How Can I NOT Say Anything?

Wow. What another electrifying week of 24! You know, by now, that I'm a HUGE fan of the show... rather, WAS a huge fan of the show until this season's less-than-stellar acting, writing, believability and igiveacrapfactor. It's not me who has noticed the downfall of this show, several of my friends who I've talked to about it have said they're more than likely not going to watch next season. That's a shame, because this show WAS good, it WAS inventive, but now we're reduced to bad storylines and plots.

So, what is it this week that bothered me?

1. Yay! Chloe's back!
   You knew that her exit was lame for her character and that she'd be back eventually. But did you think she'd come back so tan? She must've spent the entire day in the booth to look like that, gross. And I'm delighted to know that Chloe has also learned the art of time-travel and can get all prettied up and back to CTU within five minutes of being called in. Wait, silly me, she lives across the street!


2. "Your family is dead. And so are you."
   So, let me get this straight... the real pilot drives into the base with the bad guy in the trunk/back seat (still not sure how that worked – those new Caddy's have "secret compartments" I guess), manages to get by security (acting like a dick the whole time), then drives to another part of the base, gets out of his car, and HAS TO LET THE BAD GUY OUT OF HIS HIDING SPOT??? How about running? Or telling someone? But wait, his family is being held hostage, that's right... he knows that for sure since he talked to the people holding them. But that's not something you gamble with, right?


3. "This is the only chance we've got... for the 14th time today."
   Jack Bauer has single-handedly re-written the CTU Field Ops handbook. He knows the right thing to do in every freakin' situation. And this time, he HAS to pretend like he's a hostage... so he STABS HIMSELF (best acting nod to Dina Araz, who looked at Jack with the best WTF-face I've ever seen), that'll get him far in life... maybe he needs to see a therapist, this cutting himself deal has got to stop.


4. Didn't we see this in Season Three?
   It was the ol' "prove your loyalty to me by shooting this person" trick. Was she really going to shoot Jack!?! Hell no, what would we do for the last ten episodes? Regurgitated plot twists suck.


5. "I just can't believe that this is happening."
   Believe it Audrey, your shot up husband, Paul, has been in surgery for the past thirty minutes of the show. And what a heart-to-heart moment with daddy dearest... "I didn't realize until just now how much I loved Paul." "I know this isn't the best time, but I've got to go. Audrey, I'm proud to be your father." WHAT!?! Did I miss something here? Did they cut out some of the scene, to "make it flow better?" I had to stop saying what a bad actor that guy was when I heard that line, and immediately started laughing.


6. What exactly is standard procedure when pulling someone over?
   I know people get pulled over for speeding, or another traffic violation, that the cops usually approach the car. But it seems that when they're apprehending a dangerous criminal, one that is also a TERRORIST, wouldn't they set up guard behind their vehicles and tell the guy to come out of the car with his hands where they can see them? Not CTU baby, they charge right in! They also get exploded. That's what you get when you don't follow protocol.

We have ten episodes left, and I plan on doing this ten more times. Deal with it.