Episode 24 - “3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.”
Spoilers after the jump!
Jack goes Mike Tyson. Cherry shudders toward a second Emmy despite Logan stealing the season. No mega twists, no silent clocks. Shut it down.
You can catch up on our concise 24 coverage here. Did we miss something? Leave it in the comments!
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Episode 23 - “2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.”
Spoilers after the jump!
Jack's gonna kill Putin. Cherry goes nuts when Mrs. President Slumdog learns the truth. Jack drops Chloe. Jack's got Logan in his eyesights, dawg.
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After eight seasons on TV, Fox's real-time drama 24 comes to a close tonight. There have been a lot of ups and downs over the years, some more egregious than others, but for every moment that made us vow to stop watching, there was another that hooked us again.
You've been reading our concise coverage of 24's eighth and final season since January - now, allow Craig and me to present some of our most (and least) favorite moments of the entire series.
The Good - Andrew
Teri dies (Day 1): At the end of what was probably 24's best year creatively, Jack walks into a CTU back room to find his wife laid out on the floor.
This ending, after twenty-four hours of twists and turns and betrayals, set the tone for the series in a lot of ways. Jack gets no happy endings. 24 is a tragedy. This thread continues throughout the series, as everyone near to Jack is either alienated or killed, most recently Renee Walker a few episodes ago.
All the regulars die (Day 5): 24 has always struggled with its non-Jack characters. Day 4 was supposed to be a clean start for the series, but as the season wore on, more and more of the old supporting cast came back, bringing all their baggage with them.
The show's fifth season blew this out of the water, killing almost all of the old regulars in its opening half hour. This gave some of the best characters from the previous season (most notably the excellent Gregory Itzin) a chance to stretch their legs, and set the stage for 24's most successful year, both critically and in the ratings.
The Good - Craig
Nina's Evil (Day 1): Reinforcing the notion that Season One is hands-down the best season of 24, the reveal of Nina Myers as a mole remains one of the best twists the writers ever managed.
Not only did it come super late, but it came after hours upon hours of speculation about Tony and other CTU idiots. A lesser mole had already been found and promptly ended by Nina herself. And the fact that Jack's wife was one of the people to figure it out made it all the better. Season One stands tall because of the carefully crafted collision of Jack's personal and professional lives.
Also, Nina being evil more than made up for Dennis Hopper's terrible accent. I still don't know what the hell that was supposed to be.
Logan's Run (Days 4, 5, 6, and 8): Charles Logan is one of the weirdest, most entertaining characters ever to cross Jack's path. When he first assumed the presidency in Season Four, it appeared to be an excuse to bring back David Palmer. Logan couldn't make a single decision without nearly wetting himself, and Palmer stepped in to show him some tough love. Turns out, the incompetence was all a cover. In Season Five, we find him complicit in Palmer's assassination and a widespread conspiracy to bring chemical weapons into the country just so he could stop them and prove his strength. Fucked up, right?
What sold me on Logan was how perfectly the writers deflected attention and suspicion away from him. Everything from his crazy wife to suicide-committing cabinet members combined to prevent us from ever thinking he could be behind the day's tragedies. Plus, he somehow convinced Jack not to kill him, lest Logan be immortalized like Lincoln or JFK. What a little weasel! Oh yeah, then they showed up to arrest him while he was eulogizing David Palmer. Nice touch, guys.
It's no coincidence that Season Eight finally stepped on the gas right around Logan's arrival. He and his jowls have been out of control this last time out. Secretly negotiating with Russians, upending protocol at CTU, offering President Taylor Mephistophelean bargains. He's a monster - and a completely neurotic, self-serving one at that. Too many of 24's antagonists were bland, ethnic stereotypes. Logan was the real deal: an actual villain.
The Bad - Andrew
Cougar Kim (Day 2): In the first season, Jack's daughter Kim played a central role to the story - her kidnapping made the events of the California presidential primary personal for Jack, and 24 was at its best when Jack was involved personally, not just professionally.
In subsequent seasons, Kim became a nagging distraction that the writers had no idea how to use. One of the lower points was about midway through the second season, when a fugitive Kim had run off into the wilderness to avoid capture. Before one commercial break, she ran into a wild cougar. After the commercial break, the cougar wandered off without incident. This was as unnecessary as it was boring - a perfect description for Kim Bauer.
Like, all of (Day 6): I was actually out in season six - I watched the first four episodes of the season, and once I found out that it was Muslims and nukes all the way down (again!) I washed my hands of the series for the season. In a fit of boredom, I came back and watched it that summer, and for the life of me I can barely remember anything that happens. I know Zefram Cochrane was there. That's it.
The fact that the producers are willing to back me up on this one just proves my point.
The Bad - Craig
The Rest of Kim's Life (every Day past Day 1): Early seasons of 24 tricked you into making you care about Kim Bauer. "Oh, poor Kim, her mom's dead and her dad's crazy." "Oh, Kim, you can totally be a CTU agent! I believe in you!" At the end of each day, I just felt like a fool investing in a character with the worst plotlines ever.
The divergence of Kim from the main plot heralded a sort of sea change for 24: the inclusion of preposterous, annoying subplots. Why was she running around with that dude's kid in Season Two? And I can't forgive her for Chase, the worst B-list CTU agent ever - well, until Freddie Prinze, Jr.
In the latter half of 24, Kim's been used almost exclusively as a tool to make Jack cry. He's busy, trying to organize an operation, and Kim comes in with a new psychiatrist boyfriend, poking old wounds. Or Jack gets nerve-gassed and Kim walks around all teary-eyed before agreeing to give him her stem cells. This is much better than pumas in the woods, but I've consistently longed for the days (okay, day) when what happened to Kim actually mattered.
The 25th Amendment (Days 2, 4, 5, and 6): That I have multiple days listed under the Amendment for presidential succession should tell you something about 24's recycled plotlines. In no less than four seasons, conniving cabinet members, vice presidents, and congressmen invoked the 25th Amendment to remove a president from office.
Season Two saw the Amendment stretched to its limits as cabinet members conspired to remove David Palmer from office for being unable to fulfill his duties. In this case, "unable" meant unwilling to go along with popular opinion. Later seasons were simply instances of presidents either getting messed up (Keeler and Wayne Palmer in Days 4 and 6) or messing up (Logan in Day 5).
24 White House intrigue was always at its best when it wasn't about who's in the chair, but how that person navigates the day's trials (see Cherry Jones as President Taylor).
All that said, I did love the mustache-twirling moment in Season Six when President Cy Tolliver (does anyone remember his character's name?) shadily watched Wayne Palmer expire. Thanks, 25th Amendment.
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Spoilers after the jump!
Blonde reporter gets shut down by Evil Cherry Jones. Freddie and Chloe team up. Jack becomes the fucking Terminator, and kills everyone everywhere ever.
You can catch up on our concise 24 coverage here. Did we miss something? Leave it in the comments!
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Spoilers after the jump!
Chloe calls a play from Speed. Is Michael Madsen lost? The Penguin’s Number Two can’t win. Jack digs for treasure in my favorite terrorist.
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Episode 20 - “11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.”
Spoilers after the jump!
Jack and Agent Fishface bust Starbuck out, proving once again that Jack is the consummate badass. Logan continues weaseling. No silent clock for Starbuck.
You can catch up on our concise 24 coverage here. Did we miss something? Leave it in the comments!
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Episode 19 - “10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.”
Spoilers after the jump!
Cherry sells her soul to Charles “Mephistopheles” Logan. Jack can’t trust anyone…except Freddy, I guess. DB Sweeney is about to get medieval on Starbuck.
You can catch up on our concise 24 coverage here. Did we miss something? Leave it in the comments!
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Episode 18 - “9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.
Spoilers after the jump!
Some Presidents turn in the best acting 24 has seen in a long time. Cherry Jones goes to the dark side, Jack goes rogue.
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Spoilers after the jump!
Ivan Drago vetoes peace. Cherry cuts a deal with the Penguin. Bubba’s out; Chloe’s in. Jack’s hexed lovemaking causes another silent clock. Poor Jack.
You can catch up on our concise 24 coverage here. Did we miss something? Leave it in the comments!
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Episode 15 - “6:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m.”
Cherry Jones clears the room of dissenters, while Starbuck edges nearer being caught. President Slumdog gives himself up; all Jack can give is chase.
Episode 16 - “7:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m.”
The jig is up, Starbuck! The terrorists fake everyone out, and President Slumdog gets his final answer. I guess he deserved his silent clock.
You can catch up on our concise 24 coverage here. Did we miss something? Leave it in the comments!
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Spoilers after the jump!
Jack time travels through NYC traffic. Cherry finally gets to act. A White House Young Gun faces moral dilemmas. Terrorists want their own Millanaire!
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Episode 13 - “4:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m.”
Spoilers after the jump!
Finally, a terrorist recognizes Jack on sight, while Freckles and Potato Face take matters into their own hands. Jimmy James dies, Starbuck’s the mole.
You can catch up on our concise 24 coverage here. Did we miss something? Leave it in the comments!
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If you've been reading our weekly recaps or listening to some of our more recent podcasts, you know that we at Charge Shot!!! have a long history with Fox's real-time drama 24. I'd say we have an actual affinity for it, but each season seems to polarize the staff further. Is Jack a tired shell of his former ass-kicking self? Or is he just too busy battling his own demons to properly entertain us for 43 minutes every week? We can't seem to agree.
Now that we've reached the halfway point of Season Eight, Andrew and Craig decided a little recap was in order. Well, recap's really a misnomer. Think of it more as two guys bitching about the current state of a show we used to love unabashedly.
I promise we don't hate all of it.
Craig Getting: Is there any possible way to start this discussion without bitching about Starbuck and Freddie Prinze, Jr.? It took 24 a few seasons before it started pulling down huge audiences and warranting stars other than Kiefer. Season Four is probably where it all started, when they cast Imhotep and Terror-Mom. They've since brought on moderate television stars like Powers Boothe (who played Cy Tolliver on Deadwood) and Cherry Jones (who's just an all-around classy lady), but none have crashed and burned as hard as Starbuck and the Prinze have so far.
I'm not sure what I expected when they announced Starbuck'd be joining the cast (well, I sort of did). She spent about half of Battlestar Galactica being a refreshing take on the stereotypical brash, in-your-face pilot and the other half being sweaty and rolling around on the floor screaming. On 24, she's just sort of annoying. She looks uncomfortable wearing feminine clothes. Her it-only-shows-up-when-I'm-stressed Southern accent grates on my ears. And to top it all off, they've yet to integrate her into the main plot line.
Freddie Prinze, on the other hand, at least took a bomb for the president of Iraqistan. But he, like Starbuck, continues to disappoint. I can't believe I'm saying this, but his underwhelming scenes with Jack actually make me miss Tony.
Andrew Cunningham: Their storyline is easily the worst in 24 history, mostly because it refuses to die - most of the seasons' inconsequential plotlines (and they've all had inconsequential plotlines, from Amnesia Teri to Cougar Kim to that time in season 5 when Samwise Gamgee had a sister or something who was causing him trouble) have given up the ghost after only a few episodes and took up a relatively small slice of screen time in which to do their thing. This Starbuck plotline must be some producer's baby, though, because it feels like they're spending more time with it than they are with the nuclear weapon that's about to go off in New York City. Meanwhile, the excellent Cherry Jones (who was the highlight of last season) barely gets to do anything.
Which brings me to the next thing - wasn't there another time when there was a nuclear weapon set to go off on US soil? Oh yeah, it also happened in seasons 2, 4, and 6. The thing about the show is, it has completely run out of ideas. This is readily apparent in the city-hopping from LA to DC to New York that we've seen since season 6. Truth is, the producers are just looking to inject some freshness into their aging premise, but a change in scenery rarely matters once the events start unfolding. People will always drive on roads completely free of traffic. There will always be a car chase or gunfight in one of the streets. And [major US city] will always be in danger from some terrorist.
This stuff was true last season, but it managed to be entertaining nevertheless. This season just feels like someone threw a bunch of stock 24 plot elements into a pot, stirred it around, and filmed the results.
CG: The serious Cherry Jones neglect is easily this season's greatest fault. But they haven't really surrounded her with characters worth her time. Last season, the cover-ups in the White House (her son's death, her conniving daughter) added a level of intrigue to the presidency missing since the Logan administration. This year, she has only President Slumdog to contend with, and he's got his own problems.
I'm also a little frustrated with how Jack's tapered off in the past few episodes. After they wrapped up the Russian storyline, he's spent a lot of screen time in cars or going to bat for Freckles or whatever her name is. Jack in charge of CTU operations is never as interesting or dramatic as him working off the grid, calling in favors, stabbing people with Bic pens. They knew this back in Season One. I don't know why they're doing that now.
The nuclear thing is the Fonzie to 24's shark. Once nuclear weapons became a plot option (see Season Two), the producers have had a hard time re-corking that bottle (see the real world issue of nuclear disarmament). I've written before about how 9/11 forever changed the series, and it's readily apparent this season. What started out as an extremely personal day for Jack quickly became a Hella Big Deal for the US. I long for the economical storytelling of Season One (excluding Amnesia Teri, of course).
I'd like to hear your thoughts on this season's use of Jack. Then perhaps we can get to what we actually like about this season.
AC: Oddly enough, the beginning of Jack's day was one of my favorite scenes with him in a long time - him settling down into grandfatherhood, having reconnected with his daughter. Of course, his new family has been forgotten about in the intervening episodes, but it was a very personal moment for a character who, in the show's middle seasons, became less of a person and more of an unstoppable terrorist-fighting God-robot.
Other than that, he's been pretty much by-the-book, which is as boring as you just said it was. People don't watch crime shows so that they can see a cop do his paperwork - they watch them because we the American people love loose cannons who get results.
I can't think of anything I really like about this season, otherwise. The new characters are all ineffectual versions of people we've known in the past. Some of last season's strongest additions - Cherry Jones, Renee "Freckle Face" Walker - have been pushed aside in favor of the Starbuck plot's all-consuming desire for screen time. The problem that most television shows have by their eighth seasons is that the characters and situations have become too well-known and too predictable. 24 takes that one further, and gives us uninspiring situations acted out by bland, poorly established new characters.
And, honestly, how much more ineffectual can CTU get? I would think that blowing up their offices with an EMP would actually make Jack more efficient. Also, where did these terrorists get an EMP, and why does every terrorist attack on this show have like six contingency plans?
CG: I loved the season opener with Jack and baby Teri. Wouldn't it have been great if, for the whole season, we got to watch Jack do fun things with his family? Go to the zoo. Buy some ice cream. Watch cartoons. In the middle seasons, we did see Jack develop a relationship with Audrey, the trials and tribulations of which netted Kiefer an Emmy. But his relationship with Freckles started out so uninspired that I totally didn't buy his willingness to put everything on the line for her. Bring back damsel-in-distress Kim Bauer (not cougar-related-distress Kim Bauer) and have Jack save her. At least then I understand the stakes.
I have no clue where they got an EMP. I'm also not sure where the nuclear rods came from. Also, if those rods made that Russian's guy's son sick, why are all these Iraqistani's totally cool hanging out next to it? Our esteemed friend Ben also pointed out that, in the event of a nuclear threat to the U.N., the president would be out of there immediately, not hanging around negotiating with foreign leaders.
I do see this season trying. The inclusion of drones and the focus on the complications of abiding a Middle Eastern leader with a checkered past being two inspired attempts to connect the real world to the Bauer-verse. And for all my disbelief that Jack actually sees anything in Renee, her "Just how crazy am I?" plotline grabbed me for a few episodes. She was unpredictable, which is more than be said for our dear Jack. Example, that weird hyperbolic chamber thing in the hospital. You knew the whole time Jack would scare the guy into surrendering because we've seen him frighten people into submission before.
It was pretty hilarious when that guy blew up into red paint, though.
AC: True.
I don't think either of us have many good things to say about the season, but these are the normal things that happen to a television show as it ages, especially one where not even top billing can keep you safe - characters leave, people behind the camera leave (series creator Joel Surnow left about a third of the way through season 7), and other shows outstrip it in terms of creativity and relevance. I hope that 24 can rally as we move into the end of the season (it often does) and bring the series to a satisfying conclusion.
That is, unless NBC decides to make yet another stupid programming decision.
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Spoilers after the jump!
Drivers never hit red-lights in New York. Apparently, US nuclear technology has a Death Star flaw. Aladdin stays one jump ahead of the audience.
You can catch up on our concise 24 coverage here. Did we miss something? Leave it in the comments!
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Episode 11 - “2:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m.”
Spoilers after the jump!
Chloe in charge of our days and our nights. Jimmy James gives Starbuck a call, no one cares. Jack salvages the proceedings - KABOOM.
You can catch up on our concise 24 coverage here. Did we miss something? Leave it in the comments!
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Spoilers after the jump (I guess)!
Cherry Jones is one badass president. Operation Weekend At Bernie’s goes awry. Aladdin and Jasmine engage in tantric boning. Starbuck’s still on this show?
You can catch up on our concise 24 coverage here. Did we miss something? Leave it in the comments!
Episode 9 - “12:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m.”
Spoilers after the jump!
Jack and Freckles get romantic, but The Man makes her a scapegoat. Terrorists want to bomb the US again, yawn. Starbuck’s underwhelming conclusion disappoints.
You can catch up on our concise 24 coverage here. Did we miss something? Leave it in the comments!
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Episode 8 - “11:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m.”
Spoilers after the jump!
Jack is apparently every superhero ever. Princess Jasmine’s causing headaches. The Prinze smells something fishy. Chef Ruski loses Let’s Make a Deal! with Jack.
You can catch up on our concise 24 coverage here. Did we miss something? Leave it in the comments!
Episode 7 - “10:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.”
Spoilers after the jump!
Cherry Jones twiddles her thumbs while President Slumdog evils up the place. Starbuck plot is still dumb as hell, but Euro Jack kicks ass.
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Spoilers after the jump!
Leoben only has eyes for Freckle Face. Dr. Andy Samberg gets shafted saving Russians. Pervy Drone Pilot ogles Chloe’s ass. Jack’s guest hosting Sprockets.
You can catch up on our concise 24 coverage here. Did we miss something? Leave it in the comments!
