Ricky Church reviews the third episode of 24: Legacy…
24: Legacy‘s third episode created a little more intrigue in the main plot, but the subplots somewhat derailed the full excitement of Carter chasing down his old partner for the information on the terrorist network. One of the positives of this episode was also the fact leaned a little less on the typical tropes from the original series, but it still wasn’t enough to fully elevate it to a great episode.
Just to start with, the first act was a little underwhelming. The previous episode ended in a tense situation as Carter was caught in a locked room with cops swarming to his location. This is one situation where it continued leaning on 24 a bit too much; not only would Jack Bauer have found himself in this situation, but Carter even used a move straight of Bauer’s playbook by convincing one of his hostages he’s telling the truth about the coming attacks and enlists their help to escape.
However, on the flip side of this criticism is the fact Carter was caught. Whereas Bauer might have been able to fully escape from the cops, Carter was cornered and saved only due to the fact the cops got a timely call from CTU informing them of Carter’s true status and mission. It was nice to see the bad-ass escape subverted, but what was underwhelming was the fact it just ended right there, no questions asked, and was never brought up again in the episode. It was an anti-climactic end to a fairly tense standoff.
‘2:00 PM – 3:00 PM’ picked up the pace afterwards though as Carter searched for his partner. His later conversation with Grimes was a nice scene that delved further into their relationship. Corey Hawkins and Charlie Hofheimer have good chemistry with each other, imbuing a sense of broken fellowship between the former soldiers.
Miranda Otto got a bit more to do aside from hiding in a room watching a computer screen as well. As Ingram searched for the leak within CTU and her husband’s campaign, Otto was able to stretch out her wings a bit more, showing some of Ingram’s coldness as she interrogated her husband’s campaign manager. It was a good surprise though to learn her father-in-law was the leak and even more surprising to see this reveal not played up as something huge or used for a cliffhanger. Instead, the moment with Gerald McRaney was played rather subtly, simply making the reveal in a casual manner. These types of reveals aren’t something 24 did very often, if at all, so it’s good to see this as one of my complaints from the previous episodes has been using too many tropes from the original series.
However, 24: Legacy isn’t completely devoid of all of its predecessor’s negative qualities. 24 was known for having some meandering subplots to fill the time and Legacy is no different so far. The subplot going on at the high school with terrorist-wanna-be Amira at least ties into the main plot, but Nicole’s plotline with her brother-in-law and gang of drug dealers is far removed from Carter’s actions. Right now it just seems silly and an excuse to have Anna Diop do something by putting Nicole in further danger.
24: Legacy still has some shakey territory to cover, but it at least improved its characters by delving into their development and relationships. Hawkins still makes for a credible lead and worthy successor to Bauer’s legacy, but hopefully the show will edge a little further away from copying so many of 24‘s positive and negative qualities by finding a voice of its own.
Rating: 7/10
Ricky Church
Originally published February 16, 2017. Updated April 16, 2018.
