“6:00 PM – 7:00 PM” Plot Summary:
The explosion on the George Washington Bridge makes Eric (Corey Hawkins) and Rebecca (Miranda Otto) take drastic measures to stop the terrorists from launching more attacks.
It may or may not be a coincidence that 24: Legacy reintroduces Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard) on March 13th. 11 years prior he died in what might be the single best episode of the Jack Bauer era. Of course, the writers later decided to bring him back. If you want to know more about that, read my Day 7 retrospective.
I didn’t touch on it before, but Tony last made an appearance in a Blu-ray extra, in which he plotted an escape from prison. How he ended up working with Rebecca Ingram remains a mystery for now, though he apparently met her during his time as a mercenary. Hopefully the show will answer these questions in the hours to come.
Tony brings a controversial element from the old days, torture. Well, technically, he only threatens Henry (Gerald McRaney) in this episode. I’m really hoping that Donovan (Jimmy Smits) will resolve this situation, because the deeper Legacy gets into it, the more heat the series will take. And it comes a day after 60 Minutes aired an interview with a former uncharged detainee tortured at Guantanamo Bay. I don’t want to talk about it at length unless the show forces me to, because it’s a huge can of worms. The best-case scenario is that this will just drive a divide between Rebecca and John when he disallows her from hurting his father. If so, this has the potential to be a very good storyline. Though perhaps Donovan should have agreed to stay in the race on the condition that Henry cooperate.
Anyway, it’s nice to see Tony. If we can’t have Jack, he works as a bridge between generations.
Speaking of the new generation, Eric finds himself in a predicament. Thankfully, he makes the heroic choice to sacrifice himself rather than go along with Jadalla’s (Raphael Acloque) plan. Guilting Andy (Dan Bucatinsky) into giving his life as well isn’t as heroic, though if Andy knew CTU’s history before joining, he knew he was putting his life on the line for his country. His struggle to choose between life and death was the first time I was invested in the new cast. I would say off course he’ll live, but this is 24, so that’s not a guarantee.
Meanwhile, the moments between Nicole (Anna Diop) and Isaac (Ashley Thomas) humanize Eric’s brother, though his turn from paranoid gangster to sensitive tough guy is a bit sudden, even if the terrorists are holding them hostage. And Nicole isn’t very wise to make antagonistic comments towards Jadalla.
I’m still nowhere close to the point where I would say I love 24: Legacy. I might not even say I like it overall. But the show continues to grow on me. We have just over half a season left. Tony Almeida’s return might be exactly what it needs.
