Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

I'll be the first to admit that I never actually got around to watching this show when it debuted on FOX last fall. Whether it was the awkward Tuesday night timeslot or just me being too lazy to find time, I’m not sure. All the critics and my friends agreed this was one outstanding series from start to finish, but I think I only managed to tune in to one episode. I didn't believe it could be so intense, dramatic, and interesting for very long. I can tell you this; I couldn’t have been more wrong with that assessment.

This is not a series that you can just stumble into like “Law & Order” or “ER” and expect to know what’s going on. Even missing one episode can set you back. Not since the early days of “The X-Files” have I been so thoroughly wrapped up in a series. To give you an idea of just how addictive this show is, I went out to my nearest Wal-Mart on September 17, the release date of this DVD, and had fairly high expectations for it. At the time this review was written, it’s the 28th of September, and I’ve seen all twenty-four episodes since I purchased it. That’s an average of two viewings per day plus extras. For me to find over ninety minutes a day and to sit in front of the tube like I did was amazing, considering I hardly ever watch TV shows.

A lot of other shows like the previously mentioned X-Files and “The Sopranos” have terrific cliffhangers at the end of the season to ensure the audience comes back next year. "24" is so well written that it practically has a cliffhanger at the end of every episode. It’s not perfect, occasionally lagging in some scenes and a few issues with some of the characters, but in the last few years I’d be hard pressed to find a more intelligent and rousing series than this one.

THE PLOT:
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Oh yeah, I guess I should probably explain what this astounding series is all about. As most of you already know, the entire season takes place over one twenty-four hour period of time, each individual episode representing one hour of the day. It begins at midnight, with Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland); head of the Los Angeles based Counter Terrorism Unit playing a game of chess with his daughter Kimberly (Elisha Cuthbert). Along with his wife Teri (Leslie Hope) they make the perfect loving family…until Kim disappears from her room to go to a late-night party and Jack is called into work to deal with a sudden emergency.

The agency believes there will be an assassination attempt on a black presidential candidate, Senator David Palmer (Dennis Haysbert) sometime today. His wife tries to figure out where her daughter has gone while Jack and his team at CTU try and unravel the conspiracy of the terrorists who are trying to kill Palmer and soon realizes that there may be someone working on the inside that he trusts. Not long after his daughter is taken hostage, and it somehow is connected to an operation of his in Serbia two years earlier.

The show has a ton of plot twists and surprises, none of which I’ll spoil here, but suffice to say this series will absolutely keep you guessing. Just when I thought I knew who the traitor was, or what was going to happen next, the show took a completely different course. Most TV shows are just so linear and boring it begins to wear on you after a while, one of the fatal flaws of The X-Files in its later years. "24" never gets to the point where you’ll stop watching it, because there’s always a new revelation in every episode.

Not being totally flawless, "24" does have a few slip-ups. The first is that Jack’s daughter is captured by terrorists not once, but twice…in a single day. It seems hard to swallow, as the second time she’s taken you don’t feel as sorry for her and wish she’d be a little more careful. Also, what is up with that instant amnesia thing? Did we really need that? I don’t see how it helped move the story along in any way. Near the end Dennis Hopper (Apocalypse Now, Speed) shows up with a truly hilarious Serbian accent that might just as well have been canned. All of these flaws don’t really hurt the show in any way, as their just minor grievances that I can easily overlook.

FIRST SEASON HIGHLIGHTS:
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3) 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
- In this episode Jack discovers that a seemingly empty field in the middle of nowhere is actually a secret government prison facility underground. Here he finds out that the prison holds someone he thought he’d killed two years earlier in Serbia, and he’s convinced that his son’s are coming to break him out. This is a really dark, gloomy episode, filled with spooky corridors and all the actors are on top of their game here.

2) 1:00 a.m. – 2:00 a.m.
- Jack is secretly called in to a downtown building by his superior Richard Walsh where they find a man knows of a key card that may give them some answers as to who they’re dealing with. This particular episode had the most suspenseful scenes of the entire series in the shadowy building as Jack and Walsh try to escape while dodging fire by the terrorists trying to stop them from accessing the key card.

1) 11:00 p.m. – Midnight
- The season finale resulted in my favorite episode the series had to offer. It resolved a lot of the mysteries from the past twenty-three shows, and left us with a thrilling finale that will have me glued to my TV come October 29, when season two begins. In this ep. Jack’s forced to try and make a trade with the terrorists for his daughter. There’s several nifty shootouts on the docks and again, you don’t know what’ll happen next.

THE ACTING:
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Kiefer Sutherland manages to redeem himself for that pathetic crime film “Eye for an Eye” with a very good performance as Jack Bauer. He breaks down crying later in the finale and displays a wide range of emotions from fiery anger to complete exhaustion. Leslie Hope and Elisha Cuthbert do more or less what you’d expect from a family in shock from the whole day’s events. Dennis Haysbert is authoritative and compelling as the Senator with some serious family problems. The character I liked the most actually, was George Mason (Xander Berkeley). He doesn’t have a huge role early on, but is brought back up later on and is always caught in the middle between doing what his superiors tell him and helping out Jack.

THE EXTRAS:
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They really don’t deserve their own title, as there are a whopping three of them to choose from. First you have an alternate ending to the season finale with and without commentary by executive producer and co-creator Joel Surnow. I agree with him that leaving this one out was the better choice, as it seems a little too cheesy and doesn’t have a thrilling ending to the season either.

Finally, there is a two-minute monologue by Kiefer Sutherland where he explains some of the complications with doing a series in real time; ordinary stuff like a long traffic light is now a huge deal. He also “teases” season two, basically just stating that there will be more action, more mysteries, and more tension and that’s it. Wow, until this point I was almost going to say that I liked FOX again, but once again, they blew it.

Hearing commentaries on the episodes and the challenges filming the show in such a unique style would have been icing on the cake, but FOX rushed this DVD set out the door as fast as they could and forgot about what DVD’s were made for; to know more about the show or movie you’re watching. I’ve never really liked FOX’s decisions to cancel some great shows like “Millennium” and “Harsh Realm”, and shamelessly treating the amusing “Family Guy” so badly. On the plus side the picture and sound quality is excellent, as they did a very nice transfer and it’s about time TV shows are presented in wide screen format, as I couldn’t be happier.

CONCLUSION:
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Don’t make the same mistake I did, being lazy finally cost me viewing a truly exceptional series. However, this is why we all know and love DVD, because I got a second chance to see this series and took full advantage of it. "24" is one of the very seldom shows that I would clear my evening's schedule to watch. Ironically enough, this is my 24th review at epinions, and I strongly advise you to make this purchase. Don’t just click to another website or turn off your computer and never give it a second thought. I assure you, this was, without a doubt, far and away the best new show last fall.




Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older