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Three years after the events that unfolded in season two of
24 another threat is looming for the American population.
The race is on
to stop the release of a deadly manufactured virus...
Season
three of 24 sees Jack Bauer once again working at the
LA Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU). After spending a year working
deep undercover, Bauer put powerful drug baron Ramon Salazar
behind bars. However, now Salazar's brother and an army of
henchmen are demanding that he be released from the high security
prison or a type three pulmonary immuno virus will be released
to the general population. This virus has the potential to
have global repercussions and the only thing that can stop
this threat is Bauer and his CTU team.
It's
difficult to review 24 without giving away too many of the
plot developments. Plenty
of familiar characters worm their way out of the woodwork
including two fantastic performances by Sarah
Clarke (Nina Myers)
and Penny Johnson (Sherry Palmer) - two characters that fans
of the the series love to hate. In truth it was stretching
the narrative a little bringing Myers and Mrs Palmer back
for a third time, but thank god that the writers did.
But,
sadly not all the villains of this series are up to the same
calibre of these two. Paul
Blackthorne's Steven Saunders has to be about the worst nemesis
that Jack could have. No discredit to Blackthorne's acting
skills - he does a terrific job - it's just that the character
is such a sap. He was supposed to be one of the UK's top British
Agents (Jack's equal if you like) yet he crumbles far too
easily and he should have predicted that his one weakness
would have been discovered very easily. Yet he doesn't, and
when it is he folds quicker than an origami grand master (if
such a thing exists.) Although, I suppose you could argue
that if Jack were put in the same position he would probably
have done the same thing.
The
ending is way too Americanised. Part of the charm of the first
two seasons of 24 was that the ending wasn't necessarily
happily-ever-after. There were still serious issues left unresolved.
This year, everything is wrapped up (sort of) and the message
that leaves a bitter sweet taste in the mouth is that America
is beautiful, America is brave and anyone who disagrees is
wrong. Okay, the conclusion isn't as cosy as I make out, but
it does wrap things up a little too sweetly - unlike season
two's "Oh, my God!" conclusion.
Saunders
points out, in one of his little anti-American speeches, that
the world hates America and that he will make them realise
that they can't just walk into someone else's country and
do what they like. What could have been a moral lesson ends
up being: "Wahoo! We kicked some foreign ass!" So
what did America learn from this experience?... Sod all, that's
what.
Extras
on this DVD collection include just
under an hour of deleted scenes - with commentary by producer/director
Jon Cassar. These scenes can be viewed while watching the
episode (or separately on the collection's final disc). Although,
for some strange reason Cassar seems to get bored after 20
minutes and the rest of the deleted scenes proceed without
any commentary, which is a shame. His first 20 minutes help
the viewer to understand why certain scenes were cut, while
the remaining 30-odd minutes provide no insight into why these
scenes were cut.
Other
extras include: "24: On the Loose" - a look
at the filming of the prison scenes; "Boys and Their
Toys" - short featurette that looks at the filming of
the jet flypast and helicopter explosion scene; "Biothreat:
Beyond the Series" - a look at how the producers came
up with their virus for this series, with interviews from
experts on germ warfare; and a pretty pointless multi-angle
study which shows how each scene was shot several times from
numerous camera angles. I say pointless, because I couldn't
see the point in using the multi-angle process here. The first
angle provides a split screen of the action that takes place
on angles two and three. You're best advised to stick with
angel one, so that you can see everything that is going on.
Season
three still represents great television drama, it's just that
it didn't quite live up to what has gone before.
Darren
Rea
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