The clock resets.

Well, guess what. 24: Legacy Season 1 Episode 1 is my first foray into all things 24. I won't be comparing Corey Hawkins to Keifer Sutherland or wondering where Jack Bauer might be while the country suffers another crisis, because I just don't care.

It's 2017. Can 24: Legacy stand on its own as a series during THIS time and in THIS climate? Did the pilot do its job well?

Those are loaded questions, to be sure.

There's little doubt Fox and everyone involved with the series have to be wishing 24: Legacy was released at a time that fell outside of the cultural upheaval we're in since President Trump took office.

There will be three groups watching the show, and all will have different reactions.

The liberals will be angry the terrorists are Islamic radicals. The conservatives will cheer on Eric Carter and Rebecca Ingram as they try to save the world from the bad guys. Those in the middle can fall to either side, or possibly just watch based on the show's merits.

Now that we have that garbage out of the way, let's discuss the merits.

Corey Hawkins is a capable lead. He makes Eric Carter feel believable and interesting, even if I may not feel about him what his wife does.

Because of the shortened time frame of 24: Legacy and the immediacy of the threat, the hints we received about Eric not fitting back into civilian life fell flat. He sure seemed like a man in love with his wife.

Yet Nicole (Anna Diop) saw in him someone different than who he was before. That hardly seems surprising since he's an Army Ranger, home only six months after a high-profile mission that required them to change their names afterward.

Whatever governmental branch worked with them on their idea of witness protection should probably take note: keeping them in the city where they grew up and merely changing their names is hardly the best of plans.

How Eric can come back from war any worse than he would have been after years of working for his brother, Isaac, who appears to be a gang leader and criminal, seems odd, too.

As did the ease with which Nicole chose to confide in Isaac about Eric just minutes after she was left in his care when moments earlier she was against having any contact with her ex-lover at all.

Very strange.

But at least their former life explains why Nicole was so capable of outwitting terrorists and saving her and Eric's lives when the group found them. Although not how Eric managed to break out of his chair. 

I guess it doesn't matter. It was just fun to watch.

While Eric's Ranger team was getting slaughtered, we were being introduced to other players. Jimmy Smits as a Senator and presidential candidate, who has put his political ambitions on hold so his wife could run CTU.

We don't know how long Rebecca Ingram ran CTU, but she has feelings about stepping down.

It's not going to be easy.

You're right. Running CTU is like a drug. It's hard to come down from.

Rebecca

• Permalink: You're right. Running CTU is like a drug. It's hard to come down from.

In fact, she was the person who wrangled the Rangers, and she has close ties to Eric. Whether it's only a matter of writing it that way or Eric was the leader of his squad, Rebecca and Eric seemed close.

Did the fellows seeking the Sheik's lock box know Rebecca was getting a congressional medal the same day they started slaughtering the very team who earned it for her?

That's awfully convenient, isn't it?

Oh, yeah. A mole. There is a mole in CTU or somewhere similar, because only Directors of higher had access to who was on that Ranger squad. The identities of those men were concealed. 

As were their new names, I'd guess. 

Rebecca soon discovered just how hard it's going to be to give up her CTU work. Her husband handled her sudden departure from the fundraising event very well once he heard it wasn't something they could discuss over the phone.

Having a woman like that on your arm as President would be quite the asset, and it seems their marriage might be strong enough to weather whatever short-term storm the big event about to unfold is about to throw their way.

The whole story comes down to an idiot who stole the lock box, but wasn't smart enough to search around inside it like Eric to see what the fellows were really after.

Ben, I don't think, would have passed the Ranger test. He's more like the guy you'd have along to carry your meals or something. All he wants is what he's owed. He's owed something because...I don't know. I lost the logic.

I assume it's because he felt betrayed by the government, because he forgot he signed up for the Army and wasn't forced to go. 

It definitely wasn't as simple as PTSD for Ben. He just seems like an idiot. His hopes to sell data on terror cells in the US awaiting a code to start blowing things up to the highest bidder is idiocy talking. 

I'm also wondering why we are being forced to suffer through a completely non-related story (at this juncture, anyway) of a Chechan high school student who is planning a terrorist attack with her high school teacher and her boyfriend. 

Is that just to prove there are other terrorists who hate America, too? We know that, but we don't need to know it NOW. Couldn't that wait for Season 2? Because, frankly, everything about the 10 minutes I had to look at those people was dreadful.

OK. I never watched 24 because I thought it looked ludicrous (in addition to my Sutherland hero issue). And 24: Legacy is kinda ludicrous, too.

What works, though, is Hawkins as Carter. Even when he did something like plug in a thumb drive into his phone (because all Army Rangers would think to do that or even know it was a possibility), I just want the guy to succeed.

Finally liking Miranda Otto and getting the image of Homeland's Allison Carr out of my head is tremendous. Even if I'm already tuned into the realization she's the ultimate bad guy.

Watching Rebecca do something silly is awesome. Poor Keith Mullins wandered in and had a serious WTF going on when he turned to question what she was doing in the CTU control room.

There is clearly an attempt to lure me in with a quiet sense of comfort with Rebecca. But that look on her face as she pulled the taser of of her bag and used it? Not good guy behavior.

Anybody else think she tased Keith because SHE's the mole? The guys might have known she was getting a medal because she told them. She wanted the terror cell information, and asked them to start killing her guys to get that box while she was receiving the medal.

She trusted Eric to get it because she knew she could then get it from him. I can turn anyone into a bad guy. Isn't that something?

The things that happen on this show are ridiculous. The side characters (Isaac's gang and the high school) are terrible. But it's fun, it's addictive and should be watched for the entertainment value, not because it's real life.

Thank GOD everything we watch on TV doesn't mirror real life. How boring would that be? Settle in and enjoy the ride.

What did you think? Are you in or out?

Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She's a member of the Critic's Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on X and email her here at TV Fanatic.