Following years of more or less steady decline in the quality of the series, 24 is finally calling it quits after the current season 8, or as it is called, "Day 8". Fox Network has declined to renew the program, which NBC also declined to pick up. That is probably a good thing. To those of you who think 24 has veered too greatly into the arena of political correctness over the course of the last three years or so, can you imagine what a shadow of its former self it would become as an NBC program? The only worse fate would be were it to be picked up by CBS. As it stands now, perhaps it is best that it is ending its television run, after which it is slated to be made into a full length feature film.
As far as the political correctness goes, I can see where that might have something to do with the declining quality of the program, but I think its a minor factor in comparison to the fact that the show is just getting old and, even worse, predictable.
24 made its mark as one of those kinds of action suspense series where you never knew nor suspected what was going to happen next. It was a wild ride, an adrenaline rush which could easily take your breath away and keep you lighting up one cigarette after another with your eyes and attention breathlessly glued to the screen.
Naturally, it would be next to impossible to keep up that level of suspense year after year, especially when the show followed more or less the same formula, repeatedly. A terrorist threat, be it a nuclear or dirty bomb, or a chemical weapon attack, or biological weapon, threatened a major American city. Jack Bauer to the rescue. Jack learns there is a mole, at CTU, or close to the President, working with the villains. Jack engages in questionable tactics, usually some degree of torture, in order to extract the necessary information to save tens of thousands, potentially millions of lives. Some key character or characters eventually dies unexpectedly.
On to the next day, the next year, and the same formula. Naturally, as I said, it got predictable, and when Season 7 saw the inclusion of liberal comedienne activist Jeannine Garafolo in the role of an FBI analyst, it was taken by many as a sign of impending doom. Sure enough, Jack began to question his own methods. He felt guilty about many of his past actions. At the end of the show, when it looked as though he might be nearing the end of his life, he turned to an Islamic imam for spiritual guidance.
All of that most of us could have lived with and even accepted as an aspect of character growth and development, even if we didn't appreciate the apparent behind the scenes reasons. But the fact remains, after so long, you can only jump out at someone from around the same corner at the same time and scream "Booyah" so many times before such an exercise loses the element of surprise.
Like I said, there was a progressive decline over the years, speaking in a general sense, although Season 5 did seem to reverse the trend, and came close to matching the original adrenaline rush that was the premiere season. But as though to balance out this anomaly, Season 6 was to all intents and purposes execrable, generally agreed by most to be the series worst year. Season 7 was better, but still not quite up to the par of the old magic of the earlier seasons.
Ironically, this season has in my opinion been the best since 5, and by the time it is over with may well surpass that mark. Jack's lover Renee' Walker was killed in last nights episode, which most people might have saw coming, but at least in my own case only in the last couple of minutes before it actually happened.
The Prime Minister of the IRK, who has been trying to forge a peace deal with President Allison Taylor, was brutally murdered in the last episode after turning himself over to IRK terrorists in order to save tens of thousands of New York City lives from the explosion of a dirty bomb. This development took me totally by surprise.
A lot of people were surprised by the reveal of Jenny Scott as the CTU mole, but only because they spent so much time complaining about what seemed to be her useless subplot, the seemingly good-hearted beleaguered former criminal trying to turn her life around while being blackmailed by her redneck former boyfriend who was threatening to reveal the truth about her past. I was not surprised. In fact I figured that one out early on. It made no sense that someone with that background could hide her past and get a job that entails such sensitive responsibilities of national security as a CTU systems analyst involves.
Now, former President Logan is back, seemingly as villainous as ever. Where is all this leading to? With the death of Renee Walker, Jack has lost all hope for a happy ending to this series, though at least he still has his daughter and grandchild. Will he find at least some degree of peace and happiness through them? Will he acquire the justice and vengeance his heart has to crave? Will he make a conversion to Islam?
And, what of Tony Almeida? Will he get in on the action and get revenge on Logan for his involvement in the death of his wife and unborn son?
Will Chloe remain as CTU boss?
This season, incidentally, might well go down as the most cerebral one of the entire series, though not lacking in action and suspense.
Unfortunately, the formula for the series seems to have devolved into a presumed need for a high body count. Unfortunately, that only matters when you care about the bodies being counted. The vast majority of them are merely nameless, almost faceless figures-a handful of terrorists here, two or three members of this or that criminal crew there, a handful of cops, CTU or FBI agents, etc., and before you know it, you get numb to the carnage which seems to amount to nothing more than violence for the sake of the body count. Plot and character development all too often took a back seat for far too long.
But it was a hell of a ride while it lasted, and to be fair, even the disappointing Season 6 was better than most of the shit that is perpetrated on the American television viewing public.
At any rate, it was nice knowing you, Jack Bauer. See you at the movies.
