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Well, that was anti-climatic.
I know I am spoiled by the awesome way S7 started off with a bang, because it really was like a flurry of punches of Tony alive! Bill and Chloe in town and kicking ass! First Gentleman possibly getting killed! that kept my interest going. But some of this stuff seemed really superfluous and kinda boring/predicatable, really.
The Good:
1. Jack, Kim and Teri- I totally dig Grandpa Jack and this grown-up version of Kim. I love how content he seems to be, and how he finally chose to put his family before the job and I love how Kim puts it right back into his hands because she totally understands and accepts Jack, with all his flaws. They're both trying so hard against their better natures to meet each other in the middle, and ultimately I think that the fact that Jack chose Teri, Kim and Stephen is the reason why she's okay with him going off to save the world again. He chose Kim and his family over the job, and that knowledge gives her the security to let him go. These two have come a long way from S1 and I really do hope that they get their happy ending at the end of this season.
2. Chloe- I think it was a brilliant and completely believable move to make her the fish out of water for once. Not only does it make it easier to believe that a hard ass like Hastings would let Chloe help Jack, but it's something new to see her shine not because of her technical skills but because of her experience in counter-terrorism. She's had a front row seat to the madness that has been Saunders, Marwan, Logan, Emerson, Henderson, and Tony and it stands to reason that she'd pick up some of Jack's skills.
Speaking of which, I love the reversal of Chloe calling Jack out on the crazy ass shit he's asked of her. Again and again we've seen Chloe put Jack and his crusades above her safety, her career, and her marriage. To see him NOT return the favor in kind, at least not without prompting from Kim, had to have hurt. That must have tarnished her hero-worship of Jack a little bit and I do have to wonder if perhaps the writers are brave enough to start pulling the Chloe-Jack bond apart a bit. As with all premieres, I'm looking for the beginnings of a season long character arcs, and it might be interesting to see some tension between the two of them just to shake things up a bit.
3. The new Administration. I like the new dynamic between the new Chief of Staff, Taylor, and Ethan. It's different than the back and forth that Henry, Ethan and Allison had, in that the conflict is still there, but there seems to be more respect on Ethan's part for the new guy. It's not quite mentor-y, but there's certainly more acceptance of his place as the counterpoint to Ethan's POV than he ever had for Henry, and I really like the new guy for some reason. He seems really passionate, if not a little bull-headed, about doing the right thing, and I like that he holds people to their promises. (Is it wrong that I kinda found the new guy hot when he told off Hastings?) I look forward to seeing more conflict in the mix once he meets Jack. I also worry about Ethan and his pills. The "not dead yet" thing seems to indicate that there's something the characters know that we don't yet, and I worry whenever they show pills in the first act of the season. That never bodes well for the future of any character.
4. Dana Walsh- I'm not yet sold on her character, but what I've seen so far, I like. She's calm, shows good judgment of handling inappropriate (Arlow) and floundering (Chloe) subordinates, and if she's been able to restart her life from scratch and hide from sketchy people despite keeping in contact with her trailer trash family, that means she's also very resourceful. The fact that she seems to be looking out and vocalizing her support of Chloe, smoothing out some of the rougher edges, is a huge point in her favor. And good job on Katee Sackhoff's part on selling someone who is the anti-Starbuck, anti-evil!Bionic Woman. The only thing that makes me wary is her backstory (more on that later) but there's a lot of potential here for her character.
The Bad:
5. Cole Ortiz, on the other hand, kinda makes me wanna snooze. I appreciated the "no one talks to their wives until I do" throwaway line, since yay for character, and I do see shades of Chase in him, but Freddie Prinze Jr also has this Keanu Reeves quality about him that isn't helped by the fact that his character is idealistic and a bit oblivious. I hope I'm proven wrong but I need his character to start showing more of a spine, so Jack can capitalize on his clear hero-worship.
6. Hastings- I already hate him. I get that to make us dislike Hastings, they're making him into The Disbeliever, by revealing that the insider is the brother and having him insist upon focusing on the reporter instead. But they really didn't have to because he's hateful enough already. Hastings is That Guy. The guy whose success has made him cocky, who makes promises before he's sure he's able to keep them, and who'll abuse his power and force other people to stick their necks out and lie in order to cover his ass, but probably never to the same in kind. I couldn't be bothered to watch him make an ass out himself, so I fastforwarded through all his scenes....and that? That's not good.
The Meh:
7. President MacGuffin and family. I'm glad that the whole President having an affair with a reporter didn't come across as icky as I thought it would, as well as the fact that the affair has some purpose in the storyline. But for the most part, though, I was mostly bored with him and his family. It was so clear that the brother was the mole that I don't know why they even bothered trying to make us think it was the reporter at the top of the hour. I hope they give Layla something to do and that she becomes more of a player as the season progresses. Could be interesting to see how she responds to her dad taking up with a new woman, but so far I'm bored to tears.
8. I'm not all that interested with the villain, nor was I really all that invested in Victor's character. He was totally dead man walking, so I was just waiting for him to blow up. Yeah, I was spoiled by last year because Redemption had already set up Dubaku and because they had Tony in the mix to make me care about the villainy stuff. But so far, I don't really care about finding out why they want to kill Hassan or why his brother has it out for him, probably because so far there's no personal connection to the characters I love yet. I hope that changes soon.
9. Dana's backstory. While I'm starting to warm up to Dana's character, I'm extremely wary of her backstory. Last year, almost all the storylines were tied to the main plot, particularly in beginning from the stuff with Alison, to Henry Taylor, and of course the Jack-Renee-Larry stuff. There was none of this "crazy/annoying member of someone's backstory comes in to distract the FBI/CTU and slow down our heroes" business. (Crazy!Dead!Driscoll daughter, I'm looking at you.) The only time I ever forgave the "annoying family members coming into CTU" ruse was when Danny showed up in S2, because we were rewarded with Tony and Michelle making out.
Although I doubt certain people would mind it if Dana's backstory led to Jack and Renee making out, I don't think that's going to be the case, so in lieu of that, I hope we find out that there's a reason we're seeing all this shadiness and that it's somehow tied to the main plot threads. Maybe someone in her past dealings is tied to a future baddie. Or perhaps that we're seeing it so that it can be revealed that she's actually kind of a badass and can be put out into the field- thereby setting up a parallel of Jack/Renee and Cole/Dana of men not knowing what to do with the women they care about running headlong into danger, despite the fact that they do that themselves. (A long shot, but hey it could happen.) Whatever the reason, I just hope there's a point to seeing all this backstory because otherwise my patience will wear thin (and I will be sad to see them waste Katee Sackhoff's skills).
The WTF:
And speaking of Renee: WHERE THE HELL WAS SHE? I know she's a regular and from the amount of flail, I know she's gotta be in the season, but I was expecting her to at least show up at the end of the first night of the premiere. Where the hell is she and how is she going to be tied to the main event? I'm really really really getting antsy now because as potentially good Dana seems to be, I wanna to see Renee. Every time anyone picked up the phone, I was like, oooh, is she/he gonna call Renee? Who's gonna bring her in? The wait better be worth it. (And no, I haven't yet seen the previews for tonight's episode).
Overall, the first two eps felt a lot like set up, but I'm waiting for that kick in the stomach and punch in the face that lets me know that my show is back. Because right now? Not really feeling the excitement. Step it up a notch or twelve tonight, okay show? I want my roller coaster back.
I know I am spoiled by the awesome way S7 started off with a bang, because it really was like a flurry of punches of Tony alive! Bill and Chloe in town and kicking ass! First Gentleman possibly getting killed! that kept my interest going. But some of this stuff seemed really superfluous and kinda boring/predicatable, really.
The Good:
1. Jack, Kim and Teri- I totally dig Grandpa Jack and this grown-up version of Kim. I love how content he seems to be, and how he finally chose to put his family before the job and I love how Kim puts it right back into his hands because she totally understands and accepts Jack, with all his flaws. They're both trying so hard against their better natures to meet each other in the middle, and ultimately I think that the fact that Jack chose Teri, Kim and Stephen is the reason why she's okay with him going off to save the world again. He chose Kim and his family over the job, and that knowledge gives her the security to let him go. These two have come a long way from S1 and I really do hope that they get their happy ending at the end of this season.
2. Chloe- I think it was a brilliant and completely believable move to make her the fish out of water for once. Not only does it make it easier to believe that a hard ass like Hastings would let Chloe help Jack, but it's something new to see her shine not because of her technical skills but because of her experience in counter-terrorism. She's had a front row seat to the madness that has been Saunders, Marwan, Logan, Emerson, Henderson, and Tony and it stands to reason that she'd pick up some of Jack's skills.
Speaking of which, I love the reversal of Chloe calling Jack out on the crazy ass shit he's asked of her. Again and again we've seen Chloe put Jack and his crusades above her safety, her career, and her marriage. To see him NOT return the favor in kind, at least not without prompting from Kim, had to have hurt. That must have tarnished her hero-worship of Jack a little bit and I do have to wonder if perhaps the writers are brave enough to start pulling the Chloe-Jack bond apart a bit. As with all premieres, I'm looking for the beginnings of a season long character arcs, and it might be interesting to see some tension between the two of them just to shake things up a bit.
3. The new Administration. I like the new dynamic between the new Chief of Staff, Taylor, and Ethan. It's different than the back and forth that Henry, Ethan and Allison had, in that the conflict is still there, but there seems to be more respect on Ethan's part for the new guy. It's not quite mentor-y, but there's certainly more acceptance of his place as the counterpoint to Ethan's POV than he ever had for Henry, and I really like the new guy for some reason. He seems really passionate, if not a little bull-headed, about doing the right thing, and I like that he holds people to their promises. (Is it wrong that I kinda found the new guy hot when he told off Hastings?) I look forward to seeing more conflict in the mix once he meets Jack. I also worry about Ethan and his pills. The "not dead yet" thing seems to indicate that there's something the characters know that we don't yet, and I worry whenever they show pills in the first act of the season. That never bodes well for the future of any character.
4. Dana Walsh- I'm not yet sold on her character, but what I've seen so far, I like. She's calm, shows good judgment of handling inappropriate (Arlow) and floundering (Chloe) subordinates, and if she's been able to restart her life from scratch and hide from sketchy people despite keeping in contact with her trailer trash family, that means she's also very resourceful. The fact that she seems to be looking out and vocalizing her support of Chloe, smoothing out some of the rougher edges, is a huge point in her favor. And good job on Katee Sackhoff's part on selling someone who is the anti-Starbuck, anti-evil!Bionic Woman. The only thing that makes me wary is her backstory (more on that later) but there's a lot of potential here for her character.
The Bad:
5. Cole Ortiz, on the other hand, kinda makes me wanna snooze. I appreciated the "no one talks to their wives until I do" throwaway line, since yay for character, and I do see shades of Chase in him, but Freddie Prinze Jr also has this Keanu Reeves quality about him that isn't helped by the fact that his character is idealistic and a bit oblivious. I hope I'm proven wrong but I need his character to start showing more of a spine, so Jack can capitalize on his clear hero-worship.
6. Hastings- I already hate him. I get that to make us dislike Hastings, they're making him into The Disbeliever, by revealing that the insider is the brother and having him insist upon focusing on the reporter instead. But they really didn't have to because he's hateful enough already. Hastings is That Guy. The guy whose success has made him cocky, who makes promises before he's sure he's able to keep them, and who'll abuse his power and force other people to stick their necks out and lie in order to cover his ass, but probably never to the same in kind. I couldn't be bothered to watch him make an ass out himself, so I fastforwarded through all his scenes....and that? That's not good.
The Meh:
7. President MacGuffin and family. I'm glad that the whole President having an affair with a reporter didn't come across as icky as I thought it would, as well as the fact that the affair has some purpose in the storyline. But for the most part, though, I was mostly bored with him and his family. It was so clear that the brother was the mole that I don't know why they even bothered trying to make us think it was the reporter at the top of the hour. I hope they give Layla something to do and that she becomes more of a player as the season progresses. Could be interesting to see how she responds to her dad taking up with a new woman, but so far I'm bored to tears.
8. I'm not all that interested with the villain, nor was I really all that invested in Victor's character. He was totally dead man walking, so I was just waiting for him to blow up. Yeah, I was spoiled by last year because Redemption had already set up Dubaku and because they had Tony in the mix to make me care about the villainy stuff. But so far, I don't really care about finding out why they want to kill Hassan or why his brother has it out for him, probably because so far there's no personal connection to the characters I love yet. I hope that changes soon.
9. Dana's backstory. While I'm starting to warm up to Dana's character, I'm extremely wary of her backstory. Last year, almost all the storylines were tied to the main plot, particularly in beginning from the stuff with Alison, to Henry Taylor, and of course the Jack-Renee-Larry stuff. There was none of this "crazy/annoying member of someone's backstory comes in to distract the FBI/CTU and slow down our heroes" business. (Crazy!Dead!Driscoll daughter, I'm looking at you.) The only time I ever forgave the "annoying family members coming into CTU" ruse was when Danny showed up in S2, because we were rewarded with Tony and Michelle making out.
Although I doubt certain people would mind it if Dana's backstory led to Jack and Renee making out, I don't think that's going to be the case, so in lieu of that, I hope we find out that there's a reason we're seeing all this shadiness and that it's somehow tied to the main plot threads. Maybe someone in her past dealings is tied to a future baddie. Or perhaps that we're seeing it so that it can be revealed that she's actually kind of a badass and can be put out into the field- thereby setting up a parallel of Jack/Renee and Cole/Dana of men not knowing what to do with the women they care about running headlong into danger, despite the fact that they do that themselves. (A long shot, but hey it could happen.) Whatever the reason, I just hope there's a point to seeing all this backstory because otherwise my patience will wear thin (and I will be sad to see them waste Katee Sackhoff's skills).
The WTF:
And speaking of Renee: WHERE THE HELL WAS SHE? I know she's a regular and from the amount of flail, I know she's gotta be in the season, but I was expecting her to at least show up at the end of the first night of the premiere. Where the hell is she and how is she going to be tied to the main event? I'm really really really getting antsy now because as potentially good Dana seems to be, I wanna to see Renee. Every time anyone picked up the phone, I was like, oooh, is she/he gonna call Renee? Who's gonna bring her in? The wait better be worth it. (And no, I haven't yet seen the previews for tonight's episode).
Overall, the first two eps felt a lot like set up, but I'm waiting for that kick in the stomach and punch in the face that lets me know that my show is back. Because right now? Not really feeling the excitement. Step it up a notch or twelve tonight, okay show? I want my roller coaster back.
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And no, don't skip S2. One because it's amazing and two because there are a lot of developments that you need to see in order to understand why the characters are acting the way they are.