“24”
Sunday night at 8 on Fox/Ch. 5
4 STARS
Believe it or not, this season “24” turns 100.
Or more accurately, this season (which is Season Five – yes five!) the kick-ass Bauer Hour will hit its 100th episode, or in other words its “24’s” 100th hour.
Got it? Good.
Now, here comes the hard part. How in the heck do I review the new season premiere, which is nothing but shocker after shocker, without giving anything away?
This is tougher than figuring out how to shut down Bauer’s vitals so low he appeared dead – which is where we left off last season.
Season Five finds Jack alive, if not well (he’s always disturbed or disgruntled – like a postman about to blow).
He’s wildcatting on an oil rig in California. (Part of his problem is he never gets out of that state!)
He’s living a whole new life with Diane (Connie Britton) and her teenage son, Derek.
What? You thought there wouldn’t be a teenager mucking up Jack’s work and national security this season? What planet are you living on, bub?
It’s hard to know if Jack’s finally happy, because he’s so disgruntled. And really, can you blame him?
After all he’s done for the government and the president, he ends up as a wildcatter shaping up for work each day?
I mean, it’s one thing to pretend to kill you off, it’s another to leave you stranded.
The feds did more for Sammy the Bull, for God’s sake.
Well, as you can imagine, horrible things happen within the first few minutes, and shocking things happen within the first 10.
In fact, you will be disgruntled yourself when you find out who gets wiped out.
Yes, some of our favorites are shot down deader than deer on opening day of hunting season.
I’d tell you who, but I don’t want to get shot down either.
Some great characters take center stage, too. My personal favorite is Jean Smart as First Lady Martha Logan, who refuses to stay on her meds.
Is she crazy, or would anyone go crazy married to her horrible president of a husband (Gregory Itzin)?
What we know is that she was contacted by one of the newly dead people the day before the person was gunned down.
She was told it was a matter of top security, but no one believes her because she’s loopy.
But then again, whom can you trust here?
If Bauer is dead to everyone-in-the-know, then everyone-in-the-know wants to know how his picture showed up on the video monitor in the lobby of the building where a certain someone was killed.
Poor Jack!
It’s bad enough they didn’t even give him severance, but now he’s being set up, even though he’s already supposed to be dead. Talk about not letting people rest in peace.
Look for Jayne Atkinson (“Syriana”) and Tony-award winner Stephen Spinella (“Angels in America”) as the new ham-handed, mess-cleaner-upper of CTU and her assistant.
Hell, this show is so hot even Peter Weller left his professor’s gig at Syracuse University long enough to appear as Henderson, the fed who got Jack the gig in the first place long, long ago.
With any luck, “24” will live to be 200!