Over the summer, Kiefer Sutherland told a “24” fan in withdrawal, “Don't worry, we're going to make it up to you.”
ROBERT CARLYLE / Fox
Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) battles through an international crisis in the two-hour prequel "24: Redemption."
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He wasn't kidding.
Jack is back.
Sutherland, star and executive producer of the Fox series, is at his best in “24: Redemption,” airing Sunday night on Fox. The special is a walk-up to the new season, which begins, as it has in years past, with back-to-back two-hour episodes on Jan. 11 and 12 at 8 p.m., before reoccupying its Monday night throne.
“Redemption” is the perfect antidote for long-suffering viewers used to waiting eight months between seasons. However, it has been 18 months since Day 6 ended. Much more time has passed for Jack Bauer, roughly four years spent living under the radar at an orphanage in Africa run by his retired Special Forces pal Carl Benton (Robert Carlyle).
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“24: Redemption”
Special two-hour prequel to Day 7
When: 8 p.m. Sunday
Where: KSWB/Channel 69/Cable 5
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The two-hour special has all the elements “24” fans have come to expect. There's the Third World bad guy – Benjamin Juma (Tony Todd), leader of the rebel army in the fictional African country of Sangala – and his icy henchman, Col. Dubaku (Hakeem Kae-Kazim), who's rounding up young boys for the cause. And there's the Ugly American bad guy – Jonas Hodges (Jon Voight) – and his rats.
Of course, there are lots of dead bodies, fast and furious camerawork and editing in the action scenes, slow moments of emotion and enough characteristic suspense to move you from lounging on the couch to nearly lunging off the edge.
Jack's quiet existence ends when Frank Trammell (Gil Bellows) drives out from the embassy in Sangala to deliver a subpoena ordering Jack back to the States to testify before a government committee about “questionable deaths” of people in his custody or in the field while he was with CTU.
Fat chance. Jack tells Benton goodbye and heads out of the village. Benton then goes looking for two of his orphans who went into town to play soccer, finds one dead and the other near death and learns Dubaku's minions are headed for the orphanage to get the rest of the boys.
Benton calls Jack, who heads back to the orphanage and takes on, oh, a dozen rebels single-handedly, until the butt of a rifle takes him down. After a squeamish scene with a red-hot machete, wielded by Dubaku, Benton frees Jack, and the two take off for the embassy, where Jack will have to make a very difficult decision.
The action jerks back and forth between Sangala and Washington, D.C., where Day 7 will be set since CTU in Los Angeles has been disbanded. The first female president – Allison Taylor (Cherry Jones) – is about to be inaugurated. She meets with the still-smarmy, still-president Noah Daniels (Powers Boothe) over the situation in Sangala, while Hodges holds his own meetings. And there's an interesting link there right to the president-elect's son, Roger (Eric Lively). Tom Lennox (Peter MacNicol) is back and advising Roger's mother.
A sneak peek of the first hour of Day 7 only intensifies the intrigue: Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard) is not only alive, but looks like he's gone to the dark side. Chloe O'Brian (Mary Lynn Rajskub) is back, too, complete with furrowed brow. Most of this you can see or deduce from the amazing number of fan sites and Fox's own previews, but watching the whole show is quite the long-awaited thrill ride.
And not only because it's been off the air since May 21, 2007. But also because there were moments in “the day” during past seasons that the show seemed off, losing its edge ever so slightly, losing its way. Maybe that's why this prequel to Day 7 is titled “Redemption.” It's a rebirth for the show, in a new place, with a largely new cast.
Welcome back, Jack.
Jane Clifford: (619) 293-1327; jane.clifford@uniontrib.com
