Why is it that this season of 24, which is the most cartoonish, over the top, and amoral of the show’s entire run — I think it must be in Kiefer Sutherland’s contract that his character, the indestructible Jack Bauer, has to torture somebody at least once an episode — is also the most compelling and exciting the show has been in several years? Possibly since the first or second season? Seriously, last night’s double-episode “event” had me feeling something I’ve not experienced for a very long time while watching a TV show or movie, a tightness in my belly that was also kind of hollow and fluttery. Now what the heck do you suppose that could that have been? Oh, yeah, I remember what you call that feeling: suspense. Genuine, edge-of-your-seat suspense. And that’s not all. I felt other emotions, too, strong ones, including actual sorrow at the end of the night’s second episode. Enough to produce tears even. I’m amazed and a little bit baffled, considering I was ready to give up on this show only a couple weeks ago. Still, as effective as last night’s segments may have been, the show is definitely starting to creak…

[Warning: Spoilers follow. Don’t read on if you taped it and don’t what to know what happens.]

For an example of what I’m talking about, did anyone not know that Jack was going to shoot RoboCop‘s wife when the threat of shooting Robo himself proved ineffective? Predictable as hell, and yet kudos to Kiefer for appearing to genuinely struggle with the decision.

Here’s another one: wouldn’t the chemical-weapons field unit have some kind of portable containment device instead of having to run through a crowded hospital carrying the damn nerve-gas cannister? At least a military-grade jumbo-sized ziplock bag or something?

And isn’t it funny how Jack’s daughter Kim shows up at CTU just about the same time the terrorists infiltrate the complex? Remember, this is the gal that got kidnapped every other episode of the first three seasons. She’s a jinx, I tell you, and somebody better clue in Pony-Boy while he’s still got time to escape. (On a positive note, Elisha Cuthbert looks really hot with the new longer hairstyle, and the reunion scene between her and Kiefer was nicely written and acted.)
Has anyone noticed that CTU’s internal security people wear red shirts? Yeah, that’d be reassuring for the folks who work there…

During that close-up shot of President Logan reconciling with the First Lady (another very nicely done sequence, by the way), did anyone else notice that the Commander-in-Chief has three earring holes in his left lobe? The Prez must play in a band on the weekends or something… (This isn’t a sign of deteoriation, just something I found amusing.)

On a more serious note, I’m greatly enjoying the fact that 24 seems to be hiring a lot of actors we haven’t heard much from since the ’80s. The show stars Kiefer “Lost Boys” Sutherland, of course, and last night’s episodes featured guest appearances from the aforementioned Peter Weller and C. Thomas Howell (very nice to see them again, especially Weller, whom I’ve always liked). And also appearing this season in a semi-regular role is Sean Astin. Everyone these days knows him for The Lord of the Rings, but he was an 80s-vintage Goonie long before he was a hobbit. I don’t know if 24‘s producers are deliberately seeking out these, shall we say, “vintage” actors or if it’s just some kind of coincidence, but it’s good to see these familiar faces again.

Lastly, a note about that final scene I mentioned, the one that brought me to tears: the bastards killed Edgar, gentle, fat, pathetic Edgar, the Porkins of 24 whose only crime was having a crush on Chloe, the resident sociopath who’s never said a kind word when a snarky one would suffice. This show’s producers have a long track record of whacking likable characters, but this time it really sucks. Edgar was like a puppy, all wiggly-tailed and just wanting to be liked. he was an innocent, and he certainly didn’t deserve to be nerve-gassed like all the nameless cannon fodder characters. At least his death gave the actress who plays Chloe a reason to express an emotion other than constipated loathing, though — in an episode filled with good performances, hers was a real stand-out as Chloe watched the guy she’d been needlesly mean to only moments before gasp out his last breath while looking straight into her eyes through airtight windows. I predict Chloe will suffer some major guilt in next week’s episode, blaming herself for his death because she was the one who initiated the lockdown that left him outside the gas-proof room. And I further predict that good ol’ Samwise will sacrifice himself in some redeemingly heroic act.

Whatever happens, though, I’ll be watching. The bastards have got me right where they want me… and after I was this close to breaking out of this particular habit, too…