Ricky Church reviews the fourth episode of 24: Legacy…
24: Legacy hasn’t gotten worse, but it also hasn’t quite gotten any better either with this week’s episode, ’3:00 PM – 4:00 PM’. The best thing about this episode was that it was a quieter affair, giving the characters and audience a chance to catch their breath while answering some of the series’ most burning questions so far. That said, the problems that have plagued Legacy hindered it once again.
Last week I mentioned how anti-climactic Carter’s adventure in the police station had ended after what was a tense standoff with the officers and this week was once again anti-climactic. The last we saw of Carter he was racing through subway tunnels tracking bin-Khalid and his men, but we first see him a couple of minutes into this episode and he’s on the street once the chase is seemingly over. It’s as if we skipped over a few vital minutes.
From there, the episode took a quieter turn in a refreshing change of pace after the breakneck speed of the previous episodes. A lot of time was devoted to answering questions and building up the next stage of this season’s conflict. For instance, it was pleasantly surprising to see Donovan Sr., played by House of Cards’ Gerald McRaney, be exposed for his role in the death of Carter’s team. I was expecting Joel Surnow and the production team to hold onto that particular reveal for several more episodes, but John discovered the truth fairly quickly, again a nice change of pace for 24.
Beforehand reveals such as Donovan Sr.’s wouldn’t be made for several episodes, but the 12-episode structure is has really streamlined the plot as there’s little time for filler material. However, Legacy is still dealing with some problematic side stories, such as Nicole’s plot with her brother-in-law and the turmoil within his gang. Again, it feels anti-climactic that police caught her during her escape only for Isaac to bail her out with little to no trouble or consequence in this instance.
The episode concluded, however, with a trademark Jack Bauer move as Carter stole classified government data in order to secure a location on bin-Khalid because CTU of course thought his plan was too risky. At the risk of sounding like a broken record once again, there’s very little right now to separate his skills and tactical mind from Jack Bauer, making him little more than a carbon copy. It’s disappointing after we heard so much about how the two heroes would differ in the lead-up to Legacy’s premiere, but we’ve yet to see anything substantially different.
It helped that ‘3:00 PM – 4:00 PM’ was a quieter episode that focused a bit more on the plot than the action and delivered a few answers, but it still was a bit disappointing to see unsatisfying climaxes in both Carters stories. Eric Carter himself needs a separation from Jack Bauer, but 24: Legacy seems determined to make him a copy in all but name.
Rating: 6/10
Ricky Church
Originally published February 22, 2017. Updated April 16, 2018.
