24 - Series 4 - Complete (DVD)

Just as 24 the game hits the shelves telling the story between seasons 2 and 3, I thought I'd give season 4 a once over.

Season 1 was revolutionary and groundbreaking while season 2 can be all but forgotten. Season 3 was fantastic. So how does this season fare?

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The Plot
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The prequel: Jack Bauer lost his job due to his drug habit. He became special advisor ...
...I have always enjoyed the 24 theme tune and often listen through the credits just to hear it. There is a vast array of background music based upon this theme. The action is perfectly complimented, as are the emotional scenes.


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Characters
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There are many new characters in this season but reliance on some dodgy returns mean that the important cast list is almost ... more

Just as 24 the game hits the shelves telling the story between seasons 2 and 3, I thought I'd give season 4 a once over.

Season 1 was revolutionary and groundbreaking while season 2 can be all but forgotten. Season 3 was fantastic. So how does this season fare?

-------------------
The Plot
-------------------

The prequel: Jack Bauer lost his job due to his drug habit. He became special advisor to the secretary of defence. He found a woman he loved. Things are looking up for Jack. But a lot can happen in a day...

As with every season of 24, the events in the show are set in real time. Each episode is an hour in one day of Jack Bauer's life. Of course this isn't a normal day! Starting at 7am we see the day play out with twists and turns.

This Season: Set a year or so after the events of day 3 we see a completely different CTU (counter terrorism unit) with almost completely new employees. Jack is working with Secretary of Defence James Heller and dating his daughter Audrey Raines. He is set to return to CTU for the first time since his dismissal on a business exercise. Meanwhile, Audrey and Heller are visiting Heller's son to convince him not to protest at an upcoming anti-weapon rally.

But close to 7am there is a train crash in LA. A passenger train is purposely derailed. A suitcase is stolen by terrorists.

CTU are on the case as Jack comes in for his meeting. While he waits for his meeting, Jack watches the action unfold. He quickly lends some technical advice and is involved in the operation.

But it soon transpires that terrorists are plotting to kidnap Audrey and Heller. Can Jack and the team stop them being kidnapped?

What is inside the suitcase? What are the terrorists planning to do? How is this all connected?

These questions set the scene for the first 6 hours or so while the remainder of the season plays out from the conclusion of this. We see how the relationships between the people working at CTU and the other characters evolve alongside the underlying storyline.

Get ready for some good action, some emotional turns and some old faces to return. How will Jack and Audrey's relationship play out? What will happen with Heller and his son? Will Jack ever gain the trust of the new CTU people?

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Vision
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Visual effects have vastly improved this season. The explosions are better, the clock perfect, the general appearance good. For instance, the train crash set was extremely realistic. No effect was overused and it never felt like the producers were showing a set more because it was a more expensive set.

The picture quality has also improved. This is perfect DVD quality with perfect lighting. However, lighting effects that used to be used to indicate time (i.e. sunsets) were not noticed. Perhaps they were so subtle that I didn't notice them or perhaps they just don't bother anymore.

Visually impressive, I can't fault this show on it's appearance.

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Sound
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Each season's sound track gets progressively better. This season features Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound to great success. Bullet shots sound right, explosions use the bass speaker and the bass is fantastic on the clock "ticks".

The music is also fantastic. I have always enjoyed the 24 theme tune and often listen through the credits just to hear it. There is a vast array of background music based upon this theme. The action is perfectly complimented, as are the emotional scenes.

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Characters
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There are many new characters in this season but reliance on some dodgy returns mean that the important cast list is almost identical. I will omit any of the original cast who return later on here as it could prove to be a plot spoiler to reveal them before you've seen the episodes.

Keifer Sutherland - Jack Bauer, fantastically played as a hardened operative willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done. Keifer suits this unemotional role perfectly.

Kim Raver - A newcomer to this season playing Audrey Raines, Jacks new love interest. She has recently split up with her husband and works for her father (as does Jack). The character is played out well as a bit of a tom-boy and highly skilled diplomat.

William Devane plays James Heller - the secretary of defence. His acting is fantastic and you really believe him as a leader with emotions. I can't remember where I've seen this actor before but I do remember him. Certainly putting in one of the best performances of the cast.

Roger R. Cross - playing Curtis Manning another newcomer to CTU. It's unclear exactly what his job is but he seems to be a field operative type person. He also seems to be one of the worst actors on the planet! While I understand that the character is an uncomplicated one, the acting is poor.

Alberta Watson - plays Erin Driscoll, the new head of CTU. Her acting isn't bad and the character development is good. However, there is so much more that could have been done with this character. There is one storyline which doesn't seem to lead anywhere except removing her from the cast. Much like Edgar there was no real connection with the character

Louis Lombardi - According to my source (www.imdb.com) he appeared in 25 episodes despite only being in season 4! But I love this character. Edgar Stiles is the fumbling computer geek. He's got a heart of gold but a forgetful and buttered finger nature. However, I didn't connect with this character and while he managed to have a small sub-plot in the story I didn't care that much about his situation. You may recognise him from a minor role in the Sopranos.

Mary Lynn Rajskub puts in another fantastic performance as Chloe O'Brian. This ditzy and annoying character brings a spark of comedy into the season. It's good to see her getting a slightly larger role and showing her in some places you wouldn't expect to see her. She's only ever trying to help but annoys everyone. It's amazing when you hear her in interviews and she's really not that bad a person!

Arnold Vosloo - You will recognise this actor from the Mummy (as the mummy). He plays Habib Marwan, the main terrorist in the activities. Making himself apparent from day one he's emotionless and a scary character. It takes a few episodes before we meet him in person but for once in 24 the bad guy doesn't change half way through.

The Araz family are also brilliantly implemented into the season. Showing a different side of a terrorist and the sort of relationships, feelings and thoughts they must go through. Perhaps showing a more human side to the bad guys.

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Best Bits and My Thoughts
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Season 4 started with a good idea. Replace the cast, make the storyline run right the way through and keep Jack on the other side of the fence.

They had a storyline which was more personal and could conceivably happen in the confines of LA. However, it quickly resumed to status quo.

They relied on "surprise" appearances from old cast members and by the end of the season relied almost entirely on cast members and relationships we had seen before. Many re-appearances were shoddy (ie. palmer effectively becoming president again). Of course Jack was reprising his role within CTU by about episode 4. I was looking forward to seeing how Jack and Palmer got on as normal citizens (as hinted by season 3). I was looking forward to seeing Tony in jail and how he could be involved in this season. I wanted to see Chase and Kim together with their baby. But alas, just like season 3 didn't lead on from season 2, there was none of this.

There was also an almost forced use of the format. People trying to quote times as much as they can. This has been slowly introduced throughout the seasons and now is most prevalent. It's silly, very few people say "I told him at 7.35am and he still hasn't done it". Meanwhile the format is vastly under-used and almost forgotten for creating suspense or drama. Instead, like many American shows, it seems structured around adverts and relying on those to create the suspense.

There is also a lot of references made to "every day tasks" that the employees do to justify their jobs. This again feels forced and is unrequited. We know it's a TV show, we don't need to know about the day to day jobs these people are meant to be doing. Reference is often made to them when it is convenient anyway and there's no consistency. In fact there is one episode which revolves around someone doing a daily task (or indeed not doing it) which causes some problems.

Of course there is the normal nonsense that everything happens within 5 minutes of everything else. Season 1 was set in LA and justified the events. While every season since has tried to make the events effect a wider area (namely the whole of America) but this just doesn't sit well. Even though we know it's just a TV show, it's still a bit of a leap that every target is in LA. If you're a terrorist, surely you'd bomb somewhere other than the place you happen to be. But of course the "global" threat is almost completely centred on LA.

Again, the storyline becomes irrational and unbelievable. While season 1 had some good twists and a storyline which was at least somewhat comprehensible, no season has achieved this since. Every action was a distraction to the next action in season 4. Why would anybody go through so much trouble just to do one simple thing?

Another loss to 24 is the lack of twists. While they did try to put some into the season, they were to no avail. You could see most of them coming from a mile off and it's lost some of it's ability to surprise. Whether this is from exposure to previous seasons or an actual lack of thought I can't say. But somewhere along the line 24 has lost a bit of its edge-of-your-seat ability.

However, keeping this in mind, the season was good. It was certainly entertaining and certainly better than season 2. I would put it on par with season 3.

The action played out well and this contained possibly one of the best episodes 24 has ever seen. A true use of the format which saw Jack against the clock to infiltrate the building used real marines to back him up. With some real stealth skill and tactics used we get to see Jack Bauer at his best. While quickly after achieving his goal we see a fantastic fight scene with helicopters, marines dropping in, hand to hand combat and action that is seldom seen on a TV show.

With many good episodes which stand alone and you can watch again and again, this season is worth it.

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Extras
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Unlike America, our edition is released as soon as the season stops playing on TV. We don't quite get the good extras that they get.

However it does contain some documentaries and interviews but much of the "extras" is either advertising for the game, next season or their sponsors. You pack will include a 24 official top trumps card (woo hoo) and a nice little booklet along with an order form for merchandise and adverts all over the place.

In America the season will be (or rather just has been) released with a season 5 prequel that joins the two seasons. While we will probably be privy to this come January, it would be nice to see it now. However, I prefer not to wait for the box set to arrive and thus it's a double edge sword.

I can't really comment much on the extras as they're bog-standard and advert orientated. It is quite obvious where they make money in this show!

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Price
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You can pick this up on it's own for around £40 though I am sure it's on special offer in many places. You can pick up seasons 1-4 in a box set for about £100.

Given that I've paid £45 per season for 4 seasons, I am sure you can see why I am annoyed at the cost of the box sets!

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Conclusion
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While I think that 24 has some room for improvement ever since the astonishingly good season 1, I still think it's fantastic. There have been many improvements since season 2. The storyline is simpler, if too linear. The story links in a lot better and there's only 1 bad guy instead of successive bad guys.

There's a lot better choreographed action and the special effects have improved. Sound has also vastly improved over season 1 with good use of 5.1 surround sound systems and generally better sound effects.

However, there are some idiocies which have not been solved. Some parts of the storyline are unbelievably removed from reality while returning characters often have poor excuses for being involved. It seems the season started with the vision of starting with a new cast but quickly felt uncomfortable and reverted to what felt safe.

I am also disappointed at the lack of inter-season linking. I understand that a season must stand alone, but to set things up at the end of one season and not follow them on into the next is a bitter disappointment.

The ending was far too rushed but still fantastic. It will be interesting to see how this links into season 5. Although given past seasons, I doubt that any of the interesting plotlines that could arise from the ending will come to fruition. Jack will probably reprise his role by episode 2 and any reference to season 4 will be incidental. But be ready for a real emotional final episode with the parts played out fantastically and the pace perfect, despite being unrealistic.

All in all, this was a good season. It could have been better, there were many issues with it. But it could have been a lot worse and it is certainly on par with season 3. I still love 24.

Season 5 will be on our screens on Sky 1 sometime in January. I look forward to the review next year.

Thanks for reading.

Dean. 

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