Category Archives: The Show

Fade To Black. The Finale Reviewed

What made ’24’ great was taking an idea so simple people couldn’t believe it hadn’t been thought of before, and doing it perfectly. The simpler a situation the show was depicting, the better it was, the purer it was.

Day One, A Federal agent is torn between his duty to protect a Senator, and his duty to protect his family. That’s all Day One was. Try as you might you won’t be able to come up with a similar one sentence description for Day Eight. Certainly there are parts which have been just a simple, the most simple an idea was Jack’s fight for justice during the last 7 hours. Which is why these last 7 hours where the best of these last 24. Why certain parts of these last two where so touching, emotional and even moving, whilst others where simply plot.

Everything involving Jack and Chloe was terrific. Logan was mostly the usual delight to watch. The action, as so often in these final episodes was tense and dramatic. Unfortunately however a number of other moments either fell flat or where horribly guilty of missed opportunities.

The show almost tortured those final moments at the UN podium until Taylor pulled out. How much better, more dramatic and hopeful would it have been if Taylor, looking resolved, steely, but oddly calm walked up to the podium after the others had signed and made a speech mirroring her Inauguration speech seen in Redemption, declaring her values of openness, peace and understanding – those which had lead her to seek high office, and whilst the initial work done in forging this peace her guiding principles meant she would unfortunately not be able to sign the treaty.

However in the places that mattered there was very little too complain about. These two hours wrapped up the Day 8 story nicely and neatly. But why then do I still feel a little reserved in my judgement?. Perhaps this is why…

The end of 24 needs to deal with what happens to those who go down that road. Can they turn back? Can there be a happy ending? Or is there simply a dead end?

I wrote that 6 months ago when looking back on 7×24 and looking forward to Series 8. Previously i’d written how 7×24 should be the last we saw of Jack Bauer, (and possibly 24) as it was the most perfect closure and judgement Jack was ever going to receive. The viewer could decide whether Jack died quietly and peacefully with Kim by his side or if simply the Jack Bauer we knew died on that hospital bed and a different man woke. Nothing in the past 24 episodes has fundamentally changed that opinion, most especially because we are no nearer an answer to the key question I pose above.

Perhaps it is an unanswerable question, perhaps that is precisely the point.

Overall a very fine end to the day, if only a satisfactory end to the show as a whole.

Best then perhaps that 8×24 is not “goodbye”, but merely “fair well, for now”.

In the meantime, back to the boxsets it is, and I would like to salute everyone who has contributed to the show these last 9 years.

Thank you very much for so much fine entertainment.

Up The Ladder. Review of Episodes 21 & 22

I’m not sure of how much interest my thoughts on episodes 21 & 22 will be to anyone whose already seen 23 & 24, but we’ll see. I felt compelled to put my reactions down to have a further bench mark to compare against when I finally review the last two. Also since I enjoyed these a lot more than previous episodes.

The last few episodes really hadn’t done much for me, I still wasn’t getting excited, because of all the procedural rubbish that was going on around the edges I was finding it hard to get emotionally invested (or connected). But in 21 and 22, as we see just how far Jack is willing to go, and is going. Suddenly I get it, i’m with it. I’m edging ever so slightly towards the edge of my seat.

It’s all a bit more guilty pleasure than it was back in the good old days of Series One when you gained some satisfaction from deciphering the plot and perhaps guessing a plot twist no one else saw coming, the 2010 breed is a little more “detach the brain and enjoy the ride”, but hey, if the ride is this enjoyable then sure i’ll let a few plot holes (Novacovic gave the order to shoot Renee, not the Russian Pres.) the size of Manhattan flash by me. Same goes for a little repetition (Logan undone by a microphone after a rough and ready encounter with Jack).

Really is worth ignored when where treated to such gloriously scenes as Jacks full on assault whilst masked and in full body armour wielding an AK or something similar. Any encounter between Jack and Logan is worth watching and 22 didn’t disappoint. Truth be told any scene with Logan scheming, and twisting and being so Machiavellian and Nixon-esque is worth watching.

A lot of the problems of previous episodes was still present in these episodes, I just found myself not caring so much.

The show has set itself up for a very promising end, lets see if it delivers….

Wait, you already know if it delivers. Lets see if I think it delivers…. (yeah, thats better.)

More than one 24 movie?

According to tvguide.com, plans exist for Jack Bauer to become the next James Bond or Jason Bourne. While it is well-known across the “24” fan community that Bauer has movie plans, it is still speculated whether his excursion to the big screen will be a one-time thing or a regular occurence.

The article linked to above now cites Howard Gordon stating that Jack might become a regular visitor to the big screen:

“Our idea is to make Jack Bauer someone we can revisit on a regular basis.”

I’ll leave you to judge for yourself whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing. I’m approaching it with mixed feelings. While I will probably miss the show on TV, I’m not sure how a show that fundamentally depended on real-time and a 24-hour time span can even successfully transition into 2 hours of screen time. Sure, we had “Redemption”, but I’m not a big fan of it, either. Redemption worked as a sort of a prequel to the following season, but a movie would be a stand-alone story and a whole different ball game.

The other reservation I have is about trying to raise Bauer to an indestructible status of James Bond, and that’s essentially what would happen if he became a serial movie killer. Is this really necessary? Won’t Jack become just another action  hero? Won’t the essence of “24” get lost in the process? Knowing that Jack will come back for another movie would make any real tension impossible because you’d know he can’t die (once I stopped believing they’d ever kill Jack on screen, that seriously dampened my “thrill” watching the seasons). Kiefer Sutherland has been saying for quite some time that he believed that Jack could go on as a character even if someone else played him. I suppose this might be the beginning idea of that transition. Just like Bond.

Nothing is etched in stone yet, of course, as a “revisit” will likely depend on how well the first movie does. So we’ll see.

In the meantime, let’s try to look forward to the movie and the return of

“…some familiar faces”

in the (first) movie, notably Chloe O’Brian. I’m still hoping for Tony, too.

More details on the film include “cold war themes”, and Jack’s remaining status of a “fugitive from everyone”, at least at the start of the movie. So it’s probably safe to say that Jack still has it in for the Russians. Suwarow is still alive, after all.

Looking Back & Looking Forward

Hi everybody, just a real quick update. I’m so glad to see so many comments on J_A’s Finale Review and so many votes in the “Rate Episodes 23 & 24” poll.

I wanted to let you know that I hadn’t dropped out the picture. I will be posting my thoughts on the final hours of Series Eight just as soon as I’ve seen them, (i’ve got the last four episodes to watch) and while the urge to simply rush through them is very great, knowing that these are the final 4 hours I’m resisting that temptation and will wait to watch them when I can really savour them.

Looking forward, I also wanted to let people know that we’ll continue to cover 24 whatever form it now takes. Hopefully this will be a Movie in the not too distant future, or it may be that the Movie doesn’t happen straight away and we’ll have to amuse ourselves in the meantime with a look back at the show over the years.

The clock never stops.

The Clock Has Stopped. A Finale Review.

I never thought that I would find myself crying once those final seconds of 24 ticked away. And yet, here I am, sitting on my computer chair with my left leg pulled up to my stomach and my right curled under my butt, the show as I’ve known it is over, and tears are rolling down my face…

How did this happen? Wasn’t I one of the advocates of the “It should have ended years ago” and “It’s time to stop the clock”-credos? Didn’t I firmly believe myself past my 24 addiction?

And why exactly am I crying?

There’s no easy answer to that. The simplest and most detached explanation would be “because Howard Gordon wrote a damn good script and the actors did a damn good job of acting it”. But that reply doesn’t tell you why it has made me cry. I can try to dissect things a little. I know that I’m sad over “24” ending, despite everything, because it has been a part of my life and the best thing on TV for the last 9 years. I’m sad because back in 2001, when “24” first happened, I felt like I’d been searching for that very TV show to come along for more than two decades of my life; never before had a TV show so completely and thoroughly consumed me, engaged me, made me wonder, fear, tremble with anticipation and want more like a junkie in desperate need of his next shot. Never before had a show (re-)awakened the writer in me and inspired me to write hundreds of pages of fanfiction, pushed me to create my own storylines, fill in the blanks for existing characters, spin the thread further, create my own world beyond the show. But most of all, it was so bloody entertaining to watch.

Continue reading The Clock Has Stopped. A Finale Review.

Episode 22 – With Bauer or against him?

Wow, this was such a good ep I had to watch it three times in a row. I’m really enjoying the final eps of 24 and I keep wondering how this will really end. Who Jack is going after next is no big secret, and what he’s done so far has been so genuinely Bauer that it made your skin crawl. The interrogation of the Russian sniper was an instant revival of the Ronnie Stark interrogation of Jack in season 2 – you could say Jack has learned from the best. Except he’d taken it up a notch, and eviscerated the guy to dig out a sim card… Dude. If that wasn’t cool.

I feel no sadness about the demise of the sniper dude, but I am finding it increasingly difficult to stay on Bauer’s side and see him as a real good guy. I get the whole, “You killed Renee, so I’m gonna kill you” attitude, but with some of the things he’s done in this ep he crossed the line, and like his pal said, “This path you’re on, there ain’t no coming back from it.”

Of course, Jack wasn’t planning on coming back. He’s a man with a mission, a suicide mission, and wants only revenge. And so it makes you wonder, is Logan’s faithful underling all that wrong when he says the simple truth is that Bauer has lost it? I’m not sure how much I can support his eye-for-an-eye attitude at this point. As entertainment, what he’s doing is fun and finally gets me sort of excited. It’s great to watch. But when you think about it, what he’s doing  – going after Logan while shooting at Secret Service agents (although he “shot to wound”, not to kill) just gives you that bitter taste in your mouth where you ask yourself, where does the good end and the evil begin? And that’s regardless of what kind of a bastard that guy is, and how much he does deserve to die.

But this is just 24 doing what it’s’ been doing when it was at its best: making you think, making you wonder. How far would you be willing to go? How far can or should Bauer go?

If you’ve seen the ep, you’ve probably answered the questions yourself. Are you having trouble supporting Bauer’s doings?

I won’t go into the details of the ep, but there is one really good synopsis & review of it on TheJackSack. It’s a bit longish, but well written, and with a great sarcastic undertone. There’s really not much to add to it. Go and read, and chuckle.

It’s a Wrap: “24” Ends For Good

Not too many hours ago, in Hollywood’s artificial New York, filming of “24” has come to an end. Never again will lights get switched on at the set of “24” – The Series.

Hope remains for those of us who’ll be left wanting MORE, as Howard Gordon hopes we will, as the movie is taking shape. But as far as the Series goes, the clock has tick-tocked for the last time.

Like you might have noticed in some of our previous posts, some of the 24 crew are present on Twitter. On “24”‘s final day, they have shared their thoughts, too. At a guess, the atmosphere on the set must have been quite emotional. Below are some Tweets and two final-day images courtesy of Rodney Charters.

Continue reading It’s a Wrap: “24” Ends For Good