Like every other fan, I was disappointed when the show ended—especially since the show suffers from a reverse Star Trek Movie Curse and ended on an inferior year. 24, at its best, provides a propulsive blend of heart-stopping suspense and impressive Character Development, a deconstructive meditation on Cowboy Cops and by-the-book politicians, a compelling dose of Gray-and-Grey Morality. It's escapism, but also that rare show that helps gird us for real life by showing us heroism both ordinary and badass. The eighth season kind of pushed it too far, but it definitely had its good moments.
With only two episodes left, there's still time for them to turn the show around. But if they continue making miniseries continuations, I hope they rewire the internals some. Tension is tension, but the original series only really found its footing when it started digging into the characters' personalities and letting them twist in the wind. That's something LAD doesn't seem to have time for. Unfortunately, the very thing they discarded is also what makes 24 good. This isn't the show we knew, it's The Mockbuster version of same. And I'm bored.
Live Another Boring Day
24 should have stayed dead.
Like every other fan, I was disappointed when the show ended—especially since the show suffers from a reverse Star Trek Movie Curse and ended on an inferior year. 24, at its best, provides a propulsive blend of heart-stopping suspense and impressive Character Development, a deconstructive meditation on Cowboy Cops and by-the-book politicians, a compelling dose of Gray-and-Grey Morality. It's escapism, but also that rare show that helps gird us for real life by showing us heroism both ordinary and badass. The eighth season kind of pushed it too far, but it definitely had its good moments.
Live Another Day is a miniseries, covering only 12 hours, and as such the business is compressed. The intention was to create a concentrated dose of 24-flavored awesome, but the show actually backfires by highlighting the flaws in the original concept. In Live Another Day, everything happens fast; story arcs that would have taken 12 episodes go at twice the speed now, and they work fine. The original show could have progressed so much faster. Of course, it didn't, because it took the time to focus on its characters, give them room and time to breathe... something that LAD doesn't, to its detriment. Jack is almost a cliché, doing what he does simply because that's what he does; nobody else has had very much time for motivation. Kate Morgan, the new Distaff Counterpart played by Yvonne Strahovski, is the only person with any real Character Arc, and that's mostly due to Strahovski's acting chops. The action is sped up, but the character work is left at the same speed, and the miniseries suffers for it.
With only two episodes left, there's still time for them to turn the show around. But if they continue making miniseries continuations, I hope they rewire the internals some. Tension is tension, but the original series only really found its footing when it started digging into the characters' personalities and letting them twist in the wind. That's something LAD doesn't seem to have time for. Unfortunately, the very thing they discarded is also what makes 24 good. This isn't the show we knew, it's The Mockbuster version of same. And I'm bored.