Top CTU agent Jack Bauer is back for another day of top secret government operations. Fox's massive hit series "24," starring Kiefer Sutherland as Bauer, recently returned for its seventh season."24" has had a tumultuous history of kidnapping, murder, counterterrorism and presidential assassinations in its years on Fox. At the conclusion of season 5, Jack had been captured and imprisoned by the Chinese for actions he had taken in the previous season. Day 6 led to Jack being released from that imprisonment twenty months later, during an eleven-week period of terrorist bombings in the United States. But rather than facing freedom, Jack found himself being traded by the Chinese to Abu Fayed (Adoni Maropis), the head of an Islamic terrorist group formerly headed by Hamri Al-Assad (Alexander Siddig). Assad is known by Jack to be innocent of past accused crimes, and now works for the U.S. government by bringing such organizations to peace talks. After some complications with his father, Phillip Bauer (James Cromwell), and his brother Graem (Paul McCrane) - which result in Graem's death by Phillip's hand - Jack succeeds in thwarting Fayed's terrorist plot by killing him. Jack's personal life also took a hit on Day six when Audrey Raines (Kim Raver), Jack's love interest in past seasons, was also kidnapped by the Chinese. After Jack saves her life, he discovers that she has lost her memory and doesn't remember her former lover. It seems that sometimes even Jack Bauer can't catch a break.After "24: Redemption," a special television event that aired between Days 6 and 7, Day 7 began on Jan. 11 of this year. The premiere was actually delayed by a year due to the strike by the Writers' Guild in 2008. Day 7 has seen Jack officially on trial for torture, having turned himself in to the U.S. Marines at the end of "Redemption" after being subpoenaed. The day has begun at 8 a.m. with a kind of reboot for the series. While "Redemption" saw Jack repentant and pensive, helping orphans in Africa and living away from direct involvement with CTU, Day 7 brings this enigmatic action figure back to the real world. Whether or not Jack will have to atone for his political actions in a post-Bush diplomatic world remains to be seen. As the season began its Day 7, FBI agent Renee Walker (Annie Wersching) was pulling Jack out of his hearing to work against the African terrorist groups that originally surfaced in "Redemption." With a renewed focus and a few new characters, including new president Allison Taylor (Cherry Jones), Day 7 may prove to be the most intriguing yet.
