TV

Kiefer Sutherland’s Touch Returns with Big Changes in Store

Touch returns for a second season, but Fox's semi-hit has been retooled. For fans of Kiefer Sutherland's 24, this is a good thing

By Brent Furdyk /

Credit: Fox

Season one of Touch ended with Jake (David Mazouz) and Martin (Kiefer Sutherland) fleeing for L.A. and meeting Lucy (Maria Bello)

Fox’s Touch is back for a second season, but the re-tooled show will have a much different feel

Last season, 24 star Kiefer Sutherland returned to television in Touch, playing Martin Bohm, a widowed father trying to understand his autistic son Jake’s (David Mazouz) obsession with seemingly random numerical patterns.

As Bohm learned — with the help of eccentric professor Arthur Teller (Danny Glover) — his son actually possessed a rare gift that has the power to change people’s lives. 

Although reviews were mostly positive, Touch didn’t connect with viewers the way 24 had (although the show proved to be far more popular internationally). Despite low ratings, Fox opted to renew Touch for a second season, but the show has undergone some significant retooling in its second year. 

What Season 2 of Touch Has in Store

As we learned at the end of last season, Jake’s abilities are identical to those of a young girl named Amelia (Saxon Sharbino) — and that Jake seems to be one of “36 Righteous Ones” from Judaic mysticism. Meanwhile, a shadowy organization called Aster Corp wants to wrest custody of Jake from Martin so they can study him, and Martin and Jake flee New York and head to L.A., where they meet Amelia’s mother, Lucy (Prime Suspect’s Maria Bello). 

The second season picks up right where things left off, with Martin agreeing to help distraught Lucy find her missing daughter. Viewers will meet some new characters along the way, including Aster Corp math genius Calvin Norburg (Lukas Haas) and Guillermo Ortiz (Saïd Taghmaoui of Lost), an ex-Jesuit priest who is now a deranged religious zealot with murder on his mind. 

The Kiefer Sutherland You Know and Love

Other new characters include an Aster Corp researcher named Kase (played by John Boyd, who appeared alongside Sutherland as agent Arlo Glass on 24) and wealthy Aster Corp shareholder Vikash Nayar (Inception’s Dileep Rao).

How they figure into season two will be revealed as the episodes progress, but Sutherland hints that viewers may see his character become a bit more Jack Bauer-like.

“At the beginning of the first season, you had a guy trying to communicate with his son,” he says. “At the end of the season, you have a guy going to buy a gun to use to get his son back. There’s a huge dynamic shift.”

The season premiere of Touch airs Friday, February 8th at 8 pm on Global/Fox.

Originally published in TVW. For daily programming updates and on-screen Entertainment news, subscribe to the free TVW e-newsletters, or purchase a subscription to the weekly magazine.