I am ambivalent about 24. Always have been. The show is brutal and tortures people regularly and at times seems to be some sort of reflection and apology of George Bush and Dick Cheney’s policies. But I kind of get a different vibe from the early episodes this season. Keep in mind that the show was off the air for over a year because of the writers strike and most of the episodes were shot before Obama was elected.
So what’s the reason why 24 feels different? It’s the women. The women of seasons past have always been on the sideline, crazy or evil — Jean Smart as the crazy Martha Logan, or Penny Johnson as the manipulative Sherry Palmer or Sarah Clarke as Nina Myers, the double agent. The women in Jack Bauer’s (aka Keifer Sutherland) personal life have been a bit shy of pathetic including his long forgotten wife (Leslie Hope) and daughter (Elisa Cuthbert) and of course Kim Raver as Audrey Raines.
Todd Plitt/USA Today
The women are finally becoming important players in the action and it makes the show so much more interesting. I know the show is really convoluted and is far fetched but I love that the President is a woman. Cherry Jones rocks. At least seeing a woman president is not as far fetched as it used to be. She’s tough. She refuses to pull back American troops from off the coast of the made up African country of Sangala because there would be a genocide. All her advisers want her to pull back. She refuses. The guys can’t believe she would put Americans in danger to save people so far away. She talks about American values and ideals. I find the all the military conversations happening with a female making the decisions quite interesting.
Then there are agents Chloe O’Brian and Janis Gold played by comedians Mary Lynn Rajskub and Janeane Garofolo. They both totally crack me up. These women are super cyber geeks of the highest order and both kick ass. Chloe is part of the rogue group of agents trying to save the government from corruption yet she describes herself as a stay at home mom. Talk about a great cover. These women are great roles models for girl tech geeks.
Rajskub, Garofalo are two peas in the ’24′ pod (USA Today)
