Friday, November 28, 2003
Oops
Well I had an unintentional break from the Internet thanks to a national holiday and a complete cock-up with the internet company I use. Man that sucked bigtime. Not that I have anything new or interesting to say about my beloved show right now, but yay only 4 days til episode six. I just don't know how Jack's going to wrangle himself out of this hole he's digging. I wonder if the withdrawals are affecting his on-the-spot decision-making process. Probably. The riot might have seemed like a good idea at the time once the blaring alarms started going off, but ultimately that set off the chain of events that led to at least two guards' deaths, not to mention the prisoners who were killed in the ensuing battle.
I'm also very worried that all of Kiefer's hinting around before the season started about how even Jack is expendable in order to keep us guessing wasn't some kind of tease or foreshadowing for what's in the pipeline later in the series. I bloody hope not. Jack may be expendable but Kiefer isn't. Honestly, I can't think of a way to make this show work without him. I don't want Chase to be the next 'Jack' or whatever like some people on the FOX boards are suggesting. I like Chase, but meh. He doesn't appeal to me yet the way Jack does. But then again maybe that's an age thing. I'm certainly not near my teenage years and I happen to find Jack more appealing because he's closer to my age. I can't see myself being as interested if the dynamic of the show changes to some hottie-of-the-moment. I do like the partnership the writers established between Jack and Chase, sort of a master and apprentice thing. That works for me. But if Kiefer goes, I hate to say I'd probably go too.
Now how can I be a loyal 24 fan if I say something like that? Easy. Part of what makes this show so great *is* Kiefer's character and his portrayal of that character. That's been said over and over by so many critics and fans alike so it's not just something I pulled out of the air and said. There have been a lot of jokes about 'how many bad days can one guy really have' and all that which sounds quite funny. But when you think about it, Jack's only had three bad days. I don't know about you but right now just about every other day in my life is a bad day. I would love to have had only three bad days over a 5 year period. So I can see how the show can carry on with Jack having more bad days :)
That said, I'm not going to worry about it anymore. Anyway, I'm just babbling on right now so I'll end this entry by saying that more Season One screencaps are on the way this weekend aswell as some more caps from a couple other Kiefer flicks so be sure to check out the gallery if you have time. I'm also thinking about writing some more character analysis for a few other 24 characters but I haven't decided if I'm up to the task yet :)
I'm also very worried that all of Kiefer's hinting around before the season started about how even Jack is expendable in order to keep us guessing wasn't some kind of tease or foreshadowing for what's in the pipeline later in the series. I bloody hope not. Jack may be expendable but Kiefer isn't. Honestly, I can't think of a way to make this show work without him. I don't want Chase to be the next 'Jack' or whatever like some people on the FOX boards are suggesting. I like Chase, but meh. He doesn't appeal to me yet the way Jack does. But then again maybe that's an age thing. I'm certainly not near my teenage years and I happen to find Jack more appealing because he's closer to my age. I can't see myself being as interested if the dynamic of the show changes to some hottie-of-the-moment. I do like the partnership the writers established between Jack and Chase, sort of a master and apprentice thing. That works for me. But if Kiefer goes, I hate to say I'd probably go too.
Now how can I be a loyal 24 fan if I say something like that? Easy. Part of what makes this show so great *is* Kiefer's character and his portrayal of that character. That's been said over and over by so many critics and fans alike so it's not just something I pulled out of the air and said. There have been a lot of jokes about 'how many bad days can one guy really have' and all that which sounds quite funny. But when you think about it, Jack's only had three bad days. I don't know about you but right now just about every other day in my life is a bad day. I would love to have had only three bad days over a 5 year period. So I can see how the show can carry on with Jack having more bad days :)
That said, I'm not going to worry about it anymore. Anyway, I'm just babbling on right now so I'll end this entry by saying that more Season One screencaps are on the way this weekend aswell as some more caps from a couple other Kiefer flicks so be sure to check out the gallery if you have time. I'm also thinking about writing some more character analysis for a few other 24 characters but I haven't decided if I'm up to the task yet :)
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Tuesday, November 25, 2003
5pm - 6pm
God I wasn't kidding when I said this is a 'Holy shit' show. I blabbed it out loud twice during this episode. I have no fingernails left. My heart is racing. This was an incredible hour and I can't believe how many emotions coursed through me during the show tonight.
Kyle and Linda... Poor hapless Kyle seems like the kind of guy that trouble just finds. He has a good heart I think, but not a lot going on in the common sense department. Tonight, when he saw Linda's reaction to being thrown into the weird chamber thing, he finally had the right idea. I will admit that I didn't see him trying to hang himself on those wires coming. I thought he was trying to somehow get the guards to open up the door or something. I'm not very good at predicting what's coming actually, so I spend a lot of my time being pleasantly (or unpleasantly, as it happens) surprised. So his attempt to take his own life was my first Holy Shit moment of the show. I was glad Linda saved him though, that was a nice touch. I think she's a pretty tough chick. Besides, Kyle's kinda cute.
The great debate... I think this was sort of underplayed and I'm still a little muddled about it. Keeler let loose his accusation yet Anne seemed taken aback by it. Why? She said she was ready for whatever got thrown at her and she had the advantage of knowing what was coming during the debate. Why was she so shocked? Maybe because Palmer seemed a little befuddled by the attack? I don't know, not enough time was spent on it for me.
And so Jack's big secret is out. I'm really warming up to weird Chloe and how abrasive she can be without meaning to. Another sort of hapless person who's big on smarts, low on common sense or tact. I like the way Kim found out about the smack and she dealt with it as emotionally as I would have expected her to. Well done Elisha :) And kudos to Adam for not being a complete twat to her and actually understanding her precarious position now that it's also known she inadvertently helped Jack start the prison riot.
The riot.. God the other and biggest Holy Shit moment. Leonard Roberts, the actor who played the guard Jack played Russion Roulette with, was amazing. His absolute fear and tension displayed on his face that completely *made* the moment for me. That's the thing about this show that I love so much - as an american used to typical television shows taking the easy way out emotionally of tough situations, it was a complete shock to me when 24 took the hard way out of the guard who was forced to roulette himself. I was so gutted when the poor bastard got the bullet. Tears formed, heart pounded, and I felt wrenched when I saw Jack's face. One more death that he has to add to his conscience to go along with his wife, the officer from season one and who knows who else. That was just such a brilliant scene I can't stop thinking about it.
The rest of the episode had me on the edge of my seat. Good on Kim and Adam for tracking down that truck, though I did wonder how Kim knew what Kyle was wearing. but I'm assuming a full description of him went out all over the place so that's not a nitpick :P I'm also wondering what Claudia is playing at. Why is she going to try and play the brothers off each other? Does she want out of her situation? Does she pout enough with those poofy lips? I don't know... Hector kind of annoys me so I'm a little glad he wasn't in this episode much. Anyway, they got Kyle but just not in time - and this is where my fingernails went. The Jack and Chase standoff was excellent and I'm glad he was smart enough to figure out what Jack was really up to. So now he knows Jack hasn't really switched sides. I could kill Jack though for disabling the com in the chopper. Argh!
What a fecking awesome show. That is all I have to say. For now. I'll be back to blather on some more later.
Kyle and Linda... Poor hapless Kyle seems like the kind of guy that trouble just finds. He has a good heart I think, but not a lot going on in the common sense department. Tonight, when he saw Linda's reaction to being thrown into the weird chamber thing, he finally had the right idea. I will admit that I didn't see him trying to hang himself on those wires coming. I thought he was trying to somehow get the guards to open up the door or something. I'm not very good at predicting what's coming actually, so I spend a lot of my time being pleasantly (or unpleasantly, as it happens) surprised. So his attempt to take his own life was my first Holy Shit moment of the show. I was glad Linda saved him though, that was a nice touch. I think she's a pretty tough chick. Besides, Kyle's kinda cute.
The great debate... I think this was sort of underplayed and I'm still a little muddled about it. Keeler let loose his accusation yet Anne seemed taken aback by it. Why? She said she was ready for whatever got thrown at her and she had the advantage of knowing what was coming during the debate. Why was she so shocked? Maybe because Palmer seemed a little befuddled by the attack? I don't know, not enough time was spent on it for me.
And so Jack's big secret is out. I'm really warming up to weird Chloe and how abrasive she can be without meaning to. Another sort of hapless person who's big on smarts, low on common sense or tact. I like the way Kim found out about the smack and she dealt with it as emotionally as I would have expected her to. Well done Elisha :) And kudos to Adam for not being a complete twat to her and actually understanding her precarious position now that it's also known she inadvertently helped Jack start the prison riot.
The riot.. God the other and biggest Holy Shit moment. Leonard Roberts, the actor who played the guard Jack played Russion Roulette with, was amazing. His absolute fear and tension displayed on his face that completely *made* the moment for me. That's the thing about this show that I love so much - as an american used to typical television shows taking the easy way out emotionally of tough situations, it was a complete shock to me when 24 took the hard way out of the guard who was forced to roulette himself. I was so gutted when the poor bastard got the bullet. Tears formed, heart pounded, and I felt wrenched when I saw Jack's face. One more death that he has to add to his conscience to go along with his wife, the officer from season one and who knows who else. That was just such a brilliant scene I can't stop thinking about it.
The rest of the episode had me on the edge of my seat. Good on Kim and Adam for tracking down that truck, though I did wonder how Kim knew what Kyle was wearing. but I'm assuming a full description of him went out all over the place so that's not a nitpick :P I'm also wondering what Claudia is playing at. Why is she going to try and play the brothers off each other? Does she want out of her situation? Does she pout enough with those poofy lips? I don't know... Hector kind of annoys me so I'm a little glad he wasn't in this episode much. Anyway, they got Kyle but just not in time - and this is where my fingernails went. The Jack and Chase standoff was excellent and I'm glad he was smart enough to figure out what Jack was really up to. So now he knows Jack hasn't really switched sides. I could kill Jack though for disabling the com in the chopper. Argh!
What a fecking awesome show. That is all I have to say. For now. I'll be back to blather on some more later.
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Monday, November 24, 2003
Waiting waiting waiting for Jack.
Someone on the Kiefer Krew forum posed a rather interesting question. This person was (I'm assuming here) a male and wanted to know what is it about the Jack character that appeals to women. All talk about the hotness that is Kiefer aside, I think this person wanted to find out if there were different aspects of the Jack character that he didn't even know about or think about. I think he mentioned that a lot of blokes pretty much go for the 'action' or the 'violence' of Jack's character. They cheered when he shot Goran and subsequently chopped his head off, or they grinned in squeamish delight when he started poking around inside of Wallace looking for the chip. I'm not saying that's what 'all men' want out of his character, just that that's what a lot of the appeal is.
On the other hand in reading the female responses to that thread, women are drawn more to Jack's vulnerabilities and chivalrousness (I don't think chivalrousness is a word. But oh well, you know what I mean.) They love his sense of duty to his job, but they also love how he protects his family to the best of his ability and that he would do anything for them. Some of them find the "battle between Jack's sense of righteousness and his dark side" compelling. (I totally quoted a forum member there - g-grl in fact. I want to be sure I'm giving proper credit :)) I think that aspect is perfectly illustrated in the final episode of Season One when Drazen's out of bullets and Jack has the upper hand in the battle. If you watch Kiefer's face closely - here is a man who thinks Drazen has killed his daughter and dumped her body in the ocean. The struggle over what Jack *should do*, i.e. arrest Drazen and bring him back to CTU, over what he wants to do, blast him off the planet - it is incredible to watch how Kiefer portrays that inner struggle without having to say a thing.
For me personally, this image sums up one small layer of Jack's persona. His immediate first gesture as he's walking away with a woman who is placing him under house arrest is to put his hand behind her to support her should she fall or guide her back into the building. It's just so gentlemanly and unexpected from the 'badass' side of Jack we love as well. But a gesture like that plays as completely second nature to him. Jack can be ruthless when called upon to be so; he can hack a man's head off, but he'll still come around and open your car door for you. He's not James Bond - you won't find Jack at any swanky soiree or driving a fancy car. Jack drives a Ford (obviously, hehehe), and maybe drinks a scotch as opposed to a martini. He's everyman's Bond with a vulnerable side and a strong sense of family, and of duty, and for me, that's what makes him so appealing.
There's so much more I could go on about, but I'll stop there. I just found it interesting the ways in which the different sexes regard a character like Jack.
Anyway, one more day til 24! :)
On the other hand in reading the female responses to that thread, women are drawn more to Jack's vulnerabilities and chivalrousness (I don't think chivalrousness is a word. But oh well, you know what I mean.) They love his sense of duty to his job, but they also love how he protects his family to the best of his ability and that he would do anything for them. Some of them find the "battle between Jack's sense of righteousness and his dark side" compelling. (I totally quoted a forum member there - g-grl in fact. I want to be sure I'm giving proper credit :)) I think that aspect is perfectly illustrated in the final episode of Season One when Drazen's out of bullets and Jack has the upper hand in the battle. If you watch Kiefer's face closely - here is a man who thinks Drazen has killed his daughter and dumped her body in the ocean. The struggle over what Jack *should do*, i.e. arrest Drazen and bring him back to CTU, over what he wants to do, blast him off the planet - it is incredible to watch how Kiefer portrays that inner struggle without having to say a thing.
For me personally, this image sums up one small layer of Jack's persona. His immediate first gesture as he's walking away with a woman who is placing him under house arrest is to put his hand behind her to support her should she fall or guide her back into the building. It's just so gentlemanly and unexpected from the 'badass' side of Jack we love as well. But a gesture like that plays as completely second nature to him. Jack can be ruthless when called upon to be so; he can hack a man's head off, but he'll still come around and open your car door for you. He's not James Bond - you won't find Jack at any swanky soiree or driving a fancy car. Jack drives a Ford (obviously, hehehe), and maybe drinks a scotch as opposed to a martini. He's everyman's Bond with a vulnerable side and a strong sense of family, and of duty, and for me, that's what makes him so appealing.
There's so much more I could go on about, but I'll stop there. I just found it interesting the ways in which the different sexes regard a character like Jack.
Anyway, one more day til 24! :)
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Sunday, November 23, 2003
The first four hours
I watched them back to back yesterday afternoon (bah, commercials). It's just really bizarre how different the show is when you get to see it all in one go. I was so spoiled by watching the DVDs of season 1 & 2, that I'm having trouble getting through the damn week waiting waiting waiting for Jack. At some point throughout each day I think to myself, 'Ohh, only X days left til 24.' It makes me kind of giddy and I am totally digging that.
Let me expand a little on why I love this show so much - apart from the obvious reasons. I live in a small-ish city in Nebraska, and to be perfectly honest, I dislike living here. Without whinging too much, I'll suffice to say that this town is like a Florida retirement village in that everything caters to the old folk and leaves people like me at a loss for things to do. So I spend time online of course, and I watch a LOT of movies. When I discovered 24, I just fell in love with it and am quite content to fill the dull hours around here with Jack Bauer's latest adventures.
As a writer, and as someone with a very avid (almost rabid) interest in film and broadcasting, I'm so impressed with what everyone involved with this show has done. I can't imagine how difficult it is to work with this concept of real-time television and yet produce quality episodes that practically force people like me to create fansites like this for something we love so much. It's such an accomplishment and I'm jealous as hell because I'd kill to be a part of something remotely like this :)
Anyway, I digress (something I do quite often. You have been warned.) I just meant to talk about my mixed feelings about the torturous time between episodes when I'm so anxious to see what happens next, and my overwhelmingly greedy desire to have all of the episodes at once so I can watch them in a marathon session. I just can't decide which I like better: the anticipation buildup (which is new to me this season since I'm a late fan :( ) as I count the hours until the next show, or the gluttonous need to devour every show at once. I'll have to think on this and get back to you.
Let me expand a little on why I love this show so much - apart from the obvious reasons. I live in a small-ish city in Nebraska, and to be perfectly honest, I dislike living here. Without whinging too much, I'll suffice to say that this town is like a Florida retirement village in that everything caters to the old folk and leaves people like me at a loss for things to do. So I spend time online of course, and I watch a LOT of movies. When I discovered 24, I just fell in love with it and am quite content to fill the dull hours around here with Jack Bauer's latest adventures.
As a writer, and as someone with a very avid (almost rabid) interest in film and broadcasting, I'm so impressed with what everyone involved with this show has done. I can't imagine how difficult it is to work with this concept of real-time television and yet produce quality episodes that practically force people like me to create fansites like this for something we love so much. It's such an accomplishment and I'm jealous as hell because I'd kill to be a part of something remotely like this :)
Anyway, I digress (something I do quite often. You have been warned.) I just meant to talk about my mixed feelings about the torturous time between episodes when I'm so anxious to see what happens next, and my overwhelmingly greedy desire to have all of the episodes at once so I can watch them in a marathon session. I just can't decide which I like better: the anticipation buildup (which is new to me this season since I'm a late fan :( ) as I count the hours until the next show, or the gluttonous need to devour every show at once. I'll have to think on this and get back to you.
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