24: Season Two
November 2003 Reviewed by: Anthony Di Marco Format: DVD	(all ratings out of 5): Overall Enjoyment Picture Quality Packaged Extras Sound Quality

There was a time when I hated soap operas. Growing up, I remember going to my grandparents' house after school and having to forfeit cartoons for General Hospital. It was the year Luke and Laura were an item and the villainous Scorpio was planning to destroy the world -- or some hokey baloney like that. My aunt loved the show. My brother and I did not. But sadly, in the event of rain, we had no other choice but to watch it. Even at a young age I knew bad acting when I saw it, and soap operas offered a surplus of cheesy melodrama. The cloying romance and overwrought cliffhanger endings seemed to have affected my aunt’s better judgment. "How pathetic," I thought, and vowed that I would never succumb to the soap opera’s Jedi mind trick. But alas, I underestimated its power. The seed was planted. And now:

"Hello, my name is Anthony, and I’m addicted to the Fox television show 24."

I should have recognized creator Joel Surnow’s name when I watched the first season of 24, but I had to search the The Internet Movie Database to jog my memory. Originally a writer for the soap opera Falcon Crest, Surnow also contributed to many of my favorite television shows. St. Elsewhere, Miami Vice, The Equalizer, and the fabulously well-written Wiseguy were all on his resume. Gadzooks! It appeared that the spell had been cast upon me years before 24 hit the screen.

My bruised ego quickly healed as I grew to appreciate the craft that went into the first season of 24. Developed in the tradition of the best action-adventure shows, 24 used the well-worn cliffhanger format to keep tension high across its entire 24-episode season. And while the approach could not be considered original by television standards, the fact that it occurred in real time provided a unique twist. Where other television shows will jump across "time" indiscriminately, 24 stays in locked step within the minutes of a single day. This recipe for tension was so addictive that my wife and I polished off Season One in a matter of days.

The key to enjoying 24 is to watch it with a clear and unbiased mind, so I’m not going to spoil Season Two by giving away plot details. Suffice it to say, the second day we see of CTU (Counter Terrorist Unit) special agent Jack Bauer's exciting but immensely stressful life is even better than the first. Both seasons follow a similar formula: In season one, Jack spends the first half of his day protecting a presidential candidate and evading the authorities while searching for his kidnapped family. The second part of the story involves finding out who was behind it all. The second season simply drops different characters into a new conflict while using the same basic structure: A very bad thing happens, Jack neutralizes the bad thing, and finally Jack follows evidence that points him to the real mastermind behind it.

A detail that makes 24 particularly soapy is in how it handles its characters. Individuals who you thought were out of the picture -- permanently -- are back. And those who were once believed to be enemies or allies have now suddenly switched sides. One thing that hasn’t changed is how asinine Kim Bauer’s situations are. Word is that the show’s producers and writers go out of their way to make Kim’s onscreen life laughable. Allegedly her plotlines are used to give the audience an emotional break from Jack -- kind of like the offbeat humor many horror movies use to cut tension.

One of my main criticisms of the first season of 24 was how the narrative came to a grinding halt after Jack rescues his family from the terrorist compound. This lag caused stretches in the story’s logic (like Teri Bauer’s bout with amnesia) to feel even more preposterous. A show with such a far-fetched premise needs to grab the audience and never let go. The minute you give people a chance to catch their breath and "think," suspension of disbelief is out the window. It could be argued that the second season's plot was an even bigger stretch than that of the first, but pushing the story forward with more bravado makes all the difference.

DVD production quality showed measurable improvement between seasons. Next to The X-Files this is the best-looking, highest-quality DVD presentation I have yet to see from a television series. Skin color, blacks, and detail are very good, with very little apparent noise. And the anamorphic transfer proves how important a widescreen presentation is in lending cinematic credibility to a television show. The audio is also a step up from the mediocre Dolby Surround of Season One. The audience is treated to a 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack, which makes good use of the surrounds but feels a bit too soft in regards to impact. Explosions and bass just don’t have the punch one should expect from an action-adventure story.

The extras in this collection are very good, and the two-part "Making of an Episode" documentary is a knockout. The audience is not only treated to production meetings between director Jon Cassar and his crew, but also some very candid moments where the director isn’t seeing eye to eye with his crew. It is also nice to see a director’s boyish reaction when what he has visualized in his head finally sees the light of day. One particularly genuine moment comes when Kiefer Sutherland demonstrates a fight sequence to Cassar. The look in Cassar’s eyes is one of profound pride, happiness, and admiration. It is a truly a remarkable and touching moment within a documentary that is thankfully free of marketing hype. Various crew and cast on several episodes also treat the viewer to more than 44 deleted scenes as well as commentaries. The commentaries on the shows and the deleted scenes were informative and insightful without being condescending or boring.

I still can’t stand General Hospital or any other daytime soap for that matter. But 24 creators Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran have done a fantastic job at turning what is essentially a soap opera into a crackling action-adventure saga. Hats off to the crew as well for making such consistent product despite its logistical complexities. There is no telling how many more 24-hour days are left for Jack Bauer, but if the final minutes of Season Two are any indication, his life isn’t going to be getting any easier.

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