As an archbishop of the First Pundamentalist Church, let me say you have performed this task well, my son!
I was pretty riveted by the two hours, so I have few complaints. The biggest one, though, is the idea that the Secret Service would just retreat after Juma failed to prove he has the president. And the VP being a big old wimp. While I do think the senator who objects to torture is over-simplified, I do see the point they're going for, and I don't really object to the storyline. I think both sides have good points, and I think the general idea is that people like Jack Bauer need to exist just as much as the senator who advocates against torture. It's all about checks and balances--striving to do the right thing, but realizing that in order for things to get done, lines sometimes have to be crossed. Jack has always been that figure--the guy who will do the difficult thing, feel terrible about it, but know that it needs to be done. I figured they'd get the President's daughter and get her to come out that way, so I'm not surprised. I guess we'll see what happens next week. Overall--really exciting, and I'm much more entertained this season than I was last...even if it's pretty far-fetched in places (like 12 guys taking over the White House ). And yay for Rory Cochrane! And for so many people here knowing him as Speedle.
Great two parter, but having those guys take over the White House was retarded. Where are the Marines, dammit?! That almost ruined the whole thing for me. In the span of fifteen minutes, the White House went from swarming with Marines, Secret Service can't be trusted to walk the First Dog, to the Marines have evaporated, Secret Service is everywhere but inside the friggin' building. Not to mention, real life, there are SS SWAT teams inside and outside the White House just waiting for shit like this to go down, leave aside the secret, underwater point of entry guarded only by a Bond-esque laser grid and a shoddily made brick wall. Seriously, though. Where the hell did the Marines go? At what point did it make sense during the making of part two to send the Marines home? The only way I'll support it, is if the sneaky bastard Chief of Staff/Sec Def character actor guy who left for the Pentagon just before the attack is somehow in on the whole thing and ordered the Marines redeployed. And even that would still piss me off, not to mention open a whole new can of worms. They could have had the same end result by giving Juma's suicide commandos one five-minute miracle window to make a bee-line for the Oval office, burning through Marines all quiet like until Renee sounds the alarm, then the Pres and Jack get inside a safe room much closer to the Oval office, but her daughter is trapped outside with some other staff/civies. Juma's fucked as Marines/SS converge from all sides, his dudes dropping all around. The outside knows the Pres is safe because the safe room is not constructed by a retard, but Juma calls Hodges, who tells him about the First Daughter and he plucks her out of the crowd and forces the President to call off the Marine assault and surrender herself. SLAP! Countdown clock. Cliffhanger. The worthless sack of shit VP can still be a worthless sack of shit, too. You just know he's gonna dust off his old memo from VP Prescott about the 25th Ammendment before this is over.
It could probably be reasoned that the 25th automaticly applies since the President isn't in a position to command her power. It seems unlikely, though, that the Secret Service would retreat without knowing Juma had the Pres. "I have the President, back off or she dies!" "Let me hear her! Proove to me you have her!" "Ummm... Can't. She's... in the bathroom." "In the bathroom, really?" "Uhh, she's eating something, mouth full of peanut butter. Can't talk." "Oh, well...." [imitating someone eating with a mouth full of peanut butter]"Mmmm. mmm.. Caunnyut mmm mmm tauwlk. Mmm mmm. Neooit... Mmm mmm... muilyk." "Look, this isn't working, we're not believing it." "Would you believe that she's on the phone with the President of Russia?" "No." "Damn." And I find it funny that the White House is as well gaurded as CTU:Los Angeles. m Oh and that Tony apparently keeps a suit in Jack's size at the ready in the car. And that apparently Juma's men are savants when it comes to drilling holes (given that the drilled the hole between the sewers in about two minutes. Agent Red has balls. A blueprint of the White House would've been more belivable than the front elevation of it. Oh! And, seriously. They're all pussy-footing around over, "OMG Where's the D.C. target going to be? We've no idea, where! Let's discuss and fret over it while standing in the single most imporant building on the entire fucking planet!!! As soon as the words "D.C." and "attack" were said in the same sentence the President should've been down in the Secret Super Bunker seen last season.
But the hundreds of shows with a liberal bias that portray conservatives bible thumping authorative near-cavemen are A-OK...right?
So, the political bias of other, unidentified television programs excuses the neoconservative bias of this show how exactly?
I'm not going to argue with someone who is going to pretend there is no left leaning bias in over 90% of television. Anyway...spout your crap in TNZ where you all have ran off everyone who doesn't think like you.
If you'd like to make an argument, it's customary that you provide a few examples. It would be interesting to see how "The A-Team," or either of the "Stargate" shows, just to provide two examples that span three decades espouse a left-wing ideology. But that wasn't my point at all. Let me restate it so you understand: How does the political bias of other television series (regardless of the bias) excuse 24?
I don't think 24 needs excusing. Television doesn't have to avoid making a statement. In fact, it shouldn't. Just because you don't agree with the statement doesn't mean something's wrong with it.
No it doesn't excuses it nor does 24 or any other show for that matter require any excuses in order to project political slant. Consider the show Boston Legal. While I was a big fan of the show however I wasn't a big fan of its politics since it had a very strong liberal bias. A few conservative fans of the show on this board (not me mine you) occasionally brought up that bias in grading threads and usually they were simply told (sometimes in a rather scathing manner) to stopping taking the politics seriously or just stopping watching the show. The response you received from Archangel couldn't be any more predicable. You are of course free to make any opinions about the politics of any show but naturally you should also expect some strong responses to it from the people in the opposite political spectrum. Or you could do what I prefer to do i.e. ignore the politics and just enjoy for what it is: mindless fluff.
I'm going to be the voice of dissent. I gave both episodes a "Terrible" rating. This felt like I was watching Voyager's "Basics" all over again, right down to Maje Culluh slapping Janeway, I mean President Taylor, around. (I still say they should have gotten Mulgrew for that job). Why, because the plan was so ridiculously dumb that it never should have worked but instead we get contrivance after contrivance to explain why it did. I've had a while to think about this because having seen Sky One promos for this season for months, I knew that this was coming. They included a very brief shot of Juma in what was clearly the White House. I gave them a chance to explain how the most critical building in the entire United States could be so easily overrun and they didn't take it. Next problem is Juma himself. If it was some of 24's previous villains I could understand it, Marwan might have died to kill the President of the United States. Juma strikes me as much more of a "make the other guy die for his cause" type. They've said he's going to send a message but what message is that ? What's the point ? His country is already occupied by the US. I don't particularly enjoy being hit over the head with the torture arguments either.
I know, that was driving me crazy. They kept getting closer and closer to the White House with every step, yet it practically took them looking at the damn thing (albeit through the forest of make believe that apparently exists near 24's White House) and talking to Agent Red to realize that it was the target. What the hell else is Juma going to attack in the middle of the night? The nearly empty Capitol? The gigantic Pentagon on the opposite side of the river with its hundreds of military personnel on-site 24/7? The Washington Monument in order to destroy DC's manhood? Every one of these complaints and what Hermiod mentions are completely valid, but I don't know what it is about that show that just makes me forgive and even laugh off these rampant cliches and enjoy the ride.
You know, when Pierce mentioned he worked for five administrations, three were in four years and four were in eight years, so that's not very long. :P Maybe the guy before Palmer actually made it to eight years. Also, where did all the terrorists guarding the exits come from? When they showed the split screen of Candyman walking to the boat from two different angles, were they trying to act like there were more soldiers? Maybe all you need to do is add water and they multiply. I wonder if Candyman and friends passed Nicolas Cage going the other way.
Jack has a plan. He never would have opened the door without a plan. The President's "plea as a parent" didn't do the trick. Jack has a plan ... --Ted