Ricky Church reviews the eighth episode of 24: Legacy…
Once again, 24: Legacy didn’t disappoint. Following up from last week’s tense episode, ‘7:00 PM – 8:00 PM’ doubled down on Carter’s situation with his plan to destroy bin-Khalid’s hard drive going horribly wrong and deciding he and Andy were expendable for the greater good. All round, this was a good episode and I’m glad to see Legacy’s quality picking up.
Right from the start, the episode picked up from the intensity of Carter and Andy’s decision to sacrifice themselves in order to ruin bin-Khalid’s plan. It was a nice, if expected, twist that bin-Khalid anticipated some kind of deception and gave them a fake drive to test first. Dan Bucatinsky did a very good job conveying Andy’s worry as he prepared for his death, but then sold it even further once they started torturing Andy. His squeal as they plunged the knife into his knee wasn’t anything we’d typically hear on 24, but sounded very real and painful.
Corey Hawkins also provided a strong performance this week as Carter came to grips with his sacrifice and drive to get the job done, no matter the cost. The short fight for the grenade featured a pretty cool stunt of Carter breaking the chair, once again showing how resourceful and bad-ass he can be. One of my criticisms throughout the season was how the show has taken some of Jack Bauer’s characteristics and placed them into Carter, something the show has lessened of late, but in moments like this its easy to see how Carter is a worthy successor to Bauer’s mantle. As cheesy as it was too, his speech to bin-Khalid about America’s values also further separated himself from Bauer, who had have just spouted off a string of threats to the terrorist.
It seems like this was Raphael Acloque’s swan song as Jadhalla bin-Khalid, but for the most part I felt his villain was rather wasted. He had a good presence throughout most of the season, but we never really learnt more about him or why he turned to a life of terrorism. Previous information said he was estranged from his father and had rejected his family’s jihad, but we never learnt why he suddenly decided to take his father’s place, only that he had a swift change of heart after Carter and his team killed his father. A little more development would have helped make bin-Khalid feel more of a character than just a typical villain.
Speaking of villains, it seems like we’re shifting to 24: Legacy’s second seasonal big bad, as is typical once the halfway point of the season is reached. It was a surprise to see Oded Fehr make an appearance as Naseri, but we’re given no information on who he is and why Carter and Locke were so worried about him. Its dropping a suspenseful villain without the build-up and didn’t quite work, though Fehr should make for a good villain and it already seems there’s more to him than meets the eye.
Despite Carlos Bernard’s reappearance as Tony Almeida, it was kind of weird seeing him again sit on the sidelines, though Bernard gave a good performance in his interrogation of Gerald McRaney’s Donovan Sr. Another positive of the episode was the final action sequence which actually utilized Isaac’s gang into the main plot, something I didn’t quite see coming as they stormed bin-Khalid’s hideout. It was a good scene that also showed off Isaac’s capabilities without him screaming how dangerous he was (though I probably could have done without Nicole’s corny pep speech to the gang about they look after family).
All in all, 24: Legacy continued its improvement this week with a good, tense episode and strong performances from most of the cast that closed the door on the season’s first plot. Hopefully the show will continue with this quality and capitalize on Hawkins’ recent portrayal of Carter.
Rating: 8/10
Ricky Church
