Blow by Blow Review: "24" March 21st, 2005
I read a really great article about "24" and a quick state of other shows on television that I encourage you to read. That is an ongoing series of articles and they are fantastic. The author's name is David Michael Wharton and after a quick Google search on him I found a variety of articles that really a pleasure to read. I greatly enjoy his sense of comedic irony and encourage all of you to take some time to read through his articles.
With that said, let's get to this week's edition of the "24" Blow by Blow...
Blow by Blow Review: "24" March 21st, 2005
-- A Convinced President: Recently, my father told me how much he disliked this President that is being used in this rendition of "24" and I think I share a little bit of that. He's been very mechanical, almost painted as a secondary character though. I wonder if that might have something to do with the fact that we don't really "know" this President as intimately as knew David Palmer of previous seasons. In any case, this President states that he is convinced that another event of terrorism domestically will cause great civil unrest. Huh? I guess I have to almost completely disagree there. While surely we will tear eather apart at many times, if anything history has shown that in times of national crisis, we almost, across the board, band together to unite (even if for a sadly short period of time). The beginnings of the World Wars, catastrophic events like any of the natural disasters that have befallen our nation (hell, even OTHER nations), 9/11 - the list goes on. Why is this President so sure of this? I've no idea why.
-- "Can I Talk to You For a Second? Forget About the Dude Bleeding Out for a Minute" I was almost floored when Jack approaches the medtech that's caring for Paul (even though my disdain for him has been documented multiple times) and asks if he can speak to him for a minute? How about letting the dude have the attention that he needs to care for he patient? :) I also wonder where the direct pressure to Paul's gunshot wounds is. I'm a First Aid Certified Jackass and even I know that :)
-- What "24" is All About - Anticipation: One of the coolest pieces of "24" is the sense of anticipation that the show creates. Everytime any one of the characters says the words, "Well, there's only thing thing we can do", my heart swells and the anicipation factor kicks in. In this case, it was Michelle that said these words before issuing the overriding orders to ...
Send Jack in undercover? No! To send in Tony undercover? No! To send in Edgar undercover? No! (at this point my head is ready to explode and finally Michelle announces...)
"We will be sending Dina Araz in undercover...." (a bit of a let down because it's not involving Jack)
"...with JackBauer in tow as her hostage."
(YES!!!)
One of the other hallmarks of this show is also that though this move makes tactically little sense, and provides almost sure DOOM in Jack's case (I can't believe that Marwan would really not kill him on sight, but more on that later), it gets your heart racing and grabs you attention span by the suspenders and rakes you along at rollercoaster pace. That is the magic of this show, folks.
-- Ignored Pilot: Looking back at my previous entries, I have sadly almost completely ignored the "Pilot in uniform" that has been poking his head in for the last 3-4 hours of showtime and this is the episode that begins his journey into character clarity. We've learned his ruthlessness, we've learned just enough of the plot to make us completely interested in what he's going to be doing over the next couple of hours of story, and more importantly - he's one of the whitest guys on the planet - complete with red hair. Who is he, what is his story? Why is he bending sideways to assist a radical muslim sect to cause chaos? All of this and more is on it's way and like so many other aspects of this show: It is intoxicating.
-- You Say Dori, Captioning Says Laurie: For whatever reason, the captioning in this episode shows the pilots' wife's name as "Laurie" rather than the "Dori" that is used in the audio. More intrigue and oddities all thanks to "24". :)
-- Dina's Terminal Cliche': You can almost see the red "X" put over the visual portion of Dina the instant that she agrees to assist Michelle and CTU in the mission to take Jack to Marwan. As we see below, it sucks for Dina for me to be right.
-- Exposition Sucks in Television - Usually: I was listening to the new DVD commentary track for STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT recently, and Director Jonathan Frakes mentions that STAR TREK has always been great at providing actors that can handle exposition with fantastic dialog. He also mentions that finding actors that can pull it off without sounding like they're reading the line up of tomorrow's baseball game is also one of the largest challenges that a director can face.
I wholeheartedly agree.
Finding the razor's edge of being interesting, yet finding the unique ability to bring people up to speed, with lots of details, storytelling and NOT LOSE PEOPLE's INTEREST is incredibly hard as the many show that fail to succeed at this can attest to.
Kudos to the majestic and intrigue-weaving writing crew of "24" for what is easily some of the best expositionary dialog in entertainment today.
-- (Mike Hears "JAWS" Theme Music and Sees a Pouting Lip On It's Way Back): Let's get one thing straight: I HATE the character of CHLOE. She has been a whiner, a purpose-stacking complainer to the level that makes me want to reach through my 26" screen and strangle her. And that's what many people LOVE about her! A friend of mine was also referring to the time span between Michelle's re-recruting call to Chloe and Chloe's arrival being magically short. I'll have to go back and review that, but it sounds like he has a valid argument. In any case, I wasn't all that satisfied with her coming back and we can only hope that he contracts one of the many computer-borne viruses she is privy to.
-- Newspaper Headline: "One Armed Drugged Up Woman Overtakes a Ridiculously Verile CTU Agent": While I enjoy the ride that "24" provides, this one had me a bit mystified. Dina, the drugged up, one-good-arm housewife/terrorist has just somehow overtaken Jack Bauer, CTU agent and man that lead the hunt for Marwan. And here they are on a plate. Marwan knew base on instinct that this was a farce - and so did we. I have no idea how they thought this would pan out, but it does service to put Jack in the spotlight again. To jump topic for a moment, one of the great things about "The Grid" was that "the stars" weren't always in the spotlight and were even often not in frame for a very long period of time. This isn't so much a tic I want to pick on the show, but more of some common sense that has to be worked around. I look forward to see what's going to happen and perhaps that's exactly what the writers think when they make scenes like this.
-- The Peril of Tunnels: Can you name me any one film that shows good things happening in tunnels? I didn't think so. How is it that if a 35 year-old web designer can know this -- that CTU doesn't know this?
-- The Pilot Engages: There are many ways that the pilot can be "inserted" into the story. Will he be a supplement for Air Force One (probably not because they already did that with Harrison Ford). Will he be the pilot for one of the jets that will be providing support dover for Air Force One? Will he be a replacement for one of the agents carrying the "football?" Is he going to take the fighter jet shown and crash it into something or fire it's missles at something? The possibilities go on and on and I am eager to see what awaits.
-- The Visceral Death of Dina: Sadly, that picture is one that we're trying to erase in Iraq, but that is something that I would imagine happened often. Dina's death, while short and surely not sweet, is something we can take as a signpost of what is ahead - the "bad guys will act swiftly, without mercy, and unless we step to the plate and take those gallant swings, all will be lost.
3 and 2, 1 out in the 7th with bases loaded, guys. Time to get a hit.
Another great episode that I think I will go back and rewatch the last 20 minues off. So much happened in that last set of time that I'm sure I've missed something that I wanted to comment on. Look for additions to this insert soon.
With that said, let's get to this week's edition of the "24" Blow by Blow...
Blow by Blow Review: "24" March 21st, 2005
-- A Convinced President: Recently, my father told me how much he disliked this President that is being used in this rendition of "24" and I think I share a little bit of that. He's been very mechanical, almost painted as a secondary character though. I wonder if that might have something to do with the fact that we don't really "know" this President as intimately as knew David Palmer of previous seasons. In any case, this President states that he is convinced that another event of terrorism domestically will cause great civil unrest. Huh? I guess I have to almost completely disagree there. While surely we will tear eather apart at many times, if anything history has shown that in times of national crisis, we almost, across the board, band together to unite (even if for a sadly short period of time). The beginnings of the World Wars, catastrophic events like any of the natural disasters that have befallen our nation (hell, even OTHER nations), 9/11 - the list goes on. Why is this President so sure of this? I've no idea why.
-- "Can I Talk to You For a Second? Forget About the Dude Bleeding Out for a Minute" I was almost floored when Jack approaches the medtech that's caring for Paul (even though my disdain for him has been documented multiple times) and asks if he can speak to him for a minute? How about letting the dude have the attention that he needs to care for he patient? :) I also wonder where the direct pressure to Paul's gunshot wounds is. I'm a First Aid Certified Jackass and even I know that :)
-- What "24" is All About - Anticipation: One of the coolest pieces of "24" is the sense of anticipation that the show creates. Everytime any one of the characters says the words, "Well, there's only thing thing we can do", my heart swells and the anicipation factor kicks in. In this case, it was Michelle that said these words before issuing the overriding orders to ...
Send Jack in undercover? No! To send in Tony undercover? No! To send in Edgar undercover? No! (at this point my head is ready to explode and finally Michelle announces...)
"We will be sending Dina Araz in undercover...." (a bit of a let down because it's not involving Jack)
"...with JackBauer in tow as her hostage."
(YES!!!)
One of the other hallmarks of this show is also that though this move makes tactically little sense, and provides almost sure DOOM in Jack's case (I can't believe that Marwan would really not kill him on sight, but more on that later), it gets your heart racing and grabs you attention span by the suspenders and rakes you along at rollercoaster pace. That is the magic of this show, folks.
-- Ignored Pilot: Looking back at my previous entries, I have sadly almost completely ignored the "Pilot in uniform" that has been poking his head in for the last 3-4 hours of showtime and this is the episode that begins his journey into character clarity. We've learned his ruthlessness, we've learned just enough of the plot to make us completely interested in what he's going to be doing over the next couple of hours of story, and more importantly - he's one of the whitest guys on the planet - complete with red hair. Who is he, what is his story? Why is he bending sideways to assist a radical muslim sect to cause chaos? All of this and more is on it's way and like so many other aspects of this show: It is intoxicating.
-- You Say Dori, Captioning Says Laurie: For whatever reason, the captioning in this episode shows the pilots' wife's name as "Laurie" rather than the "Dori" that is used in the audio. More intrigue and oddities all thanks to "24". :)
-- Dina's Terminal Cliche': You can almost see the red "X" put over the visual portion of Dina the instant that she agrees to assist Michelle and CTU in the mission to take Jack to Marwan. As we see below, it sucks for Dina for me to be right.
-- Exposition Sucks in Television - Usually: I was listening to the new DVD commentary track for STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT recently, and Director Jonathan Frakes mentions that STAR TREK has always been great at providing actors that can handle exposition with fantastic dialog. He also mentions that finding actors that can pull it off without sounding like they're reading the line up of tomorrow's baseball game is also one of the largest challenges that a director can face.
I wholeheartedly agree.
Finding the razor's edge of being interesting, yet finding the unique ability to bring people up to speed, with lots of details, storytelling and NOT LOSE PEOPLE's INTEREST is incredibly hard as the many show that fail to succeed at this can attest to.
Kudos to the majestic and intrigue-weaving writing crew of "24" for what is easily some of the best expositionary dialog in entertainment today.
-- (Mike Hears "JAWS" Theme Music and Sees a Pouting Lip On It's Way Back): Let's get one thing straight: I HATE the character of CHLOE. She has been a whiner, a purpose-stacking complainer to the level that makes me want to reach through my 26" screen and strangle her. And that's what many people LOVE about her! A friend of mine was also referring to the time span between Michelle's re-recruting call to Chloe and Chloe's arrival being magically short. I'll have to go back and review that, but it sounds like he has a valid argument. In any case, I wasn't all that satisfied with her coming back and we can only hope that he contracts one of the many computer-borne viruses she is privy to.
-- Newspaper Headline: "One Armed Drugged Up Woman Overtakes a Ridiculously Verile CTU Agent": While I enjoy the ride that "24" provides, this one had me a bit mystified. Dina, the drugged up, one-good-arm housewife/terrorist has just somehow overtaken Jack Bauer, CTU agent and man that lead the hunt for Marwan. And here they are on a plate. Marwan knew base on instinct that this was a farce - and so did we. I have no idea how they thought this would pan out, but it does service to put Jack in the spotlight again. To jump topic for a moment, one of the great things about "The Grid" was that "the stars" weren't always in the spotlight and were even often not in frame for a very long period of time. This isn't so much a tic I want to pick on the show, but more of some common sense that has to be worked around. I look forward to see what's going to happen and perhaps that's exactly what the writers think when they make scenes like this.
-- The Peril of Tunnels: Can you name me any one film that shows good things happening in tunnels? I didn't think so. How is it that if a 35 year-old web designer can know this -- that CTU doesn't know this?
-- The Pilot Engages: There are many ways that the pilot can be "inserted" into the story. Will he be a supplement for Air Force One (probably not because they already did that with Harrison Ford). Will he be the pilot for one of the jets that will be providing support dover for Air Force One? Will he be a replacement for one of the agents carrying the "football?" Is he going to take the fighter jet shown and crash it into something or fire it's missles at something? The possibilities go on and on and I am eager to see what awaits.
-- The Visceral Death of Dina: Sadly, that picture is one that we're trying to erase in Iraq, but that is something that I would imagine happened often. Dina's death, while short and surely not sweet, is something we can take as a signpost of what is ahead - the "bad guys will act swiftly, without mercy, and unless we step to the plate and take those gallant swings, all will be lost.
3 and 2, 1 out in the 7th with bases loaded, guys. Time to get a hit.
Another great episode that I think I will go back and rewatch the last 20 minues off. So much happened in that last set of time that I'm sure I've missed something that I wanted to comment on. Look for additions to this insert soon.
posted by Mike Wilkerson - 2GuysTalking at 9:24 AM
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