Stop the Clock

I recently read this little mini-article, an interview with 24 executive producer Howard Gordon, in which he is confronted on the insane crappiness of the Dana Walsh storyline in this season of 24. He basically whines about how there are only so many "tropes" in the genre, and challenges "anyone to try to sit in our chair and figure out how to do 24 continuous, real-time episodes, without using certain devices."

I would gladly have taken him up on that offer.

For starters, I challenge the tired thinking that there must be a CTU mole in every season of 24. In season 2, the only mole-like character worked in the president's administration. CTU was squeaky clean. In season 3, the writers turned the mole convention on its head by making it appear there was a mole, only to turn around later and reveal that this person was working for the good guys, feeding false information to the enemy -- a double agent! Even season 6 (which until now, was the clear "winner" for worst season of 24) had no moles, unless you count the character played by Stargate's Michael Shanks.

Secondly, I don't even primarily object to the presence of a mole in the story. I object first to the lack of planning ahead for such a plot twist (Dana's behavior in the first half of this season does NOT track with the revelation that she's a mole). And I object the lazy thinking that just instantly made Dana Walsh the mole.

If I were "sitting in their chair," oh, let's see. I'll spend a couple quick minutes on this. If there must be a mole.

How about Hastings? In eight years of 24, the mole has never been the head of CTU. There would be all sorts of avenues for new storytelling if the man right at the top is working to undermine the investigation. Not to mention that his pig-headed behavior from earlier in the season would make more sense in a context where he's actually trying to obstruct CTU from within.

How about Prady, the parole officer sent in to harass Dana? What if he was actually someone sent in by the baddies to get inside CTU's walls and mess up their computers or something? This would be world's better justification for having a "parole officer" that works at 3:00 in the morning. It would explain why he didn't just stay put in the room where he was left, wandering out into the halls unattended. It would be a different kind of internal threat than CTU has faced before. And perhaps most importantly of all, it would be a far better use of a fine actor like Stephen Root. Why bother getting him to play a stock pain in the ass for three episodes?

Hell, if we're illogical enough to even consider the idea of Dana Walsh as mole, then how about Renee Walker? Clearly she's completely broken since we left her in season 7. Would it be too far of a stretch to send her to the dark side? It worked for Tony Almeida. 24 has always worked best when the nemesis is someone with a deeply personal connection to Jack, and never better than when that nemesis was a "femme fatale" -- just think back to Nina Meyers.

Or if, gods dammit, Starbuck really has to be the frakking mole, then how about at least presenting us the story in a manner different than we've seen before on 24? How about not revealing the identity of the mole to us and leaving us as much in the dark as the rest of the characters? Show the villains mysteriously getting away without showing us how. Show us a manhunt inside CTU, where we don't know any more than the characters who they're looking for.

If the writers are having such a hard time filling 24 hours, maybe it's because they abandon promising ideas before exploring them completely. The EM pulse at CTU was an opportunity to force counter-terrorism back into the Dark Ages, showing us how they could make do without technology for an episode or two. Instead, Chloe just spouts some technobabble and fixes the problem in about 45 minutes. You know, the way she always does.

So yes, Mr. Gordon, I do think you're giving us "tiresome and lazy storytelling." I've seen the DVD features; maybe if you were a little less concerned about getting to the smoking room to light up cigars with your fellow writers, and a little more time (even just the 5 minutes I just spent) trying to actually think of things you haven't done before, 24 wouldn't feel so played out as it does in this unfortunate final season.

But boohoo, writing is hard.