I guess I'm not the only one who's excited to see the return of Jack Bauer in less than two weeks. After all, 24, in my opinion is the best drama series that has aired in the last fifteen years.
Yes, that means that the action drama is better than Sopranos, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, West Wing and other darlings of the critics. I think 24 is better than all those others combined.
But what is it that made this show so good? Because, I mean, usually action dramas don't really work. There have been so many other shows that have failed - and yet, 24 is about to start airing its ninth season.
One of the biggest reasons that 24 has been so successful is its revolutionary, experimental concept. That is that, everything that happens on the show, at least in theory, happens in real time.
A lot of people - including me - thought that this would never work. I mean, how do you write a season that consists of twenty-four episodes happening 'live'? There's no way anyone can pull that off.
Yet, they have managed to do it and I guess the reason for this is the concept itself. It makes the writers work really hard, it forces them to come up with interesting plots, characters and situations all the time.
Another big reason for the show being so good, is its main character, Jack Bauer. He is depending on the definition, our hero or our anti-hero. I myself find him to be really relatable and I can't help but to root for him.
On the show he usually does things like saving his family, trying to save a president from getting killed, or he tries to prevent the terrorists from blowing up a nuclear bomb and other things.
This doesn't mean that all the things he does are necessarily good itself. That is because he shoots, he kills and even tortures people. But I think he always does it for a reason that I can buy.
There are other interesting characters too, although most of them at this point are either dead or in jail. Like president Palmer, president Logan, Tony Almeida, Bill Buchanan, Nina Myers and so many others.
The only remaining supporting character that has managed to defy the odds is Chloe O'Brian, the computer nerd who has become Jack's loyal friend, a kind of a guardian angel to him. She will be part of this new season too.
But yeah, what makes the show and Jack Bauer so intriguing, is that the show has a main character who does all kinds of super daring Houdini tricks and who, in the end, manages to save the day.
I think this show says - as it manages to entertain - that an individual, at least in its universe, still can make a difference. 24 is kinda like Macgyver on steroids, with less social commentary.
In the end what I think makes us feel for Jack Bauer and come back for more is that he's a character who won't stop, won't give up, and won't let us down. What more can you ask for?
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