ep 3 or something. Just didn't have a good feel to it.

What did have a good feel to it was the partnership between Mr. Bauer and Chloe. Although she came in for season 3, it does seem like these two have been together for the entirety of the show. When Chloe makes her plea for Mr. Bauer to stay in New York, it was fantastic.

Jack. You've come to me for help many times, and I've never let you down. You've asked me to do crazy things, and I've always taken your side. Please. Help me. I can't do this by myself.

Anyway not the home run to start the season like we saw last year, but there is a lot of promise in what we have going on here. We get another two-hour dosage tonight before they go back into the regular time slot of Mondays at 9:00 p.m.

The Frank Pembleton Award (2009)

The Frank Pembleton Award for
Best Lead Character in an Action Series

Rank. Character (Show)- Total Points...(My Rank)
10th. Peter Petrelli (Heroes)- 0 points

9th. John Connor (Terminator: TSCC)- 3 points

8th. Friday (Crusoe)- 5 points

7th. John Locke (Lost)- 6 points

6th. Gabriel Sylar (Heroes)- 8 points...(3rd)

5th. Benjamin Linus (Lost)- 9 points

4th. Patrick Jane (The Mentalist)- 9 points...(2nd)

3rd. Chuck Bartowski (Chuck)- 15 points...(4th)

Runner-Up
2nd. Jack Bauer (24)- 16 points...(5th)

The Poolie Goes To
1st. James 'Sawyer' Ford (Lost)- 16 points...(1st)
And with no guest spot, you are stuck with me on this one...

With all of the ups and downs, ins and outs, curve balls and game changers over the past five years on and off the Lost island, one thing has remained constant. Sawyer is an absolute stud. In the time we’ve spent with James on the island, we’ve witnessed him hoard supplies, kill the real Sawyer, shack up with Jack’s woman and give out plenty of nicknames.

In season five, the con-man really got a chance to shine. With the departure of the Oceanic Six it was Sawyer’s turn to step up to the plate and lead this group of idiots. With time travel happening all around them James is the strong, take action leader that the pastaways need. Time stops in the mid 1970s with the Dharma Initiative in full swing. When the pastaways are captured by Dharma, Sawyer takes the opportunity to put his conniving skills to good use as he comes up with an elaborate story in which his name is Jim LaFleur and his group was on a salvage vessel looking for the Black Rock. Three years pass and Sawyer is sly enough to become head of security at this joke of an Initiative, woo Juliet into a relationship, in which she makes him dinner every night, and live happily ever after in Dharmaville. That is until Jack, Kate and the gang come back and ruin all of his fun.

Jack Is Back

The show that got me to be the terrible television freak that I am is back after taking 2008 off because of the writers' strike. For the second time, Jack Bauer and 24 had a two night, four hour premier this past Sunday and Monday. Back during my sophomore year of college, Larry brought the first three seasons of the real-time drama to our suite. I finished the 72 episodes in about 6 weeks (albeit this was much longer than it took Larry and Mags who stayed up til 5 a.m. watching eps). Mags then went out and bought a bootleg Asian version of season 4 so we got to see the best season ever (with Habib Marwan) before it came back on the air in January.

Now I agree with all of you that seasons five and six have not been up to par with the fourth or third installments, but season seven has started out with a bang. Even though I knew beforehand that, spoiler alert, Tony, Bill and Chloe were coming back for this season, it was still an unbelievable moment. Sure I am as gullible as the next idiot and believed Tony was completely dirty, but finding out that he is working under cover with Buchannon and Chloe to take down the corrupt US Government was like a magical conjunction. When Jacko joins them during the fourth hour to go under, it truly geared me up for a great season.

Just think, Lost starts in less than a week...