24: "8:00 am - 10:00 am"

Back in November, I said some pretty harsh things about 24. While I stand by a number of them (I still think the show's "real time" structure is often more hindrance than help; I still get irked at the casual, and often uncommented upon, use of torture; and I still think that Day Six was hella bad), looking back over my initial review—and the comments that followed—I don't think I explained myself very well. Obviously, some of us are never going to see eye-to-eye, but in trying to give out my reservations on the series, I underplayed the things I honestly enjoy. Like I said, I wasn't assigned this coverage, I asked for it; and there's a reason for that.
For all my problems with the show, structurally and philosophically, I get a kick out of the action, and the heightened character drama; and despite my earlier criticism, there is something to be said for the awesomely absurd plotting the writers make use of to ensure each season lasts the full running time. Since Day One, we've had some terrific villains (even Day Six gave us James Cromwell as Jack Bauer's father), as well as some top-notch supporting players; for all the tedious time wasted on Kim Bauer, 24 gave us the ever-caustic Chloe, who ranks in my mind as one of the best (and most honest) tech-support personnel on TV.
And then there's Jack himself. As part of the promotional material Fox sent us for Day Seven, I got a McFarlane Toys "action figure" of Bauer in his most familiar pose: two-hand gun draw, satchel slung over one shoulder, getting ready to ruin some bad guy's day. Looking at the toy now—it's sitting on top of my cable box—it occurs to me that the main reason I dig 24 is that at heart it's a super-hero show. Sure, it obeys semi-realistic conventions, and Jack has no readily acknowledged powers, but c'mon; he's got a regular outfit (jeans, dark shirt, bullet proof vest), he can do things nobody else can, and in the end, he always wins, even while his personal life turns into utter shit. As played by Keifer Sutherland, Jack is the ultimate proof of the Hitchcock maxim: you love a guy who's good at his job. Only Bauer goes beyond good to be damn near unstoppable—and instead of making the series fall over its own ridiculousness, each new evidence of Jack's constancy makes you root for him all the more.
Still, times are tough, even for super-heroes; the open of Day Seven, after a mid-day kidnapping of a dad-in-glasses, has Jack before a Senate subcommittee prepared to answer questions on his choices during his time with CTU. Jack's forgone a lawyer, and the questioning goes about as you'd expect, with the Senator (Kurtwood Smith!) being all pissy, and Jack defending himself in a speech that sounds suspiciously like something Jack Nicholson might've said in A Few Good Men, minus the yelling. Jack accuses Smith of using the investigation to further his political career, but we aren't given a chance to assess this one way or the other before the committee is interrupted by a pair of FBI agents looking to take Jack into custody. The session adjourns, with Smith announcing Jack will be called back to the stand tomorrow at the same time—and there's a neat moment here when you realize exactly how this season is going to end.
We've already been through the torture discussion, but it's worth noting that for the first time in the course of the show, the writers are directly addressing the concerns Jack's actions have raised. Instead of being a one-off moment to mock an overly-moribund government, the Senate hearing actually looks to be an indicator of a major theme of Day Seven. Multiple times over the course of the premiere, various characters will talk about the things Jack's done, either to condemn him or show their support. 24 has never been particularly self-aware, but these first two hours are surprisingly direct. From what we see, I don't doubt that Jack will be proven right in his decision to torture certain suspects; but the mere fact that it's being addressed at all is fascinating, and bodes well for what's to come.
You know what else bodes well? Tony freakin' Almeida. After apparently dying in Day Five (Peter Weller is such a bastard), he's back, and, by all appearance, he seems to have changed sides. Jack gets pulled into the FBI offices because the dad-in-glasses who got kidnapped in the opening scene is Michael Latham, the man responsible for, apparently, all of the Homeland Security computer infrastructure, and the FBIers, among them cute-as-a-hard-nosed-button Renee Walker (Annie Wersching), think Tony and his team are behind the kidnapping. While Jack does his best to wrap his head around a.) his friend's return from the dead and b.) his not-dead friend turning into a terrorist, we see Almeida and his band of misfit toys beat Latham into building the season's first magical MacGuffin, a device that lets people hack into that afore mentioned infrastructure and do all sorts of nutty things.