24 Season Six - The Finale
Two hours last night, with one amazing set piece. This time, Jack Bauer is in over his head on a suicide mission. Yeah, the lower TV budget made for some barely passable special effects, but I loved every minute of it.
And I loved the last scene, too, even though it’s obvious Jack isn’t going to do what the director wants you to think he’s thinking about. Watching Jack’s mind work from the time he entered the scene until the time he left and the show faded to black was great. Yeah, even Emmy nom-worthy. (Still, THE SHIELD’s entire cast deserves it more.)
I didn’t start watching the show until 11:00 last night and planned on watching the first half at night and the second in the morning. But I couldn’t turn the show off at the end of the first hour. It was building up too well.
Spoilers after the break:
So you have twenty minutes to get to an oil platform six miles offshore, save one person, and get away before two fighter jets blow it to smithereens. What do you do? Rope in a friend, steal a helicopter, and get the job done with a couple of automatic guns. Gotta love Jack Bauer.
The only loose end they didn’t tie up — The Chinese dude had the chip on him. The vice president told the Russian president that the chip was destroyed, but it wasn’t. What’s going to happen to that chip?
And the appearance of Milo’s brother was, uhm, awkward. I guess he was just there to let Nadia know that his brother genuinely liked her, but his quick disappearance raised my mole suspicions. I’ve been watching this show too long, haven’t I?
And poor poor Jack. Those last ten minutes were either (a) painful melodrama or (b) gripping character-based heartache. I went with the latter, but I understand if you went with the former.
Chloe is pregnant. Part of me wanted to groan at whipping out TV Drama Cliche #2. (#1 is the wedding.) But given how different the show will be next season, that might just be a nice ending for her. At least we don’t have to worry about it being Jack’s baby or anything. heh
I’m also happy that everybody got a happy ending, more or less. I thought Bill Buchanan was toast when they went out to the oil rig, but he survived to live happily ever after with Karen Hayes at their Vermont estate.
I never mentioned last week’s brilliant slide-and-shoot from Jack, did I? It was all very Hong Kong cinema of him, I thought.
So what did you think of the show last night? This season?
May 22nd, 2007 at 2:48 pm
Ugh, I am glad this “day” is finally over. I thought the finale was very bloated, especially the first hour. Fairly predictable, too — especially the Chloe pregnancy. Does anyone even care??? Sorry if I’m being too negative, but it just pains me to see how far one of my favorite shows has fallen.
May 22nd, 2007 at 2:52 pm
Aug — If I am not mistaken, Chang gave the component to Phillip Bauer and said that there was a locator attached to the small boat and that the submarine would rendezvous with them there. Chang then said he was going to take care of the helicopter.
I am pretty sure then that we were assume that the component was destroyed with Phillip Bauer when the missiles hit.
I am pretty sure that is what happened but I have been known to be wrong before.
May 22nd, 2007 at 2:58 pm
I was just chiming in to say what Rick said, Chang handed the chip off the Philip so he could escape to the sub with it.
I don’t know how Jack or anyone else knew that…
May 22nd, 2007 at 3:04 pm
Oh…and I kept waiting for the revelation that Jack’s nephew was really his son…but it never came.
May 22nd, 2007 at 4:11 pm
I’m glad this season was over. I hope they really do revamp the show and remove a lot of the stupid stuff from this season. I could have done without Audrey completely this season. And the White House scenes made for some boring TV.
Plus, how many different sub-plots did we have? Oh, yeah, and also let’s forget that a friggin’ NUCLEAR BOMB went off earlier in the day! Let’s just strain the already thin thread of credibility past the breaking point by not touching on that once Audrey gets in the picture.
And while I know it was supposed to be character-building for Jack, the final 20 minutes or so of the episode were laughable.
I am surprised that Bill survived, but I’m glad. But you know he’s not looking for a quiet retirement.
And yes, I’m in agreement that Chang gave the chip back to Jack’s dad in another of a series of WTH moments from this season. Seriously, Chang, why give away the VERY THING THAT YOU WANTED? Phillip Bauer’s no longer needed. Shoot him, leave the kid, get out of there. No, instead he gives it away in more evidence of sloppy writing.
I’ll be back for Day 7, but I really hope it’s better than 6. Yeah, Day 5 strained credibility, but not like this. At least Day 5 had President Logan, which brings up yet another plot point they didn’t resolve, as well as the fate of Wayne Palmer.
Augie, do us all a favor — watch HEROES S1 when it comes out on DVD, get hooked on it , then watch S2 as it unfolds and TiVo 24 next January.
May 22nd, 2007 at 5:47 pm
I agree with Phil that this season was weaker that usual, probably the weakest 24 season yet. There were some good moments, the beginning I thought was pretty good and the Fayed showdown being some. But the characters were just not that interesting. Every scene with Milo and Nadia or Chloe and Morris were painful to watch. Also Chloe was not the same character we have come to know and love from past seasons. She was way too bland this season and making her have a baby was a stupid twist. I was hoping she was a secret terrorist. That would be a good twist. The only character I really want to stay, other than jack, is bill bucanannon, other than that I hope they remove some of the characters that aren’t interesting and bring in some better ones or bring in characters we know and love, like Chase. And yes the whole thing with Audrey is getting very stale. I don’t know how but I really hope the writers rally to come up with a better season 7. However I still would never ever watch anything instead of 24.
May 23rd, 2007 at 6:42 am
I really enjoyed this season. I do have to say things were a little slower than they have been in past seasons, but still very enjoyable to me. I am one of those sappy people who enjoyed some of the happy (if not a little cliched) endings. 24 is one of my favorite shows which happened to get TiVo’d because of Heroes (My new favorite show!!! Seriously Augie, you REALLY need to check this one out!), but I still found myself doing everything I could to avoid getting the show spoiled. Great ending and I am looking forward to Day 7!
May 23rd, 2007 at 12:18 pm
I’m so sad the show is over, but I enjoyed this season. I thought his nephew would turn out to be his son also. But who knows, they could be saving that plot for next season. Also, I wouldn’t be surprised if Jack’s father turned up again!
My husband likes the show also, but he refuses to watch it until he has purchased previous seasons and can watch from the beginning. I’m glad too because I hated explaining what happened to previous characters and why the president keeps changing! LOL!!
Until January, I will be patiently waiting!
June 2nd, 2007 at 11:10 am
Not that anyone is still likely to be reading this, but I’ll just throw in some of my thoughts.
I thought this season was pretty poor. Outside of a few great episodes like the opening handful, Jack killing Fayed and wher CTU got taken over, the rest were pretty dull.
For me the series seemed to rehash ideas that were done better in previous seasons such as the President trying t be overthrown and storming a foreign embassay. The stuff with Palmer/Daniels/White House was dull and I think we could have done without the appearance of Audrey. The silent clock at the end was a nice touch though.
I predicted the pregnancy so it looks like Chloe will be written out but I loved Buchannan getting to be a bad-ass. But the nephew Josh was too whiny and annoying for my liking and we still don’t know if Charles Logan is dead.
But the worst for me was that Jack was able to do all his activities even though he was just released from being held prisoner and tortured for 20 months. I konw 24 stretches the realms of believeablitity, but this was just too much.
Overall it was a disappointment for me, but I’ll definitely watch the next season to see what happens.