I've been running this site for almost two years now, and critiquing 24 for even longer. Complaining and ridiculing is an easy thing to do, but often isn't helpful -- not that Fox, or the writing staff, is paying attention. From what I've learned in the past, anyone can complain. Anyone can bitch. But it's so much more helpful to come up with a solution for a perceived problem. This Easter morning, I began to explore what could resurrect 24 from, what I see, becoming a failing franchise.
Something that's resonated with me lately is the new upcoming Die Hard movie. Does anyone else see the resemblance between Jack Bauer and John McClane like I do? They're both law enforcement. They both take on terrorists of all walks. Their families are estranged. And they're both solitary heroes -- they have help, but it's usually all them.
See the resemblances? I sure do and I think the creators of 24 may have based some of Jack on McClane -- it's not a big stretch. But why not go farther? I think that by copying a page from the Die Hard book, we can start our list of how 24 can be fixed.
1. Happenstance
In the Die Hard films, McClane has never been the person to seek out the baddies -- he just happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I think 24 needs to do the same. To borrow an idea from a reader, what if Jack (being a full-time citizen now) decides to retire from his job and find peace with himself. He moves to a small town in Montana, or Alaska -- a place where no one knows who he is, or cares -- and starts his life over. A place where nothing happens, life just exists. Think the town and mountains in Misery. Think of the setting in First Blood.
As Jack is in town getting some supplies for his cabin, he comes across some people that don't belong in town. It's nobody he knows from his CTU days, but these guys aren't wearing the right clothes, or driving the right kind of car. His instincts want to kick in, but Jack dismisses them and tries to go about his business.
During his fickleness, Jack forgets something at the store. When he gets back into town, something has gone wrong which tells Jack his instincts were right.
2. Little, to no, help from anyone in power
In this scenario, Jack is "off the grid," completely. Seriously. He's somewhere in the mountains where cell phones only work 10% of the time -- and that's on clear days. But it's cold and winter now, almost blizzard-like conditions. He can't get through to CTU, and even if he did, it would take them far too long to get any help there. Plus, there's no one at CTU that knows him anymore, Jack is the stuff of legends that disappeared.
Additionally, there are no Palmers in power. There's no one in the government that cares about Jack Bauer -- he was seen as a rogue agent that played by his own rules. Rules that not only produced results, but rules that got people killed. Again, even if there was someone who could help, Jack has no way of getting a hold of them. No favors can be called in.
The only help Jack has is from the local authorities -- police that have never had to fire their gun and are more used to writing parking tickets than tracking killers. Remember, no one knows about Jack's history, it's not likely they'll believe his crazy story or trust him.
3. No gadgets
With Jack no longer being employed by CTU, and his strong desire to get lost in the world, he has no need for his gadgets or technology. He has no PDA. No special cell phone to contact the outside world. No huge cache of weapons to choose from. And like I mentioned before, the weather conditions are bleak, so even the baddies can't use a lot of technology -- they're using walkie talkies to stay in touch and everything they need is pre-programmed (be it a missile or what-not).
Jack has nothing but maybe some basics -- knife, rifle, 4-wheel drive vehicle. Imagine him a beefed up and killer MacGuyver. To upgrade his stuff, he has to take it from the baddies, or enlist the trust of the police.
4. Time is unimportant
For way too long, the writers have been dependent on telling the viewers what's going to happen at what time. Whether it does, or not, we know that something important will happen in EACH episode. There's really no need for that -- especially in a small mountain town that is seemingly unimportant to the United States. Baddies won't tell each other that they plan on doing something in 45 minutes, because it won't matter. Jack won't drive from one end to LA to the other in 10 minutes, because it won't matter. This isn't a Die Another Day version of 24, it's a Casino Royale version. Things happen and people respond.
5. Cast of few
When comparing the cast photo of season one (minus Mandy) to that of season six, it's no wonder we're thrown so many useless and worthless sub plots. Seriously, it's always better to have fewer, more developed characters to deal with. Viewers can associate with them more.
In this scenario, there doesn't need to be many on cast. Jack, Baddie Boss, Baddie #2, Police Person, Concerned Citizen A and B. We can have sprinkles of others here and there (Milo, season one), but we don't concentrate on anyone with an alcohol-addiction for two episodes and then onto something else. We don't need 5-7 different bad guys as we move up the chain. Keep the cast smaller, make them all interesting.
I honestly see these suggestions as some that could really help 24 get back to the style of show that we love. Things have become way too big in 24-land. It's time to step back and see what made the show work. It wasn't CTU. It wasn't conspiracy theories. It was Jack vs. the world in a way that seems viable and true. We can't race around the world in 24 hours, but we can traverse a small town and stop an evil plot to destroy a valuable something that no one knows about.
Take it or leave it, Fox. Happy Easter.
