The First Season of 24

Day 1 of 24 ends and we are all better people for it. Take the time machine back to 2001 and there is nothing else to compare it to. It wasn’t just the gimmicky real-time format; this was an action movie brought to weekly television. Now it's amusing to say something that after watching the first season and seeing how tame it was compared to every season that followed, but it set the blueprint. Sadly, that wasn’t the only blueprint that they followed in the coming seasons. Moles, Kim’s own storylines, thin political plots, will repeat over and over again. We have Day 1 to thank for that too. Jack Bauer giveth and Jack Bauer taketh away.

What did we learn about Jack Bauer during that first day we watched him in action? Everything you need to know about the man was introduced that first season. You learn about his skills, his temperament, his love of family, his belief in what’s right, and the lengths he is willing to go. Jack Bauer is ex-Special Forces who has transitioned to terrorist cop. But since he still gets to kill people and seems to go on black ops missions for the government, I’m sure he’s content with his work. He raises his voice a lot and has zero patience for anyone that gets in his way even if they directly control his employment or his freedom. And the key to the show is that Jack is always right. Even when he is wrong in the short term, he is eventually proven right. Yet all of his days will be filled with Jack on an island trying to save the world from itself.

The first season is such a stark reminder of why 24 was so strong in the early years. Skipping the obvious of Jack Bauer, Day 1 introduced Tony Almeida, Nina Myers, George Mason, Ryan Chappelle, David Palmer, Sherry Palmer, Aaron Pierce, and Mike Novick. And not to spoil anything but only 3 of those people were alive when the show ended. Worse than that, if you combine the next 7 seasons you won’t be able to put together a list of as many great characters. Fine I'm exaggerating but the point is still valid. Also it was so long ago that you forget, but George Mason and Nina Myers were fantastic performances by Xander Berkeley and Sarah Clarke. Nina set the groundwork for the Jack Bauer wingman that will be recreated over and over again some successful and some very much not successful. We’ll come back in season 2 to talk about evil Nina. Mason gets better every time I watch these early seasons. He was the perfect foil to Jack because his whole character wasn’t defined as the person who tries to stop Jack. He supported Jack while still trying to stop his crazier ideas but you are always given these moments where you can tell that he actually likes Jack. This was a phenomenal cast to start the series with.

It is amusing to think that they could recreate the Nina twist every again. The reason it was so shocking is because they didn’t start with that idea for Nina. The wrote the second half of the season after being picked up, so all of that was being put together on the fly. The audience liked and trusted Nina because that was how she was written for nearly the first 20 hours, and then bam the rug was pulled out from underneath us. In the coming years, all the moles will be telegraphed so the power of the reveal will never equal Nina Myers. But on the other hand … it doesn’t make sense! If you try to figure out what she is doing for the first 75% of the day as a mole it doesn’t add up in the slightest. Ah well, the first time shock tactics are used are always the best.

As for the continuing saga of Kim Bauer, Day 1 is the ultimate test of your patience because you get 2 for the price 1. We had to follow Kim and Teri for the whole day and it dragged down every single hour. During the first half it worked because Kim was kidnapped and Teri was looking for her, Jack saves them plot over. Then they had to give them something to do for the second half of the day. That meant amnesia and that meant more Rick. The Teri scenes literally cause pain while you watch them. Luckily, they killed Teri in the last scene so she will never terrorize an audience again.

I don’t have as many issues with the political b-story in the 24 blueprint. Day 1 wouldn’t have worked without the Palmer shenanigans. Keith may have been annoying but he only popped in and out as necessary. David Palmer is one of the few characters ever introduced that could be the star of episode when Jack Bauer was in transit or sidelined for some reason. As for Sherry, I always loved just how evil she could become when power is in play. The problem would come in later years when weaker and weaker ideas held the political plotlines together. But that is for later, right now let me just reminisce about having David Palmer as my leader.

The First Season of 24 definitely falls in the upper echelon when ranked against the rest of the series. I can't place it until I finish rewatching the rest of 24 so for now I will say take it's somewhere in the top half but it will not come in first. I'm a fan of the crazier shit Jack gets into in the future and I just can't look past what the Bauer women were doing in the second half of the day.