24: LIVE ANOTHER DAY
Fox, 8:00 p.m. ET
Here’s a same-week repeat of last Monday’s new episode. Talk about tough love: Margot (Michelle Fairley), the terrorist who’s the Big Bad of at least the first part of this rebooted, condensed 24 series, learned from her daughter Simone (Emily Berrington) that Simone’s husband was refusing to pilot the commandeered American drones in a ruthless attack on London targets. So to ensure his cooperation, after he defiantly told Margot that nothing she could do to him would make him cooperate, she instructed her right-hand man to cut off Simone’s left-hand finger. Which was done, as the husband watched in horror, then pledged his loyalty before another finger was chopped off. It was a disturbing and powerful scene – but undercut somewhat by the fact that, earlier this season on NBC’s Crisis, another terrorist pulled the same trick. Except in that case, he had his own finger chopped off by one of the terrorists, so no one would suspect he was their secret leader. It just seems odd that, in two shows dealing with high-stakes crises, television seems intent on giving viewers the finger.