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By Raoul Mowatt
Special to MSN TV
Soon, Jack Bauer will no longer have to go through the worst days in his life.
"24" is coming to an end at the conclusion of its eighth season, and it's been quite a roller coaster ride as Jack helped save America from nukes, killer viruses, traitors, terrorists and on and on. The show earned its place in pop culture history by featuring the great acting of Kiefer Sutherland, the innovative idea of depicting events happening in real time and frequently splitting the screen into multiple frames to show action going on simultaneously in different locations.
Here's a look at 24 (like we could have chosen any other number?) of the best and the worst aspects of the series across its eight seasons.
Teri Bauer gets killed: Teri was seemingly safe and sound at CTU before Nina killed her. The moment was not only a huge shock, given that TV usually goes for the happy ending, but it also gave the show both fallibility and humanity. With Teri's death, it really made sense that it was the worst day of Jack's life.
CTU's sacrificial lambs help save the day: Jack didn't stop all those terrorist plots by himself, of course. Along the way, a lot of his bosses and co-workers had to take one for the team. And even though they might have been hateful, arrogant jerks before, they died heroically. I'm thinking of George Mason, who flew a plane with a nuke in it to an isolated stretch of desert, and Ryan Chappelle, who allowed Jack to kill him so that terrorists wouldn't release a virus.
Nina is eeeeevil!: The reveal of Nina as a mole was a plot twist that few saw coming. After all, she had been helping Jack out while he was on the run. But she made for quite the delicious villain. And few moments on the show were sweeter than when Jack finally got his revenge for her murdering of Teri.
Recycled dialogue: How many times do we have to hear about someone "running out of time," something being "our only lead," Jack saying, "I give you my word," and so forth? Thankfully, not many more.
The show's politically correct depiction of Muslims and the Middle East:Remember how there was supposedly evidence linking terrorism to three unnamed countries in the Middle East? Or how the makers of "24" inserted a public service announcement about how Muslims were good people? Or the plotline about Muslim gun store owners who helped Jack out? All that was pretty wimpy.
If the show had half the guts its main character did, the writers would have used real-world countries, depicted Muslims more realistically and let the chips fall where they may.
"I'm going to need a hacksaw": One of the best parts of Jack is his no-nonsense badassery, and perhaps that was best on display early in Season 2. Needing to re-establish his cover with some bad guys, Jack shoots a snitch in cold blood and wants to cut him up to prove to the bad guys that he's on their side, at which point he utters the utterly memorable phrase above.
President Logan is a traitor: One of the reliable things about "24" was that Jack generally had an unswerving loyalty to the president and vice versa. It was genius to twist that on its head and make the president, the most powerful man in the world, Jack's enemy. And kudos to Gregory Itzin, whose acting chops really sold the notion of the often-whiny Logan as a Machiavellian schemer.
Jack is a junkie: We were used to Jack being so self-reliant, so in control, so tough, which is why it was so unexpected to discover that Jack let himself get hooked on heroin while undercover. After all he'd been through, it was at least understandable. And Jack's addiction was another element that made Jack more than a cardboard cutout action hero.
Chloe is both awkwardness and awesomeness personified: One of the best supporting characters on the show has been Chloe O'Brian, played by Mary Lynn Rajskub, who's been everything from a boon to Jack to great comic relief for the audience. Who can forget when she mowed down terrorists with a machine gun? Or when she offered Jack a sympathetic ear, and he was like, "Uh, thanks"?
Terrorists take out Palmer and Michelle: Two of the most beloved characters in "24," President David Palmer and Michelle Dessler, chief of staff at CTU, were killed in one fell swoop. And at the time it seemed like we lost Tony Almeida as well.
Jack fails to save President Hassan: We're so used to Jack saving the day that we eventually took it for granted. So when Jack thought he only had minutes to save President Hassan before he was executed live over the Internet, who would have foreseen that the terrorists actually did the smart thing and killed him in advance?
Jack has an emotional breakdown: Real men do cry.
Sherry Palmer rules the world: Behind every great man is a great woman. And Sherry Palmer -- well, great might not be the right adjective to use. Brilliant, amoral and manipulative might fit better. Let us remember: She managed to talk a person to death. Talk. A person. To death.
Terrorists take over the White House: Obviously there has to be some suspension of belief with "24." But that suspension completely broke when the show had maybe a dozen people go through an underground tunnel and take over the White House.
Jack seeks redemption in Africa: After all the rules he has bent and all the losses he's suffered, it made sense that Jack would want to get away from it all and give back. The theme of a person's inability to escape from himself rang really true.
Teri gets amnesia: I kind of wish I could have amnesia to block out this silly plotline.
The million escapes of Marwan: OK, so it wasn't really a million, but it really got to be ridiculous how many times the terrorist Marwan slipped through CTU's fingers. It was like he was the Road Runner and CTU was Wile E. Coyote. Still, you have to give the writers props for Marwan's final escape: purposely dropping to his death with a big ol' smile on his face instead of letting Jack take him into custody.
Kim gets confronted by a cougar: There were many silly things that Kim did throughout the series to make you wonder how she could possibly be related to Jack. But it will forever be mystifying why the writers thought that having her threatened by a cougar (the animal kind, not the older woman kind) was a good idea.
The show's attitude toward sex: It's a little uncomfortable to think about the times on "24" in which women have sex under duress. Like Teri having sex with one of the terrorists that held her and Kim captive so they wouldn't rape Kim. Or Martha Logan having sex with President Logan to distract him, even after she finds out he's a traitor. Or Lisa Miller having sex with Mark Bishop, who is affiliated with terrorists (and with people listening in, no less). One word: Yuck.
The overreliance on and oversimplification of torture: In the beginning of "24," Jack used a bunch of different tools to get information: intimidation, misdirection, persuasion, immunity agreements. But somewhere down the line it became easier for the writers to have torture as Jack's go-to play. Why not, since in the "24" universe pretty much everyone Jack tortured was guilty, and every time he tortured people they pretty much told him what he needed to know within minutes? It became such a frequent information gathering technique on the show that it influenced real-world thinking about torture, and that wasn't cool.
Jack's daddy drama: It had such potential, the conflict between Jack and the rest of his family. We could have learned more about Jack before he joined CTU, about the forces that drive him to be the way he is. But it was probably the worst executed part of the show. The motivation of Jack's dad to ally himself with the Chinese never really made sense. And his obsession with having his grandson come with him to live a new life in China was more than a little creepy.
CTU, the most incompetent organization on the planet: Look, we discovered yet another mole. It must be Tuesday. Hey, we're on the brink of nuclear annihilation, seems like the perfect time to plot some petty career move or to put my personal family drama over the welfare of millions. Jack Bauer, our most experienced and savvy operative has made a suggestion? Let's stand in his way just because we can.
The show violates its premise of events occurring in real time: Attention, show writers: It's hard of course to show everything happening in real time, but when Jack finishes a scene in one place and seconds later is some place completely different, you have no one to blame but yourself.
Loose ends: One of the bad things about "24" is that so many balls are constantly in the air that the writers sometimes just drop them. Like when President Logan was taken off in an ambulance, never to be mentioned again that season whether he lived or died? Or the welfare of Behrooz, the teenage terrorist? Or this whole massive conspiracy that Tony tried to infiltrate? Or the potentially other massive conspiracy that was trying to get America to rush into war with the unnamed countries?
Raoul Mowatt gives you his word he is a freelance writer based in Chicago and is running out of time to find his only lead.
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Source: TV.MSN.COM
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