(2 of 2)
The audacious plot pays off in the first two episodes sent to critics. 24 will probably never seem so bracingly new as it did last year, but the heightened stakes give it new urgency and depth. More than it was in the first season, it's a direct examination of what we will do for safety (and in the premiere's stunning conclusion, Jack makes brutally clear what he'll do). Unfortunately, the story line that puts Bauer's daughter in jeopardy again is badly contrived, like last season's soap-opera twist in which his wife got amnesia. But the screen hums whenever Sutherland's on it; he transcends 24's spare dialogue, creating Bauer's bitterness and nobility out of pauses and hard-eyed stares. This should spell another year of recognition for Sutherland, but is the longtime movie actor willing to stick it out in TV? "Ask me again in five years," he says. Or five long, long days.