Season 6 villains

smitten · 2007-06-04 13:23:05

Well, I hope I've included everyone - is that really all there was? I was tempted to add Mandy, just because I know she's still out there!

I think Cheng is by far the most interesting villain we've so far, possibly as interesting as Nina. When we first met him, he wasn't a villain at all, simply an agent of a foreign government, protecting his government's interests in the face of attack and deceit from the Americans. And before we know it, he's doing the kidnapping and bargaining bit, up there with the best of them. When did he cross that line? And now, he's been caught, which makes him even more interesting because he's not dead! I can easily see him coming back to haunt Jack, having been released due to some pressure that the Chinese managed to exert.

smitten · 2007-06-07 20:27:05

Only two votes here? Were the baddies really so uninteresting this year?

(Just posting again to try to drum up some discussion).

J_A · 2007-06-07 20:35:56

smitten wrote:

Were the baddies really so uninteresting this year?

to me, unfortunately, yes, they were. none of them (and frankly, since season 4) has really managed to interest me enough to even call him a "favorite". of those you mentioned, I guess Fayed qualifies as the best, because he had a real reason to go against jack and was evil and ruthless enough to make you afraid. which are qualities I ask of a villain. he should be "truly evil and not merely badly behaved" (quote from sol stein, "stein on writing). so, frankly, there has been a problem with 24 and the baddies ever since season 4. After Saunders, Fayyed is really the only actual villain that actually had something truly evil about him.

you asked if "that's all there was this year" - well, my diagnosis of the problem is that 24 has had not too few, but too many villains. this year as well as in s5. when you have too many villains or characters you necessarily end up rendering them as 2-dimensional, all bad, uncharismatic plot devices. seasons 1-3 were good in that respect in that they had 2 villains (well, two main ones!) one that died around ep 12 / 13 and the other that came into the picture back then. you could get to know the character, learn to hate them properly and root for their death. when you're presented with 10 villains without a hierarachy, without a clear concept of who is who, things get unnecessarily complicated and the attention is divided between too many elements.

therefore, for season 7 I wish they'd go back to that old format of having a maximum of 2 or maybe 3 bad guys in charge but then make us actually care about what happened to them.

smitten · 2007-06-08 08:36:53

jack_addict wrote:

you asked if "that's all there was this year" - well, my diagnosis of the problem is that 24 has had not too few, but too many villains. this year as well as in s5. when you have too many villains or characters you necessarily end up rendering them as 2-dimensional, all bad, uncharismatic plot devices. seasons 1-3 were good in that respect in that they had 2 villains (well, two main ones!) one that died around ep 12 / 13 and the other that came into the picture back then. you could get to know the character, learn to hate them properly and root for their death. when you're presented with 10 villains without a hierarachy, without a clear concept of who is who, things get unnecessarily complicated and the attention is divided between too many elements.

One of the things I'm enjoying about rewatching season 1 now (have watched to episode 3) is how quickly the baddies become really, thoroughly, evil. The body language, and the lack of spoken words between Gaines and Mandy, especially in the sequence when Mandy's lover tries to squeeze another million out of Gaines. You're right, you do get scared.

J_A · 2007-06-08 09:00:24

smitten wrote:

One of the things I'm enjoying about rewatching season 1 now (have watched to episode 3) is how quickly the baddies become really, thoroughly, evil. The body language, and the lack of spoken words between Gaines and Mandy, especially in the sequence when Mandy's lover tries to squeeze another million out of Gaines. You're right, you do get scared.

exactly. a villain is supposed to be evil and as a viewer you're supposed to thoroughly hate him and be afraid of him from the start. gaines is still one of the best, if not the best villain there ever was on 24. hmm. maybe we should take this discussion to the season 1 debrief section.

24fans.com Forums

#1 2007-06-04 13:23:05

Season 6 villains

#2 2007-06-07 20:27:05

Re: Season 6 villains

#3 2007-06-07 20:35:56

Re: Season 6 villains

#4 2007-06-08 08:36:53

Re: Season 6 villains

#5 2007-06-08 09:00:24

Re: Season 6 villains

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