24: Legacy - 10:00pm - 11:00pm - Review: "Moral dilemma"

Part of the moral dilemmas 24 has posed over the years surrounds the lengths to which Jack Bauer and co. would go in order to thwart a particular terrorist attack. What is okay and what is not?

In “10:00pm - 11:00pm”, Legacy revitalised the potential for that debate - albeit with less of a grey area - upon revealing that National Intelligence Director Donald Simms had kidnapped Naseri’s daughter, Ara, and held her hostage for an entire year, leading the terrorist to believe she was dead. It is a grim depiction of how far he and the black ops side of the government went to bring down Ibraham Bin-Khalid, and a decision that would seem to call into question how good the supposed good guys really are.

Back in season two, Jack tricked Syed Ali into thinking that his son had been killed by CTU to gain information on the nuclear bomb; not only was that a façade but Ali was told as much mere hours later. For Simms to actually kidnap a 10-year-old girl for an entire year… that is tough to take and provides strong reasoning for why Naseri is doing all of this. It does not excuse it, certainly, but seeking revenge on the people who took and killed his daughter gives the show much more to work with. And although he was a part of Jadalla’s plan to activate the sleeper cells, his endgame was much more subtle than simply bombing major metropolitan areas.

Eric and John’s disgust at what Simms did is the same reaction the majority of viewers probably had - because, as bad as the things Naseri has done are, there are some lines that should never be crossed, and this was one of them. In some respects, it might have been better had Legacy revealed him to be a mole rather than having this as a dirty secret; in others, turning a character whose appearance in the previously saw him named for the first time (*) into the traitor would be lazy and contrived even by 24’s lowest standards. It was a refreshing change of pace, at least, to not go with the seemingly obvious twist.

(*) I don’t remember learning his name in prior episodes, at least.

And by including the suggestion that the whole thing was Rebecca’s idea, it furthers the ongoing marital problems had by both the Donovans and the Carters. Both Rebecca and Eric are different people working at CTU than they are with their spouses, and although both John and Nicole - absent this week - know that, their discovery of the truths kept from them is horrifying. That he makes the same observation about Rebecca as Nicole did Eric is perhaps a little too on the nose for comfort, but an accurate and, more or less, competent one; they have come into their own since being thrust back into this business, and thrive in the pressure cooker.

Quite where this leaves us heading into the finale, however, is impossible to tell. Earlier in the season, it seemed as though both Eric and Rebecca would end this day by rejoining CTU. Despite that still being a genuine possibility - although the fact that the finale is supposedly without a time jump, given the FOX-issued title, it seems unlikely - with their spouses now questioning the person they know and love, will it be so simple as to just up and work for CTU? Probably not.

Tony, meanwhile, was caught on the other side of affairs, hired by Simms to kill both agents guarding Ara and take the girl to a blacksite in Jalapa. The sheer dismantling of his character in season seven meant that Legacy had a decision to make: either revert him back to the Tony of old or continue down the darkened path and keep some form of continuity. Picking the first option would have been more problematic than the second, which they clearly eventually opted for, but neither are without their faults.

Turning him into a mercenary is a move that would be more interesting if he had not been used so sparingly in recent weeks and the show had several more hours left to accommodate such a sluggish development pace. But even then there are unanswered questions, namely: why is no one trying to put him in prison? 24: Solitary, the Live Another Day story extension found on the Blu-Ray, saw him given digital plans to escape his incarceration. And yet Legacy has blatantly ignored this, refusing to address whether he broke out and is technically a fugitive or if some other miraculous release occurred. In any event, it reflects poorly on the show for essentially deciding that an explanation is unnecessary and instead believing Carlos Bernard’s presence is enough to dissuade doubts.

That is an entirely flawed line of thought. Because although on a personal level this version of Tony is the exact opposite of what made him great in the first place, it is fundamentally poor character writing to give as little context to his existence as Legacy has done, and is enough to be frustrating to any fan regardless of their stance on this Tony.

Still, after five episodes of interacting with Rebecca and not doing a whole lot besides standing around and making Sidra jealous and unhappy, he finally encountered Eric Carter in this episode’s climax. Their standoff will likely be short-lived; with only an hour to go and the larger issue of saving Rebecca still at stake, it will be quickly resolved - and given her captivity, it is probable that the pair will team up to rescue their friend. But two talismans of the eras of 24 going head-to-head was and is, for a few brief moments, an exciting prospect.

Yet Rebecca’s inevitable rescue operation was nearly set to be a worthless effort after she attempted to slit her own wrists to avoid being publically executed for her ‘crimes’. Neither plot is unfamiliar, season four having done essentially the exact same thing, just with a little more finesse. Her failure leaves her in a worse position than death - quite a feat - and it is difficult to not wonder if the end of this 12-episode run sees her killed, the same as season one making a bold statement in killing Teri.

But that is the difficulty 24: Legacy faces. All of its imaginable twists have been done by the show before, in one form or another, and so relying on or even using them at all is a risky business. The real twist, looking ahead to Monday’s finale, would be if there were no twist at all.

From the CTU Archives (connections to 24’s original run not mentioned above):

• Eric puts his gun to Simms’ kneecap, indicating he went to Christopher Henderson’s school of how to question someone by threatening them with a gun.

• Everything at CTU this week was reminiscent of Chloe, and occasionally Edgar, going under the radar to help Jack.

Notes:

• To continue that train of thought, was Legacy intending to make it seem as though Andy might get caught? Because it certainly did not feel like he was ever in any danger. And although Mullins incapacitating Pang is mildly amusing, it is neither particularly interesting (thanks to its overuse) nor logical - Mullins took him down in full view of everybody working.

• Legacy has a real need, it seems, to overexplain everything. Latest example: “Remember you had me do the debrief of Jennifer Marshall, the woman you saved from the bomb vest?” The explanation for Marshall’s identity is, presumably, well-known to all viewers and Eric.

• Nearly ten minutes passed between Rebecca cutting herself and Naseri noticing. I won’t critique the medical side of that knowing very little on the topic, but he is clearly a very bad hostage-taker if his prisoners can slit their wrists. Seriously, on this evidence, Naseri should have been killed by now.

• Apologies for the extreme lateness of this review. FOX sent the finale to critics so I’m hopeful of having an immediate review up Monday night. Failing that, early morning Tuesday should be the latest I get it posted.

What did everyone think of “10:00pm - 11:00pm”? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!