24
Fox
Tuesday, 9 p.m / 8 p.m. CST

Fox's "24" is an action-espionage drama that unfolds in real time — meaning that the hour it takes you to watch it corresponds to an hour in the lives of the characters. Correspondingly, Flak will be providing a written-in-real- time-alongside-the- show review of "24" each week for the duration of the series or until the gimmick of the review becomes tiresome.

Episode 12: 11 a.m. – 12 p.m.

Intersting — Fox offers "24" in widescreen for those who have digital delivery. This is a story that Slate recently covered, and flubbed; shows are moving to widescreen not for its faux highbrowedness (although that's part of it) but because the trend in television is a joint move to high definition and a widescreen aspect ratio — the shape of those oversized monstrosities on the showroom floors at Best Buy. So the reason that TV shows are being shot in widescreen is so the nets have reruns of their more popular shows when viewers make the conversion to the larger TVs. (You may have heard people grousing about letterboxing because it doesn't fill their screen; well, what do you think they're going to say when they've shelled out top dollar for the newest TV but "Friends" only takes up the middle third of the picture?)

So "West Wing" and "ER" have made the move and broadcast only in widescreen; "The X-Files" has been shot in widescreen since the fifth season, but is broadcast full frame. Has "24" likewise been shot in widescreen the whole time but only advertised now? Surely they wouldn't switch horses in midstream. Did Fox's digital service just go into effect or something? Curious. Since "24" frequently uses split screen, it would be interesting to see how the picture is reassembled in the different aspect ratio. (If anyone with digital cable in Madison, Wis., wants to show me, I'll bring the drinks.)

And, really, it's crazy that they expect TV directors to compose effectively for both aspect ratios, because they're much different tasks. (James Cameron and John Lasseter are the only film directors I can think of who take pains to compose their movies for both formats.) … Really, truly, I'll deliver that oft-mentioned film-vs.-TV monologue soon.

What? There's a TV show on? Oh yeah. As always, there are a lot of externalities of the show to like — the fight between Jack and "Alan" in which "Alan" delves into Jack's marital difficulties is, on its surface, the same old thing, but it's done with aplomb. "24" favors the sudden in that good TV way of dropping the other shoe without any presage whatsoever — "Alan" attacking Jack, for instance. It does give "24" a certain, commendable rough-and-tumble spirit.

David Palmer, as played by Dennis Haysbert, consistently has been a compelling character even though his arc is really on the periphery of the story (he's just the person in whom the bullet is supposed to end up, since they haven't really woven in whatever Serbian plot thread apparently ties Jack and Palmer together). Haysbert exudes respectable politician, and I really do love that he's portrayed as being so up-and-up. I hate to be so cynical as to say "only in movies," but Palmer is definitely in that angelic good-politician mode that so often seems so unnatural in movies. And Haysbert definitely ennobles the characterization.

It speaks very highly of the show that this reunion scene between Jack, Teri and Kim works so well — genuine emotion, played straight and with a mostly unforced scene construction. The suspense of the door slowly opening was genuine, but didn't culminate in Jack or Teri being framed in some electric halo scored with soaring synths; instead, Jack tackles Teri, which is a dangerous proposition since she's nervous, inexperienced with guns and protecting her daughter. And so a tackle becomes an embrace — all very workable, particularly on the small screen.

It's funny how this breakout has turned into a "Jack, his daughter and the boy she likes" thing.

Having Rick drive Gaines to Jack's car is another very serviceable twist. So is having Jack contact Angela. And as counterpoint to those ideas, there is the Tony-in-isolation- being-forced-to- give-up-Jack scene and the Jack-to-Teri-"everything's going to be all right between us from now on" scene. You can't expect them to hit every pitch out of the park, but they really fluctuate wildly between off-the-scoreboard swats and flat little bunts.

And so now there's the question of the escape, although that question is obviated, writ large, by the promos/coming attractions for the show. Flak writer Mark Yarm wrote me bemoaning this, and rightly — it's a really terrible thing for Fox to do. It totally undercuts the tension of watching the previewed episode, because they draw on important story elements from the last five minutes. Fox should know by now that their "24" audience are steadfast; not only do they not need such teasing, but they dislike it because it detracts from the pleasure they keeping tuning in for.

It may also be time to say something nice about Gaines (Michael Massee). "24" hasn't really drawn him with nearly enough color for us to comprehend him as a radical with political aims (or a mercenary being funded by someone with a legitimate political gripe). But the show has been dressing him down over the course of the past few episodes by making him the lackey of a higher power, and for me that's been enough to feel a little sympathy for him as everything unravels. I guess I don't quite mean sympathy, as he's certainly a kidnapper/murderer, but because we've seen his soft underbelly, it's harder to just flat-out hate him in a Bond-villain way. And Massee's performance toes that line nicely.

That split screen really can be hard to comprehend if misused. When you have three viewing areas and develop shot/reverse shots in each, you're bound to disorient the viewer. And the show hasn't been good about using the split screen for orienting this episode — were they using two cameras to shoot Tony during the interrogation scene? He seemed to have a different expression in each frame. Narrative techniques, especially on television, should clarify, not complicate, the action — "24's" split-screen does this often, but it hasn't been used neary so gracefully this episode.

And I like how the end of the episode pays off on the earlier Jack/Rick dynamic — it's fundamentally founded in a father's distrust for strangers his daughter likes, which is a fun conceit to invoke.

So it looks like Jack and his family's escape is more or less vouchsafed, what with the reinforcements coming. I'm still at a loss to really predict what's going to happen now — everyone escapes from Gaines happy and healthy and then Jack has to Schwarzenegger his way through the upper echelons of this conspiracy to get whoever's responsible? This episode marks the halfway point on the series, and in terms of the main storyline (Jack's), it looks like all the offers have been received, to borrow a term from improv — Kim was kidnapped, now she's been rescued, Teri was kidnapped, now she's been rescued, Jack was held hostage and on the run from the law, now he's been liberated, etc. There doesn't appear to be a lot left, except for Jack to kick butt and save Palmer. And the answer has to be that now the Jack/Palmer/Serbia subplot is on the rise, but "24" runs the real risk of making it feel like two entirely separate shows welded together only by Palmer's personal burgeoning-conspiracy story arc.

Egad! So I'm fairly busy writing when I do this — too busy to turn the TV off — so I got another Fox "next on '24'" coming attraction, and it spolied even more! What tripe! Argh!

— Sean Weitner (sean@flakmag.com)