24 Legacy 1.1: Dammit! I Liked It

24 Legacy debuted tonight, and I've got to say, though I missed Jack, this new 24 has all the power and pacing and riveting story-by-the-minute of its predecessor.   Which is to say: Dammit! I liked it a whole lot.

Among the salient elements of the plot, my favorite was CTU being taken over by Rebecca (played by Miranda Otto), former CTU head.   She has to work - of course, frantically - underneath the nose of the current director. This is a classic 24 gambit, and great to see again.  Also of interest at CTU headquarters is Edgar Stiles' cousin Mariana (the late Edgar died nobly at CTU for his country, from poison gas, if memory serves).  There are other interesting characters at CTU, and, as always, the most important thing about them is one or more of them is is a double agent.   I hope it's not Mariana.

The new Jack - Eric Carter (played by Corey Hawkins) - is certainly not a double agent.  What he is sharp and driven and highly capable, like Jack.  But, unlike Jack, Corey has a strong wife, much better than the late Audrey.   And Eric has a more significant back story as brother to a gang leader. Good material here for future developments.

The heart of the story is some sort of major attack on America, with a Chechnyan high school student who, in a nice minor twist, has her chemistry teacher wrapped around her little finger and more, and an Isis (or whatever) terrorist group on the hunt in Washington for a list of everyone set to carry out the attack.

And if that's enough, and also in classic 24 tradition, Rebecca is married to a Senator (played by Jimmy Smits) who's running for President.  One of the best things about classic 24 was how it wove great Presidential life-and-death drama into the CTU action.  At times, 24 at its height was House of Cards before its time.

Now, if 24 Legacy were on ABC not Fox, we could actually get Jack Bauer right into the series - or Kiefer Sutherland, at at any rate, who's playing a President in ABC's Designated Survivor, another fine series which has a lot of 24 derring-do, too.

I'll keep watching both, for sure, and will be back here with a review 1.2, or the next hour of the ticking clock with the multiple screens, tomorrow.