24 - Season 7 [Blu-ray]

I will start by saying I'm a massive fan, having watched every season of 24. However, after the extended break following the end of Season 6, I found myself a little uncertain as to whether I was interested in the new series. The pre-season episode, Redemption, was good without being brilliant so it would be fair to say I had my doubts about the show. But as each episode of Season 7 ticked over, and mind-blowing subplots emerged, I found myself absolutely hooked again. Some reviewers have criticised the lack of believability in this series. I'm sure there are plenty of holes if you want to look for them, but for me it comes down to the following crucial elements:

1. Entertainment value
Season 7 never lets up from the get-go. It literally leaves you breathless at the end of each hour, yet desperately anxious for the next episode.

2. Acting quality
Every character is played by a strong actor and they deliver consistently. I've never seen or heard of most of the new actors, but they are outstanding in their roles. I won't ruin the story for others but there is only one person I wasn't looking forward to seeing again but they were at least bearable.

3. Emotional response
This is the first series since Season 2 when I have felt such a range of emotions. Rarely do you feel anything other than shock when main characters bite the dust. However, Season 7 has some genuine tear-inducing moments. This is due to the quality of actors and of course the great script. Which leads me to -

4. Script quality
The writers have delivered a quality script for Season 7. There are some brilliant one-liners and some quality exchanges.

All in all, one of the best 24 seasons ever. Arguably as good as Season 2.

It's all change in series 7 of 24 - CTU has been disbanded, Jack Bauer is being questioned about his illegal use of torture in questioning suspects and there is a new president in the White House. We now have President Allison Taylor. She is brilliant - convincing in making tough decisions, yet you can see the struggle within her, particularly in relation to how it affects her family life. We also have another newbie in the form of Agent Renee Walker. She is given full development as a character and I enjoyed watching her struggle with her conscience as her view of what is necessary in doing her job changes.

The initial storyline is whether the US should step in and stop the genocide happening in Sengala (a made-up African country) whilst dealing with a linked terrorist group threatening to cause mayhem in US cities. As usual with 24 there are plots within plots and this series certainly doesn't disappoint with the twists and turns it offers viewers (some where I literally was left speechless at the end of the hour!)

One controversial theme which runs throughout the whole series is the justification (if there is indeed any) of suspects being tortured in order to gain crucial information from them. I thought this issue was handled well and once again hats off to 24 for dealing with something which is currently being discussed in the real, international arena. I found that in tackling this subject the writers were able to develop the character of Jack Bauer further than before.

In this series I did enjoy some of the quieter, more reflective episodes. This really benefitted character development in the series as we had time to reflect on why the main characters acted as they did. If they do make another series (which I'm not sure is necessary or advisable) I think more of these reflective episodes need to be built in as with the current format SO MUCH happens in each episode that it is difficult to recall anything at all when you start to watch the next episode.

On the down sides there were some plot holes and credibility problems with this series (particularly towards the end). Maybe this is inevitable with a series of this scale but it seemed to me that the plot just became a little sloppy at the end. Characters did things that were not credible purely in order to heighten tension it seemed. Additionally, the character of the President's daughter Olivia really didn't work for me. For one thing, even if you were qualified, as the daughter of the President surely you would not be given a position of Presidential Adviser with direct decision-making powers. This contrived nepotism was a step too far for viewers to believe. Plus the character mostly acts like a moody, spoilt teenager for most of the series rather than a savvy consultant. Not someone you would want advising on critical issues.

I love the real-time aspect of the show. But there seemed to have been no attempt to make it look like the main characters had really just been through a grueling 24 hour nightmare shift. I remember this being handled much more convincingly in earlier series.

I thought long and hard about my score and in the end I decided a three was fair. Overall, I would say this series is just for real fans. Entertaining enough but maybe it's time to make this the last series while it is still on a reasonable high.

My 4 stars score is a trade off between what the best seasons of 24 can offer and what competitor shows can offer. My latest ranking of 24 seasons, best to worst would be: 1,2,5,3,7,4,6 which means that season seven is neither great nor terrible compared to the shows history. I felt the need to review this critically as this season was still missing some 24 quality control! (Also I hate people ruining whole seasons of 24 for me, just to suit their sudden burst need to feel superior having seen an episode before you, so I've not divulged any specific plot lines or twists here in case you have not yet seen it)

Against the backdrop of the admittedly badly written series 6, this season had much to live up to, especially given how long it had been since the last season due to the writers strike in the US. After watching it, unfortunately I feel they have still missed out the best things about 24 and carried on some of the worst traditions, This is by no means the worst series but while the writers acknowledged that season 6 was poor, this season supports the fact that they just nodded along without understanding why it was poor.

The season starts in its normal fast paced attempt, with the first scene being a heist, events then unfold that reveal a terrorist situation. CTU is no longer running though thanks to its over controversial methods being picked on by senators and the FBI has taken over these sorts of counter terrorism investigations. There is a new president in the white house, who was inaugurated in the 24:Redemption 2 hour episode. Of course Jack Bauer is central to the series, but we definitely get to see a more human side to him unlike his normal terminator style drive, his humanity was touted for season 3 but this season makes a much better show of it.

Season 1 remains the best as it was the only one to capture the essence of being awake for 24 hours and exhaustion and stress it would really bring. Its slower pace allowed some proper character development. This season like the last just completely failed to address this once again, everyone is as awake by the end as they are at the beginning, including all the FBI staff. Not only is this aspect of the 24 hour real time badly handled, but this season gets slammed with the "Instant Travel" method again, where the writers are trying to cram so much into each episode that they make people travel to Washington destinations in a matter of minutes, the first ten minutes of the season are the perfect example of this, with a super difficult computing/engineering task done within 1 to 2 minutes!

The characters are fairly decent in this season, there are many new members of cast due to the introduction of the FBI and new white house administration. There are very few extremely annoying people who are just irritating and aggravating to watch, the presidents daughter being one of them. There's a few old faces from 24 history, which also highlights that this season like the last few have had consecutive story lines that mean you should have watched the previous seasons before approaching this one or you'll miss out on vital story aspects.

Plot wise this season is a mixed bag, some bits are good but having more than 2 or 3 plot sections in my opinion just trivialised the whole atmosphere and made each bit feel immaterial to the overall picture. While this was better in that regard than season 6 (the worst offender of too many plots), it still had a few too many sudden introductions of new plot lines. Yes they are then fast paced and exciting to watch, my adrenal glands were depleted many times by the end of an episode, but the lost sense of realism is really missed. If tonnes of plot lines are unanimously what the viewers want then the only way I see to feasibly do this, while maintaining some sense of realism, is to remove the 24 hour real time idea, but then frankly that's the most unique selling point about 24!

One thing that annoys me about 24 are pointless deaths, they are a cheap way the writers have found to make an episode as impactful as possible, but overuse in previous seasons has almost rendered this tool lame. This season has a couple but certainly not as bad as some previous seasons. Something I did like in this series were the moments of calm. Not every moment was a chase, which I found a relief, and allowed for some real character development, the FBI agent Renee walker gets a full character development arc running alongside the rest of the story, and isn't just confined to the "lead, chase, new lead, chase again" mechanic.

Overall a decent piece of viewing but a shaky step compared to the strongest seasons. It did not learn effectively from its past mistakes, but still managed to come across competently and entertained none the less. Jacks humanity makes a welcome visit, and the moral backdrop of the whole counterterrorism methods debate provides a rich enough texture to supplement the action. Definitely worth a watch, just don't expect this to trump previous seasons.