Conclusion: I'll Never Get Those 24 Hours Back

In a very lackluster season, you can color me very impressed with 24's final two hours. I didn't have very high expectations at all going in. In fact, I watched the final three episodes back-to-back-to-back, and the third to last hour was crap, just like the rest of the season. I'm not entirely sold on how this season ended, but I wished they would've "killed off" Jack a lot sooner. I have no doubts that he'll be back next season, this show doesn't work without him, but you off him in the middle of a season, then you have a good void to fill and things could become exciting.

This season's biggest disappointment was the level of writing. That's the easiest way to kill your show. The acting was pretty rank, too, but you don't go see blockbuster movies to have good acting. You don't normally go to see the storyline, either, but the more believable the story and the less holes there are, then the poor acting becomes an afterthought.

I think the story this time around was entirely way too complex. This year was 24's biggest year in terms of ratings, but Fox tried way too hard to make this story great. You can't continue to cram things into a story to improve it, take some core ideas and develop them deeper. That's why seasons one and two were good, err, rather they were better.

So until I can actually go into more details about season five, I'll leave you with my final thoughts on season four:

THE GOOD

• Not one mention of Kim for the entire season
• Certain plot twists
• The entire Mandy story line... notice she's a free lady now
• The final two hours (aside from SOME cheesy acting here and there)

THE BAD

• The many cliffhangers that weren't cliffhangers
• Acting for 90% of the season
• Marwan's ability to always escape
• Two love triangles
• There's a mole in CTU
• Inconsistant use of how many agents to take on a field operation
• People walking around CTU pushing papers when they should be at their computers solving stuff
• Plot twists up until hour 24

THE UGLY

• For the fourth year in a row, no one is going insane from working 24+ hours
• Everything I Know About Being President, I Learned From Palmer... but choose to be an idiot instead (the VP story line)
• Waiting through 22 episodes for the final two hours
• The LA time warp
• HORRIBLE use and education about technology (EMP bombs, stealth, satellites, unlocking hard drives, cell phones and helicopters, etc)
• Jack coming back to life, AGAIN (see season two)
• Secretary of Defense Heller
• The numerous interrogations and torturing
• Minute-by-minute foreshadowing

THE UNNECESSARY

• Product placements (Alienware, Motorola, Cisco, etc)
• The Erin Driscoll story line
• Chloe
• Chloe shooting a gun
• The CTU ER

I'm sure there are more, so please feel free to post your own. I'll keep the site updated when/if I hear news about the upcoming season five. If I hear nothing... I'll see you next January. Toodles.