TV Guide critic writing 24's obituary?

I think the season's latest few episodes, excluding the 17th hour which was fantastic, involved too much political debates and etc. The general public get tuned out whenever there is a strong political message or scandal and are more tuned in during the moments of torture and gun fights.

That was exactly what the 17th hour brought back to us fans, the faked shootout and the whole crazy gun fighting scene, which resembles season 4 when jack hopped into the terrorists bunker to save the secretary of defense and his daughter. That was amazing.

Its a shame 24 loves to blow the brains of the good actors, but its gotta happen, a few actors which would have been good to keep are curtis, and logan, and whats up with jack's dad who got away mysteriously. But i dont know about the chaos in LA it is night time afterall having crazy people in the streets would be weird

Personally, the first two seasons are my favorites. There was an exilaration watching those early episodes I've never felt with any other tv series. You had the feeling this was going to be one of the top five tv series ever.

Then the third season aired, and like a lot of other fans, was somewhat disappointed. Hated the Salazar storyline. Hated Wayne Palmer the minute I laid eyes on him. Although there were parts I liked, and we met Chloe, who has become the second-most popluar character, I felt the series had stumbled a bit.

The fourth disappointed me even more. Did not like Audrey, her father, her husband, or her brother. Didn't like the "new" CTU. Tony and Michelle seemed to have had personality transplants. And Jack seemed to be spending that entire day involved in shootouts in warehouses. By the end of the season, I wasn't optomistic about the series' future.

Then came the fifth. And the unforgettable Logans.

I picked up right off the bat that we were going to be treated to a wicked Watergate parody. Except they crossed Nixon with the younger Bush and they made Martha Mitchell his wife. And instead of Woodward and Bernstein, we had Jack and Chloe.
It was a total blast.

While last season was airing, 24 had gone into syndication, and I started watching the reruns religiously, even the third and fourth seasons, which I had disliked.

A funny thing happened. I started seeing patterns interwoven through the episodes. Things that could not be explained away as coincidence. I began to realize that seemingly unrelated events were connected. And most importantly, I started recognizing the political allegories that were the backbone of the plotlines. My entire view of the series changed. Each day was not isolated. The writers had a grand scheme for the series. 24 was essentially The X-Files without the sci-fi with a broader range of characters. It's no coincidence that one of the early X-Files writers, Howard Gordon, is involved with 24.

Yes, this season is weaker than the others. But I'm keeping my eye on the bigger picture. I think that the other fans will be seeing the bigger picture as well very soon.

Okay, Mark & Delmarc, enough.

Well-reasoned, civil discourse has no place at TVSquad.

Please relegate your answers to the usual snippy, love-the-sound-of-my-own-typing variety we're familiar with.

That said, nicely done.

m.

Well Mark, I enjoyed reading your post and I gotta say, seasons 2 and season 3 were two very well-crafted seasons of 24, but we gotta agree to disagree on this one. I just loved the overall tone and atmosphere of season 5 better than seasons 2 and 3. And while Im not a big fan of Kim Bauer, her appearance on season 5 was needed, as a symbol of the few remaining positives left in Jack's life. Her appearance revealed to the viewers how far Jack Bauer will go to re-connect with his only remaining daughter. Their first scene together in season 5 was powerful and very intense (Yet, I really hoped they didn't come up with that Barry character, he was useless) This subplot was certainly more entertaining than her whole "cougar" ordeal in season 2. And lest we forget, she was only in 2 episodes :P
I have no complaints for Season 2, other than the fact that they introduced Max and Trepkos only for them to be killed in a video game, but it was still great. Most powerful moment of that day was President Palmer's intimidating aura he had during the 25th amendment hearings. That scene proved how great that man really was. Season 3 was done nicely as well, however, I think the final scene of the season finale was anti-climactic. It's primarily because they used Jack's emotions (crying) in the season finale of season 1, and they didn't need to use it again for the Season 3 finale. The great season finale's of 24 are based on a twist of some kind, and I hope it remains that way (As long as the twist makes sense, isn't reckless, goes well with the events of the day, and answers as much questions as it will raise). I like a good twist in the season finale of 24 because it keeps viewers waiting for the next season and it ends that season on a high and intriguing tone. Season 3 didnt do that and that's why it was anti-climatic for me. Im jus worried on how this season was going, and if the rest of the episode is nearly as good as the last one, then this show will retain it's magic once again.

@ Delemarc

While I can't say I agree with some of what you wrote, it doesn't take away from the awesomeness of your posting :D Probably one of the best comments I've read on tvsquad in a long time!

Maybe it's because Days 1-5 are still relatively fresh for me (I watched Days 1-4 last year in a marathon session, and watched Day 5 as it happened), and maybe it's because Logan never clicked for me - I found that the writers really were just being the puppeteers, making that character swing any direction that was most convenient to the story they were trying to tell - but I just found Day 5 to be kind of meh compared to Day 2 and 3 (and even 4 to some respects).

That said, "meh" in 24 land to me is still explosive entertainment for 95% of the other tv shows out there, so it's all relative.

The most powerful moment for me in season five was Edgar's death - just painful. And it made me so pissed off at the writers for doing that, while still having a lot of emotion over that scene. But Day five also had what was (arguably) the most useless Kim non-sub-plot ever, and for me at least, the hours between the aftermath of the poison at CTU and Bauer's face off with Logan, there was a lot of filler, but enjoyable filler.

Talking about characters! How's this:

Day 2? From George Masons's arc (the love to hate to love character) and his honourable death, to super evil Nina turning up, to Palmer I at his best, to sadistic, sister-killing (well she wanted to) Marie, to Jude Ciccolella's awesome portrayal of Mike Novick, to Donnie Keshawarz's vastly underrated (and underused) portrayal of Agent Yusuf, and the real development of characters we came to know and love (or hate, or pity) by Reiko Aylesworth (Michelle), Carlos Bernard (Tony), Paul Schultz (Chappelle) and many others, Day two had it all. And it had for the most part, a much more "believable" nuclear story than this season has, imo.

And Day 3? Possibly even better, though I think Day 2 set the bar. Bud Day 3 gave us Chase, which I think could have been handled better than he was, but maybe I'm in the minority, I liked his character. Day three also had the drug / virus storyline, which I found very interesting, and sorta believable. One of my favourite all time "ethnic" actors, Joaquim de Almeida was in most of the season, and played the role most excellently. I was on the edge of my seat worried about Michelle dying from the hotel virus, you had President Palmer being blackmailed, to Bauer having to execute Chappelle, just the entire season (save for the Kim stuff. sigh) was riveting.

Every season of 24 has been great, don't get me wrong. But I really think those who think Day 5 was "the best" should go back and watch Day 2 and / or 3 again (and fast forward through the Kim stuff).

Well Mark, I considered season 5 of 24 the best for a variety of reasons. Though it did start off slow, it had a strong middle (which makes season 5 and season 6 quite different), and a terrific ending. But here's why season 5 is the best.

- Hands down, great acting. Gregory Itzin and Jean Smart just gave it their all, which made the characters of Charles and Martha Logan a great fixture on the show. And of course, Kiefer aint too bad either.

- Introduction of Characters that we can love or hate deeply with passion. Marth Logan, Christopher Henderson, Karen Hayes, and Miles Papazian. This season, all we get is Morris (though he was in season 5 but it was too short to count), Milo (same but in season 1), Nadia, and Doyle. I don't mind Doyle that much anmore, but the other character's are just plain "ugh". Theres plenty of scenes featuring Morris, Nadia, or Milo where I just pump my fist in anger and saying things in my head like, " You know, theres still 3 suitcase nukes out there right? Then why the hell are you guys wasting time with your useless drama?". I know the 24 writers were just trying to start something with a little bit of drama in CTU, but it didnt work and it just slowed the suspense and intrigue that this show is famous for.

- A very intricate plot and terrorist storyline. From Walt Cummings to Vladimir Bierko and all the way to Charles Logan, this plot had substance and was very fun to watch.

- Not that many boring scenes. And when there was, it would include characters we connect and we love such as Chloe or Edgar. This season had plent of boring scenes (Morris's alcoholism/ Milo and Nadia's potential romance), which made it even worse since we really dont know who they are.

- Alot of characters that we enjoyed through all the years of 24 are in this season. Though they werent there for a long time, I enjoyed seeing familiar faces like David Palmer, Edgar Stiles, Kim Bauer, Mike Novick, Curtis Manning, Tony Almeida, James Heller and Michelle Dessler. And I loved how the deaths of certain characters made an emotional impact on Jack's humanity and how he managed to handle the rest of the day with that emotional baggage.

- The overall direction and musical compostition for each episode was done well. Even in filler episodes during season 5, it still had a certain intensity that matched the situation. This season, I dont know if it's the director or if its the music, but some scenes just feel too slow and too boring.

- Plentiful amount of great scenes. This really made Season 5. From the assasination of David Palmer/Tony/Michelle, to the initial dialogue between Walt Cummings and President Logan in Episode 6, Jack's torture of Walt Cummings, Tension between Martha and Charles during many scenes, the Russian envoy attack, the nerve gas attack on CTU ( that whole episode was just done so well), the action scene in the chemical plant, Jack interrogating Henderson's wife, Jack interogatting Audrey (just an awesome scene), Jack meeting Heller for the first time, first time we know that Logan is behind the day's events, Jack landing the plane on the freeway, Jack Killing Bierko and Henderson on that submarine, Jack interoggating Logan, Logan's speech and arrest in Palmer's funeral (thats justice), and the trajedy that is jack's life when he saved the day, but got kidnapped by the chinese. There were just so many great scenes in this season. Even the scenes with just dialogue had a more "tense" feel to it this season than last season. I think it's because of the acting.

- The middle part of the season wasn't weak at all. Of course there were "filler" episodes, but not in a string of 2 or 3 straight like this season. Between filler episodes were outstanding episodes.

-Lastly, the 2 hour season finale was just priceless. It was a great and fitting season finale, and lets face facts, some people tend to judge a whole season of a show based on it's season finale and conclusion.

I say bring in Peta Wilson (aka La Femme Nikita) - have her takeover Jack's place at CTU and clean house.

@ Delmarc:

Why do you (and so many people) consider Season 5 the best ever?

I didn't originally see seasons 1-4 until I got them on DVD, and that was early on in Season Five. I remember coming to tvsquad and seeing all the ho hum, boring, it sucks commentary during the early / mid part of Season Five. And people talking about other seasons being much better.

Personally, I think Season 5 had its moments, but was not "the best" day for us viewers in Bauer's life - I probably have to give the nod to Day 2 or 3, though like most people, could have done without the Kim stuff.

And Season Six is much like Season Five - good start, boring in the middle... and the end's coming, so hopefully it'll pick up.

After the way tonights episode ended its going to get better!!

Welp, it looks like the fans got their wish with a heavy Jack-centric episode and a guaranteed change of scenery and personnel.