About Scott Cederlund
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This season has managed to avoid the story structure most of the previous four seasons have used. The first 10 or 11 episodes tell one story, the events that kick off the day. Then there are maybe two or three transitional episodes that get you to realize that what you’ve been watching has only been either misdirection or not the whole story. The remainder of the season follows Jack Bauer as he deals with the true threat of the season; this season has been different. The writers and producers have been able to stick in a couple of smaller transitions, having story elements last only a couple of episodes before moving onto the real threat of the day. Christopher Henderson, Bauer’s mentor, was the last red herring thrown at the audience. Yet he was more a minion than the mastermind, a soldier who was following orders. Now that the mastermind has been revealed, it feels like the season has gone into its last turn and will now race toward the end.
Episode 16 revealed who Henderson was working for: President Logan. Discovering this leads Bauer into one of the cliches of 24-- Jack on the run from everyone, including CTU. Since the first season, where Bauer was coerced into killing then Presidential candidate David Palmer, through this season, Jack has ended up at one point or another as a fugitive. Logan, knowing that Bauer knows the true nature of the President and his involvement with the terrorists activities of the day, orders that Bauer be arrested and detained. With only a handful of allies-- Wayne Palmer, Chloe and Audrey-- Bauer refuses to be taken into custody, instead opting to go on his own and bring the terrorists to justice.
That’s the problem with this episode: we’ve seen Jack on the run before. It is now a given that at some point in the season Jack will become a fugitive even as he tries to protect the country. Bauer’s patriotism will always win over his self-survival instincts and he’ll risk both sides of the law even as he fights for the safety of his country and its citizens. Yawn. And he always brings a few close confidantes with him. In the past, its been fellow CTU agent Tony Almeida. Now he drags along the late President Palmer’s brother Wayne. While it is always great to see D.B. Woodside around, his involvement only makes the barest of sense. Yes, his brother has been killed but when have we ever seen Wayne running around and shooting guns before? Also included in Jack’s accomplices is the ever present Chloe who probably believes in Jack more than in CTU and well as Audrey, who just seems oddly places as the Secretary of Defense’s daughter. Later in the episode, the Secretary of Defense reminds us that Jack has been a fugitive already this season.
President Logan has appeared to be a small, sniveling and weak character since his introduction in season 4. By revealing that he has been giving orders to Henderson, you view the character completely differently, as the natural true mastermind behind today’s terrorist attacks. It makes you wonder how far back it goes. We now know that he’s complicit in the assassination of one former President. Was he somehow involved in the bombing of Air Force One last season that severely injured the then-President and allowed Logan to assume the office? Personally, I think all of the seasons are tied together a bit more than they seem and events now have ties to events in season one.
24 has also brought in some great actors to fill the roles on the supporting cast: William Devane, Ray Wise and D.B. Woodside. These are fantastic actors who fill secondary character roles. Casting Peter Weller, frickin Robocop, as Bauer’s mentor-gone-bad is just scary. Weller pulls off the stone-faced, professional killer but in the back of my mind, I’m always waiting for him to go into Robocop mode.
In what has been a great season, episode 17 is repetitious and ends up offering little new. Jack on the run, some misdirection going on about who is the actual big bad of the season and plenty of gunfire is the same thing we’ve seen over and over during this shows run. Season five has been the best season since the beginning but this episode could have been placed in any season.
