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24 7.6: "Day 7: 1PM - 2PM" |
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Tuesday, 27 January 2009 |
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By John Keegan
Visit Critical Myth for an archive of John's TV Review archives, with more than 1100 entries.
| Every season of “24” requires a certain number of transitional episodes, where the plot threads are advanced incrementally to position characters for the next big moment of revelation. Since the usual pattern places the next shift around episode 7.8, there’s still some work to do. The trick is making those transitional moments exciting.
This episode managed that through the use of pyrotechnics, plenty of gunplay, a stabbing, and a resurrection. After starting the season with the threat of slamming two planes together, complete with a long and tortuous build to the near miss, it’s a nice touch to have it actually happen. Why they would spend more time (and detailed attention) on the near miss, yet sugar-coat the real thing, is a bit of a mystery? Perhaps they simply didn’t have the budget for those special effects.
Tony’s moral moment of truth came far more quickly than one might have expected, but the outcome was a foregone conclusion. Did anyone really think Tony would remain on the side of the terrorists for long? At least there was enough time to explain Tony’s miraculous survival, even if it doesn’t quite track with the events of the fifth season. Perhaps it would have made more sense if the sixth season had provided a more compelling rationale for why so much seemed to target Jack over the years.
Less effective was Samantha’s murder. Frankly, this was a waste of Carly Pope; why not just cast a relative unknown in such a short-lived part? Her death is only shocking in terms of its relative brutality. This is only mitigated slightly by the realization that the First Husband was supposed to meet a similarly gruesome fate. His survival was highly unlikely, but should serve to give more life to that side of the story.
At least Agent Walker survived. As many noted in response to the previous review, there was plenty of reason to believe she would live. It seems a little convenient, especially Bill and Chloe’s timely arrival. In point of fact, she did stop breathing and could have been dead for a little while before being revived. That makes her activity in the rest of the episode, however slight, all the more Bauer-esque. Add to that her quick acceptance of the situation, including Bill’s completely illegal “CTU”, and she’s in definite Bauer territory.
With another major terrorist attack on the horizon and the president digging in her heels, things don’t look to get any better any time soon. The true villains still seem to be waiting in the wings, and there’s still plenty of time left for further complications. Hopefully, the writers won’t try to one-up the action in this episode in the future, even if it helped keep this one interesting. |
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