24: Days Go By

Around the time of its third season, 24 became a huge hit. It had amassed a good-sized following in its first two years, but it exploded on Day Three and became a cultural phenomenon. Suddenly, people were making the CTU phone chime their cell phone ringtones, politicians were referencing the show, and parodies were made. Many many parodies. As much as I love this show, there is a lot to parody, and this post is about both the triumphs and tragedies of the series (though all political discussions will be reserved for the next post).

As I've said, the real-time aspect allows the writers to tell very tight and very intense stories, and although it is in many ways a gimmick, it is a gimmick that works very well and achieved its goal. 24 effectively mixed action with political intrigue over the course of (most of) the days and the real-time element gave both sets of stories immediacy. The time constraints often required Bauer, his coworkers, and government officials to choose between two (or more) very undesirable situations in order to stop teh various terrorist threats. Jack once held up a convenience store in order to stall a person who likely had information on that day's terrorist plot. There was also a time when President Palmer, against his better judgment, allowed his (crazy) wife to try and "handle" a situation that could threaten his reelection campaign when it appeared as if there were no other options. Some spoilers below.

Unfortunately, because each season involves a terrorist plot and a political plot, there are only so many things that can happen before the show has to go back to the well for ideas. I can't even remember how many times there has been a mole in CTU or in the government. Granted, there was a mole plotline in Season 5 that was effective both because of who the mole was and that the identity revelation was also the revelation of the existence of the mole. But aside from that one, no other mole story has lived up to the Season 1 mole story. Also, being President in the 24 universe should come with the world's greatest life insurance policy, because there is a near-100% mortality rate. Finally, nuclear weapons are the most recurring threat used on the show. The best nuclear plotline was Season 2, but that was mainly because it was novel. The Season 4 nuclear storyline was very good, but it did not strike me the same way as the Season 2 story did because there were multiple small (relatively) threats in 4 as opposed to the single enormous threat in 2. And, um, let's not talk about the Season 6 nuclear storyline (or Season 6 at all, for that matter).

I'll admit that 24 tends to sacrifice character for story. I'm not saying that people act out of character in order to further the story (although I do believe that has happened once or twice); rather, the show is plot-driven, and often glosses over characterization because there either isn't time or it isn't warranted. Normally, I would not let a show off so easily for sacrificing character development, but on a show like 24 I'm willing to let it slide to a degree. We don't see much of the characters in a home setting (though there are some exceptions, and one of the earliest scenes in the series is one of them), so we don't always see how their home lives shape their work lives. The characters are so busy stopping terrorist threats that there is little time left over to delve deep into their personalities. Personalities show themselves in the characters' chocies, but we usually aren't privy to the events that made the various characters believe the things they believe.

Every now and then, we see a bit of the various characters' personal lives. The best examples are Jack's relationship with his wife Teri in Season 1 (which was integral to the plot) and Tony and Michelle's relationship. Tony and Michelle's courting and marriage was not integral to the plot, but it was an effective background story that helped give them a human side and affected some of the choices they made (especially in Season 3). Sadly, adding personal lives to the mix didn't always work. The best (or should I say worst?) example was Chloe's pregnancy in Season 6. I don't know if I just didn't find it compelling or if it was written like a soap opera storyline, but that story absolutely infuriated me (and I like Chloe). Also, because Kim was usually not associated with CTU, most of her storylines were rather silly.

Finally, I will end with something that will carry over into the next post. Jack seems to have only two tones of voice: gruff and loud. And torture is his answer for nearly any situation, even if the person he is about to torture is a civilian. This is probably the aspect of the series that is the most heavily parodied. This is partly because the torture aspect is at the center of the political debates about this show. But with the frequency and intensity of some of the scenes, they tend to be the ones that get ingrained in the fans' minds. Jack's humorless demeanor is heavily referenced when fans talk about the series. Often, they try and pull off their best Bauer impression as these videos will demonstrate (I'm the guy in the squirrel costume):





Up next: A rare political post...

LOST: When Are We?

LOST started its fifth season on Wednesday, and although the second hour was only good (rather than great), this year is shaping up to be very good and very satisfying. When Ben moved the wheel, not only did the island move in space, but it also had temporal effects on the characters. Every now and then, Locke, Sawyer, Juliet, Daniel, Charlotte, Miles, Rose, Bernard, and the expendables are thrown into a different point in time. The opening scene took place in the 70s or 80s and actually showed the DHARMA Orientation video scientist doing things that were not on a screen. And the scene ended with Daniel being on the construction crew of the Orchid Station.

This time-shifting will allow the writers to tell stories without relying on flashbacks/flashforwards, and scenes can focus on dead characters and people who are not our main characters. We will be able to see Rousseau arrive on the island, the storm that brought the Black Rock to the center of the jungle, and possibly the origins of the Others and Charles Widmore.

The off-island story with Ben, Desmond, and the Oceanic 6 was good for the most part, but I just want to see them get back to the island. Not enough time was spent on Kate and Sun, who are each involved with something most likely involving Widmore. Hurly got a lot of screentime, and even though I know that the men hunting him and Sayid are very likely associated with Widmore, the whole "on the lam" story just wasn't that exciting. However, Ben's part of the story is great, partly because Ben is always awesome and also because of the return of Ms. Hawking. Based on her role in Desmond's consciousness-leaping episode "Flashes Before Your Eyes", she seems like she will be a character with a lot of answers.

This wasn't the strongest season opener (the pilot will probably never be surpassed as the best opener), but it still had me very excited to see what happens next.

Up next: The days...

24: Events Occur In Real Time

24 was set to premiere right around the 9/11 attacks, and while that horrible event likely had a short-term detrimental effect on the show (it pushed back its premiere and required some editing for sensitivity), I can't help but think how much the resulting cultural change in our country has fostered a show like 24. The series follows Jack Bauer, an agent of the CIA's (fictional) Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU). If you couldn't tell from the name, CTU's purpose is to monitor, intercept, and prevent terrorist activity and keep America safe. But this wasn't what the press reported on in the early days. The format got the attention.

Each season is comprised of 24 one-hour episodes, each representing one hour of one day in the life of Jack Bauer. Over the course of a single day, we Bauer and CTU as they learn of a terrorist plot, follow various leads, and attempt to stop said plot. The time constraint is both a strength and a weakness for the show; on one hand, it gives an immediacy to the threat at hand, and requires that Bauer and his team act as fast as possible to figure out and neutralize the threat. On the other hand (and let's not get into the logistical nightmare of having Bauer navigate Los Angeles as fast as he does in a car), the writers have to fill 24 hours, and sometimes we have to endure lulls in the main story or B stories we wish we could forget about (case in point: Teri's amnesia and almost anything having to do with Kim, with special mention going to the cougar). Still, in the first five seasons at least, the good far outweighs the bad, and 24 delivered some of the most action-packed and intense television in recent memory.

I still find it amazing how different the terrorists were in the first season, because it was written before the advent of Homeland Security and the color-coded terror alert system. But in Season 1, pretty much every villain was white (this did change, but even in the most recent seasons, the show isn't nearly as racist as some people make it out to be, but more on that in a subsequent post). The Season 1 villains included American mercenaries and Serbian nationalists who were intent on assassinating Senator David Palmer, who was likely going to become the first black Presidential candidate (sorry Barack). Season 1 followed Bauer trying to track down the assassins, who he and CTU initially thought were planning to kill Palmer for racial reasons, but as the season unfolded, a greater mystery was revealed regarding the motives. The first season also established the eventual friendship between Bauer and Palmer that would be mutually beneficial for the two characters, and set up the pivotal characters of Tony Almeida (a fan favorite) and Nina Myers.

Although I believe that the fifth season is the best because of the political story, Season 1 does have many of the best elements, everything was new (once again, more on this subject in a subsequent post), and the story was extremely personal to its two main characters. The next seasons involved various other terrorist plots, ranging from a nuclear bomb being brought to Los Angeles, biological warfare, and chemical warfare. The political storylines have also run the gamut from showing Palmer's first term as president, a rocky reelection campaign, and government corruption.

24 is nowhere near perfect, but for its first five seasons, it knew how to deliver thrills and twists extremely effectively.

Up next: Rise and fall...

The Time Has Come

I was thinking about what my next post series should be about (one of my friends suggested doing one on superhero movies, which, if I do, will come after seeing Watchmen), and I have decided to do one on 24. I find this particularly appropriate because in less than 2 days, Barack Obama will be sworn in as the 44th President of the United States, and this actually has two connections to 24. First, 24 was known in its early seasons for featuring a black president (Palmer For President!!), and second, the show was very much a product of the Bush administration. The show dealt with terrorism, torture, and shady politics.

I have not yet started watching the new season, so this series will be more about the rise and fall of the show (oh Season 6, how the mighty have fallen). I will examine how it started out as a novel way to tell a story, how it became a cultural phenomenon, and then, in the eyes of many, a cultural punchline.

Up next: The longest day of his life...

Fables: The Tales

About 80 issues of Fables have been released, and so much has changed from its humble beginnings. The series began by telling short stories about how the Fables were coping with living in the mundane world. The first few arcs each took on different genres and gave them a unique spin; the very first was a murder mystery, which perplexed a few of the characters because Fables are almost immortal. In addition to being a good story, it effectively set up characters like Bigby Wolf (the Fabletown sheriff), Snow White (the deputy mayor), and Jack of the Tales (a con man). We learned that Bigby is a gruff guy with demons in his past (he is trying to atone for all the harm he did as the Big Bad Wolf) and uncanny detective skills. Snow White is a bit of an ice queen who is willing to set aside her own desires for the greater good of protecting Fabletown. But the story also effectively sets up some of the "rules" of the Fables universe by incorporating them into the mystery.

As I said, Fables are very hard to kill because their strength and fortitude are based on their popularity with the mundies. Someone like Snow White or Cinderella would be nearly impossible to kill because of everything Disney has done for them. Kai, of Hans Christian Anderson's The Snow Queen, on the other hand, may not have it so easy because his story isn't as well known (I am not saying it is obscure, but I'm willing to bet that more people know of Snow White than Kai). Throughout the investigation, Bigby takes the reader to various places in Fabletown, where we see how different characters live. Most are rather poor and have to hold jobs in the mundy world. Some, like Bluebeard (not the pirate), escaped with their fortunes and are able to live fairly comfortably by buying magic glamours to disguise the more fantastic elements of their lifestyles.

The second story goes to the Farm to show the attitude of the Fables who live there. The Farm is almost a prison because none of the residents can ever leave, and it serves as a penal colony for human Fables who break rules; Jack has had to spend many years on the Farm doing hard labor to pay for his crimes against Fabletown. The next story showed how far the Fables are willing to go to protect their identities when a nosy reporter thought he discovered their secret (he was wrong, but the Fables didn't want any more attention on them than necessary).

These early stories were certainly good reads; they took interesting characters and allowed them to bend the normal rules of the genres they emulated. Having access to magic made various aspects of their lives and jobs easier, but it also comes with responsibilities that we don't have. Magic is not the quick fix that many children's stories portray it as, and high prices often come with using it.

But after these early stories, a much grander story started to emerge. The Eisner Award-winning "March of the Wooden Soldiers" (which remains my favorite arc of the entire series, even though many things that have come after it have been of equal quality) warned the Fables that the Adversary was beginning to set his sights on Fabletown and the mundane world. A group of the Adversary's psychopathic wooden soldiers showed up in New York to wage war on Fabletown. Fortunately for our characters, the Adversary made the classic mistake of underestimating his small band of opponents and did not anticipate a strong resistance. After the failed initial takeover, each side began preparing for war, with the Adversary amassing his grand armies and the Fables using what little fable power and any mundane abilities they could muster.

It was at this point that the juxtaposition of the fantastic and mundane really began to matter, because the Adversary wrote off the usefulness of mundy technology. He saw it as primitive compared to magic spells, enchanted war tools, and fantastic creatures. However, in the Fables' centuries in New York, they learned that not everything in the mundane world was so mundane.

Up next: Figuring it out...

Battlestar Galactica: Great Notions

And that's why I need to remember to trust the writers. Usually, I am pretty good at telling myself they have a plan and that even if things don't make sense right away, the writers deserve the benefit of the doubt. Sometimes this lets me down (Heroes), but most of the time, my faith is rewarded. I know that I aired a lot of grievances about the concept of the Final Five cylons last year, and while not every issue has yet been resolved, Galactica's midseason premiere, "Sometimes A Great Notion", did a lot to put my fears to rest. I still don't believe that the writers planned the idea of the Final Five from the beginning, but the direction they've taken the story in is very surprising and fulfilling. There is still some explaining to do, but it looks like the ultimate answers will be good ones.

But not only did we get insane revelations in this episode, we also got some incredible dramatic tension. Battlestar Galactica is known for being dark and depressing, but this episode really took things to a new level. The discovery of Earth was the biggest morale boost the fleet had ever experienced, but like most of the other good moments on the show, it quickly soured (I think the only good thing that didn't somehow turn out bad was the taking of the tylium asteroid in Season 1; the rendezvous with Pegasus, discovery of New Caprica, and Baltar's trial all led to more problems being created than solved). Earth is a nuclear wasteland, and according to Baltar, it has been for 2,000 years, so the radiation will make the planet uninhabitable for many years to come. Most of the episode follows the various characters as they cope with this heartbreaking discovery. The fleet has spent almost three years looking for a home, living in cramped spaceships with little to eat and the constant threat of final annhilation from the cylons. One character loses his/her faith in his/her beliefs, another loses his/her faith in his/her ability to lead, and another loses his/her will to live. Yeah...

It looks like the final nine episodes will follow the fleet and the rebel cylons as the follow in the footsteps of their ancestors. With no set goal in mind, they are venturing out into open space to find any new home they can. The 13 tribes of Kobol did the same when they left Kobol, and somehow were able to settle on 13 different planets and make their civilizations. All of this has happened before, and all of it will happen again. Again...

Up next: Life in the mundy world...