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Okay see now that? That should have been the season opener.
1. MUCH better showing of layers and complications for Hassan's family, Hastings and Cole. Hastings is now a character rather than an obstacle, and I now look forward to the Chloe and Hastings snarkfest to come, since Hastings is probably the closest to George Mason than any other CTU director so far. Cole is still Captain America giving dork speeches, but I liked that he showed more steel.
And I like how, despite the fact that Hassan's wife doesn't love him anymore, she also doesn't want to see him die. Also, I found myself caring a lot more about Hassan because he owned up to his affair and because he ended it with Reed. Nothing is simple and everything has contradictions. Nice improvement, writers.
2. Likewise, I think they're doing a good job with the rotating villains and collateral damage. Reed served her part and now it's over and I hope never to see her again. It's not that hate the character, just that her function in the storyline is done. Same goes forEugene Tooms Davros. Good run, but now it's over and we get OMG David Anders. Sans accent but I had to do a little dance of squee. I love him and not just because he and I share the same birthday. Also kudos to the writers for Officer Phil, both because it's nice to see a rookie's loyalties get tested and because we got an incidental minority. Yay for blind casting.
3. However, the writers are still lagging in developing some of the other characters. Arlo is still useless. Please make him stop. Also, I'd be interested in finding out why Farad is so willing to take out his brother other than just regime change. It's still his brother. What is their history that he's so willing to betray a brother that clearly loves and trusts him? I need to know these things if I'm supposed to care, because an action story is only as good as its villains, after all.
4. Also, the writers are totally mishandling with Dana's backstory.
The thing that pisses me off is, I actually *like* Dana the agent. In my rewatch, I can see why she and Cole work, both as a couple and as field ops/analyst team. They always gravitate toward each other, they bounce ideas off each other and consider new points of view, and you know, she was right that Reed was withholding something. It just wasn't what she thought, and I chalk up her not seeing the frame up job to the fact that Chloe has more experience in the field. And if that threat had been real, well, she certainly handled it correctly and efficiently. I'd really like to see how she'd perform if she was supporting Jack with Chloe. (Also, she worked the tattoos lead and was the one who brought in Renee, so I can't hate on her skills.)
HOWEVER, the stupid backstory they're giving us is a) dragging, b) irrelevant to the plot and c) too soon for her to be carrying a storyline all by herself. It's not even that they're making her act like an idiot around her Redneck Past, because I was expecting that and it's okay to flaw her up a bit. But I think it reeks of laziness on the writers' part to expect us to like Dana just because she's played by Starbuck instead establishing her likability within the show first before handing her so much screentime. And to be clear, I don't blame Katee for this. She's doing the best she can with the stuff she's given, and I can't think of any actor who would refuse airtime when given it. But there's no reason why I should care about Dana's drama in the season opener, when I don't know the character yet and it's doubly hard to care when they make us wait so long for Renee, whom they KNOW we love.
On top of that, they aren't even including Cole into the mix. 24 is all about the clash between the personal and the professional, and I'm actually curious now to see what Cole's reaction will be when these things comes to light, both professionally and personally. Because like I said above, they have a good working dynamic, and I WANT to see that tested, much like the way they tested Larry and Renee last season, the way they tested Tony and Michelle in S3.
When I step back and analyze where I think they're going with this, then yes, this backstory has potential to bring about some interesting repercussions on how Cole and Dana interact in their support of Jack, Renee, and Chloe. And it could even tie in with themes of debt and penance for past mistakes with Dana's character. But right now, they're going about it the wrong way by isolating her too soon, and it's only serving to test my patience. Fix this writers. Now. I'd much rather have 3 awesome female characters instead of just two.
5. Thankfully, that was balanced out by the arrival of my girl, Renee. And holy shit, did she arrive with a bang. I guess "I'm not gonna cut the bracelet" is the new "I'm gonna need a hacksaw." Also, it's wrong that the overriding thought in my head as Jack was all aghast in horror at Renee chopping off some dude's thumb was OMG HOW CUTE IS HE WHEN HE'S ALL FLABBERGASTED, right? Hehe.
But wow. She's a lot darker now, and I'm not just saying that because of the heavy eyeliner. The scars, guys. And how she totally misinterpreted Jack's "this is too important" and thought that he was expressing his concern not because of her but for the mission. And how all she wants is for Jack to tell her that it's gonna be okay and that he thinks she's going to make it, like he did last season, because she's totally scared that she's not in the clear yet and she needs to borrow faith from him.
And when he didn't give that for her, she got pissed off because she doesn't want it to be true. She just wants to be better, and she's out to prove it, which I can't help but think is part of why she chose such an extreme act of cutting a guy's thumb off with seemingly no remorse. It reeks of overcompensation, but it does send a very strong message that she's in it to win it, despite the flair of her dramatic walkaway. She's turned into such a woobie, guys, and my heart can barely take it. I can't wait to see where they're going to take her next.
On a final note, I'm also happy to see her back because I really do think she brought back that missing element of unpredictability that makes the show stand out from the rest. From a storyteller's POV, you need to have that wild card in the mix, and now that Jack's so happy and whole again, he doesn't serve that function anymore. She does, and I like that nice reversal of him handling her instead of her handling him [insert obligatory joke about them handling each other here]. I'm curious to see how Jack will play the sane man to Renee's lone wolf act.
All in all, much better than the first two episodes. My dream team is back, and I'm officially excited about the rest of the season, even if Monday night programming proves to be my downfall.
1. MUCH better showing of layers and complications for Hassan's family, Hastings and Cole. Hastings is now a character rather than an obstacle, and I now look forward to the Chloe and Hastings snarkfest to come, since Hastings is probably the closest to George Mason than any other CTU director so far. Cole is still Captain America giving dork speeches, but I liked that he showed more steel.
And I like how, despite the fact that Hassan's wife doesn't love him anymore, she also doesn't want to see him die. Also, I found myself caring a lot more about Hassan because he owned up to his affair and because he ended it with Reed. Nothing is simple and everything has contradictions. Nice improvement, writers.
2. Likewise, I think they're doing a good job with the rotating villains and collateral damage. Reed served her part and now it's over and I hope never to see her again. It's not that hate the character, just that her function in the storyline is done. Same goes for
3. However, the writers are still lagging in developing some of the other characters. Arlo is still useless. Please make him stop. Also, I'd be interested in finding out why Farad is so willing to take out his brother other than just regime change. It's still his brother. What is their history that he's so willing to betray a brother that clearly loves and trusts him? I need to know these things if I'm supposed to care, because an action story is only as good as its villains, after all.
4. Also, the writers are totally mishandling with Dana's backstory.
The thing that pisses me off is, I actually *like* Dana the agent. In my rewatch, I can see why she and Cole work, both as a couple and as field ops/analyst team. They always gravitate toward each other, they bounce ideas off each other and consider new points of view, and you know, she was right that Reed was withholding something. It just wasn't what she thought, and I chalk up her not seeing the frame up job to the fact that Chloe has more experience in the field. And if that threat had been real, well, she certainly handled it correctly and efficiently. I'd really like to see how she'd perform if she was supporting Jack with Chloe. (Also, she worked the tattoos lead and was the one who brought in Renee, so I can't hate on her skills.)
HOWEVER, the stupid backstory they're giving us is a) dragging, b) irrelevant to the plot and c) too soon for her to be carrying a storyline all by herself. It's not even that they're making her act like an idiot around her Redneck Past, because I was expecting that and it's okay to flaw her up a bit. But I think it reeks of laziness on the writers' part to expect us to like Dana just because she's played by Starbuck instead establishing her likability within the show first before handing her so much screentime. And to be clear, I don't blame Katee for this. She's doing the best she can with the stuff she's given, and I can't think of any actor who would refuse airtime when given it. But there's no reason why I should care about Dana's drama in the season opener, when I don't know the character yet and it's doubly hard to care when they make us wait so long for Renee, whom they KNOW we love.
On top of that, they aren't even including Cole into the mix. 24 is all about the clash between the personal and the professional, and I'm actually curious now to see what Cole's reaction will be when these things comes to light, both professionally and personally. Because like I said above, they have a good working dynamic, and I WANT to see that tested, much like the way they tested Larry and Renee last season, the way they tested Tony and Michelle in S3.
When I step back and analyze where I think they're going with this, then yes, this backstory has potential to bring about some interesting repercussions on how Cole and Dana interact in their support of Jack, Renee, and Chloe. And it could even tie in with themes of debt and penance for past mistakes with Dana's character. But right now, they're going about it the wrong way by isolating her too soon, and it's only serving to test my patience. Fix this writers. Now. I'd much rather have 3 awesome female characters instead of just two.
5. Thankfully, that was balanced out by the arrival of my girl, Renee. And holy shit, did she arrive with a bang. I guess "I'm not gonna cut the bracelet" is the new "I'm gonna need a hacksaw." Also, it's wrong that the overriding thought in my head as Jack was all aghast in horror at Renee chopping off some dude's thumb was OMG HOW CUTE IS HE WHEN HE'S ALL FLABBERGASTED, right? Hehe.
But wow. She's a lot darker now, and I'm not just saying that because of the heavy eyeliner. The scars, guys. And how she totally misinterpreted Jack's "this is too important" and thought that he was expressing his concern not because of her but for the mission. And how all she wants is for Jack to tell her that it's gonna be okay and that he thinks she's going to make it, like he did last season, because she's totally scared that she's not in the clear yet and she needs to borrow faith from him.
And when he didn't give that for her, she got pissed off because she doesn't want it to be true. She just wants to be better, and she's out to prove it, which I can't help but think is part of why she chose such an extreme act of cutting a guy's thumb off with seemingly no remorse. It reeks of overcompensation, but it does send a very strong message that she's in it to win it, despite the flair of her dramatic walkaway. She's turned into such a woobie, guys, and my heart can barely take it. I can't wait to see where they're going to take her next.
On a final note, I'm also happy to see her back because I really do think she brought back that missing element of unpredictability that makes the show stand out from the rest. From a storyteller's POV, you need to have that wild card in the mix, and now that Jack's so happy and whole again, he doesn't serve that function anymore. She does, and I like that nice reversal of him handling her instead of her handling him [insert obligatory joke about them handling each other here]. I'm curious to see how Jack will play the sane man to Renee's lone wolf act.
All in all, much better than the first two episodes. My dream team is back, and I'm officially excited about the rest of the season, even if Monday night programming proves to be my downfall.
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