The secrets behind 24

WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS OF LAST NIGHT’S EPISODE.

Last night’s episode 5 shows that there are some things that the writers and producers of 24 do very well and there other areas where they can improve on. The show has been hinting since last week that last night we were going to see Jack interrogate and torture one of the villains from last season. This would be the bald guy with glasses who spent the entire previous season in a windowless room with three unidentified men, constantly getting updates, and at times giving orders to President Logan. Last night he was identified as Grahem Bauer, Jack Bauer’s brother.

I thought the introduction of Jack’s brother and father into the plot was pure genius, especially as possible villains. It was a twist I never anticipated. But I have two problems with what I saw last night. First, Grahem looks nothing like Jack. Are we going to find out later in the season that one was adopted? Second, Grahem's wife Marilyn looks way too hot for her to be married to him.

After the episode, I went to IMDB to try to find the name of the actors who play Grahem and Marilyn Bauer and could not find them. I also looked at the listing for James Cromwell, the well known actor who was shown on last night’s sneak preview as Jack’s father Phillip. There was no mention of 24 showing up on his profile. No doubt the show’s producers purposely kept this information from appearing on IMDB to keep from spoiling the twist for us.

In other news, there are speculations that Jack and Chloe will show up on the 400th episode of The Simpsons, to air in May, the same month 24 will wrap up the current season. I also found a very good article in the current issue of Time Magazine about how people on different ends of the political spectrum reacts to the show.