I know, I didn't recap the show while it was on, but since it's over I figured I would talk about 24: Live Another Day for just a bit.
Obviously, spoilers are forthcoming.
I was surprised that Live Another Day even came around in the first place. Honestly, after the last season of 24 (eight or nine, I don't remember) I didn't think there was anything else left to say. Or that the network would allow them to say it. In fact, the people involved moved on and Kiefer Sutherland got a new series called Touch which I ignored because it had a kid in it instead of Jack Bauer (or another similarly named fellow) blasting holes in people and shouting at inappropriate times.
Still, I was pleased to have something to watch on Monday in the summer that didn't involve "celebrities" or whatever other tripe that the networks or cable is desperately trying to sell to an audience that more and more doesn't give a shit and would rather watch their "TV" on Hulu, Netflix, or even Amazon.
Live Another Day spanned 12 episodes. It's half a day plus a little bit instead of the normal 24-hour day. This gives the miniseries the distinct advantage of not running itself into the ground. And since each episode was broadcast in a tidy 12-week period, there was no chance of either ennui or getting lost in the intricacies of the plot. Then again, the likelihood of getting lost in the plot wasn't all that high anyway. If you've watched a season of 24 before, you know what you're getting. It's basically what I stated in the first paragraph about shooting, shouting, etc.
So how'd it play out? Well enough, I think. I'm not sure if they can spin it off into another series of 24 episodes, because of plot reasons that I'm about to get into. But as another series of a show that many people adored, I think it was fairly successful.
If there was anything that may have hamstrung the miniseries, it's the frequent change of "main antagonist". There were three of them this time around: Margot, Adrian Cross, and the returning Cheng Zhi. I'm not sure what to make of this other than that they had a bunch of ideas and what they ended up going with was hastily implemented due to the fact that they only had 12 hours (give or take) to work with instead of 24.
This means that the transition from Margot to Cross to Cheng is fast. Too fast, really. This is pretty much the only part of the miniseries that would have benefited from additional episodes. There really wasn't enough time to examine the motives of Margot, Cross, and Cheng. Thus, the only one who I felt really got her due was Margot, because she was the first and she was the most well-characterized.
The problem with reintroducing Cheng Zhi, of course, is that people with short memories (e.g. me) have no fucking clue who he is. It's not that people are unfamiliar with the actor who plays him, Tzi Ma; just about everybody who watches movies ought to know him. But the character of Cheng reappearing at this juncture just smacks of convenience. The producers needed a guy that people knew (oops) who could take the reins of villainy once Margot and Cross were disposed of. And Cheng was the guy.
Obviously, this is not a grave error. He just didn't get enough screen time to make the decision seem anything but convenient and unjustified. Again, this isn't a strike against Tzi Ma, who is a fine actor.
Actually, it seemed a bit convenient that Cross was a "bad guy" too. But that was understandable once it was revealed that he was the one Navarro was talking to. Michael Wincott plays an excellent bad guy, really. He's got the voice for it, the grizzled appearance, and he's British; as you know from Jaguar commercials, all the best bad guys are Brits.
Okay, maybe not, but Wincott was the perfect choice for his role.
Margot al-Harazi was the most well-developed antagonist in Live Another Day. She was callous and cruel, but utterly determined to see things through in her own twisted way. It's a shame that she didn't last longer, but apparently the point of Live Another Day was to have things move forward quicker than usual.
Her death was a polarizing moment as well. Jack Bauer isn't usually the kind of guy who goes off on vigilante sprees. He shoots a lot, but it's usually to incapacitate, not to kill. He didn't even shoot Margot; he tossed her out of a goddamn building and watched her go splat on the pavement alongside her son who Jack had killed previously.
Jack also attacked Cheng in a similarly grisly fashion, but I guess that's understandable given the circumstances.
I didn't expect Margot to see her end so soon. And the way she bit the dust was so out of character for Jack Bauer and the show that I was just like "Damn, Jack".
The miniseries ends with Jack having to make a deal to ensure Chloe's safety. The fact that she disappeared seemed a bit convenient, but it forces Jack to finally give himself up to the Russians, who had been after his head for the previous four years.
I'm not sure where the series goes after this. It's been well-established that as Jack Bauer goes, 24 goes. And if he's rotting in a Russian prison, the series either has to have a new hero or someone's going to have to break Jack out. The new hero won't be CIA Agent Kate Morgan, we know that much. The symbolic act of laying down her firearm was enough to convince me that she's done.
So do I want 24 to return as an actual series? Yes and no. I think it can be done well; Live Another Day proved that, and the extra time 24 episodes would give the story can only be beneficial as far as developing the antagonists, even if it means more cliffhangers and more conversations that have nothing to do with the plot. But the way Live Another Day ended just might be the best for the series to go out on.
