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Such a simple idea--yet so fiendishly complex in the execution. 24,
as surely everyone knows by now, is a thriller that takes places
over 24 hours, midnight to midnight, in 24 one-hour episodes (well,
45-minute episodes if you subtract the commercials). Everything
takes place in real time, which means no flashbacks, no
flash-forwards, no handy time-dissolves. Every strand of the plot
has to be dovetailed and interlocked so things happen just when they
should, in the right amount of time. Not that easy. Creator Robert
Cochran and his team of writers and directors have done an
impressive job of putting the jigsaw together and keeping the
tension ratcheted up high, as federal agent Jack Bauer (Kiefer
Sutherland) runs around L.A. trying to stall an assassination
attempt on an African American presidential candidate and rescue his
wife and daughter from the clutches of the Balkan baddies. Twists,
turns, revelations, and cliffhangers are tossed at us with
satisfying regularity. It's not perfect: we get some hokey plot
devices (instant amnesia, anybody?). Even so, this is undeniably
mold-breaking TV. Sutherland, rescuing his career from the doldrums
in one heroic leap, fully deserves his Golden Globe. Sets and
locations are artfully deployed, and Sean Callery's score is a powerful,
brooding presence. Like Murder One and The Sopranos, 24 is
one of those series that future TV thrillers will be measured against. |
