Jack Bauer Retuns For Season 8!

Counterterrorist Jack Bauer doesn’t go looking for trouble — even if he has created collateral damage equal to a nuclear strike.

No, trouble comes looking for him, and fans of the Fox thriller “24″ are all the more lucky he’s been a magnet for mayhem and destruction for seven mostly electrifying seasons.

Now he’s back for more with an eighth day of furious, nonstop action, and the four episodes that launch the new season could be a sign of thrilling and heart-pounding events to come.

This time, the day — which again will be told in real time over 24 hours/episodes — occurs in New York City after last year’s disappointing season in Washington, D.C.

Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) has divorced himself from CTU and is working as an anti-terrorist mercenary to be a full-time grandfather to his daughter’s baby. He plans to return to Los Angeles with her family when, of course, trouble literally comes knocking on his door.

An old informant who is badly wounded comes to Bauer’s apartment to warn him that an assassination is about to take place at the United Nations.

U.S. President Allison Taylor (Cherry Jones), who was introduced last season, is in the middle of important peace negotiations with a Middle Eastern president, Omar Hassan (“Slumdog Millionaire’s” Anil Kapoor), and the informant claims Hassan will be murdered.

That immediately ignites the season’s slick and streamlined first four episodes. In the first hours, Bauer has to deliver the injured informant to New York’s new CTU office while fending off gunmen at every corner.

The action, as “24″ is known for, is tight, pulse-pounding and quick, perhaps one of the best openings this thrilling action show has ever offered.

But more important, the producers have seemingly gone back to some of the basics from the show’s initial seasons that made it such an engrossing drama.

I had plenty of complaints over the show’s past two seasons, especially Bauer’s tougher exterior last year that made him downright unlikable. In the beginning of this season, he’s come to terms with his past and is willing to drop everything to be with his family.

Last season, the action got bogged down over the question of torture in the show. Longtime critics of “24″ have complained about Bauer’s illegal use of force, and the producers finally addressed it, only to slow the story’s pacing and deliver mixed messages about the morality of his techniques.

First and foremost, “24″ is a drama that features ferocious storytelling. The first four episodes deliver on that promise and greet fans with the kind of heart-racing action and pacing we expect. Let’s just hope the rest of the season’s day is as exhilarating.

via sltrib.com