24: Live Another Day: “4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.” (Season 9, Episode 6)

However, MI5 agents interrupt Kate and Jack’s undercover mission to get Chloe access to Rask’s computer (that the hacker hopes can trace back to Margot). Why are the M15 involved? Well, Stephen Fry’s British PM, Alastair Davies, is unhappy with Heller’s actions so far that day and completely perplexed of his regained trust in Jack. He wants Jack and Kate followed and gives the authoritative call to get some surveillance tracking these agents. (Any 24-episode season of the series, I hope, would extend Davies, since a befuddled Stephen Fry is quite funny. The levity works wonders in this violent episode.)

Meanwhile, back at the Al-Harazi compound, Margot gets a call from Naveed’s sister. Normally, this would be a loose end that should not be on the family’s radar. However, with there being a few hours until the terrorist’s ultimatum on President Heller is up, we need something that ensures Michelle Fairley thrashes around menacingly. (Given the cutthroat family drama and regal tone of Fairley’s nasty villain, it is a shame that the drama here feels strained and more soap opera than Shakespeare.)

So, she has Simone go visit Naveed’s sister in the city, to make sure the relative has no knowledge of her husband’s prior involvement in the drone strike plan. As soon as we meet the sister and find out she has a young pre-teen girl, any viewer familiar with introducing sudden young supporting characters on 24 knows that the episode will not be complete until either the child is dead or they witness the brutal death of his or her blood relation (or both).

This hour of 24: Live Another Day is exciting and even jarringly violent, especially during the rather graphic torture sequence at Rask’s warehouse and the brisk chase sequence between Simone and her niece through the streets of London. (For those complaining that London landmarks have really taken a back seat in this tale of international intrigue, a double-decker bus proves to be a deal-breaker in this week’s episode.)

However, capably filmed action, tense inter-cutting and taut pacing means that 24: Live Another Day is only meeting some of what made the original run of the series such gripping, compelling entertainment. Each season had a terrific dramatic subplot that broke up the action but also introduced us to an intriguing dynamic between characters with a tenuous link to the main action. While Live Another Day introduced us to many potential subplots early on that all had potential to become the supreme B-plot, the writers keep pushing back on each one’s screen time to focus on the full-throttled central conflict. The plotting is paramount, but what should be rich character relationships are hardly there.