DVDfever.co.uk - 24 Season 8 Episode 18 review by Dan OwenDVDfever.co.uk - Charts, News and Reviews of Blu-rays, DVDs, Games, CDs, Hardware, Laserdiscs, Cinema Films & more
24 Season 8 Blu-ray:
24 Season 8 DVD:
Season 1-7 Boxset + Redemption:
24 Season 7 Blu-ray:
Director:
Milan Cheylov
Writers:
Chip Johannessen & Patrick Harbinson
Cast:
Jack Bauer: Kiefer Sutherland
Chloe O'Brien: Mary Lynn Rajskub
Dana Walsh: Katee Sackhoff
Renee Walker: Annie Wersching
Charles Logan: Gregory Itzin
Bazhaev: Jürgen Prochnow
Dalia: Necar Zadegan
Novakovich: Graham McTavish
Pavel: Joel Bissonnette
Ethan Kanin: Bob Gunton
President Allison Taylor: Cherry Jones
Cole Ortiz: Freddie Prinze Jr.
Beware spoilers.
This episode ranks as one of the most dialogue-heavy hours of 24 in a long time, but it laid a lot of cards on the table and gave three actors their best material this year. 24's not really known for its acting (although it's had some excellent actors doing great work on occasions), but watching Gregory Itzin, Cherry Jones and Kiefer Sutherland reminded you that 24 can have a "quiet" hour that doesn't feel tedious.
To recap events quickly: Logan (Itzin) threatened Novakovich with exposing the Russian government's involvement in the day's attacks on President Hassan, in order to get his country back to the peace treaty agreement; Jack (Sutherland) learned from Bazhaev (Jürgen Prochnow) that Dana (Katee Sackhoff) knows who killed Renee, and heads to CTU to interrogate her; Logan heard about Jack's investigation and was forced to tell President Taylor (Jones) about what the Russians have been up to, but convinces her to keep quiet in order to let the "greater good" of the peace treaty happen as planned; Taylor arrived at CTU to relieve Jack of duty personally, fearing he'll expose the Russians and foil a chance for peace; and Jack decided to go rogue by escaping from CTU custody and stealing a chopper.
As I said before, Itzin, Jones and Sutherland were all doing good work this week, each character given something interesting to play. Logan was back his snake-like ways of dirtying the morality of situations (I love how he rationalizes bad ideas), Jones showed some chinks in her armour by agreeing with Logan's plan to let Dalia (Necar Zadegan) sign a peace treaty with the country responsible for her husband's murder, and Jack was forced to commit treason and ignore the orders of his President because he's so convinced he's right and wants justice for Renee. All very good, interesting character moments, at least in terms of 24's playground. There wasn’t much else going on this week, but I enjoyed seeing an hour that skilfully recalibrated the storyline and put the goodie-two-shoes President in a very difficult position.
Asides:
Why isn't Logan still under lifelong house-arrest these days?
I forgot to mention it last week, but Logan's advisor Jason Pillar is played by actor Reed Diamond, who had a similar role on Dollhouse.
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
24 Season 8 Blu-ray:
