24 – The Complete 4th Season

I really wanted to hate 24.

Ever since the first season in 2000, it's been one of those shows that I never got round to watching despite the fact that anyone and everyone kept insisting that I would love it. Now, as petty and as pitifully rebellious as it may sound, when people tell me I'm going to love something my immediate reaction is to hate it, regardless of my true feelings.

So the more time went on, the more deliberate my constant avoidance of the show became. Even as I kept on reading more and more acclaim for the show, I was insistent not to be any part of it. But, here I am presented with Season 4 of the show – my weak protest against 24 about to stand trial against the actual show itself.

Now from my 24-worshiping sister and her boyfriend, I've been informed that Season 4 is one of the 'poorer' seasons. And from the first episode I was already tempted to agree.

It was all cased in heavy exposition and a surprising lack of surprise. But, I stuck with it and from the second episode in, I was annoyingly hooked. In attempting to give a summary of the plot, I'm loathed to give away anything because one of the strengths of the show is the way in which the narrative constantly shifts back and forth.

Without wanting to give a great deal away, the season starts with our hero Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland), a previous employee of the Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU), now working for the Secretary of Defense. He's also shagging his boss's daughter Audrey (Kim Raver) although he's keeping it on the down-low. But it transpires that his CTU days are not over when his boss and his girlfriend get kidnaped by terrorists. But as is the case with 24, it's never as simple as it seems as the kidnap is just the beginning of a chain of events that will bring the country to it's knees in just 24 hours.

I can't remember a show that is quite as life-threateningly addictive as 24. The reason being of course that every episode isn't a self-contained set of events but another episode in a 24-hour long movie, each one ending in a tantalizing cliffhanger. So when each one ends you just have to continue onto the next to see what happens.

Unlike most recent action thriller movies though, 24 is relentlessly exciting and relatively believable. The show is packed to the rafters with jaw-dropping shocks and nail-biting situations, some on a grand scale and others admirably smaller. The emphasis isn't just on big-budget explosions. There are numerously well-crafted suspense sequences that are all the more suspenseful because in 24 there really are no rules. Quite simply, anything can happen.

What 24 focuses on, at least in this season, is a

succession of short-term goals which are slowly revealed to be about something other than what they appear to be. This works to an extent as we're never quite sure where we're heading although half-way through the season, the plot tends to stall somewhat. The writers seem to have run out of mini-plots yet they're also loathed to reveal what the grand scheme of it all actually is so around 7:00-8:00pm there's a definite lull in the proceedings.

Things soon speed up with a wonderfully staged moral dilemma that thrusts us back into the action. While the show is rooted in a more real situation than most action thrillers, it still requires a hefty suspension of disbelief. The character of Jack Bauer isn't just an action hero he's a full-blown superhero. Danger, bullets, the laws of gravity, nothing troubles Jack. So while the topics of terrorist sleeper cells and nuclear warfare may seem easy to believe, our unbreakable leading man always reminds us we're very much in an imagined reality.

It's quite amazing the transformation that Kiefer Sutherland has made from an 80s has-been to a credible lead. He's the anchor of the show and makes for an engaging protagonist. Supporting characters come and go in 24 although turns from Shohreh Aghdashloo, Lukas Haas and Mia Kirshner are all pleasantly diverting.

When it boils down to extras we get some selected Cast/Crew Commentaries on certain episodes, a generous 39 Deleted Scenes, some Cell-Phone Mobisodes, a Behind-the-Scenes Featurette and an interesting Season 5 Prequel which branches Season 4 to Season 5.

It's a well put-together package that helps to reinforce the admirable slickness that typifies 24. Against all my efforts, I found it to be effortlessly thrilling and it has certainly whetted my appetite for the other seasons. It's not rare that I say this but yes, I was wrong. Damnit.

Season Grade: A-

DVD Features Grade: A

Overall Grade: A-