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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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1. I loved Cole after he risked his life to save Hassan! He's really grown on me although I liked him right away I now see he's more than a pretty face. I also like that his inexperience is part of the storyline. I liked that Hastings was trying to use it against him and the way that part of the plot is working out.
I agree that they did a better job on Hassan's family. I also loved when he admitted to the affair. I started shipping them right before they had to break up. Yeah, I'm easy. As far as Farad goes, I think they did a better job explaining Omar's brother betrayal's than Graem's (yeah I went there). Farad hates the West and doesn't trust them, it's not just regime change, at least that's what I think. Plus it puts him in the same category as the villains of season two, at least the ones who were afraid that Palmer was too "soft". I'm totally ready to be proved wrong.
Arlo is skirting the sexual harassment edge *way* too close - Dana should be putting him down harder. I find Dana/Jenny's ex creepy as hell. I want to know what she did, and I'm hoping that the ending involves that guy dying a slow horrible death. It doesn't bother me as much as it does a lot of other people, as I want to see where it's going. Katee's totally selling it, whatever is going on. And I really like her and Cole together, I want to see them kiss, dammit.
What you said there about Jack no longer being the wild card is so so so true. I think that's why the first few hours felt so weird because he wasn't going to do anything crazy. We have Renee for that now. I actually think the further she goes into the darkness the more Jack will follow her.
I don't think it's being better, I think it's more that she's willing to do whatever it takes. I was thinking about season seven in light of her undercover time. I think you're right what you said above, that it does work. I think of it as her seeing the Russians doing awful things to people and they're the bad guys. Except when she met Jack, he wasn't bad, he was doing it for "good reasons". Larry's whole speech about the laws and what makes them different and what she'd clung to during her undercover time suddenly isn't so clear cut.
It explains why Larry almost babysat her - and omg I loved that line last Monday "me and the babysitter." Oh she's so angry that Jack's treating her like a child, telling her she's not up for the field (would he do the same thing to a male agent? Wait, we already saw season four...). Uh also healed Jack tends to get kind of 'holier than thou' when giving advice to the ones left behind. Renee isn't his student anymore, she's not anyone's anything anymore. She's dangerous. I love it. I can't wait to see more. I look forward to her eating my brain whole.
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2. Psahahaha. Yeah, well, saying they did a better job with Farad than Graem isn't saying much. LOL. I will be curious to see, though, how much he differs from his brother and if they'll go there. Right now we're getting a really rosy picture of Hassan, but they are still brothers so I gotta wonder how much darker they're going to go the "human rights things" alluded to in the promo I watched.
Dana/Jenny's ex is creepy as hell, but Arlo- well I can't tell right now. He is skirting the sexual harassment edge a LOT, but I'm getting the sense that she knows she can take him down if need be. She seems to see him as harmless, only getting upset when it got in the way. I'm not saying it's right, what he's doing. But I wonder about their history. Like did they almost have a thing before she met Cole?
Yeah, agreement on everything you said about Renee. She's totally GOING there and Jack's just gonna follow her back down the rabbit hole. (Why am I suddenly thinking about Leo McGarry's "friend in a hole" story that he told Josh on TWW?)