This is the moment where the writers and producers of 24 lost me. Jack is way too smart to believe that his daughter would find the phone number of a phone in this building to call him. If anything, she would have called CTU and then they would have patched her through to his ever-available cell phone. CTU Agent Jack Bauer wouldn’t make that mistake, but maybe Jack the father would. Caught up in the emotion with Audrey and wanting to love and be loved as I mentioned before, Jack might have lost his senses for a moment.
It’s a real stretch though, and when he goes in to pick up the phone he is grabbed by three masked men, one of whom covers his face with a rag no doubt drenched in chloroform.
So after the absolutely worst day in the five days that we have come to know Jack Bauer, he doesn’t get to go home and snuggle with Audrey. Jack Bauer deserves that and so do the fans. This man is ready to break and now he is in a situation where he could be broken. Dragged into the bowls of a ship, Jack is bloody, beaten, and lying on the floor like a piece of garbage. The Chinese diplomat from Season 4 who jousted with Palmer comes into view, and Jack asks for one phone call.
It’s his last chance and Jack knows it. Last year he faked his own death and left Audrey and his daughter in limbo, but now this is even worse. If he can’t let them know what has happened, they will think he has done the same thing again. Thus, Jack loses any possibility of love that he needs and will be a lost soul. When he realizes this Jack asks to be killed, but the Chinese guy tells him he is far too valuable for that. The last thing we see is a boat with Shanghai written on the back heading off into the ocean, and we know Jack is in for one hell of a ride on that slow boat to what would seem to be no return.
Until now, I thought the ending of Season 2 was the most depressing, but now I am overwhelmed by these last moments of Season 5. I know some people will love this turn of events, thinking that it will change the dynamics in Season 6 and bring Jack into a whole new level of the heroic. But I see it differently for Jack will become a prisoner with little or no hope for the love he craves or the ability to do the job he lives to do.
Article comments
1 - Michael J. West
You were talking about "24" as Shakespearean tragedy, which is only magnified with Jack & Audrey. Talk about star-crossed lovers!
I wasn't nearly as disappointed as you were. I knew the Chinese connection was going to come back to haunt Jack, so I frankly wasn't overly surprised (though at first I thought it was Rocket Romano and his cohorts that had kidnapped Jack). But I must say, I can't wait to see how he gets outta this one.
2 - Victor Lana
Michael,
It's obvious (and I think it will be made clear in Season 6) that Logan did this. He kept promising Graham that Jack would be taken care of. I'm sure he struck a deal with the Chinese and it will come out as he tries to snivel his way out of prison.
3 - Jeff
Great as always, Victor. Excellent take that Chloe and Edgar were like the gravediggers, the comic relief (and any number of other Shakespeare characters.) And, Morris and Chloe weren't quite the same.
And great point about Logan realizing he wouldn't get a 21 gun salute.
I'm probably more like Michael. I liked the ending. (Aside from the question of how the Chinese got to him so quickly. Nobody knew where Jack was going with Logan.) It ties up a loose end that's been hanging there all season. And, sets the stage for a very different next season. What will 24 be like if Jack isn't in LA? How will he get out of this?
4 - Eric
I'm a long time fan and I wasn't disappointed with the "Chinese" ending. I was actually expecting it. I even predicted that the season would end with the Chinese taking custody(meaning he'll be in China) of Jack Bauer 14 episodes in. It was expected since interviews with the executive producers even prior to the season starting have said "who said they[chinese] were out of the picture?"
My speculation with Season 6 is that Bauer is trying to escape China with some help from US or maybe independent agents. Back in the US, CTU or Homeland Security would still be functioning with new Characters and new terrorism plot.
Anyhoo... Season 5 was great and the ending was very good.
5 - Chris
DEUX EX MACHINA! i.e. Chloe's husband--who just happened to show up as fast as he did to resolve 24's mangled plot. The writers need to get their act together for next season (Hopefully set in a different city--DC or NY maybe). PS - This is just a minor detail but what's up with the vehicles? Did they cut the budget or something? First of all that Navy chopper looked nothing like Marine-one and I've never heard of the POTUS riding in a Lincoln Towncar.
6 - Mary K. Williams
Vic,
finally get to comment on yours. I actually broke my no-reading-of-any-other-24-posts-before-I-finish-my-own rule.
Yup, I read yours first thing. Great insights. Last night's ending didn't really get to me one way or the other. Of course I didn't want Jack to get taken away, but I was just going with the flow.
7 - Dave
"Marine One" is not a specific helicopter. It's the designation for whatever Marine helicopter might be carrying the President. You don't think he'd be flying all the way to the west coast from D.C. and back in a helicopter, do you?
8 - Astrid
I couldn't see the season and its finale, writing from europe (not the UK, where it is also on TV already). But being such a huge fan I read along the season with you although it is full of spoilers for me. I like your article (especially the Shakespearean analogy, and indeed Jacks character has always been a tragic one, just think of the necessity to indirectly kill Audreys husband Paul in season four although this made Jack lose Audrey and the new friend he had only just found before, Paul).
I know what you mean with your critique , because these questions have been hanging in the air in the earlier seasons as well.
On one side your article reads like a fans disappointment about the unhappy ending for the fictional hero he loves. I can very much understand this and would feel the same. But not having seen the finale, I am not as close as the American audience and realise that it need not be a mistake by the writers not to provide the happy ending everybody is waiting for.
But: I have observed before that it's a thin line the writers and Jack are walking on, a thin line between us still buying his being good, his love and sensitivity, and not buying it anymore because he just has to bear too much to make it still believable to remain exactly the character we love.
And also: to me, what you write about the finale reads like the writers have been praised so much especially with all the twists and turns and all the wit and skill they put into (not only) fifth seasons story line that maybe they thought a simple happy ending is not a worthy finish. but a new radical turn in the last 15 minutes might not be a good solution either. People expect it to be concluding with respect to what happened before, you don't need a twist just for its own sake. It has already been challenging enough to deal with the deaths of every friend (except Chloe) Jack had (isn't it funny me writing that noteven having seen it?).
The good thing about it is: now the writers will have time to think about a way out of this mess and to graciously reintroduce Jack in season six. I don't know how but I sure hope they will figure it out. And, please, writers, leave Cloe, Audrey and his daughter alone.
9 - Victor Lana
Thanks to all for the comments, especially Astrid for an odd reflection (considering you didn't actually see the shows). Every show has a fan base and then there is 24, which I think took on an added importance because it began in September 2001 right after 9/11. This heightened its meaning to many people, including me.
Jack is the whole show in my estimation. I've heard talk about Jack dying since Season 1, but he is the center. 24 without Jack is like Hamlet without Hamlet; you might as well have another show.
I've been thinking about that ship and thinking about Dracula and making a comparison to the Demeter, the ship of death that brought Drac to London. In some ways Jack asking to die is rhetorical because in his conditon he has a living death (like Drac).
Wouldn't it be amusing if that ship reached Shanghai and the whole crew was dead, just like when the Demeter reaches London. Somehow Jack gets off in between and makes his way back home.
Hey, don't laugh. You know Bauer Power can swim like a fish.
10 - The Stevo in H-Town
Look ferrin' addition of an eye-patch...(see "thejammy.blogspot.com"