Starring Kiefer Sutherland, James Morrison, D.B. Woodside, Jean Smart, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Eric Balfour
Written By:
Directed By:
Studio: 20th Century Fox
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It’s been 20 months since we last saw Jack Bauer sailing away to China in some freighter in the Pacific, and now he’s back! Season six was somewhat of a departure for the series creatively, and certainly stretched story lines where they shouldn’t. Day 6 was still a lot of fun to check out even though this season had a lot of things wrong with it. Jack Bauer makes a surprising return to the US, only to be bartered with terrorists that are plotting to bomb the country. CTU and the White House race to stop the madmen behind these wave of attacks and do whatever it takes, using their wild card, Jack Bauer.

President Wayne Palmer hoped to capture some of the legacy that his brother David did while in the White House, but so far its led to a wave of terrorist attacks that are destroying the US and their spirit. A known terrorist, Fayed has bartered with the President to give him Jack Bauer. In return Fayed would reveal who is behind the attacks and help lead CTU to the suspects. Jack Bauer comes back from China creating his best Grizzly Adams impression, looking very dirty, having long hair, a beard and looking a little out there. Jack withheld pain and torture for 20 months, not speaking a word only to have him come back and be turned over to a terrorist. Kind of a raw deal if you ask me? When Jack is finally turned over, he soon realizes Fayed was only misleading the Government into thinking who was the suspect behind the attacks, and manages to escape. CTU is a little different since we last saw them. Bill Buchanan and Chloe O’Brien are still around but the rest of the players involved are new to the series. The season battles the war on two fronts in Day Six. One, in Los Angeles with CTU and Jack Bauer trying to stop whoever is behind the attacks and two, Washington D.C. The White House seems to play a prominent role in the show this year as President Wayne Palmer and Karen Hayes, formerly at CTU in L.A. try to stay on top of all decisions coming in and out of the country as far as the attacks are concerned. Like every other season of 24, the show usually splits major story arcs into 12 episodes each. The second arc of the season belongs to Jack trying to rescue Audrey from the Chinese as she seems to have gone after Jack in China and got captured herself. The other aspect to the second arc belongs to the White House again as a power struggle between the President and Vice President occur. Without spoiling any more for you, some of the storylines are being rehashed from prior seasons and some new interesting stories were thrown in as well. Turns out Jack’s estranged family has something to do with the attacks and that leads the story in another direction as well.

As usual, the casting in this show is impeccable. Awesome character actors come in every year and continue to prove that they are one of the best ensemble dramas out there. Over the summer months when nothing is happening, the stories break about who’s going to be on the show and I get very excited because 24 surrounds itself with the best people in the business. Believable characters and exciting stories usually drive this show. Stand out’s in the cast are without question, Kiefer of course, but people that don’t get the recognition like Kiefer does like James Morrison, D.B. Woodside and Mary Lynn Raskub. I think the crew deserves a lot of credit as well because they make 24 as realistic and entertaining as they possibly can.

Unlike the past two DVD sets, no prequel to set up Day Seven. Plenty of extras though. My favorite was a cameo by Ricky Gervais, meant to be a Bit (obviously) because it was hilarious and would not have fit into the show. In the appearance, Ricky plays an aid in the background and is listening to the President meet with an Ambassador. Ricky’s character is pretty bored of the situation and is constantly whispering to them to get Jack Bauer. It all looks real convincing until the President shouts “Fuck It, I’ll get Jack Bauer then.” On the extras disc you also get plenty of deleted and extended scenes, a few featurettes on the big explosions on the show, a sit down with the writers as they go into some of the reasons behind storylines and which storylines were abandoned. A pretty interesting featurette I think.

I’ve been a pretty diehard fan of the series since it first aired that first night back in November of 2001, and haven’t looked back ever since. There has been some up and down moments with the show and I really think this was a down moment. Creatively, the show exhausted many story lines and went with the “extreme” to try and make the show more intense and action packed. Don’t get me wrong, these aspects are certainly still a great part of the show, but I think they had a tough time trying to come up with ways to outdo themselves. I think the writers had people killed off for minimal reasons just to be shocking and it’s been hurting them ever since, I.E. Tony Almeida. Now if you caught a glimpse of the 24 Day Seven trailer that aired on the net, which was quickly pulled after the writer’s strike and the show being postponed, you would have seen that Tony is alive and well, but now turned bad guy. WTF? I hope they know what they are doing. I think it’s also nice to hear going forward with Day Seven, that the Los Angeles area has been departed and that the new season will take place in Washington D.C. What I also like about this show is that it rewards the loyal viewer and brings people back from previous seasons so when that moment does take place in the show, you got “OH, SHIT” and get excited. While Day Six wasn’t the best, the creators make it worth your while for sticking around each year, and I know the next season will bring this show back to the top, like Day’s 1, 2, and 5.

Features:
-Cast/Crew/Producer Commentary on Selected Episodes
-Deleted and Extended Scenes
-Seventh Disc Contains Hours of Exclusive Special Features

Audio:
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital 5.1 CC
SPANISH: Dolby Digital Surround

Video:
-Widescreen 1.78:1 Color

Subtitles:
English, Spanish, French

Favorite Scenes: Jack’s Back, City go Boom, Oh No Curtis, Bauer Family Reunion, Audrey has something in common with Jack
Rating: NR
Running Time: 1050 minutes
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating: