24

24 returns! Having seen the first four hours of the show, I think I can say the season is looking good. Sure, the actual terrorist plots aren’t as shocking as they once were (can you top Tony going rogue/evil?) but they’re still good and at this point, it’s all about the characters.

The president has negotiated a peace treaty with an arabic country (part of the agreement is about no longer building nuclear power) and of course, there is a plot to stop it. And do something worse that remains to be seen. Jack isn’t part of CTU anymore but that doesn’t mean he won’t be sucked into the action anyway. And in the first episode, just as he’s ready to live a quiet life with his daughter, son-in-law (Damon from the Vampire Diaries), and granddaughter (weird to think of Jack as a grandfather), an informant shows up at his door with details about an assassination plot for the arabic president. (Not to worry Kim, he’ll be free in a day!) Back at CTU, the head, a Mr. Hastings seems to be something of an idiot, consistently ignoring sound advice and being hardheaded about every decision (nearly all of which are wrong). Chloe is back (!) because Morris got fired so they need the money. Things aren’t going well for her though because although she’s a genius, the entire computer system runs differently now and she’s having a difficult time getting used to it. There’s also Dana Walsh, another analyst who is not who she says she is (and an old boyfriend has shown up to prove it) and her fiance, Cole, who is a CTU team leader (also, Freddie Prinze Junior, remember him?). Oh, and Renee’s back, only she’s since had a nervous breakdown and left the FBI, only to be called back now because of her expertise (and cover) in a particular Russian group.

Watching Chloe struggle is very interesting since last season she was on the exact opposite end of the spectrum, proving her superiority to FBI analyst Janice. I can’t wait for them to all get their comeuppance for underestimating her (as has happened once already when she was right about the assassination plot and Hastings ignored her). Renee just seems crazy and I’m hoping they go into more about how that happened. Granted, she was anti-torture and then tortured someone last season but still. I wonder if we’ll get to see Morris at some point. Who else, if anyone, will they bring back? There aren’t many options since they’ve killed a number of characters already. Jack as a grandpa…well, he does seem like he’s getting old. I wonder if they’ll ever just replace him because the truth is, it’s going to be hard to believe he’s so good when he doesn’t look like he could possibly move fast enough. I’m also wondering about how important Dana (aka Jenny)’s storyline actually is.

Watching this show makes me miss college. We all used to get together to watch 24 (after I caught up of course).