boy bauer

i finished watching 24 season 4 a couple of weeks back, and i have been itching to write something about one of my favorite tv shows ever since.

problem is, i couldn’t finish one paragraph without citing at least one significant plot twist. and we all know that 24 operates with a storyline that restricts the flow of information, in that we the audience know as much information that the characters know. and you all know i'm not one to spoil your viewing pleasure with revelations, no matter how small or insignificant. i drop hints sure, but that’s as far as it goes.

i won’t drop hints here. so you can read on. honest.

the first tv channel to show 24 in the phils was rpn 9. during that time, the only thing i knew about the tv series was that it had this gimmick of telling the story real-time. that is, no time manipulation—time is neither expanded nor compressed. what happens in five minutes of story time happens in five minutes of actual time.

cool, i thought.

never got around to watching it though, because abc 5 was the only local channel worth watching that time mainly because of enterprising shows like the misadventures of maverick and ariel, and past shows like the exchange (pero kahit abc 5 na yun, konti lang yung ganung klaseng palabas). i was into cable channels, because they had more brains and brawn. simply put, they were way, way more entertaining.

the show, so i heard, did not get an audience, and was dropped from the roster sometime towards the 12th hour (episode 12). the few audience it had, if it did have any, must have cursed the high heavens.

axn premiered the show much later, and i happened to arrive one night just in time to catch it. i had no intentions of watching it really, but the tv was tuned in on axn when i turned it on. being the couch potato that i am, i didn’t bother getting up to look for the dang remote. was too comfortable in the magic blue sofa (still have it).

the first episode of day 1, as 24’s seasons have become known these days, blew me away. i knew i was hooked when the story clock hit 1:00 am. the next 23 weeks, i was home before 9:00 pm, thursdays. the latest i arrived home was 8:58 pm. didn't miss a friggin’ second.

dragged my wife into watching the show, and later a few friends. then more friends. and the rest is history. a 24 cult has been created within our network of friends.

day 1 has always been my favorite, and although the series has a new contract for two more seasons, i firmly believe that the first season cannot be topped. the stakes raised on day 1 were just much too high. the first african-american with a real shot at the presidency—senator david palmer—was targeted for assassination. jack bauer’s family—wife teri and daughter kim—was constantly in peril. jack’s people at ctu—nina myers, tony almeida, et al.—may be involved in both. a ghost from the past coming back to haunt the principal characters.

day 2 saw jack averting a nuclear bomb being detonated in los angeles. in season one, jack was always on his feet, reacting to what the situation gave him. in season two, we see more of jack’s capabilities. moreover, the season follows up on some of the threads left by day one, and jack confronts an arch enemy and swallows a bitter pill because of it. that was one of the things i liked about day 2: an arch enemy, thus far jack’s most uber nemesis, is in the picture, and promises to be there for quite a while.

day 3 revealed the true jack: clinical, calculating, unorthodox. he was always a step ahead in most situations. he took risks. some paid off, some did not. this time, jack had to stop the use of a weaponized virus. what i like about this season is that it brings the first three seasons to a close, and unlike the last seconds of days 1 and 2, this day ended with jack simply breaking down in tears after a long day’s work stopping the virus from being unleashed.

that ending implied that 24 was coming back. for more. in day 3, jack was at his best. he was damn decisive and efficient. brutally clinical. only his solitary breakdown at the end of the day hinted at his exasperation and frustration. when a call came in, he just had to collect himself, and go back to work.

but when 24 returned for season 4, jack is no longer with ctu, preferring a desk job with the department of defense. the only returning characters this time were jack and chloe o’brien, the ctu computer geek. the threat: a kidnapping of a high government official. or so they thought. or so i thought.

day 4 fundamentally uses the same narrative infrastructures and stylistic systems of the past three seasons. the tv series still relies heavily on restricting information, which leads to many strands of the narrative popping out of nowhere. that has always been both its strength and weakness. stylistically, everything is still there—the ticking clock, the handheld camera shots, the episode endings that leave you wanting for more—which makes 24 what it is.

but some things stand out.

for instance, sean callery’s score. he just keeps adding new, pulsating, suspense-filled music every year.

the writing has become brazen. there are no deviations from the existing narrative structures: the script is still very 24-ish, but there are elements that—if you were american and/or arab-american—have proven to be quite controversial. at least that’s what the reviews say.

couch potato alert: if you do not want to screw up your viewing pleasure of 24, do not go to their website, or do not google the show’s reviews until after you’ve seen the entire season. just trust me.

and most importantly, jack has met his match. i initially thought his arch enemy in days 2 and 3 was the uber enemy. then he had to face this dude in day 4. oh man, if jack was cool, clinical, and calculating in day 3, his nemesis in day 4 is much more cool, clinical, and calculating. again, jack is on the reactive mode. his nemesis here is simply always a step ahead of him.

and while day 3 provided closure for the first three seasons, the ending of day 4 fundamentally puts jack bauer’s story in limbo. if i were a writer in the tv series, i'd probably be going, “shit, now what do we do?” with a new two-year contract, and that kind of ending, what indeed will they do?

finally, i know i promised not to drop any hints, but i just have to spill this out: there is a surprise in the last two episodes that, this couch potato observes, brings the seasons one to three in the viewers’ perspective again.

rambling patatas at patatas sa kanto, tapusin nyo na!