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24, FOX, airs Monday Nights at 8/7c

The 2nd part of Fox’s 4-hour 24 premiere was last night (Monday, Jan 12th).

Synopsis: Upon capturing Tony Almeida and bringing him back to FBI headquarters, Jack learns that Tony is actually working with ex-CTU agents Bill Buchanan (James Morrison) and Chloe O’Brien (Mary Lynn Rajskub). We find out that upon being disbanded, Bill and Chloe decided to start up a covert CTU and Tony is working with them. Jack spends the rest of the first hour attempting to break out of the FBI building.

The second episode shows us more about Henry and Allison Taylor’s relationship and Henry also gets word from his late son’s ex that his death was no suicide. We meet Emerson, who Tony is working for, as he initiates Jack into his group. The two then have to get to a Sengal leader, Matobo, with Emerson.

Review: Well, Tony was a villain for two full episodes, that didn’t last long. 24, which usually saves its big surprises for the ending of its 4-hour premieres hit us pretty early in hour 3 with revealing that Tony isn’t the bad guy and that Buchanan and Chloe are assisting Tony. The frist of the two episodes is fantastic. With the help of Chloe and her controlling the surveillance cameras, Jack maneuvers around headquarters to get Tony out. Seeing Jack back in his element (a la being on the run) is nice, although he was developing a nice chemistry with Agent Walker, who’s now hell-bent on finding him. The shoot-out at the end of the first episode is a lot of fun, and watching Jack’s improvisation skills with how to get out of a situation is always a reason to keep watching 24.

The second episode is not as fulfilling. It’s a lot of explaining. Too many new characters are introduced and the plotlines are starting to fly everywhere. Unnecessary Plot Line #2 involves FBI employee Sean Hillinger (Rhys Coiro) trying to get his wife’s plan on the landing priority list.

One bright spot in the episode is Janeane Garofalo’s Janis who is really great at breaking the tension, and her teamed up with Walker makes a nice good cop-bad cop duo for the two FBI ladies, although no one is remotely intimidated by Janis. The episode ends on a bit of a boring note, which is strange considering I was sure that they would want to keep viewers engaged. President Taylor did mention that Dubaku would be killing 100,000 Sengalans within the next hour, so seeing how Jack Bauer interferes with that plan is probably enough incentive to keep watching.

So far the entertainment has been high and the ridiculousness (with the exception of Jack’s awesome elevated-garage escape) has been kept to a minimal. 24 is back, and it’s showing some promise.

Read More: 24 Recaps

What did you think of the season premiere event of 24?