I don't have much else to say. The show was all over the place. There were too many threads trying to be tied off to stop the bleeding, and it was just terrible. The lifeblood of the series drained away.
Tony's dead, then he's not. Jack's dead, then he's not. The Chinese pull the fastest confession ever in the series — all without torture — to implicate Jack in the earlier pratfall assault on the Chinese embassy.
President Logan is a sap and a complete coward without any apparent ability to function under stress except to wet himself. Yet, he's somehow got lackeys prepared to kill for him?
Worst. Episode. Ever. I've liked the series up to now. I've had few complaints. There have been lots of gaps, but nothing that really mattered. This was a back-window disaster that even The Wolf could never clean up.
The Chief of Staff peeks around the corner, through an open door — oh so mysteriously — after hearing a conversation that Jack would be killed by the Secret Service at the behest of Logan's chief of security.
Tony and Michelle smooch and say "I love you" over the phone (something I remember thinking they never did as Michelle faced death in the second series inside that anthraxed hotel building).
Audrey — who fucking hated Jack's guts a couple of hours ago — exchanges I Love You's with Jack, and then she drops all the papers in her hand when she hears that Jack "dies." And she rightfully hated him for showing no respect for the lives of those she cared about.
Drama? Harder to find than a nuke in this episode.
The nuke? What can you say about that terrifying nuke that no one in the country knew about minutes from landing? Other than, "what-evah."
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Tim
I'm relatively new to 24. Although the episode wasn't top notch, after seeing "Revenge of the Sith" two days ago, even a mediocre 24 is a relief.
2 - Temple Stark
This blew almight chunks through the screen.
This wasn't mediocre - it was beyond redemption.
It was embarassing. And I love 24 - tuned in every damn (I know you'll ove that word) week. Watched it from episode 1, Day 1.
This was .. the worst .. episode ... ever.
Strange Sith standards there.
3 - swingingpuss
Whatever happened to Behrooz???!!!
Will he grow up to Son of Godzilla, I mean Habib?
4 - Temple Stark
God damn but next January i'll be tuning in to the next day.
But I'll be much much much much much much much pickier. If it's not Scottish and crap, I'm getting the DVDs of previous seasons. (If I don't have then already.)
There should be a"do over" episode. This was the W..E..E..
Did you watch SP? Aaman? Am I being a bit tetchy.
Did I mention the episode sucked and blowed? (You can use that line in your next book SP :-)
5 - swingingpuss
Temple, both Aaman and I watched 24 and found it ludicrous, Wondered why the chinese didn't demand lucrative trade agreements or the de-recognition of Taiwan instead of a two bit bureaucrat like Jack.
Well, the blowing somehow left us feeling deflated and not in an uplifted way.
6 - Temple Stark
Maybe next time then, eh?
[pretend there's an evil grin "smiley" here].
7 - D.C. Spy
Are you kidding me with these negative comments...this episode was an incredible roller coaster.
Completely exhausting.
Great, great show...and the end was totally believable. You can see someone like Jack having to be sacrificed to cover up gov't secrets. Hey, they government lies all the time...covers up...if you don't believe me, look at how they covered up the death of Pat Tillman.
Jack is a great semi-tragic, heroic figure. And more real than we would like to admit.
8 - Temple Stark
Yeah, that's the ticket .. just kidding here folks.
NO!!.
(At the risk of derailing the thread here - I agree with you about Pat Tillman. A rare example of a shameful propoganda cover-up of a very brave man. And despite what that ad up there says Tillman WAS an athiest)
See Arizona Central article "Tillmans family rips account by Army"
9 - Thomas Veil
I thought the eposide rocked and was very worthy of a season-ender. It was everything it ever promised to be for anyone who has watched every season: schmaltzy, over-the-top, American drama-adventure. If you were expecting Macbeth, you'd be disappointed.
That notwithstanding, kudos to the closing scene. I was hoping for a very "Nowhere Man" moment, with Jack walking knapsack on back down a desolate country road and the payoff was close enough to satisfy me. Thanks Joel Surnow! (wink)
10 - Temple Stark
You know what I forgot to mention in my post.
The episode would have been redeemed slightly if it had ended with Jack lying there .... dead? After all That 70s show is going to return without it' central and best characters.
Second: if President Palmer would have punched "President" "I take all the credit because boy I'm a card Logan hard, right in the face.
Palmer is going to feature big again in Day 5.
Tommy - as stated I've been watching the entire show from Day 1 (well, actually I missed the first couple of episodes now that I think about it, again) - no, I didn't expect Macbeth. Please.
11 - Paul Roy
I can picture the first episode of day 5 now....Jack will be on a deserted beach somewhere in Mexico, with long scruffy hair, a beard down to is knees, and a huge chip on his shoulder. As he is finishing off the last swig of a bottle of Jack Daniels a Blackhawk Helicopter lands on the beach and agents sent by President Palmer approach him with orders to report for duty. There is another crisis that only Jack can tackle. A few scenes later, Jack is cleanely shaven and we are off to the races.
12 - rohin
totally on board with you, temple. HORRIBLE.FINALE. considering how amazing the show was at its start this season, that makes me sad. and also, what happened to behrooz? and am i really supposed to believe that dina was killed off just like that? do the writers of the show really hold the viewers' intelligence in any kind of high regard?
i wonder what would've happened had 24 been a show on hbo and not fox...
13 - SFC SKI
Maybe it was a good way to leave room for another season without demanding one, or allowing Bauer to retire and let someone else take over.
14 - mike hollihan
I enjoyed the finale quite a bit. Not perfect, but it's episodic television, so I don't expect highly.
I wondered going in how they were going to handle all the balls they had in the air, all the loose threads still hanging. (President Keeler anyone?) My prediction was that they'd give us enough of a wrapup to be worthwhile, then punt to next season and pick up with the day after this season's today.
So, the end we got was a pleasant surprise.
Yeah, if you sit down and think too much, it starts to fall apart fast. So what? It's the modern day equivalent of the movie serials of the Forties. Perils of Pauline? Radar Men on the Moon? Batman? Bat Masterson?
Solution? Don't think too much! Enjoy.
Next season starts like Paul suggests: long-haired drunken bum Jack on the Mexican beach. Something crosses his path and he resists getting involved. But his Spider-sense tingles and he knows it's bad, so he has a dilemma: give up his shitty life and take back the burden of destiny, or grab another bottle. You guess which choice he makes.
All that said, the final minutes of the finale were so perfect it hurt. His best friend dumping him off on the edge of town (the tracks!). The terse, uncomfortable goodbye. Then, the lone man -- the disposable yet indispensible hero -- walks away. Life goes on for everyone else but him.
15 - Eric Olsen
we liked it quite a bit also, especially the first hour with Tony in jeopardy, the fate of the country hanging in the balance, etc etc. I think this was the best season overall, by far. Season 1 had a great first half then fizzled, this one was pretty taut and focused all the way through: nothing is perfect and there are always holes, but I thought it held together quite well and remained compelling
16 - Aaman
I was held tightely to my seat, and this feeling comingled with moments of absolute hilarity, especially the techie moments. Edgar and Cloey should form a stand-up comedy team.
Great show overall, except for the plotholes, which made it seem like it was written on the fly
17 - Eric Olsen
yes Aaman, I should have mentioned the sphincter-clench-factor, which was quite high and cannot be faked. Great call on Chloe and Edgar: socially-challenged, imperfect, hilarious, big hearts
18 - pencopal
The writers wrote a check they couldn't cash. What ever happened to Behrooz?
19 - Eric Olsen
I agree the lad was left in a quite unsatisfying limbo
20 - Temple Stark
>>Besides - acting, modeling, music style - the comparisons are there to be made.
Perfect. Wish I'd thought of that.
Mike H: I've given the same advice - don't think too much, enjoy.
And I have been enjoyinh. But this episode was terrible. Full of cliches which I guess is my biggest complaint and Paul Roy wants to see continue in Series 5. (Sadly I think that's exactly what will happen).
It's just a TV show. Did I mention it stank horribly? Maybe my expectations were too high - and nobody else thought the end of the nuke was a fizzled anti-climax?
21 - Temple Stark
Let's try that again (funny). Phrase I meant to copy:
>>The writers wrote a check they couldn't cash
Perfect, etc etc.
22 - Eric Olsen
yeah, the nuke-nuking was anti-climactic, but it's not about that, it's about the process
23 - Mark Sahm
You know, it seems like a lot of heavily hyped finales have been letting us down lately. Between Sith and 24, I think we've been too empowered in opinion by the grandness of previous editions that for the writers to make these finales even better than what we've already seen is near impossible to do.
I can only hope the finales for Lost and Alias this week fare better. But I'm not going to hold my breath.
24 - Brian
24....incredible, but still a TV show.
-It got annoying when a 1/2 hour was wasted when everyone on the show thought Tony was dead since every semi-intelligent viewer knew that it was the roomates who were posing.
-Won't the chinese gov't ask to see jack's body or some documentation of his death. I dont think they will take the word of the US.
*SIDE NOTE******** Look at President Logan and Bob Novak. Looks like G W Bush and Cheney to me. Cheney and Novak are exactly the same and if you remember when Logan heard that our 'football' was stolen and didnt do anything...reminds me of bush and 9/11. Something to think about...I think its definite.***********
25 - Eric Olsen
when catastrophe is finally averted in 24 it always seems anti-climactic, but in a sense this is more real because in real life it never ends with a huge climax: something always happens next