24 Season 2 Starring Kiefer Sutherland
CTU Agent is About to Have Another Really Bad Day
Sep 21, 2009 Christopher Sharman
Jack Bauer has become estranged from his daughter Kim following the events of Day 1, and is struggling to put his life back together. Things take a turn for the worse when he is called back into CTU after terrorists plan to detonate a nuclear weapon in Los Angeles is uncovered.
24 Season 2's Plot with New and Returning Characters
Set roughly 18 months after Season (and Day) 1, Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) is trying to reconnect with his daughter Kim (Elisha Cuthbert) following the tragedy at the end of the last season. Jack is called back to CTU after a terrorist plot to smuggle in and detonate a nuclear weapon in Los Angeles is discovered.
CTU has been re-staffed but some familiar faces from Day 1 are still there like Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard) and George Mason (Xavier Berkeley) the Head of CTU. There are also several new faces including Michelle Dessler (Reiko Aylesworth), and the reoccurring character from Day 1, Ryan Chappelle (Paul Schulze) reappears.
Out in the world, Kate Warner (Sarah Wynter) uncovers evidence that suggests her sister’s fiancé might be a Middle Eastern terrorist.
David Palmer (Dennis Haysbert) is now the President of the United States and leans heavily on CTU and Jack Bauer to find the bomb, and who is responsible. If another nation is behind the attack on the United States then he will not hesitated to retaliate against them.
Kim Bauer works for a family as basically a babysitter, and is told to get out of LA by Jack. She takes the family’s daughter with her after it becomes obvious that the father is being abusive, but the father won't let his daughter go easily.
Writers Finding Their Form
The writers of 24 Season 1 have learned from the flaws from Day 1. They have obviously become better at telling a story which has numerous sub plots interconnected and running parallel to the main plot. In Day 2 the majority of the cast from the previous day return, life has happened between the two days but the audience is not let in on what has been happening for the characters during those 18 months unless it is relevant.
This is the day in which Jack Bauer and David Palmer’s relationship develops further. They learned to trust one another in Day 1 (they were acquaintances before the events) and now as President Palmer, he trusts Jack implicitly, and relies on him and CTU to discover where the bomb is.
24 is able to bring out the best in its cast.
Palmer’s now ex-wife Sherry (Penny Johnson Jerald), who was so irritating in Day 1, also returns. Jerald played Kasidy Yates in Deep Space Nine and was thoroughly likable and loyal, in 24 she is scheming, manipulative and thoroughly unpleasant. But that is the character that the show needs. She had her own agenda and is more than a little bitter at the way things turned out following the events of Day 1.
Nina Myers (Sarah Clarke) also reappears and is able to manipulate Palmer into giving her a pardon for the future murder of Jack Bauer. The President weeps as he is forced to give in to her demand and wait for the inevitable shot as his friend is murdered.
24 Season 2 is not yet perfect; however, it is an improvement on Season 1. Essentially it is still split into 2 parts, with the first half revolving around finding the bomb and the second being about learning who was responsible for supplying it to the terrorists.
As before there are a few ‘filler’ episodes that don’t move the story along dramatically, however, those episodes are in the minority. Sherry Palmer is a character that the audience will love to hate. Jack’s daughter Kim is shown as a trouble magnet, only she could have so many problems escaping LA before the bomb is due to detonate. Day 2 is more action packed than its predecessor and sees the demise of several of Day 1’s characters and develops into a more action-packed season.
4/5
The writers find their feet and CTU struggle to stop the bomb exploding and the President from retaliating against an innocent nation.
24 Season 2
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