A lot can happen in 24 hours. Especially if your name is Jack Bauer.

Kicking off with a two-hour season premiere Jan. 11, the esteemed TV saga 24 roped in all devoted fans with a new twisting plot and new villains on the loose. FOX?s captivating drama landed the seventh spot in the Nielsen ratings out of the regularly broadcast shows.

Beginning four years after the sixth season with only the two-hour television film, 24: Redemption, bridging the gap between, we find main hero Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) sitting in court, on trial for illegal torture. The former workplace of Bauer and his colleagues, Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU), no longer exists and President Allison Taylor (Cherry Jones) has embarked on her first term.

The drama begins to unfold when Bauer is subpoenaed to the FBI to assist the investigation of a kidnapped engineer alongside Agent Renee Walker (Annie Wersching). Meanwhile, President Taylor decides to go to war against General Benjamin Juma for his genocide against the citizens of fictional African country Sangala with cautions from her Chief of Staff Ethan Kanin (Bob Gunton). Unbeknown to President Taylor, her husband, Henry (Colm Feore), has been devoting his time to investigating their son?s presumed suicide.

Soon, a simple abduction turns into a serious predicament when the kidnappees use the engineer to design a firewall module to breach the security of national airlines ? and Bauer’s ?expired? colleague, Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard), is incriminated. Events begin to connect when President Taylor receives a call from Juma?s Colonel Dubaku with an ultimatum: call off the troops in Sangala or prompt the use of the module, triggering the deaths of thousands of Americans.

An ordinary person inundated with all of these problematic events might become overwhelmed or take them weeks to work out ? but Jack Bauer is no ordinary person. He races the clock to complete his task in 24 hours, fighting every form of exhaustion. Every episode runs an hour until the day of Bauer ends.

24 quickly becomes addicting by captivating its audience emotionally with the characters, twisting plot devices and film techniques. The fight-for-the-prevailing-of-good-no-matter-if-I-have-to-torture-people mentality of Jack Bauer (as well as his invincibility from dying) makes him an irresistibly lovable character. A stellar cast creates more enchanting, diverse personalities to revolve around the volatile plot.

Even though the same plot elements ? terrorists plot against the United States, the government is betrayed, Jack tortures a terrorist, Jack gets tortured, Jack escapes and saves the United States ? recur throughout each season, the writers find a way to reinvent each adventure to prevent triteness and keep the adrenaline coming.

For example, in each season without fail, a traitor compromises the government, so often I expect the surfacing of the next mole. However, each season I sit on the edge of my seat, contemplating the identity the next infiltrator.

The fine-tuned filming makes the compelling story line even more addictive by allowing the viewers to place themselves into each situation. The up-close-and-personal camera angles show the characters? facial expressions, cut back and forth without losing any emotion, and add a touch of reality with a waver of the camera as it zooms in.

All of these elements create a spellbinding adventure, and once involved in the mission of Jack Bauer, you won’t be able to let go until the day ends.

For more movies and television reviews, visit Trent Souza’s Jan. 30 article, ‘Benjamin Button’ balances length, fantasy.