New Feature: 24 Blogging

With less than two hours to go before the premiere of Season 7 of 24, I am going to debut a new feature here on the blog. I will provide a reaction to each episode the day after it airs; look for it every Tuesday (unless I quit doing it). As usual, the season begins with 2 episodes today and 2 more tomorrow. This week, I will respond with one post for each night of episodes. There will surely be spoilers all season, so be warned.

This will the the first season of 24 I have watched as it aired. I joined the craze late, and have watched all previous seasons on DVD. I will also have MacKenzie watching with me (awww!).

We know going into the new season that:

• The creator of 24, Joel Surnow, is no longer involved in the show.
  
• CTU, the agency Jack Bauer et. al worked for, has been disbanded.
• In the mini-episode that aired in November, Redemption, Jack agreed to answer a subpoena from Congress (to answer for his torturous deeds) in exchange for getting a bunch of African kids admitted to the US to keep them from being forced into war.
  
• We have a lady president now (just in time for Hillary's inauguration- oh, wait).
  
• Tony Almeida, former high-up in CTU who died in Season 5, is no longer dead, and he's a bad guy. People coming back to life, and good people turning bad, are recurring themes on 24.
  
• Jack will be working with the FBI as the season starts (part of the agency's hiring blitz?).
  

Along with the aforementioned themes, there are some other common 24 themes to look for as the new season begins:

• Dumb women. Not to be sexist or anything, but we frequently see women on the show doing dumb things, which often put them in danger.
• Inappropriate romances, especially of the supervisor/subordinate type. Recall in Season 3 that Tony gave in to terrorist demands after they captured his coworker/lover.
• Jack's emotional angst over the torture he has inflicted, the things he has seen, and the loved ones he has lost/been estranged from occasionally bubbles to the surface.

Also, it will be interesting to note the role of torture this season. As enhanced interrogation techniques have been demonized here in the real world, and 24 has been criticized for glorifying torture, we will see what role it has, and how Jack feels about it now. There is some conservative concern that the show will be soft this year. The proper portrayal of the UN official in Redemption as a spineless, morally-equivocating coward gives me hope that this will not be the case.

Should be a fun season.