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The Cougar Award goes to… 3 storylines ’24: Legacy’ can totally drop
Two episodes into “24: Legacy,” and we’re already right back in that very familiar, mucked-up world of family drama, government cover-ups and terrorist-themed intrigue like we never left.
Eric Carter (Corey Hawkins) has proven himself a worthy successor to Jack Bauer’s (Keifer Sutherland) throne, but when you get past the weekly race against the clock to thwart the next attack on America, you’re left as always with some silly storylines that really could use some fixing.
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While we cannot wait to see how Eric will get out of that police station and retrieve the sleeper cell intel from Grimes (Charlie Hofheimer), we’ve got a few suggestions to help boost “24: Legacy” up a few notches.
Stop trying to be ‘The Wire’
Aside from the will they/won’t they between Nicole (Anna Diop) and Isaac (Ashley Thomas) — they totally will, by the way — the mere concept that CTU’s savior has a secret drug lord brother is hard to swallow. Yes, it feels like they are trying to portray Isaac as the Avon Barksdale (Wood Harris) of the “24” world, but it’s been a hard fail, so far.
FOX might want to distance themselves from trying to emulate HBO’s “The Wire” — the devil is most certainly in the details here. And while the love triangle about to play out is bordering on the soap opera suds of “Empire,” the sheer act of putting a Samsung Galaxy in everyone’s hands — instead of untraceable burner phones — sort of defeats the untouchable “off the books” image Eric alluded to in the premiere.
The oh-so-familiar Middle Eastern terrorist threat
That ominous, overused instrumental music — you know the one. Usually, as soon as the audience hears the first few bars, the screen is graced by a bunch Arab-looking thugs. For “24,” this concept is quite familiar and extremely old hat. Numerous storylines throughout the past decade have pitted “24” heroes against would-be attackers from the Middle East — and while given the current political climate, it’s safe to say we shouldn’t expect this trend to end anytime soon, it’s not a necessity of the brand.
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However, if this is the avenue FOX is choosing to re-tread, we are hoping for a few tricks up their sleeves. Sure, we’ve hit oversaturation in this consistent depiction of America’s enemies, but “24” has a knack for pulling a bait-and-switch, revealing the real culprit no one ever suspects. We’re keeping our eyes on John Donovan’s (Jimmy Smits) dad, Henry (Gerald McRaney) — there’s just something off about him.
That teacher/student relationship is the absolute worst
Poor Drew (Zayne Emory) — all he wanted was a normal relationship and a safe school. He achieved neither, and — at the end of last week’s episode, “1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.” — he ended up a bloody mess on Mr. Harris’ (Kevin Christy) classroom floor.
There have been inappropriate and silly plot points in previous “24” seasons — Kim Bauer (Elisha Cuthbert) vs. Cougar Trap: Never forget — but romantically pairing up a would-be teenage terrorist up with her mild-mannered science teacher feels like a new low.
Once the show depicted a lewd sex act between the two — happening right in the man’s unlocked classroom, no less — we went on alert. Is this okay because it’s happening between two very awful, dislikeable characters? Do these ends justify the means? All we can do is hope this storyline moves along quickly — Amira’s (Kathryn Prescott) going to stab the teacher in the back eventually. She may be the unlikely predator in this scenario but Mr. Harris is the patsy, and totally 100% guilty — not only of statutory rape, but also murder.
This reboot is using its great opportunity to return the show to what makes it great — but that also means the opportunity to lose what it doesn’t need.
“24: Legacy” airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on FOX.