"Tick, tock"

Grade: B

Jack is back.
Many fans of Fox's hit-show 24 questioned whether bringing Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland, The Sentinel) back for one more season was worth it. Following a nuclear bomb exploding in Los Angeles on Day 6 and terrorists infiltrating the White House on Day 7, it's safe to say that Day 8 had some big shoes to fill.
Let's just say its toes had some wiggle room.
The show has moved from Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. to New York, and with the move comes some new faces. Agent Cole Ortiz (Freddie Prinze Jr., I Know What You Did Last Summer) is a hotshot in the agency, showing it fully after disregarding orders from CTU-head Brian Hastings (Mykelti Williamson, The Final Destination) as Ortiz follows a hunch that Bauer knows his stuff.
Alongside the annoying Chloe O'Brian (Mary Lynn Rajskub, Road Trip) is newcomer Dana Walsh (Katee Sackoff, Halloween: Resurrection), CTU's lead analyst. The character is forgettable, even after a good portion of the season's first four hours was wasted on the return of an old flame from her mysterious past. In true 24 fashion, expect him to play a key role in something completely obscure, yet vital to the main plot of the first half of the season.
The first four hours revolve around Bauer trying to move back to Los Angeles with his daughter, Kim (Elisha Cuthbert, The Girl Next Door), allowing him to finally settle down, once and for all. But why would that happen when President Allison Taylor (Cherry Jones, Ocean's Twelve) is in town to sign a disarmament deal with President Omar Hassan (Anil Kapoor, Slumdog Millionaire) of the Islamic Republic of Kamistan? You know that he's going to get involved, somehow.
And he does. But his involvement gets even more exciting with the return of the sexy, yet cold Renee Walker (Annie Wersching, Bruce Almighty). Walker never returned to the FBI and is required to suit up yet again for another investigation. This time, it's a sale of nuclear materials with Russian terrorists.
Don't let her pretty face fool you. She isn't the agent you once knew. Ask the Russian informant whose hand she chops off with an angle grinder. He'll tell you that she isn't playing around anymore.
Fans of the series will get excited for the blood and explosions that happen throughout the first four hours, but as the clock ticks in the final seconds of the fourth hour, they'll wonder if the show's writers can make this season's plot evolve into a terrorist that fans haven't seen in the past seven seasons.
The final hour in the four-hour premiere doesn't give fans that bone-chilling event that makes them freeze and wonder what would happen if the show was real life – but it is giving way to a tangent that will work its way into the main plot. Will it work nicely? Only time will tell.
Until then, fans can be shockingly pleased with Ortiz. Many followers of the show shuddered when they heard that Prinze Jr. was signed on for a main character, but he truly does the show justice. In addition, Walker's change to a cold demeanor from the by-the-books agent she once was adds another surprising element to the show.
Will Day 8, which Sutherland has hinted to be the final day in the underrated series, explode off the charts? Or will the show's writers run out of ideas as much as Bauer runs out of time?
Only time will tell.
The clock is ticking.

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