24 Season 5: Episodes 1 & 2 Recap(Hours 7:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.)

WARNING: The following post may, and probably will, contain spoilers.

Well, well, well... color me impressed. So far this season has started off in an exciting way. The action was good, the direction was good... heck, even the acting was good (except President Logan, what a goofball). I like the story thus far and it gives me hope that the series could turn into a great, or at least better, direction. The one problem I’m super afraid of is that generally the premieres of series are produced and directed with more vigor than the rest of the series (save the sweeps and finales). If that’s the case here, we could easily slip back into the bad land... but we’ll soon see. Here are my thoughts from tonight’s two-hour premiere.

Awww, Fox, You Spoiled Us
If you were a loyal 24 fan and read up on season five before it even started, you were sure to find out that there were some potential major spoilers in store. Sure enough, as the opening credits rolled in during the first episode, Fox pretty much confirmed the deaths of Michelle and Palmer. Don’t call them "special guest stars" next time something like this is going to happen, I knew right off the bat who was going to die. Tsk tsk.

Throw That Lock Down!
Okay, we’ve been through this before with other seasons and we’ve even been through this in real life (see September 11). If a major event occurs, such as the assassination of a former President (which was 15 minutes away), the entire West Wing (so to say) goes into immediate lock down. The President’s whereabouts are not disclosed and he, and the rest of his staff, are whisked away to some super safe spot. In cases like this, the President doesn’t have the final say in whether a special summit is still going to occur. Besides, I’m thinking the Russians would turn right around, I know I would.

And where exactly is the rest of the staff? Not that "The West Wing" or "Commander in Chief" are better representations, but they have staff, secret service, FBI, etc... running around EVERYWHERE all the time. I think here it’s just a matter of keeping the cast down to a minimum, but not a very logical interpretaton.

Hip Hip, Hooray!!!
Glad to see Palmer’s brother, Wayne, is back. I really liked him from two seasons ago, he’s definitely a good addition to the cast. Speaking of good casting, Derek, the teenage boy with spidey-sense (I gotta warn Jack, yeah, right), is another good addition to the cast. I liked the dynamic between him and Jack.

I also loved the edginess of Jack when talking to the assassin. That ruled.

Celly Phone Silliness
It’s about time someone has trouble hearing Jack while he’s flying in a helicopter! Maybe his good cell service ran out when his CTU employment ended. And while I’m thinking about it, how did Jack get cell phone service? Surely he didn’t put his account under Jack Bauer, did he?

Also, why does everyone use cellphones? Even the bad guys? Marwahn used them extensively last season and now with the recent realization that the government can listen in on any call in the United States, surely they’d be picking up on these bad guys and the crap they’re planning... right?

The First Lady, The Latest Craz-y
What is it with dysfunctional First Ladies on this show? The latest, Martha Logan, seems to be a super loon. All the President wants to do is keep her all doped up, which is something they should’ve done with Erin Driscoll’s daughter last season. You just knew her "craziness" was a setup for yet another mole from within... and I’m tired of the whole mole deal, too.

Edgar-Chloe Schtuff
Looks like the rumored love triangle is effectively established. Wonderful. And since when does a place like CTU have one super administrator that can do things no one else can? That’s not very likely at all. Nor is it likely to get such a strong signal in an underground parking garage – I barely get cell phone reception in my garage. It was funny that Edgar pointed out that Chloe was probably in a parking garage or something, since her signal was weak... but when the building was being "secure" to capture Jack, why didn’t they a) shut off the elevators, b) block the exit of the garage, or c) head directly to the garage to get Chloe?

In addition, Chloe had already been missing for about an hour and CTU was concerned that she was assisting Jack. If that were the case, her name and file would be placed on immediate alert status... meaning that when she arrived at the building where Palmer was assassinated, she wouldn’t have gotten past the first guard (you know, the guard that did the lean-in-glance-over vehicle check). And one more thing, why was there one FBI agent in the garage, but 25 of them upstairs? When you secure a building, I’m pretty sure everything is secure, not just the penthouse.

Misplaced Family Values?
Is this not the perfect season to bring back Kim? Jack’s been gone for 18 months and barely a mention of Kim. I’m assuming that she’s still a CTU agent somewhere, if that’s true, then she’s been informed that Jack is now suspect number one. I think she’d be popping up somewhere demanding some answers. If anything, they could bring her back and kill her off... I’d be down.

Miscellaneous

• With as bad as that car was after the explosion, I’m betting that Michelle wouldn’t look so good herself, nor would there be much of her for Tony to hug. And why did the car explode twice?
• Was that the outdoor shopping mall from The 40 Year-Old Virgin?
• Geez, why is Audrey back? Please don’t say her dad is back, too.
• "Real-time updates." Yeah, I don’t think that’s a real-time term.
• Cool smoke screen. Buuuuuuut, wouldn’t the helicopter blow all the smoke away?
• Woohoo! Macs! Too bad it’s not the new Intel iMac. And it also sucks that the CTU peeps are stuck with HPs.
• Looks like Chloe will be the first person interrogated, and so it begins.
• If I’m not mistaken, the glass that Jack broke out of the drivers side window (the one he and Derek drove to the airport) was back.

Great start for season five. My hopes are up thus far, but we’ve still got 22 hours to go. Sigh.