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The Hour "24" Stood Still
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The Hour "24" Stood Still |
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Mistletoe Angel 
since 2000-12-17
Posts 32816Portland, Oregon |
Generally, whenever there's something that doesn't quite add up or make sense to me in terms of the writing on "24", I'm usually willing to offer their writers the benefit of the doubt as, after all, the show is designed more as entertainment than anything. But I found last night's episode to be beyond embarrassing in terms of writing. All the Nadia and Milo flirting, no sight of Bauer after the near-beginning of the episode until 36 minutes into the episode (despite the plot initially designed to be centered heavily around Bauer after being freed in a prisoner exchange deal with China and learning that his family was linked to a company that complicitly aided and armed terrorists), and Chloe only having one line throughout the entire episode (she also has been way out of character this entire season thus far, with the very seldom signature anti-social gaffe) just to name a few. But the single greatest laughable thing that takes the cake, I believe, is Wayne Palmer's sudden resurrection from a coma after being heavily injured in an assassination attempt engineered by more hawkish representatives in the administration, worsening with Palmer's abrupt flip-flopping on the military strike he was forced out of the coma to begin with by Karen Hughes and Palmer's sister to stop from happening, at a ridiculous pace. This is perhaps the second-worst laugh of all-time on "24" in any season behind only Kim Bauer getting her leg trapped in the wilderness and approached by a cougar. Some are arguing it's the overdose of adrenaline injected into Wayne Palmer that compelled this 180. I don't buy that. I have researched before that the adrenal glands produce a hormone often known as the "fight or flight hormone" known as epinephrine, which its purpose is to increase the supply of oxygen in the bloodstream so that the individual is capable of handling more difficult situations, and in result makes one more alert of mind and also potent physically. Obviously there are adverse reactions to high levels of epinephrine, especially hypertension, anxiety attacks and tremors, but I've heard no physical evidence that it impairs judgment so inconceivably that you compromise your principles in an instant and do the reverse of what you intended. It could also be some are confusing adrenaline with testosterone here. And there are studies that suggest that excessive levels of testosterone affect judgment somewhat, like an April 2006 study at the University of Leuven that tested straight male students 18 to 28, where some of them were shown nice landscape paintings while others were shown pictures of hotties, then followed it up with a money game test monitoring competitive behavior like hunting or food sharing. That study found that those who eyed the pictures of hotties made dumber decisions in the financial game than those who looked at landscape paintings, and moreover that those who made the sumbest choices were men who BOTH looked at hottie pictures AND had the most testosterone. And how did they determine how much testosterone each man had? By comparing the length of the index finger with that of the ring finger, where some studies have suggested that the longer the length of the ring finger is to the index finger, the more likely the person is to have high testosterone. Even then, I don't buy the claim that even high testosterone levels will impair someone so much in such a short interval of time that all a sudden one will have a Freaky Friday sort of experience and go from a pragmatic, use all diplomatic options kind of commander-in-chief to a reckless, confrontational, stone-cold hawk within ten minutes. It's beyond absurd to me. I can't help but be left wondering if the next development of that plot will be that Daniels, realizing he himself can't win the legal case to be President with the recorded perjury intent Lennox captured, somehow got one of his aides to tamper with Palmer's medicine with some sort of serum that makes him act like some sort of neoconservative hawk. It sounds absolutely inconceivable and nonsensical, but I have no clue where else they're going with this, just as I have no clue where they're going with Jack's father being essential to the plot. Is there something I'm missing here? I've tried approaching the episode in as many ways as I can, and it still sounds absolutely ridiculous. Sincerely, Noah Eaton "If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other" Mother Teresa |
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Christopher
Moderator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-08-02
Posts 8296Purgatorial Incarceration |
quote:It's a television show. Fiction. I find it humorous, however, that you're prickling over some incorrect reactions, when the entire basis of the show (Superman Jack) is completely unbelievable. |
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Sunshine
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-25
Posts 63354Listening to every heart |
Sorry if I'm laughing, Noah, but I think because so many of the shows out now and in the last few seasons resemble soap operas, I steer clear of them. But I applaud you for taking the writers to task!  |
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iliana Member Patricius
since 2003-12-05
Posts 13434USA |
Noah, I totally agree with your assessment. I think the only thing that makes sense is that they are gearing up for a change in the main character. I think there will be a new Jack next season and guess who that will be? Yep, you guessed it....Ricky Shroeder. I think though that Ricky has got to change his stage name very soon to "Rick" not Ricky. Somehow, it just doesn't fit. Or, maybe he could change it to Rick Sutherland....just kidding. No, really, I think they are lining him up to take the lead. Yes, the cougars episode was terrible....but that is part of what made it 24...the over-dramatization, ridiculously so. But those first couple of episodes this year were so good that I came to expect more. Oh well. Stay tuned.  ....jo |
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Mistletoe Angel
since 2000-12-17
Posts 32816Portland, Oregon |
quote: It is indeed fiction, and I myself acknowledged in the second sentence of my opening response that "the show is designed more as entertainment than anything." I'm arguing, even by fiction's standards, the writing is beyond embarrassing. The show isn't based on a true story, but it's not a cartoon either. "24" is a thriller designed to run in "real-time" that's centered around a government agent who tries to safeguard the nation, particularly his home community of Los Angeles, against terrorists. So Jack Bauer (or this particular Jack Bauer anyway) is a fictional character, but many of the themes of the show are the same themes that we constantly hear about via the news cycle and our elected officials. Terrorism is a real issue. Torture is a real issue. Racial profiling is a real issue. How we effectively fight terrorism while safeguarding our civil liberties is a real issue, all of which are frequently depicted on "24". Indeed, there are experienced agents who have been shot and recovered, who endured torture but perservered in spite of it, agents whose families have been threatened and vowed to do everything they could to protect their loved ones as Jack Bauer did in Season One. It can without a doubt be argued how silly it is Bauer has went on this long, or at least went on this long without receiving some sort of physical disability, but all in all I've found Bauer to be believable enough as a central character of the program. What's absolutely NOT believable to me is how President Wayne Palmer, the victim in an attempted assassination by dissenters of his foreign policy within his administration, fell into a coma from it, and barely later he automatically resurrects from that coma, has enough energy to speak and work, and then, despite already being injected with adrenaline before, it didn't affect his decision-making before but after being injected with a second dose he suddenly has that Freaky Friday moment and decides to enact that nuclear strike that he had protested staunchly from the beginning. Even by fiction's standards it's terrible writing!  By the way, I don't think I'll continue to watch "24" when Bauer is killed off. It just won't feel natural to me anyomore as a program, where the show was designed to be centered around Bauer to begin with, and how he has become the determined counter-terrorism agent he is, what previous events and military service in his life spawned some of the very villians he has went after, what, essentially, makes Bauer tick. Whereas, if you put a whole new agent at the helm, it's simply not nearly as engaging. My opinion is once Bauer is killed, they should add a sub-title to the title of "24" to indicate that it remains this thriller situated in "real-time", but it's a whole different protagonist and his/her story. Perhaps, for example, "24: Slick Ricky"? Sincerely, Noah Eaton "If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other" Mother Teresa |
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