24: Season 8 Blu-ray offers solid video and great audio in this enjoyable Blu-ray release
The clock is ticking and the suspense mounts during this season-long depiction of "the longest
day" in Jack Bauer's (Kiefer Sutherland) life. Each episode is an hour in a very busy day for
CTU agent Bauer in this revolutionary series that keeps audiences white-knuckled throughout.
The first season takes place in LA on the day of the presidential primary, when politician David
Palmer is set to be nominated for candidacy. Jack and his elite team of agents discover a plot
on Palmer's life, and they have the next 24 hours to track down the perpetrators before they
have the chance to execute their plan. Meanwhile, Jack's teenage daughter Kim has gone
missing after a night of partying, and his already-strained marriage is put to a difficult test.
The convoluted and ever-surprising plot of 24 keeps the suspense high, with shocks and
surprises around every corner.
Less than one month after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, the first season of 24 debuted and the American public found a
cathartic hero in protagonist Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland), a patriotic Counter Terrorist Unit agent defined by his unswerving sense of justice and
willingness to do just about anything to save the day. The show was an embodiment of the nascent War on Terror zeitgeist. Its themes played off our
newfound fear of shadowy terrorist cells with virulent anti-American motives. It raised ethical questions about torture as a valid means of interrogation,
and its novel real-time narrative structure and emphasis on up-to-date data mirrored the non-stop cable and internet news ethos of a country glued to
its television sets and computer screens. It was the first real TV show of the Information Age.
Day 8 begins...
24 rode high on this cresting cultural wave until its sixth season, when the "Jack Bauer Power Hour" began to show serious signs of writer's
fatigue. The twists were getting predictable, the scenarios re-used. (Really, another mole inside CTU?) How many times could one man save the U.S.
from impending disaster? And yet the show soldiered on through a full-length made-for-TV movie, 24: Redemption, and a seventh season
that—despite a much-needed change in scenery from Los Angeles to D.C.—rarely recaptured the time-ticking suspense of Jack Bauer's first few
horrible, terrible, no good, very bad days. When it was announced that the eighth season would be the series' last, most fans and critics agreed it
was about time. The common hope was that the show would go out on a high note. It does, and it doesn't.
Picking up a year after the events of season seven, "Day 8" begins with Bauer semi-retired and living in New York. He's a grampa now too, and his
daughter Kim (Elisha Cuthbert) has just convinced him to move back to L.A. so he can be closer to them. Jack's packing up the last of his things,
preparing to go to the airport, when he's contacted by a former informant who has credible info about a planned assassination attempt on President
Omar Hassan (Anil Kapoor), the leader of the fictional Islamic Republic of Kamistan—an Iran stand-in—who's in town to sign a long-in-the-making
peace accord with U.S. President Allison Taylor (Cherry Jones). Jack agrees to escort his bleeding-to-death informant to CTU's New York office, but en
route, they're attacked by the Kamistani terrorists—who want to kill Hassan because he's essentially giving up their country's nuclear capabilities—
and the informant dies in Bauer's arms. But not, of course, before he indicates to Jack that there might be a mole inside Hassan's entourage,
possibly Meredith Reed (Jennifer Westfeldt), a journalist who's been having a not-so-secret affair with the president. Jack reluctantly goes to CTU for
a debriefing, but, as one character puts it, he's "the guy who always does the right thing." Obviously, he's going to postpone his L.A. plans—for a day
at least—to aid CTU in the hunt for the would-be assassins.
In true 24 fashion, the story balloons from here, expanding in scope as we slowly learn who is really behind the assassination plot
and why. I won't get into any serious spoilers or motivations, but as the threat level rises, Bauer is joined on his mission by unstable former love
interest Renee Walker (Annie Wersching), and together they infiltrate the Eastern Promises-esque echelons of the Russian mob, going
undercover as black market arms dealers in order to learn the whereabouts of the enriched uranium fuel rods that the terrorists are trying to obtain.
Meanwhile, there are several unfolding subplots. The dullest follows Dana Walsh (Katee Sackhoff), a CTU data analyst with a literal skeleton in her
closet, as she sneaks behind the backs of her coworkers—including fan favorite Chloe O'Brian (Mary Lynn Rajskub)—trying to avoid having her past
revealed. More interesting is the moral transformation of President Taylor, who, in a series of desperate maneuvers—suggested by ousted ex-
president Charles Logan (Gregory Itzin), a total Wormtongue—compromises her integrity and principles to keep her peace treaty on the table. Jack's
character is also darkly altered after a shocking-but-not-really-unexpected mid-season disaster. Act three finds him in full-on revenge mode, shooting
to maim, slicing open a living terrorist's stomach to find a swallowed data card, pulling a Mike Tyson-style ear bite, and donning the scariest looking
riot gear ever to hunt down his nemesis.
The season indulges in the show's usual twists and turns—yes, there's another mole inside CTU, yes, there's a government cover-up, and yes, Jack
goes rogue yet again—and while the action is occasionally intense, the sense of edge-of-your-seat tension that pervaded the first few white-knuckled
seasons is rarely present here. The trouble is two-fold: 1.) The show has trained its audience too well in how to guess what's going to happen next,
and 2.) the writers simply don't have any new ideas. Nearly every machination of the eighth season's plot has an antecedent in previous seasons.
When a show ceases to surprise or innovate—like, say, The X-Files in its final years—it's a good sign that it should be mercifully put down
before it becomes too painful to for its dedicated fans. That's not to say, however, that I didn't enjoy watching this final season of 24. I definitely did.
This is still big-budget TV action done (mostly) right. I liked the cautious interplay between Jack and Chloe, who wants to help her long-time friend
and colleague but also feels bound to do her job. I loved seeing the pants-soiling terror on ex-President Logan's face when Jack threatens to kill him.
And, of course, I still cheered internally whenever Jack let loose with his trademark: "Dammit!" (There are fewer of those this season, for some
reason. Perhaps the writers realized that the catchphrase has become too much of a cultural in-joke to be taken seriously.) The magic might have
vanished two seasons ago, but 24: Season 8 still has TV entertainment down to a science.
As one of the bigger budgeted shows on television, 24 has always had rich, cinematic visuals. That's definitely still the case here, although the
limitations of setting the final season in New York but filming it entirely in L.A. are occasionally all too visible. The episodes set during daytime, for
instance, feature extremely blown-out highlights—intentionally—which seems, to me, like a tactic to make the green-screened backgrounds less
noticeable. It works—usually—but the resulting image is often much too harsh, with desaturated colors and piercing whites. Indoor scenes fare far
better; colors are dense, skin tones balanced, and contrast much more natural. As the season moves into the darker p.m. hours, black levels can be
somewhat problematic—sometimes grayish, sometimes crushing shadow detail, sometimes both—and compression noise has a tendency to compete for
prominence with the picture's natural grain structure. You'll also spot some noticeable banding in fine color gradients, as well as a few instances of
aliasing—especially on the fine parallel lines of New York's buildings. Clarity, however, is fairly strong throughout, as the transfer has no trouble
communicating intricate facial features and other prominent textures.
The show's frequently intense sound design is perhaps even more cinematic than its visual aesthetic, and the eighth season's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
presentation has no trouble communicating all the explosive action of Jack Bauer's final mission. More so than most TV programs, the rear speakers are
used to tremendous effect, whether for the cross-channel pop, ping, and zing of gunfire—which there's a lot of during certain episodes—or the beating
rotors of helicopters, the rush of vehicles, and the long swoosh of a rocket attack. Even in quiet moments, ambience often fills the soundfield
with CTU chatter and keyboard clicking, the hum of New York traffic, and other place-establishing atmospherics. Rounding out the sound is the show's
propulsive score, which surges dynamically along with the action. Coasting clearly through the center channel is the dialogue, which never gets muffled
or lost in the shuffle. Overall, a great mix—not just for a TV show, but for any medium.
Scenemakers (SD, 11:01, 13:33, 15:03, 12:04): Nearly every episode includes a mini-featurette that gives us an on-set
examination of how specific scenes were created, focusing on action choreography, continuity, special effects, and characterization.
Extended Episodes: Seven episodes are viewable in extended versions, adding about 2 minutes to the runtime.
The Ultimate CTU (1080i, 12:51): A featurette about the production design of New York's CTU office.
Chloe's Arrest (1080p, 3:39): An epilogue of sorts. That's all I'll say.
Virtually New York (1080i, 9:08): Executive producers Brad Turner and Howard Gordon explain how they shot a season set completely in
New York...completely in Los Angeles.
Deleted Scenes (1080p, 4:17, 1:49, 1:04, 4:33): A handful of deleted scenes spread across all four discs.
If you're a longtime 24 follower, you owe it to yourself to see the series to its completion. Season 8 may not be as groundbreaking or intense as
the show's first few seasons—really, how could it be?—but it's still damn good television. This is a satisfying Blu-ray release as well. Minor compression
issues aside, the high definition image is a pleasure to watch, and the show's frequently bombastic sound design is given the full lossless audio
treatment. Certainly worth a purchase for fans.
All countries
