TVSquad

"They want me back in Washington, they can come and get me." - Jack

It's been a year and a half since we last saw Jack Bauer, staring out into the ocean and contemplating who knows what after saying good-bye to a comatose Audrey (Kim Raver). The time has gone by much faster for Jack though. In an attempt to find himself and figure out his true calling, Bauer has been wandering the world for three years. Wayne Palmer never re-gained the presidency following his memory lapse in season six and Noah Daniels (Powers Booth) finished out Palmer's first term only to lose a re-election bid to Allison Taylor (Cherry Jones). 24: Redemption (airs this Sunday, 11/23, on FOX at 8PM ET) finds Bauer in the fictional African country of Sangala on the day of Taylor's inauguration with everything to lose and nothing to gain.

Fans of 24 have become accustomed to the 15-minute Ford and Toyota commercials prequels that usually come out on the DVD release prior to a new season airing. However, thank the WGA Strike for this two-hour installment - a way to remind fans of what they've been missing and presumably, pick up new ones at the same time.

The two hour prequel takes place in real time (over the span of 3:00PM to 5:00PM), and while President Elect Taylor prepares to raise her left hand in front of the country, Jack has been assisting old SpecOp buddy Carl Benton (played by Robert Carlyle, there's no mention as to whether or not Jack knew him as far back as the Drazen mission) with a small school for boys. In a situation eerily similar to current events happening in Darfur, Sangala is on the breach of a mass genocide and coup. Under the guidance of General Juma (Tony Todd) and his cronie Col. Dubaku (Hakeem Kae-Kazim), boys around the country are being recruited as soldiers in their army.

Naturally, in true 24 style, there's a much larger conspiracy at work and viewers are introduced to one of the upcoming seventh season's baddies - Jonas Hodges (Jon Voight). We find out that Hodges helped to finance Juma and Dubaku's take-over and it makes for a nice set up to Jack's seventh bad day.

However, as I previously mentioned, Jack has everything to lose and nothing to gain. He has no job to go home to (from previews, we know that CTU has been disbanded), he's lost the woman he loves, and he feels betrayed by the government he worked so hard to defend. All he has right now is his freedom and even that is at stake when a new reason for his nomadic tendencies is revealed: he's being subpoenaed by the US Senate to appear at a hearing discussing some of his past actions. Jack has been ducking the subpoena for over a year, but as the title of the prequel suggests, Bauer is forced to put his own interests second.

Despite the fact that the telefilm stands on its own (you won't be confused if you start season seven without seeing it), there's something awfully intriguing about seeing Jack Bauer in such a literal and metaphorical foreign situation. While the prequel wraps up with a proper ending (as Bauer heads back to the US) and successfully bridges the gap from Day 6 to Day 7, it poses many more questions than it answers. That's good news for FOX since they're hoping for the series to re-claim its past glory with the season seven premiere on January 11th and 12th, 2009. For the time being though, it's just good to hear that clock tick again - regardless of where in the world Jack Bauer happens to be.

Here's the trailer for 24: Redemption in case you haven't seen it yet:

And here's the trailer for season seven: