Season two of
24 opens one year after the first finished.
Jack Bauer is no longer with the
Counter Terrorism Unit (
CTU), and apparently spends his days growing a beard and lamenting the death of his wife last season at the hands of
turncoat CTU agent (and Jack’s ex-mistress)
Nina Meyers. Despite the trials and tribulations of the “
Day of the California Presidential Primary,”
Senator David Palmer is now
President David Palmer and enjoying a morning of fishing in
Oregon with his son Keith. David, we learn, is also newly divorced. Meanwhile
Kim Bauer is working as a nanny employed by a wealthy LA family and thankfully no longer sports her “
Mad Max” party clothes of the previous season. “
Soulpatch”
Tony Almeida and
George Mason are still at CTU, surrounded by new supporting players to replace last year’s team.
We learn early on that terrorists are planning to detonate a nuclear device somewhere in Los Angeles, requiring Jack to come out of retirement and stop them. British-Saudi Reza may or may not be involved -- but his future sister-in-law Kate Warner suspects that he is. Meanwhile, David Palmer faces continued intrigue and betrayal amongst the members of his staff. And Kim Bauer discovers that her boss might not be the ideal guy she thought he was -- not only does he sexually harass Kim, we also learn that he regularly abuses his wife and daughter.
24’s second year is even better and more stressful than its first. The body count is quite high (as of this writing, Jack is personally responsible for the deaths of 37 people and 1 dog), and the dramatic tension is turned up a notch as both Nina Meyers and Sherry Palmer are both reintroduced into the mix. What’s more, the story is paced better than last year -- and there’s ample chances for the cast to change clothes (which Jack has already done at least twice). The only downside to this year’s outing is Kim’s storyline, which has little to do with the main plot, and is really quite expendable. Kate Warner is -- as of yet -- a very unappealing new character. Rumor has it that she will eventually become romantically linked to Jack -- I hope this doesn’t come to pass. Or better yet, that Kate suffers the same fate his wife did at the end of year one.