OMG! Jack is back, and he brought a female president, squirrely-dude from Ally McBeal, Powers’ Boothe swan song, loads of red-tape BS, Jon Voight as some industrialist, Begbie, Candyman as an evil General, and commercials for Wicked.

I’m not even going to attempt my fanboy love for this show. The second I heard the music, the moment 24 flashed on the screen I got all giddy. And no one ties Jack up in the corner. Except for the African rebels who are working to take over their country with money from Mr. Voight. Recap and revisit with a long lost friend after the jump…

So let’s see. It’s been a year since Day 6. And in that time, a woman has been elected President. And, even though Sprint has been hemorrhaging money and customers like the Exxon Valdez, they are still able to connect people in “Sangala” or whatever south African country this is better than I can connect to my wife from the living room to the basement. Sooo… Check – impossibility continues!

It’s also good to see that Jack hasn’t lost his cynicism, and for him to give the SMACKDOWN to the UN! “Go hide with the children.” Yeah! And in the cage match of Jack vs. a Rocket Propelled Grenade – the RPG has only one shot, and if you don’t kill Jack, he’ll kill you!

And if anyone out there had any fear about the writers avoiding topics or the like – when the first scene of the show is a young boy killing a guy with a machete – all I can say is “Hellz yea!” And did anyone think that the druggie Investment Banker was going to live through the next two hours? Yeah, me neither. And what’s up with the President’s son’s girlfriend/wife/fiancess/Audrey wanna-be? Tell the casting directory of 24 that we’re tired of the Jack-Skellington-esque women… Try to branch out a bit, eh? And where’s Chloe????

And the tension at the last moment of the show is over…. PAPERWORK! And then… the hardest decision Jack has ever had to make. Other than killing his wife. Or killing his mentor. Or turning his father over to the authorities. Etc. etc. The toughest decision I’ve ever had to make? Not buying the DVD so I can get the additional 17 minutes (which, apparently, is available Tuesday).

A couple closing thoughts:

1. Now that we know who the players are (Tony, Jon Voight, Candyman) – will there be any surprises as to who’s behind what?
2. Does Cherry Jones reflect the Presidency that Hillary would have had, or what Obama will have?
3. How embarrassing would it be if Obama delivered the same Inauguration speech that Cherry did?
4. Can we please have more Powers Boothe? His hawk-like tendencies, and less of the ex-druggie son of the president?
5. How does someone like Fish from Ally McBeal continue through all these terms – what is it – like 3 now? Really, he doesn’t seem that effective.
6. No CTU AND Boddicker is the persecuting Senator? Don’t buy it. The Tigers are playing… to-NIGHT. And I never miss a game.

Like the Black Eyed Peas so eloquently stated (after being edited), “Let’s get it started…”

This post was written by Stephen Schmidt
This entry was posted on Monday, November 24th, 2008 at 8:40 am. It is filed under TV. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.