24 Season 4 Starring Kiefer Sutherland
Jack has Been Fired but CTU Soon Needs Him Back Again
Sep 21, 2009
Jack has been sacked from the Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU) due to his heroin addiction but has since gotten clean and is working for the Secretary of Defence. But Los Angeles is under threat from a new terrorist plot and President Keller leans on CTU to find the terrorists before it is too late.
24 Season 4's Plot and New Look Counter Terrorist Unit
CTU has been re-staffed and redesigned with Chloe O’Brian (Mary Lynn Rajskub) being the only one from a previous seasons still working there. The new Director of CTU Field Operations is Erin Driscoll (Alberta Watson), the woman who fired Jack, and amongst the other members of staff are Curtis Manning (Roger Cross) and Sarah Gavin (Lana Parrilla).
Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) now works for Secretary of Defence James Heller (William Devane) and unbeknown to his boss has been seeing his daughter Audrey Raines (Kim Raver). Jack seems to finally be moving on from his tragic past, but Jack is quickly called back to CTU after a new terrorist threat is uncovered.
New Life Old Problems
Jack Bauer knows better than anyone that working for CTU is not a job that can be hung up at the end of the day; the job has claimed his wife and lost him his daughter. One of 24’s many strengths is its ability to show that Jack Bauer is one of those rare people that will do whatever is necessary to complete their goals.
This season of 24 puts more emphasis on torturing those suspected on being tied in with the terrorist behind the days attacks which caused a lot of controversy when the season was first aired. Jack suspects that Audrey’s ex-husband Paul Raines (James Frain) might be involved and tortures him to get information. This is something that obviously shocks Audrey but Jack continues regardless.
The new look CTU is impressive but it has once again been infiltrated (no surprise there) and once more the audience is left to wonder why CTU can analyse the smallest piece of information to track a terrorist but they can’t locate one within their ranks. However, that aside the new staff seem to believe that Jack has his own agenda and fail to listen to him allowing suspects to slip through their fingers.
Fortunately later on familiar characters appear, ones that have worked with Jack before and know when to listen to him.
The season is separated into multiple threats, CTU and Jack struggle to deal with each threat before the next one looms. President Keller (Geoff Pierson) is not as prominent a figure in the seasons’ events as Palmer was, and his Vice President Charles Logan (Gregory Itzin) seems far to weedy and nervous to run the country in the event something happens to the President.
Despite the familiar premise: Jack and CTU trying to stop terrorists doing bad things, 24 knows exactly how to keep the audience on the edge of their seats. Multiple plots are running throughout the series, so that neither the characters nor the audience get an opportunity to catch their breath.
Each Day of 24 can be seen as an enclosed series and shows a snapshot in the lives of Jack, and the others. Life continues between each Day, and the audience will have questions left over from previous seasons but they are questions that don’t get answered. This approach is more true to life; after all, people who have been in proximity to one another don’t need to talk about things that have happened in the past unless they have some relevance. This means that people unfamiliar with the series could start watching even though the show is now in its fourth series.
24 remains one of the best shows on televisions, and is one of the rare breed of show that (like Lie to Me and Dexter) has an excellent premise that allows the skilled cast to shine.
4/5
Fantastic real time drama that keeps delivering the goods
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