Storywise, the sixth season in Fox’s real-time pulse-quickener blows its wad early on by detonating a nuke in central LA, a self-defeating gambit that leaves the rest of the season struggling to measure up. Nor does perennial loner Jack Bauer benefit from being saddled with a brother, a dad and a nephew (what next – a long-lost twin?), while the dependence on torture to get the writers out of narrative cul-de-sacs has reached the point of parody. A strong cast helps, and Kiefer Sutherland’s ever-reliable Bauer is bolstered this time around by the likes of Powers Boothe, James Cromwell and Peter MacNicol. Still, if 24 is to continue a major rethink is urgently required – a fact acknowledged in the Inside The Writer’s Room featurette that helps fill up the now-standard seventh disc of bonus material (which includes Ricky Gervais goofing around in the Oval Office while filming his blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo).
DVD Extras:
Audio Commentaries By Cast & Crew On Selected Epsiodes, Featurettes & more.
