“24: Legacy” Episode 11 ’10:00 P.M.-11:00 P.M.’ Review
“You come in, you die!”
Warning: Spoilers are discussed in this review.
So here we are in the 11th and final episode before the season finale of 24: Legacy. This is it, guys, things are winding down, the clock is ticking its final minutes. Now, I have to admit something. Yes, I do like this show, I really do. I’ll easily admit it’s not even close to being as good as the original 24, but I do enjoy this reboot. I like the characters, I like the actors, the suspense, the overall tone of this new series and its ability to put me back in 24 mode. And yes, I liked this episode, but I have to admit, this show is kind of dragging its feet at this point of the season. This was the final countdown, the prelude to the finale. There’s no more time to be jerking around. Yet, as quickly paced as this hour was, it didn’t seem like a setup for the final showdown. This episode gave off the feeling that there’s plenty of time left, but there’s not. For example, is it really necessary to carry over the standoff at the safe house where Carter is rescuing a kid over to the next hour? Not to mention, what they’re setting up to be the final battle for Eric Carter, doesn’t feel all that monumental when you compare it to other 24 finales.
The hype around this hour was knowing Eric Carter and Tony Almeida were going to meet, and not by the best circumstances. Instead of seeing a team up of two bad asses, we get these two on opposing sides, no thanks to Director Simms.
After looking into the “East July” thing, Andy discovered Simms was holding Naseri’s daughter captive. After Carter and Donovan team up to confront Simms, Carter heads over to the safe house to get the little girl out in hopes he can bargain with Naseri to let Rebecca go. I feel bad for the girl who’s in a no-win situation. Being held captive for so long, just to be given back to her terrorist daddy, sheesh. Simms hires Tony to extract the girl and take her to a new location, putting us in this situation that will carry over next week.
Now, realistically, it was probably going to take over an hour before Carter would get into another gun fight. The timing between when we first see Carter during the aftermath at the stadium, to heading over to the Pentagon with Donovan, then driving to the safe house, adds up. But with this being the second to the last episode of the season, maybe this showdown between Tony and Carter should have gone down in full this week. I mean, there was a long enough standoff between Carter and Tony during the commercial break. Maybe the shooting could have started when we returned. But no, we have to wait until next week. Okay, fine, maybe it’s for the best. However, they’re going to have to get on with it right away. There’s a lot that’s going to have to go down in just that one final hour.
Looking ahead to next week, the main objective is to save Rebecca before Bin-Khalid and Naseri execute her live for the world to see. I have somewhat of a problem with this only because this end game for the season was something that happened in a middling episode of 24’s fourth season when Jack Bauer attempted to rescue James Heller. It’s no secret this new series has rehashed plots and themes from the show’s history. Sometimes, a little bit of rehashing makes sense for the subject matter. But I expected something new for the finale of this series. Then again, we don’t know what’s going to really happen. Maybe Rebecca won’t make it. He death might be the heartbreaking casualty of the season. 24 has always given us at least one major death to process per season, and that really hasn’t happened yet. Ben doesn’t count, in my opinion. Remember Ben, anyone?
Getting back to this episode, Rebecca’s effort to take her life while in the van filled with terrorists was something you’d expect from a person in her position. The last thing a person with that kind of power and credibility wants is to be publicly executed by their enemies. Their deaths will always be used as propaganda. Well, she didn’t die, but I bet she’s feeling quite woozy after losing all that blood. Simms claims it was Rebecca’s idea to kidnap Naseri’s daughter. If that were true, why wouldn’t she tell him she knows where his daughter is? It would probably give her a stronger chance to escape or be let go. Then again, maybe she doesn’t know the child is alive in the first place. I really don’t want to believe she had something to do with the child’s abduction or supposed death, but it would explain why Naseri thinks she’s a monster. It would also add some serious shock value to the audience.
Despite my earlier criticisms, this episode had a good amount of story progression, and some nice character development. It’s a trip knowing how much animosity Mullins had towards Andy earlier, stripping him of his access, while having Miriana keep an eye on Andy to find any excuse to fire him. Now they’ve all come together beautifully, working hard to aid Carter and rescue Rebecca. Mullins – who authentically looks like he’s had a long day – has also loosened up from being a tight ass, and takes a drastic measure to keep Simms’ little stooge from stopping Andy’s work by putting him in a chokehold. It was one of those awesome, unexpected 24 moments I love to see happen.
The acting was the strongest component of the hour, mostly coming from the excellent team up between Jimmy Smits and Corey Hawkins. I’ve been waiting for Donovan and Carter to cross paths, and their work together didn’t disappoint as far as performance goes. Smits was given some great material as his character frantically looks for a solution to finding his wife, to working a game plan with Carter, and eventually finding his strength as he holds Simms hostage in the director’s office. Hawkins does his usual bad ass soldier thing, but the calm moments with Donovan in the car ride to the Pentagon were great. As was his tense exchange of words with Tony at the safe house, with the latter preparing to breach the house with his team to take the little girl.
I really don’t know how this confrontation with Carter and Almeida is going to play out. I just don’t want it to result in Tony’s actual death. Yes, I’d love to see a hand-to-hand throwdown between Carter and Almeida, but at the last second, just before either one of them can be killed, I’d like to see something stop the two from fighting so they can eventually team up to save Rebecca. Tony’s death in this series would not hold enough weight to anyone new to the series, and it would feel like a cheap shot to the veteran fans. Let’s be honest, we’d like to see Tony be part of a team to break Jack Bauer out of his Russian captivity if the series carries on. Plus, this series has not shown newbies enough of what makes Tony so great. Him helping to save Rebecca is a great opportunity to do that.
So even though this wasn’t the most action packed second to the last episode of a season, it did a fine enough job setting up the stage for the final conflict. Carter is going to have to get through this battle with Tony so he can proceed to save Rebecca from Bin-Khalid and Naseri, and take them out in the process. It’s going to be a packed final hour that’s also going to have a time jump, mostly likely in the final minutes similar to Live Another Day. I was hoping there’d be time jumps throughout the season, but oh, well. Either way, I’m ready and excited to see how this will all end.
