Just as with "day three," "day four" of 24 punched out strong with a kick-ass finale to redeem an uneven season. I thought the action was exciting and the character beats perfect. Marwan's stubborn refusal to be taken alive, Audrey's reaction to Buchanan at the end, Tony and Michelle's reunion. All brilliant.
In fact, the only "false beat" to me in the entire thing was, I would have thought if Jack had a single one-minute phone call to anyone, he would have made it to Kim. That can be explained away both behind-the-scenes and within the fourth wall, though -- perhaps they could not get Elisha Cuthbert for a cameo; and you could plausibly assume that Jack just might let his daughter believe him to be dead. But then, perhaps this is an issue that might be addressed when season five rolls around.
And wow! What a stage they've set for season five. The writers have managed to set up a great way out of the corner I'd worried they'd put themselves in: that they've portrayed basically every form of terrorist act. They've had nuclear threats, bio-weapon attacks, assassinations, meltdowns, sabotage, abductions -- many of those all in one season. The stakes have run the gamut from individual to family to city to nation. (I don't subscribe to the "save the world" hyperbole in that last Fox promo after the show.) So how can they escalate from there?
Answer? They don't! They could completely shake up the entire nature of the show now, if they wanted to. Instead of bringing on some mad genius to cause global earthquakes (about the only way I can think of to increase the scope again), they can go very personal and place Jack Bauer in the role of Richard Kimble or David Banner -- on the run from people looking to bring him in on day five. Although I have to be realistic, too. Fighting terrorism has been what the show has been about from day one, and I can't think of very many shows that have so thoroughly changed their core concept mid-run. Season two of Alias, for sure -- but they weren't pulling in ratings so high, and weren't really central to the success of their network. Odds are, we'll find ourselves back at CTU on day five.
In any case, it's going to be a long wait until January 2006 to see what they do.
7 comments:
A fresh team of writers have been tapped for season five, and I see that as a paradigm shift for the series. It won't leave the 24-hour narrative, but it could depart from the traditional setup.
Why do we need CTU? Why don't we go all Mission Impossible and bring the best characters together outside of CTU with the possible exceptions of the Tony and Michelle?
(BTW, Carlos Bernard and Reiko Aylesworth were both born in Evanston Northwestern Hospital -- the same hospital where our little Megan was born.)
Didnt' they try and do that for Alias?
Well... uh... not really. This season, they tried to combine SD-6 with the best of that crappy FBI/CIA/NSA monstrosity of season three.
What really took Alias down was the paradigm shift away from weekly cliffhangers and away from Syd's personal life. They half-assed fixed the latter by just populating her personal life with her colleagues.
Loved the ending too. When the warhead was dispatched with 30+ mins of TV time remaining, I hoped we were going to a new place, like the end of season 2. This was even better. Whatever they do next year, IMO it won't be 24 without both Jack and Palmer. Mandy is the new Nina Myers BTW.
Correction: Mandy was Nina before Nina was Nina.
Manny Coto, Enterprise's Season 4 mastermind, is now writing for 24. Woo-hoo!
I'm not yet on the Manny Coto bandwagon. I'll agree that his season of Enterprise was far superior to the previous four, but I'd still call it a long way from quality television. But I also don't blame him for that yet. Who knows how much freedom his was really allowed under Braga and Berman? And you can only do so much with the hand you're dealt anyway. His work on 24 could possibly make me a convert.
I'm much more enthusiastic about David Fury also joining the 24 writing staff. He's one of the star writers from the Joss Whedon "Academy." After writing genius installments of Buffy and Angel, he became a staff writer for Lost. He contributed three brilliant episodes of Lost (including the series' best to date: Walkabout) before deciding to leave for 24. I'm expecting more greatness to come.
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