24

[Bryant Burnette 654]

Pretty good episode of 24 tonight. I enjoyed seeing Connor Trineer. I assume he'll only be in this one episode, though, which makes -- after John Billingsley -- two Enterprise actors who have shown up only to be more or less wasted.

[Richard Penna 3,687]

The UK is a week behind, so we just saw

Jack being framed for the senator's murder and killing the guy in that building site

. Got off to a bit of a slow start but got good towards the end. You can't expect 24 hours of constant action, but they have to keep the character moments interesting.

Thankfully, it also had a genuinely surprising moment, with the guy knocking at the door of the senator's house, and the digger/cabin thing was inspired

[Trent B 337]

Pretty good episode of 24 tonight. I enjoyed seeing Connor Trineer. I assume he'll only be in this one episode, though, which makes -- after John Billingsley -- two Enterprise actors who have shown up only to be more or less wasted.

I was surprised to see Connor on the show but it was a cool cameo he did.

I agree last night's episode was pretty good. Man the President's daughter is such a little snake, I hope she gets what's coming to her eventually. I hope karma comes back and bites her in the ass and hard.

Oh the gal who plays the President's daughter also played Heather Lisinski on Jericho. She's definitely a good actress.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

does 24 still follow the plan that each episode is one hour of a day? Does anyone poop or sleep on the show?

[Wojo 2,453]

Yes, Joey, that is the plan. Nobody sleeps because the "season" begins at the logical beginning of a day, in the wee hours like 4 or 5 AM when many people are up and about. It wouldn't make sense for anybody to sleep because if there is a major catastrophe on-hand, nobody would get any sleep for at least 24 hours until the crisis is resolved.

As for potty breaks, well, the camera doesn't stay on Jack Bauer for 24 hours. It cuts to other people, his friends, the villains, and the show's real time format even takes into account the commercials: you see the clock punch out and punch back in again a few minutes later. We have to assume that Jack takes his bathroom break sometime during that time slot.

Nobody eats or drinks either.

This past Monday's episode was really a nail biter. The suspenseful conclusion could have happened a number of ways, and the way it turned out surprised me. Did anybody else pick up on the President's daughter's suggestion of Chief of Staff? Rick Berman. That's hilarious.

ok, spoiler time.

I am surprised that she didn't get what's coming to her, because the guy at the news station was working on the 11:00 news report to break all the recent bad stuff that was happening, and the episode is already up to midnight. Why didn't the President turn on the news and see that everything they thought was true last hour was being reported as fact, pointing to her daughter as the mole? WHY?!?

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

Yes, Joey, that is the plan. Nobody sleeps because the "season" begins at the logical beginning of a day, in the wee hours like 4 or 5 AM when many people are up and about.

Actually, no season to date has started at 4 or 5 a.m.

Season 1: Midnight - midnight PST

Season 2: 8:00 a.m. - 8:00 a.m. PST

Season 3: 1.00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. PST

Season 4: 7:00 a.m. - 7:00 a.m. PST

Season 5: 7:00 a.m. - 7:00 a.m. PST

Season 6: 6:00 a.m. - 6:00 a.m. PST

Redemption: 3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Sangala time (presumably GMT)

Season 7: 8:00 a.m. - 8:00 a.m. EST

[Wojo 2,453]

You missed the point entirely with your technicality. The "Day" begins when our main characters are already up and about.

[Trent B 337]

Also there's been many times where it's shown the characters drinking something, eating or just got done going to the bathroom.

[Wojo 2,453]

My bad. But they never made a big deal about it.

Previously on 24........

KA-PLOOSH!!!!!!!!

--Bill!

-Yes Jack?

--Put Tony on the line.

-He's busy. Can Chloe help you?

--Not really, Bill. I need Tony.

---Ok Jack, it's Tony. Where are you?

--I'm still in CTU. Near the lobby.

---Jack, you were supposed to be en route to the drop zone five minutes ago?! Where have you been?

--Um...

---Jack, dammit, what's your situation?

--I had Mexican last night, and the men's room is out of TP. I'm pinned down and I need assistance!

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

You missed the point entirely with your technicality. The "Day" begins when our main characters are already up and about.

I know. I just enjoy arguing over semantics.

My bad. But they never made a big deal about it.

Previously on 24........

KA-PLUSH!!!!!!!!

--Bill!

-Yes Jack?

--Put Tony on the line.

-He's busy. Can Chloe help you?

--Not really, Bill. I need Tony.

---Ok Jack, it's Tony. Where are you?

--I'm still in CTU. Near the lobby.

---Jack, you were supposed to be en route to the drop zone five minutes ago?! Where have you been?

--Um...

---Jack, dammit, what's your situation?

--I had Mexican last night, and the men's room is out of TP. I'm pinned down and I need assistance!

Or:

Previously on 24........

KA-PLUSH!!!!!!!!

--Bill!

-Yes Jack?

--Put Tony on the line.

-He's busy. Can Chloe help you?

--Not really, Bill. I need Tony.

-I told you, he can't be reached. Remember the Mexican last night? He had some heated up leftovers for lunch...

-- Dammit!

[Wojo 2,453]

Yea, that would do it, too. Back in high school, Mexican for dinner today means you miss the school bus tomorrow.

[Wojo 2,453]

It's interesting to think of Jonas Hodges (Jon Voight's character) as an evil parallel of Jack Bauer who has gone too far and thus over the edge.

[Datameister 2,042]

Mmm. WAY over the edge, if last night's episode is any indication.

[Wojo 2,453]

Of course. It's not like Jack Bauer's had 30 years to recruit his own private army and stockpile WMD's.

[Wojo 2,453]

Woo-hoo!!!!!

Kim Bauer makes her long awaited return to 24!!!

[Trent B 337]

Well I never really saw that one coming from Tony. I wonder if he's working as a double agent thing still undercover. Still can't get over the fact that he

killed Larry Moss

.

[Datameister 2,042]

Wow. I, um...did not see that coming. And frankly, it makes no sense to me. Why didn't he just conveniently not manage to blow the fuel tanks before? In fact, why has he been helping with any of this? He could have vanished so easily. Why'd he even tip off Jack about the Starkwood threat in the first place? I really, really hope the creators of the show have a pretty amazing explanation for all this...and they should, since they actually got to work out the whole season's plot in advance, for once.

And for the record, I am NOT happy that Larry Moss is dead. (Although there wasn't a silent clock...and considering who "killed" him, we all know what that means... )

[Wojo 2,453]

I'm not picking apart your post, I'm just providing conversation six hours postdate.

Wow. I, um...did not see that coming.

I wanted to throw the remote through my $700 TV.

And frankly, it makes no sense to me. Why didn't he just conveniently not manage to blow the fuel tanks before? In fact, why has he been helping with any of this? He could have vanished so easily. Why'd he even tip off Jack about the Starkwood threat in the first place? I really, really hope the creators of the show have a pretty amazing explanation for all this...and they should, since they actually got to work out the whole season's plot in advance, for once.

Yes and no. Now that I think about it, once Jack killed General Juma, he thought the whole thing was over. Wasn't it Tony who tipped Jack off that something else was going on, that there was a bigger threat? Because Tony said he had another lead to follow up on, that he had good intel?

It's possible that Tony knew all along that Starkwood had the bioagent, or at least, something special that he wanted. Stealing that canister (can't assume it's the "last") gives Tony the upper hand when dealing with the feds. Blowing up Starkwood destroys all other bioagent, which castrates Starkwood as a third faction, preventing them from retaliating against innocent targets. Tony's no dummy. He doesn't want to see unnecessary collateral damage. He has not forgiven the government conspiracy for killing Michelle, and has played Jack and the rest for fools all "day" long, quite beautifully.

And for the record, I am NOT happy that Larry Moss is dead. (Although there wasn't a silent clock...and considering who "killed" him, we all know what that means... )

I'm not happy about it either, I liked Larry, and this has pushed Tony past the point of no return regarding how Jack will treat him when they cross paths again. Maybe this opens up the opportunity for Renee and Jack to get close. I don't think the silent clock was used frequently enough to mean that no silent clock means anything special.

I think Larry's really dead because they showed his face for the preview for next week's show, and he's got a lot of blood on it and just stares forward blankly. Unless he's just got a lot of brain damage, I figure he's dead, or Tony would have just knocked him out on the shoulder the way CTU does (unless you can only do that in an upright position).

[Hunter 0]

One has to wonder if Tony is working for someone... and if so, who?

[Datameister 2,042]

I think he's on his own. He's angry about Michelle, and he wants a way to avoid being captured and tried.

I do wonder where Chloe is in all this. Wikipedia says the actress was having a baby during the shooting of the middle of the season, so I'm hoping she'll be back before too long.

[Wojo 2,453]

Well, last season (or the one before that, it's hard to keep track anymore), Jack Bauer's evil father and brother were a major part of the conspiracy. Maybe Jack's got an evil uncle now how's the grand master of things happening.

Hodges did suggest a larger coup in the works, so I wonder how much he knows. I wonder if he was aware of Tony, because they would have handled things differently at Starkwood.

[Trent B 337]

Plus Larry wasn't really a major character of the series 24 like Bill was and hence why Bill got the silent clock treatment.

[Datameister 2,042]

Well, he'd only been on the show for most of one season, but during that time, he was far more important than Bill, and he was about as important as Bill used to be. It's just that Bill was on the show for longer. And I did like Bill better - he was one of my favorite characters - but Larry was pretty cool, too. A nice foil to Jack...far from perfect, but there was something likable about him. I'm sad to see him go.

[Trent B 337]

I agree Bill was a better character than Larry but I too liked Larry. He in a way was sort of like Jack, if you pushed his buttons the wrong way he'd go off on you.

[Wycket 36]

Larry was a character that had a lot of potential, in that he followed the rules but was just beginning to understand that he can't follow all the rules to be successful. Hopefully he's not gone, but I'm not hopeful. After losing Bill, I was looking forward to Larry taking over the mantle.

Such a waste.

[Datameister 2,042]

I guess the only "new" characters who are at all likely to return next season would be Renee, the president, and perhaps her husband and/or Chloe 2.0. It'll be interesting to see if they bring back more old characters or if they just keep pushing ahead with more new ones. It'll also be interesting to see if Tony survives...and I'm not so sure he will...

[Wojo 2,453]

We gotta see how Jack's going to survive. He's committed to next season, but if he's spurned Kim for the last time, he needs either stem cells from some long lost family members, or get Jonas Hodges to give him the cure, if it exists.

[Datameister 2,042]

I heard that

Kim will be back for multiple episodes this season - three more, IIRC. This leads me to believe she will indeed donate the stem cells, which is how Jack will survive.

[Richard Penna 3,687]

I'm not reading that spoiler text, but I'll say this: my brother and I will respect the makers so much if they don't try anything clever or funny with this condition and just let Jack die at the end of this season. He's Jack Bauer, but the guy isn't God - he has to die someday, and after 7 seasons of near misses, I think it would be an insult to viewers to casually play the 'we found a last minute cure' card.

We've mostly loved the show up to now (I'm re-watching season 3 at the moment and it's brilliant, and I haven't even got to the virus scenes in LA yet, which range from kick-ass to absolutely heartbreaking) but it's time to bring it to an end.

We're quietly hoping that maybe, just maybe, all the season 8 announcements are a huge charade. But this is TV, and the studio will do anything to milk one last season, so we don't think that's going to happen.

[Wojo 2,453]

[Datameister 2,042]

I will respect the makers so much if they don't try anything clever or funny with this condition and just let Jack die at the end of this season.

Well, in a sense, they already have pulled what would qualify as something "clever or funny" - Kim's stem cell business. Whether or not anything will happen with that remains to be seen, but the door is already open there. IMO, if he lives, the thing you should be criticizing - if anything - has already happened. He's been given a potential way out.

I do get where you're coming from, though.

[Wojo 2,453]

I don't think Kim's stem cells will be necessary after all to bring Jack back. Which is a shame on one hand because she looks as stunning as ever, but on the other hand, I think I can see where this is going.

[Trent B 337]

Man if there was ever a time to hate Tony, it would be now. I hope Jack kills that SOB.

[Wojo 2,453]

Yea, but his girlfriend is hot as hell.

[Wojo 2,453]

That was a nice finale. I missed the first half-hour of the two-hour finale, which I will probably watch today sometime online, but I got the gist of what happened.

I was absolutely cheering when President Taylor did what she did, and decided to hang Olivia out to dry. I never liked that girl to begin with.

I kinda thought all along that if Hodges couldn't give Jack an antidote to the toxin, that Kim would come through and get the stem cell treatment anyways. So I didn't feel any tension or stress that he would die during his final minutes with the imam. That and the fact they've been quite public about Jack coming back for the next season, and how much time elapses between this "day" and the next, which gives him probably enough time to recoup and return.

Deep down, Tony was ultimately doing his actions for a right reason, to catch the terrorist mastermind. But along the way, he fell to the dark side by surrendering to the avenging of his dead wife and unborn heir by performing terrible atrocities. Hmm. Sounds familiar. Good thing he's finally caught, I was getting tired of the Good Tony / Bad Tony / Good Tony / Bad Tony show.

But I am concerned about Renee and what choices she'll make in the room with Wilson. She's becoming Bauer's protoge'. Yay!

[Datameister 2,042]

Good finale, for sure. Things came together nicely.

[scissorhands 16]

I loved the ending, much better than I expected.

but Tony overreacted in the end. He had no right to yell at Jack, especially after having threatened Kim's life.

The climax of the season was, for me, the decision of President Taylor and the face of Olivia afterwards

Renée becoming a 2nd Jack is a great idea too. I think that with the info she's got after the torture, she'll be fighting against the criminals, but operating outside the law, until she needs Bauer's help, who now has a normal life with his family (Kim and his grandson). That's my guess for the beginning of Day 8.

[Wojo 2,453]

Tony snapped. He had spent years planning for this moment, to shoot the terrorist mastermind, and his opportunity was taken away in a heartbeat. He had no right to do a lot of things, but that kind of anguish, and two shells in his arm, made him snap.

The reveal of Olivia's voice on the tape harkened back to when Mrs. Logan recorded Charles' voice with the pen recorder. Both great, great moments.

[Trent B 337]

Well I finally watched the two hour finale today. I wasn't home in time Monday to catch it and I've been busy the rest of the week. Anyways, I agree it was a great ending and I'm glad Olivia got what was coming to her. I loved the actress in Jericho but in 24 she was a total snake. I'm glad her mother did the right thing and said, "You're not getting away with it".

Oh I noticed the guy who played Dr. Beckett from Stargate Atlantis was the doctor at the end who extracted the fluid from Jack's spine.

Either way it will be interesting to see what happens next season.

Ya Tony did the right things for the wrong reasons and I'm glad he was finally caught...wonder if he'll appear in Season 8.

[fommes 153]

I just watched the season finale last night (watching the last eight episodes over two nights), and I must say it was pretty decent. It has indeed several minor plot and story issues, but the best seasons had those as well. Overall Season 7 was pretty consistent again, actually quite exciting, and it got back the original excitement quite often. I also didn't mind the lack of a kick-ass action scene and more drama (besides the annoying president scenes in the finale).

So it's just too bad that they had to screw this up with one and a half large issues:

- Olivia's lousy subplot. Normally the 24 lousy subplots appear in the first third of the season; not so here, so that screwed things up somewhat.

- Tony's change of character. I can believe he wants to take revenge for Michelle, and he's always been a slightly darker version of Jack - and hence my favorite character, but his total neglect of human lives in the last few episodes is just unbelievable. That alone has made me not care for the last quarter of the season - no, let me rephrase - it numbed me for the last episodes. I've never had much trouble with the suspension of disbelief of the larger plot holes and plot developments, but this one was a couple of bridges too far.

(Even more frustrating is how easily they could have avoided this; just let him destroy all the canisters at a certain point and then kidnap Jack - preferably with his approval. In that way they would have been able to work together, he would have gone another step to redeem himself, and he wouldn't have to tie a stupid bomb to Jack. And you could easily write in something in the last episode then where he would knock Jack unconscious, for instance, and then try to kill Wilson after all. In this way they could also have built more on the theme that he saved more lives than Jack, and that he also 'did what it took', only crossing the line further than Jack always does - thus in two ways undermining the standard 24 formula; that Jack's crossing of boundaries should be questioned indeed, and that he is not always right...)

By the way, adding to the praise of the underrated season par excellence: I've always liked Season 3 best of all the seasons!

[Wojo 2,453]

Building on that, it doesn't make any sense at all why Wilson's men would escort Jack out of the warehouse, but not give him a proper frisking to see if maybe he was wearing a wire or carrying a concealed weapon. After all, this is Jack Bauer for crying out loud. His reputation precedes him. While I doubt Wilson would smell a rat in the shape of a bomb strapped to Jack's chest, simply opening the guy's jacket should have been a standard check. It suggests that Wilson assumed Tony would not think twice about undermining Jack's value in carrying the bioagent in his body, which is a glaring weakness in Wilson.

Also, Tony was holding the detonator in the form of a small remote control. The guy frisks him, takes it out, then hands it back to him without so much as a second glance. WTF? Unless it looked like a cell phone, which I doubt, this seemed to me like Wilson had a mole inside his organization to begin with, in the form of the guy who frisks Tony. Also, why frisk Tony at all without frisking Jack, because Tony's not going with Wilson. Jack is, which makes him the perfect place to hide something.

[Trent B 337]

Actually the arming device Tony was carrying was a cell phone. He had programmed it so all he had to do was press a button on it and it would detonate the bomb.

I do agree though that they should have searched Jack but they probably figured with the bioagent kicking Jack's ass and the fact he was hand cuffed they figured he wasn't much of a threat.

[fommes 153]

So, anybody watching 24 this season? I'm at episode 18, one behind. It's been pretty consistent, and occasionally has given me thrills in a very old-school 24 manner.

Even the dumbest subplot ever proved to have at least some sense behind it.

And the last couple of episodes just raised the bar & excitement big time, if you ask me. Hopefully the rest lives up to it, and it doesn't end on a huge anti-climax (characterwise) like the previous season.

[Greg1138 3]

I would say it's certainly better than the last couple of seasons....with those, I've been quite nonchalant about seeing episodes as soon as I can - I just caught up with them when I had time....this time round the excitement is back....the only thing I've noticed is an awful, awful lot of padding in some episodes....but the tense moments - are there are plenty - make up for the lulls...can't honestly say I would have said that for Day 7.

Looking forward to seeing how it all ties together!!

[Wycket 36]

After a return to good 24 last season after the dreadful Day 6, I was really looking forward to this season, pretty much expecting it would be the last. It started off well, but after Renee took out the Russians, the show lost its way for quite a while. That change in direction corresponded with dwindling viewership. Then, after its announced that the show is canceled, the show picks up steam again and has been consistently good for the past number of weeks. Now I know this stuff was filmed months ago, but I wouldn't be surprised if the producers tanked the middle of the season to lower viewership and force the network into canceling the show so they could move onto the feature. They've been talking about it for years, but with the show going it was unlikely that it would happen. Now that that roadblock is out of the way, they are moving ahead (with an already completed script apparently) and doing the movie.

I know that is all probably completely untrue, but if that was their strategy this season, it worked to a tee. Since the cancellation, however, the show has been quite good and I'm happy to see some classic 24 stuff going on. I always liked when Jack and CTU were at odds, and the rest of the season looks to be revisiting that territory. I just hope they finish strong and end on a good note.

[Trent B 337]

Honestly I sort of lost interest in 24. I may end up watching Season 8 online after it's over so I can watch it from the beginning.

[Swordfish392 3]

24? Lol it's the same everytime:

-spy in ctu

-jack fights on it's own

-jack gets in a torture room and escapes

-nuclear attack against usa

-the discusion about torture including arguments like "torture is ok if it can safe lifes of thousands"

24 is allready dead since season 6 if you ask me.

Loved the show before, espacialy 1-3 were totaly thrilling, realy I never watched anything better.

[Richard Penna 3,687]

My brother and I have been pretty devoted watchers from day one (any pun interpretations intended).

Season 7 started off very well, but we got tired of the Tony subplot.

Bad Tony one minute, Good Tony the next.

We've actually been very impressed by what's turned into the final reason, because even though there have been plenty of cliches, the way they've dealt with those cliches and developed them into the main storyline has been much better in previous seasons.

Also, the return of

Logan

has turned from a 'not him again' feeling, to several absolutely gripping political scenes. I can't wait for the inevitable face-off between the president and Jack. What's also good about this season is that no one is clearly in the ethical right. The president is going one way, and Jack is going the other, and who is right? I can't answer that for the latest section of the plot.

I do wonder if the writers knew this would be the final season while doing the last 1/3 or so, because I'm seeing something I saw in the last couple of episodes of Prison Break - the writers had an endpoint to aim for, and the strength of their material suddenly went back to season 1.

And while I think the show would've been better off ending at season 5, I'm glad that the powers that be at Fox decided to end it now before it just dies a long death.

Now if they wanted to do some sort of prequel (and bring back loads of dead characters) for the movie, that would be the icing on top

[Jay 37,355]

Well the big series finale is airing now. How many people here are still watching? I watched religiously up through the season 6 finale, but then never got the will to watch Season 7. How was Season 6 compared to the first 6? How does Season 8 compare?

Are people looking forward to the finale?

[Wycket 36]

Well Jason, you missed out on a great season (7 that is). It absolutely made up for the tiresome season 6 and redeemed the show. I was happy with the way the show ended, but I still need to watch seasons 2-4 to be able to truly be able to judge the series. Jack Bauer ends his tv rampage on this date. It will only be a matter of time before his rage hits the big screens, however.