Goodbye Jack Bauer, A Nation Turns Its Back on You

Back during Season 1 of 24, each episode would start with a voiceover by Jack in which he declared the events of that day to be the longest day of his life.

Nine years (our time, not his) and eight seasons of 24 later, Jack might dispute that assertion (or at least say he had eight really long, bad days).  Despite the changes in presidential administrations, CTU staff and nefarious villains, one constant has remained: Jack Bauer will put himself on the line for what is right.

And here he is today, at the end of his eighth longest (and final) day.  The U.S. government is in turmoil, a foreign government he nearly decapitated will be gunning for him and Jack Bauer is a man without a country.  Hardly the thanks one would get for putting ones life on the line.

But Jack Bauer would have it no other way.

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Jack Bauer Ain’t Got Time To Bleed

At the beginning of tonight’s episode of 24, former President Charles Logan changed his tie.  The he ran into Jack Bauer.  And after that, Charles Logan needed to change his pants.

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Jack Bauer Doesn’t Find Torture Hard To Stomach

Last summer, The Civee and I went rafting.  My phone ended up in the water for just a minute or two, but even that was too much.  I later found out that my phone and SIM card were toast (or soaked, as it were).  Had I seen tonight’s episode of 24 before that fateful rafting trip- I would have known better.  I would have swallowed my SIM card, because at least that would have survived the rafting trip.

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There Is Nothing You Can Do For Jack Bauer. Nothing.

I have a crazy thought about these last few hours of 24- not just the day, but the series as a whole.

Because we are nearing the end of 24 (save for some possible feature films sometime in the future), we the fans (at least those who would rather Google “Jack Bauer kills a guy with a screwdriver” than “President Wayne Palmer”) are getting what we want.  At this point, the show is light on boring political scenes, idiot family members and an unnecessary focus on incompetent bureaucrats.  Rather, we’re getting a lot of Jack going rogue, uncovering government conspiracies and killing bad guys.

This show can’t go out on a better note.

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Springing a Jack Trap

Tonight’s episode of 24 was a study in the paths its main characters have taken.  For one, Jack Bauer continued doing what he’s done at least once a season since the show started: going rogue.  Not just operating outside the authority of the U.S. government, but taking action against it.

On the other hand, you have President Allison Taylor, who we learned last season was a person of such character that she’d sacrifice her family to do the right thing for her country.  But things have changed this season: she’s travelling down the path of corruption, escorted by former President Charles Logan, the poster boy for presidential corruption.

So Jack is doing what he’s done many times before to varying degrees of success.  And the President is uneasily participating in a cover-up to secure a peace deal.  It will be interesting to see how Jack and the President converge and if both, one or neither will get what they want.

Also tonight, we met two new characters.  Michael Madsen is playing the part of Gene Hackman in Enemy of the State. And one of the new American villains, a private security contractor, is played by D.B. Sweeney, who hasn’t been seen since (one of The Civee’s favorite movies) The Cutting Edge.

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Charles [Logan] In Charge

Last week, I was unable to write the weekly 24 recap and after finally getting caught up, I can say that I missed a lot.

Now that President Hassan is dead, the focus of the season seems to be bringing the Russians and the IRKians together to complete the peace treaty.  The Russians clearly don’t want to sign on, so they’re playing tough to get.  To get the Russians on board, President Taylor has enlisted the help of one of the series’ best villains, former President Charles Logan, last seen stabbed through the neck by his crazy ex-wife.

Meanwhile, Agent Renee may have spotted a Russian mobster as part of a paramedic team, but Jack told her to forget it.  They went back to Jack’s place for a romantic interlude where, after the aforementioned interlude, the previously mentioned mobster picked Renee off from across the street.

And at the beginning of this week’s episode, Jack is pissed.

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Putting Jack Bauer On Hold

Because The Civee is going to give birth tonight (or early tomorrow morning), there won’t be a timely 24 recap this week.

Also, I’ve been unable to convince The Civee to name our daughter Chlöe.  You win some and you lose some.  I hope everyone out there has a good night and enjoys the episode.

Jack Bauer Vs. New York Traffic

Well that was surprising.

First off, I didn’t realize until late this afternoon that tonight’s episode of 24 was to be two hours.  But the clock is winding down, and with May a handful of weeks away, I guess FOX decided to speed up the final hours of the last longest day of Jack Bauer’s life.

As for surprising, well, (and this is something we’ve seen on 24 before), sometimes you (and in this case, Jack, President Taylor and the rest of CTU) have one of those days where you do everything right, hit all your marks, but everything goes wrong.  Well for Jack, it went very wrong…

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Treason’s in Season Again on 24

Over the weekend, the FOX network announced this would be the last season of 24 on television.  I have to be honest- while I’m a huge fan of Jack Bauer and his continuing struggle against terrorists, evildoers and ne’er-do-wells, I’m relieved that the show’s end is in sight.

In it’s early seasons, 24 was a revolutionary show.  Everything came together in the show’s fifth season, which represented the peak of the story of Jack Bauer.  But after that, the show suffered a sharp decline.  Season Six was easily the show’s worst.  But in the past two seasons, the show has rebounded somewhat, becoming interesting (although no longer groundbreaking) once again.

I’m looking forward to the end of the series because Jack Bauer the character will (hopefully) get closure and peace.  I also think that ending the series will be a good thing because while the stories of Days Seven and Eight have been entertaining (or at least better than Day Six), many of the story devices seem (to a long time fan with a good memory) like we’ve seen them before.  Two weeks ago, I bemoaned the terrorist’s use of a tunnel to hide a getaway and an EMP device.  Well, story elements once again seem familiar as Jack has to put up with members of the president’s cabinet working against her and a (quasi) major character suffering a heart attack.

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The Hour of Chloe

Besides Jack, Chloe is the one constant in 24.  Since Day 3, her character has always been loyal (to Jack, at least), competent and involved in the action with very little personal drama or wasted subplots getting in the way.

However, during the last two days, Chloe was always treated as a sideshow- forced to withstand the mendacity of the intellectually challenged Agents Janis, Arlo and Dana.  But tonight, that all changed.  24 may be the story of the longest days in Jack Bauer’s life, but tonight’s episode was all Chloe.

It would be an understatement to say that Chloe has been underused this season.  Just like last season, Chloe has played the part of a fish out of water in the new CTU (although last year, it was the FBI). But in her actions tonight to get CTU back up and running after an EMP attack, Chloe’s story brought me back to simpler times when she stopped a terrorist’s runaway car with an automatic weapon.  Or that time she put down a lecherous barfly with a taser.

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