No the big splash as last year, but not bad for setting things up. As usual, Jack gets the best moments. Gotta say I was hoping he’d shoot up, but I think we can count on his “cravings” being worked into the plot at regular intervals. At first I thought maybe he had also been infected with the “24 hr virus”. Very nice touch making him an addict.
CLOWdia, aka Drug Lord’s Borther’s Girlfriend, is either dead or will become a key informant to CTU. Maybe we’ll get to see her and Kim running in slow mo… I sure hope Kate didn’t have to sign on for just that 10 second spot!
OK, now for the rolleyes moments:
Anyone not see the “pen of death” coming? Here, bend down a little closer…
The president’s physician is his girlfriend? Uh-uh. They’re obviously not hiding it, so this would be beyond ridiculous.
Kim the computer genius. Yeah, I saw her potential in the previous season. Didn’t everyone else?
I kept on yelling during the awkward scene(s) when the new partner guy (the guy dating Kim) was talking to Jack and wanted to tell him the “big news” about him and Kim:[spoiler]“Oh, by the way, Jack, I’m banging your daughter.”
Yeah. That would have been a real ice breaker. Of course we don’t know if he’s actually “banging” her, but it sounds so appropriate for such a conversation. Trips off the tongue…[/spoiler]
Hopefully one of Kim’s perils this year will be getting kidnapped by a drug-running hairdresser who can do something with that mop. Yikes. Was that cut designed to make one of the most attractive women on TV as muttley as possible? And doinking a stunt double for a New Kid on the Block? Oh HELL no.
On to matters of substance. I really liked the way they used the shot of the hands to bring us up to speed on Tony and Michelle. Not subtle, but well filmed. Michelle is still too damned adoreable.
Please, oh please, let the 2 minute phone call between Jack and Kate be her only appearance this season. If I have to look at her constipated facial twitches as a means of emoting I may have a few problems, since we’re probably not going to get to see a lot of Running Kim this season to balance things out.
When Jack was coughing, sweating and being all unhealthy, I at first thought it was because of the damage to his heart from season 2. Glad to see it’s just simple junky-ism. He can kick that, and even use the harshness of the jones as super-badass ultra power fuel, but a damaged heart is forever.
Is Tony transferring to CIA, or is CTU also headquartered at Langley?
The Palmer and his brother line isn’t all that unbelieveable. Remember, Bobby Kennedy’s first job as a lawyer was serving as Attorney General of the US. Chief of Staff isn’t on too different a level from that.
I have a strong hunch Jack and the Kimdoinker will be having a brief but intense, and quite possibly painful, chat along the lines of “Thou shalt not doink my daughter.” That’ll be fun to see.
Who played the Luis, the Hispanic FBI/CTU/whatever guy at the prison? The one who dragged Salazar from his cell and threatened him.
He’s been in something else and I just can’t place him.
Yeah, this one does seem a little “Peyton Place”-ish.
Three years ago, Kim was an au pair. Could she have gone through college and gotten security clearance to work for CTU in three years?
What is up with all the nepotism? Kim working with Jack, Michelle and Tony still working together, the Prez having his brother as a campaign manager.
Sqaurejaw Partnerpants (snicker). Very nice.
So, Jack’s addicted to heroin now. When he threw his supplies across the room, Ivylad said, “He better pick those up and hide them before someone finds them.”
Yeah it did - kinda. Only for the first episode, since it was also commercial free. I have a hunch that we won’t see this next week.
And according to the official 24 site, Kim has a GED and an associates degree in computer science. The position she has is some kind of entry level, super low-level post. Whether any of us find that more believable is up to the individual, I guess.
The timeline doesn’t seem unreasonable for Kim to have an associates degree. After being crazy girl in Series 2, she settles down and gets a GED, and certainly an associates is meant to be finished well within 3 years (and from the cold shoulder(s), I’d say she’s still fairly new to CTU). So, quite plausable, even for Kim.
I’m curious about why three years. (?) It appears that Jack and the Pres are both having relapse issues from their “day” three years ago. If there’s been any conversation about anything BUT that “day” three years ago I’ve missed it.
Sure, some time has passed for all these new relationships and people to be possible, but why three years? Is it to allow Kim to have aged into an “adult”? Does this put things toward the end of the Pres’s term?
What’s so important about three years? I had looked forward to seven seasons worth being called “Week.”
This is just an assumption - but I’ll spoiler-box it anyway.
[spoiler]I would assume that it’s three years later because it’ll now be about re-election time for Palmer. That would give him a reason to travel around more.
[/quote]
Zeldar, Jack isn’t experiencing any after-effects from his day three years ago. The audience isn’t yet privy what has transpired during those three years, but based on what people said during the show, it appears that Jack went undercover and while undercover somehow became a heroin addict.
It seems that Chase knows, but most everyone else doesn’t know.
It’s clear that this season’s episodes will completely revolve around Kim. The 3 years was necessary for her to finish her GED, BS, and then get a PhD in Computer Science. It’s Dr. Kim, if you must know. Forget all the useless subplot shit about Jack ad Palmer. This is all about Kim, baby!!
That jogs my memory better, Algernon, and does help explain some things. Thanks.
And John Mace, I think you have the main point nailed down. I think it would be neat if Kim, Sherry, and Nina are in cahoots with CLOWdia and their whole scheme has to do with the ERA and Cosmo covers.
Oh, and the brother to Palmer is going to wind up being hired to impersonate the brother, and he’s actually under mind control of the Dennis Hopper family who are indignant about being wiped out last season.
First the Sally (“Sure, we all do!”) Struthers Institute, then a little Devry, a little ITT, and topped off with a degree from the University of Phoenix == instant computer genius.
[ul]
[li]Jack Bauer is about to go through the longest day of his life… again. [/li]
[li]Terrorists are up to no good in Los Angeles… again. [/li]
[li]David Palmer has trouble getting his staff to do what he wants… again. [/li]
[li]There’s a mole at CTU… again. [/li]
[li]Kim Bauer is in jeopardy… again. [/li]
[li]Did I miss the memo? When did Kiefer Sutherland agree to co-star in “Groundhog Day: The Series”? [/li][/ul]
other gems from this review:
>And Kim Bauer has been miraculously transformed from a scantily clad teenage idiot into a sensibly dressed CTU computer expert.The writers try to hand-wave away the role change by saying Jack pulled some strings to get Kim the job so she could be closer to him, but it doesn’t work – at all. The Kim of the first two seasons was dumber than an island full of Gilligans
>If Kim’s not there as eye candy – a crass but commercially understandable motivation – what purpose does she serve? Will the CTU air conditioning go on the fritz by the fourth hour so Kim has to type in her underwear?
I think it’s safe to assume that it’s cocaine. Salazar has a cocaine empire, and said that Jack “pretended to be his friend.” Most likely he became addicted in the course of some deep cover work. Kim’s man-meat told Jack “I know what they did to you, and what you did to yourself,” and advised Jack that today was not the day to prove to everyone that he’d kicked – “Just get your head straight so we can do our work.” This makes a certain amount of sense with cocaine, but just plain wouldn’t work if Jack had gotten into heroin. Also, his abusive and irritable behaviour is more consistent with a cocaine crash than opiate withdrawal.
