The announcement that 24 would be continuing without Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) is one that alarmed many long-time fans of the series, especially after the fantastic 24: Live Another Day.
If you haven’t seen the first season finale of 24: Legacy and want to avoid spoilers, we suggest you stop reading now. If you have seen it and want to hear our thoughts, please continue.
24: Legacy centred on former Army Ranger Eric Cater (Corey Hawkins) who discovered that he and his former colleagues were being hunted down in revenge for killing Sheikh Ibrahim Bin-Khalid (Eli Danker). Forced on the run, and with the help of former head of CTU Rebecca Ingram (Mirando Otto) Eric had to locate Bin-Khalid’s son Jadalla (Raphael Acloque) and stop a network of sleeper cells from being activated.
By the season’s end Bin-Khalid was found to be alive (shock horror), Rebecca Ingram breathed her last breath after being shot following her hostage ordeal and Eric realised that working for CTU is what he needed in his life.
The series looked and felt like 24 but the fears of fans were realised pretty quickly when the first season started to plummet in the ratings and the novelty of having 24 back (in any form) began to fade. I’m one of the biggest 24 fans you’re likely to find but I’m sorry, 24: Legacy was an absolute disaster.
I’ve put together my list of 10 reasons why I think 24: Legacy should be cancelled. Keep reading to find out what they are:
1. Eric Carter is no Jack Bauer. I understand that the show was trying to create someone different to Jack but Eric was a wet lettuce. More often than not he didn’t save the day and even in finale it was Rebecca that saved Eric’s life and not the other way round. Sometimes Eric even felt sidelined by the show in favour of Rebecca, who to be honest was way more badass.
2. The failure to mix two worlds. Bringing Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard) back was a great idea on paper but unfortunately the show decided to give him pretty much nothing to do. He’s one of the most iconic and loved characters from the show and 24: Legacy did him a complete disservice. Also was it just me or did he seem like a completely different character to the last time we saw him?
3. Sub-plots that went nowhere. From Aisha (Tiffany Hines) wanting to kill Isaac (Ashley Thomas) to Andy (Dan Bucatinsky) and his secret love affair with Locke (Bailey Chase), the show served up plenty of sub-plots that achieved nothing and went nowhere.
4. Predictable twists. I can’t count on one hand the amount of times I groaned over the course of 24: Legacy. Whether it was the reveal of Amira (Kathryn Prescott) working for a sleeper cell or Bin-Khalid being revealed as still alive, I felt none of the rush that 24 has always delivered with it’s clever plot twists. These ones may as well have flashed up signposts on the screen, it was that obvious.
5. The dialogue was atrocious. The first episode of the season spent more time allowing the characters to narrate their lives and what led to that moment than it did anything else. Clumsy exposition was rife throughout the season and at times I laughed out loud when I’m pretty sure I was supposed to be on the edge of my seat.
6. Convenient plot developments. Can’t get hold of a terrorist? Let’s ask his kidnapped daughter if she remembers his phone number! I wish I was making it up but clearly the writers were just making stuff up to get through to the end of the season. Also I lost track of the amount of life threatening injuries characters shrugged off so they could get on with their jobs.
7. Eric’s wife Nicole is the absolute worst. This was a mix of exceptionally bad writing and a dire performance from actress Anna Diop. My particular highlight was her inspirational speech to Isaac and his men when they fought off Jadalla’s men after being released from captivity. Never has a character being so laughable and lacked conviction as Nicole.
8. Characters just disappeared. Sheila Vand was criminally underused as Nilaa Mizrani and when her initial plot line was over so was the character’s screen time. I pegged from episode 1 that she would be accused of being a mole so when that ‘twist’ happened I knew her days of having anything to do were nearly over. Other characters that vanished include Aisha and Luis (Daniel Zacapa).
9. It borrowed from previous seasons. Who else was surprised when a shady character higher up the ladder sent in someone new to run CTU? What about the inevitable ‘we’ve got a mole’ storyline? Of even better the villain we all thought was dead is actually secretly (and miraculously) alive! 24: Legacy let itself down by trying to be 24 by numbers.
10. The season finale. I genuinely think that the writers gave up by episode 12, I really do. When you spend nearly five minutes of time watching a young girl tell Eric that trees are her friend and then the whole season ends with a 12 hour time jump and a boring conversation between Eric and Nicole, you know the ideas have well and truly run dry. What happened to leaving the audience wanting more? 24’s season finales have always been intense and edge-of-the-seat until now.
24: Legacy airs on FOX in the UK and the US. Watch the trailer for the series below:
[brid video=”37919″ player=”531″ title=”Official Trailer 24 LEGACY”]
