From: Scott Chase (ecphoric@hotmail.com)
Date: Fri 21 May 2004 - 22:26:47 GMT
Vincent typed:
Purely by chance the only bit of Eurovision I saw this year was the
winning Ukrainian entry, which I thought was one of the most terrible
pieces Eurovision music ever (even worse than the UK's last year), so my
jaw really did drop when I heard they won.
Having seen it, I'm not so sure it was a warsaw pact block of voting so
much as the Xena Warrior Princess look of the Ukranians, or maybe most
of Eastern Europe was pissed off at the latest series of 24 having the
biggest baddies as Ukranians- the baddy Englishmen, well everyone can
believe that can't they?
BTW and USanians out there please don't spoil the plot for me, as
despite its simplistic politics (why are nearly all the US traitors in
the series women?) I'm a big fan.
Scott's reply:
So 24 has made it to the other side of the pond? I loved the first and
second season, having both on DVD now, but this 3rd season is kinda
getting on my nerves. I'm not sure which season you're watching so will
try not to spoil it.
There were Serbs in season one, I think. Drazen's clan was after Jack
Bauer and David Palmer for some special ops mission that killed family
members.
Sherry Palmer is evil, but not as evil as Nina Myers. She's a babe
though and anyone who has seen the Larry Sanders Show might recognize
the actress.
There's a male British intelligence (MI5?) agent in season three who
went rogue and is the arch-nemesis of Bauer. Gotta look out for them
Brits ;-)
They used the tendency for assuming Arabs are terrorists against the
audience in season two as a set-up expectation allowing for an
unforeseen plot twist. Plus the audience starts empathizing with an
intelligence agent from an unnamed Arab country who is aiding Bauer
before he is killed as a result of anti-Arab backlash. I thought those
plot developments were smart.
The constant adrenaline surge of 24's plot is addictive. Keith Henson
might want to write an article on this and posit a module for it. There
are times when, especially in the third season, that they are writing
the show apparently for suspenseful effect and not for consistency or
character developmment. They've introduced characters in all three
seasons that sort of vanish from the storyline without a trace, such as
President Palmer's kids.
They've used the fear of terrorism as a hook. Season one was
conceptualized prior to Sept 11 and IIRC they scaled a scene of an
airplane exploding back a bit to not overdo things so soon after a
national tragedy. Season two played on the fear of suitcase nukes where
season three plays on the fear of biological threats (ie a nasty virus,
but not as nasty as the one that infects London in "28 Days Later").
I wonder what impact 24 has had on television as a medium. Are there
other counterterrorism shows or shows with multipanel split screens
showing three or four scenes at the same time?
One strange thing about the second season is that a significant portion
of the cast is blond.
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