TV Review: 24 Legacy: Lacks Urgency

24: LEGACY: Corey Hawkins in the “2:00 PM-3:00 PM” episode of 24: LEGACY airing Saturday, Feb. 18 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. ©2017 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: Guy D’Alema/FOX

For years its been threatened, but now we finally have a Jack Bauer free 24. Fans never asked for this, it was always the Producers and Kiefer Southernland’s goal/dream to be able to continue 24 without him having to be involved – on camera. I would imagine it’s a pretty intense role to play. So, Kiefer’s desire to get out is understandable. So now we have another attempt to revive 24 with 24 Legacy. Only we don’t get 24 hours to save the world, it’s only 12. 24: Legacy premieres Sunday, February 5th after the Superbowl and will air Monday nights.

See the racism here? We black folk can’t even get a full 24 hours, we get 12. They have to work twice as hard. I kid, I kid, people. I don’t envy former Walking Dead star Corey Hawkins (Eric Carter) for taking on this role. He has large shoes to fill and on first blush doesn’t appear to fit the part. I think I prefer the original Black Bauer to Corey.

The series opens slow, but I can already see the 24 tropes that we all know and love. Starting in the middle/beginning of a political campaign? Check. Our hero Eric having a nice quiet morning with the wife? Who, I’m assuming will be dead a few episodes in. Check. Mole in CTU or Campaign? Check? Arab/Muslim terrorists. Check.

Characters

Carter is the head of the team of Marine Rangers who killed a notorious terrorist. Now they are out for revenge and have killed almost every member of Carter’s team. Isaac (Ashley Thomas) is Carter’s gangbanger brother who is still holding a grudge because Eric stole Nicole (Anna Diop). Tiffany Hines is Isaac’s jealous girl Aisha who will probably cause issues and eventually sell out Nicole. Jimmy Smits is a politico named John Donovan who is running for President (I think) and is married to Carter’s CTU handler Rebecca Ingram (Miranda Otto). Teddy Sears is the new head of CTU Keith Mullins. Zayne Emory is some douchebag HS student named Drew who stumble onto a terrorist plot led by Amira, played by Kathryn Prescott (who stared in a show I loved – Finding Carter).

Story

Looks like this season is going to focus on surprise a terrorist attack on the US. When Carter’s team took down a major terrorist head they stole a case that not only contained a bunch of money but it also contained a chip that contains the names of all the terrorist sleeper cell agents. Carter’s messed up marine buddy Ben is going to ransom the chip off. There’s going to be some sort of mass attack at the school. We’ll get some drama with Issac’s drug dealing empire with Nicole stuck in the middle.

Conclusion

I don’t know how to feel about this, 24 had already overstayed its welcome during its original run and the last revival wasn’t particularly good. This is a totally new 24 with all new characters and even a new city but somehow Washington, DC (the place I live) looks just as bland as LA. The show is exactly like every 24 season that we’ve ever seen and the first 4 hours felt slow and passionless.

Fox slowly trickled out the first 4 episodes so I didn’t get a chance to watch them in one sitting, so everything felt strangely disjointed, but that is what it’s like watching 24 on a weekly basis. I actually updated this review multiple times as new episodes were made available.

If I had based this review on the first hour, it wouldn’t have been favorable. But 4 eps in, the season has grown on me, but it still feels like a shell of what it was. At the end of the day it’s 24 and delivers exactly what you’d expect. Larger question is, are you tired of the 24 formula? There are no surprises, lacks urgency and plays it safe.

Final Grade C

SLIDESHOW