Consider me pleasantly surprised. Tonight's episode was actually awesome.

quote:

Originally posted by Chamberk:
Consider me pleasantly surprised. Tonight's episode was actually awesome.

Agreed. 24 seemed like it was heading for that shark-jump even though I still enjoyed it. Tonight was double-plus good.

Double true. Finally, a worthy plot twist. I'm so glad the Fayad/Gredenko saga is over. They were the lamest villains ever.

quote:

Originally posted by ericg75:
Double true. Finally, a worthy plot twist. I'm so glad the Fayad/Gredenko saga is over. They were the lamest villains ever.

We didn't even get to see the sneaky fucking Russian dodge any bullets.

I'm glad to see the two people back who were back in the final minutes of Monday's episode.

I thought Fayed was a good villain, but not as good as Nina was. I loved Jack's line: "Now we're gonna have some fun."

The show's as good as it's ever been.

quote:

Originally posted by Dork:
The show's as good as it's ever been.

I can't say that. I remember times when you could actually give a crap about the people working in CTU, when Chloe was actually a pretty enjoyable character. This season they've REALLY been recycling plots from season 2, and though I sort of like the new plot, we'll see where it takes us. Already I don't like Daniels taking charge again.

I can't stand the character of Noah Daniels. Charles Logan was a good character to hate. Gregory Itzin played him so diabolically.

The thing that bugs me so much about Daniels is that I know that Powers Boothe is a good actor. Seeing him roar "ARGH BROWN PEOPLE LET'S BOMB THEM" is depressing after seeing him in something like Deadwood.

---Spoilers for 24 Season 6 contained within---



OK. Now that it's over, I will say that this was the worst season of 24.

I'd say that the best parts were undeniably the beginning and the end, especially the first four episodes and the last two (the finale). They pulled a last-minute save on the Vice President and basically broke him, taking him from stupidly evil to ridden with doubt and regret. I still don't think he's a good character but they at least did something with him.

The end, with Jack confronting Heller, is great and deeply moving, throwing into doubt whether Jack really has anything -- anything at all -- left. They even silent clocked him, and to anyone who hasn't been paying as much attention, this is only done to characters who are dead or about to die. Scary, and Sutherland's acting was %100 convincing throughout. I never actually thought I'd be worried that Jack Bauer might kill himself.

Scenes like Josh shooting his own damn grandfather upped the tension and, in my opinion, the finale and first four episodes rank up there with the best of 24, with some devastating moments.

The rest of the season? Well. It kinda sputtered out in the middle. Not much happened that we hadn't seen before until about the death of Fayed, characters remained largely static and caricatured and Jack was taken out of the picture. They turned it around eventually, but there's just a large block of sub-par episodes that leaves a slightly bad taste in my mouth.

I liked the new CTU staff a lot better at the end of the season than I did at the start. Maybe everyone's personality is better after 24 hours awake or maybe the writers realized they didn't have very complex, interesting relationships, but they sorted it out and I wouldn't mind another season with this set -- as long as the writing was as good as the last few episodes. Bill Buchanan became a likeably kickass character, while Nadia Yassir became conflicted but strong-headed. Mike Doyle went from over-the-top racist to Agent-not-quite-as-good-as-Jack (who has problems following orders with which he disagrees).

Chloe, Morris, meh. They are no longer bad characters but with the whole pregnancy angle it seems like they should write them out of 24 and move on. (Please, no more babies in the office. Please?) Tom Lennox, like a lot of the characters, went from caricatured to interesting over the course of the show. One complaint with the White House staff is that, well... Wayne Palmer didn't do much. He's a good successor to his brother but not nearly as charismatic and looking back on it I like the decision to send him into a coma.

Overall, I'd give this season a 7.5, the lowest of the 24 seasons. But it leaves the door open for better things in the future.

Any other thoughts?

I don't have a ton to add, but I'll say a few things.

I agree this was probably the weakest season so far, but it had its moments. It started and ended well, and since so many people are still alive, it really leaves a lot open for next season. The one thing I really wanted to find out was what the US gave up to get Jack back from the Chinese. It bugged me the entire season.

Jack isn't going anywhere. I think Keifer Sutherland is signed on for two more years. One thing that has been hinted at is a change of locale. Moving it out of L.A. may be a welcome addition at this point, and probably would have served the show better this year as well.

Personally, I think next season is going to be awesome. I think they left a lot of questions unanswered on purpose. Keeping so many people alive gives the show a lot more options. I guess we can only hope.

quote:

Originally posted by PRG:
Jack isn't going anywhere. I think Keifer Sutherland is signed on for two more years. One thing that has been hinted at is a change of locale. Moving it out of L.A. may be a welcome addition at this point, and probably would have served the show better this year as well.

Personally, I think next season is going to be awesome. I think they left a lot of questions unanswered on purpose. Keeping so many people alive gives the show a lot more options. I guess we can only hope.

Could be attempted suicide, or they might do prequels (which I consider highly unlikely, but you never know).

I agree about Season 7.

quote:

Originally posted by PRG:
The one thing I really wanted to find out was what the US gave up to get Jack back from the Chinese. It bugged me the entire season.

I wondered that too. It seemed like a weird thing for them to mention only to do nothing with it. It seemed like another potentially cool plot point they squandered away. Maybe they'll bring it up next season.

I agree that this was by far the weakest season, and I think it's mainly due to boring characters. They need to get some more charasmatic people working at CTU.

I thought S4 was the weakest season by far. All that trouble with the missles and then, boom, it's over in a minute or less.

I actually liked S6 a lot, but I, too, wondered what the US gave up to the Chinese for Jack and I didn't like the silly insertion of Martha and Aaron or the dropped storylines of Logan and Wayne.

*MINOR SPOILER*

I can verify that no suicide was meant to be implied in Jack staring out to sea during the final minute, only that a chapter of his life was now closed.

Erm ... I think I had some serious problems with some of the choices they made creatively over the life of S6, and I think it impacted my enjoyment of the season as I look back in retrospect. (1) Wayne Palmer as President made little sense to me mostly b/c it was a "safe choice" by the writing staff, and 24 didn't build its reputation and/or potential on making "safe choices." This is the show that had to incorporate a PSA on behalf of Muslims during S2 and S3, I think, so Wayne Palmer just smacked of little thought. (2) Ending the impactful acts of terrorism b/f the season was over appeared not well thought out. Had the Russian technology been introduced more strongly early on, then it would've seemed far more organic to the plot. As it was presented, it really did seem like an afterthought to me. (3) Defanging Chloe was a huge creative mistake. How can you have one of the shows defining characters really contributing so little while her spin-off husband/former husband contributing so much? Oh, that's b/c, in Hour 23, we're going to introduce that she's pregnant in order to save their relationship. I'm quite certain I'm not the only one who predicted that she was pregnant once she dropped to the floor for no apparent reason. Give Chloe back her claws. (4) Nobody likes a melancholy Jack. Sure, he was closing the book on one chapter of his life, but the pathos went on too long for me.

I still think 24 is one of the best shows on television. I think that, creatively, they just made some questionable choices.

I think that's what happens when writers write "on the fly" and don't really know where they're going with a story. I hope they do better with S7.

Agreed. I still find it one of the best shows on television, so I'll be there next season.