In case you weren’t sure how serious things were getting in 24: Live Another Day, President Heller is here to remind you: once “Day 9: 9:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.” announces that things are going ‘Defcon Three’, the entire season begins to come into focus. It also helps that the pointless distractions of earlier episodes – primarily the CIA mole and the al-Harazi family – are put to the side, ignored in favor of much more dramatic, world-altering moments, with the US scrambling as Cheng and the Russians (surprise!) enact their plan for world domination into high gear.
That being said, the best moments of “Day 9: 9:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.” are the quietest: when Mark realizes what he’s done in the name of jealousy, or Kate’s reaction when she hears Jack’s half of his phone call with Audrey. When it’s focused on the male characters at its center, “Day 9: 9:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.” moves forward with vigor, though it does so at the cost of leaving its great female characters in the wind (Chloe lies in a ditch for most of the hour, and Kate’s been relegated to driver and backup eyeballs), with only Audrey to stand for the female presence in 24‘s increasingly hectic London setting. To her credit, she takes some initiative, fighting off her long-held fear of Cheng’s return to go meet a colleague from the Chinese embassy, stepping up where Mark and her father cannot (or aren’t willing to).
Yes, it quickly lands her in a big pile of shit (with one of Cheng’s associates sniping her colleague and Secret Service detail): but who doesn’t end this hour in the same shoes? Along with continuously folding plots into each other, the one thing Live Another Day has done well is constantly pushing its characters into a corner, the only escape a pair of difficult choices: we see it in multitudes this episode, be it Mark admitting his treason (and then confronting his “government official” about it, in his own home), Heller’s attempts to not let things spiral out of control, or Jack pushing himself to keep his distance from the one woman still alive on this earth that he loves (outside of Chloe, of course, but that’s bro love).
Live Another Day has certainly had its problems, but the last few hours have been a remarkable return to form for one of television’s most thrilling shows, a crescendo of gun fights (some bleeding into the next episode; this hour opens mid-Jack vs. Russians gunfight), dramatic threats and actions (the Chinese are bearing down on the US base in Japan), and surprising twists (turns out Chang’s country did forget about him, assuming he had died three years ago). It’s certainly not subtle (again: “DEFCON THREE!”) but it’s that brand of kick-ass action that television just doesn’t have anymore, in a landscape more interested in what’s inside a brooding, violent man’s head, rather than the effects his actions (and the mere influence of his presence) have on the world around him. Will 24 be able to keep this going and deliver a finale worthy of the 24 name, outside of the 24 format (for the first time, 24 will air an episode that does not take place in real time)? Only time will tell: but even if it peters out in the end, it’s strong return to form through the heart of this season is a reminder to what made it one of TV’s most addicting shows.