24: The Final Countdown

There were a lot of contradictions coming into the final episode of “24.”

As much as I’ve loved and enjoyed the show over the years (as I suspect many others have), it’s hard to get too broken up about its cancelation. Not only had the writers basically run out of moles to install in CTU or nuclear weaponry to threaten American cities with, but the show — with its novel, self-contained concept — was really lucky to be on the air more than a few seasons, so getting eight years was an incredible gift.

Then there’s the fact that Kiefer Sutherland and Co. have not made a secret of the fact that they intend to make at least one “24” movie. Since the movie would obviously continue to follow Jack Bauer’s misadventures (unless it was a prequel), that knowledge robbed the series finale of some drama, since we knew it was highly unlikely Jack would die.

One more: the show’s cancelation was announced in the middle of the season, which meant the ending was presumably in the can. Although the end of “24” is a BIG deal, what we got was a relatively no-frills finale that I’m assuming was intentionally open-ended in case the show got renewed. It felt like the show’s final episode SHOULD have been a bit bigger, but there was no way to do that.

All these contradictions were floating around my mind as I settled in to watch the show’s swan song, but I found that most of those worries went away thanks to a solid final two hours of entertainment.

Remember how Jack was apparently bleeding to death after being wounded by a Russian security guard? Well, that was resolved pretty easily after Jack kidnapped Jason Pillar and forced him to suture the wound after sneaking Jack into the building across from the U.N. (Could that security guard REALLY not see Jack crouched in the backseat?) After knocking Pillar unconscious (J.P. Injury #1), Jack picked his spot and pulled out his sniper rifle.

Before he got down to business, he recorded a somber video message explaining the nature of his actions, in the event that he wound up dead or in prison. At first, I assumed he was recording the message for his daughter, but now it occurs to me that he was probably recording it as a sort of general testament that Chloe or someone else could use to expose the truth.

Speaking of the truth, let’s talk a little about Dalia Hassan. As good and compelling as the Jack stuff was (as it usually is), I think Cherry Jones and, ESPECIALLY, Necar Zadegan acted their asses off during that first hour.

Kayla informed her mother Dalia about Meredith Reed’s phone call and allegations about the Russian’s involvement in President Hassan’s death. Dalia confronted President Taylor about it. Taylor tried to put on a defense, but her actions over the last several hours (what with her losing her mind) have clearly taken a toll on her and Jones did an excellent job in conveying that Taylor simply didn’t have the strength to lie anymore.

This led to an intense, emotional and excellent scene between the two leaders which resulted in Dalia VERY begrudgingly agreeing to sign the peace treaty after President Taylor threatened nuclear action. (I believe she’d like that pen back.) Zadegan deserves to have more work after this powerhouse performance.

Dalia could barely disguise her disdain when Yuri, the Russian president arrived. Jack almost made Dalia a very happy lady by taking Yuri out — but Chloe had to go and interfere.

Since Jack had bugged Logan, he knew about Yuri’s involvement. Jack trained his sniper rifle on Logan and demanded that he summon Yuri to his office. Meanwhile, Cole and Chloe learned from Jim Ricker (why did they use Michael Madsen so little in this finale?) that Jack had a copy of the recording implicating the Russians in the day’s assassination plot. Chloe went to look for Jack to try to talk him down from the ledge, but Jack responded by putting her in a sleeper hold. (That sound you heard was my heart breaking.)

Chloe woke up and was eventually able to convince Jack not to assassinate Yuri and assured him that she’d see his mission all the way through and expose the conspiracy. However, to make it look like Chloe had legitimately caught Jack, she had to shoot him. Just terrific, intense work from Sutherland and Mary Lynn Rajskub, who, despite being known for her cranky quips, really ended up being a great dramatic actress.

The bullet ended up going completely through Jack, which made Jason Pillar suspicious. (I thought it was funny that the untrained Chloe’s gunshot ended up being too good.) Pillar creepily searched her for Jack’s audio file, but she had hid it in her phone. (Really, Jason? You didn’t think to look in there?) Pillar eventually figured out what happened, leading to CTU tool Burke foiling Chloe before she could send the info to Arlo so he could broadcast it. It also led to J.P. Injury #2 after Jack Mike Tysoned Pillar’s ear to buy Chloe some time.

The evidence got back to Logan, who handed it over to Taylor. It was always clear that Taylor would eventually confess what she’d done, but the show still found a nice way to dramatize the decision. Taylor backed out of signing her beloved peace agreement.

Unfortunately, she’d already put a hit out on Jack after Logan convinced her that Jack would never EVER stop hunting Yuri as long as he was alive. She tried to thwart the ambush (nice work from Tim Woods in this scene), but it was too late.

Taylor tried to reach Logan, but my boy was not going down easy. He knocked Jason Pillar out with J.P. Injury #3 and #4 (I actually felt bad for the guy) and turned the gun on himself. I thought that was going to be the end of Logan, but (again!) there’s a movie to think about and Logan is WAY too delicious a villain to kill off.

Meanwhile, Jack’s convoy had been ambushed and he had been captured. (I like that he was fighting till the very end, even with his hands cuffed behind him.) Fortunately, President Taylor was able to reach his captors using a CTU drone and called them off. She told Jack she was going to turn herself in and that he’d have to do the same. By that same token, she gave him a little bit of time to allow for his escape.

That led to the second hour’s best scene in which Jack told Chloe that she was the only person…who’d ever covered his back. (Was I the only one who thought he might use the L-word?)

And that’s where our story ends. Our president will resign in disgrace (Cherry Jones deserved better) and our hero will disappear for a while…before coming to a theatre near you.

So what’d you think of this episode? Why bring in Eriq LaSalle (“ER”) in the final hour, but give him nothing to do? Do you think the show would’ve ended differently if the writers had known this was the final season ahead of time?