'24': Can everyone knock off early today?

You mean that’s it?

Jack Bauer not only recovered the rest of the loose nukes in Monday night’s episode of “24,” but he also killed terrorist mastermind Fayed (Adoni Maropis), bringing an end to this season’s nuclear crisis. In the parallel story, President Palmer called off his own nuclear strike on the Middle East, revealing that his weapons were fakes all along.

As the conclusion to most of this season’s major storylines, it felt more than a little anti-climactic. It was expected, of course, but not last night, not so soon, and certainly not without enough buildup to make the whole thing emotionally satisfying. It felt as if the show’s creators had grown bored, and rather than try to salvage the storyline they’d been developing all season, decided to cut it off like a gangrenous arm. Unfortunately, they’re contractually obligated to deliver 24 episodes a season to us, and we still have seven episodes left to go. So what now? Will we finally get to the stuff longtime fans have really been waiting for, like seeing Jack duck into a restroom or grab a bite to eat?

No. Not yet, anyway. In an attempt to fill up the rest of the season, the episode’s closing minutes re-introduced us to two hold-overs from season five: Jack’s girlfriend Audrey (Kim Raver) being held captive by his Chinese nemesis, Cheng Zhi (Tzi Ma).

It was meant to be a shock, but viewers have only been dealing with Audrey’s “death” for a few episodes now. In the five stages of grief, we hadn’t even gotten past denial. To be honest, though, Audrey could have stayed dead for the rest of the season and it wouldn’t have been a shock when she returned. On this show, the only thing cheaper than death and resurrection these days are the bullets.

Maybe this was meant to be a special Easter-themed episode, but really, death and resurrection seem to be the only twists left in the “24” bag of tricks. He hasn't been killed yet, but we all know that Jack’s dad (James Cromwell) has to come back at some point, and we all know he’ll have to face justice, which on “24” usually means getting strung up, shot down, poisoned or exploded. The unexpected death has become all-too expected. At least until they pop up next year.

-- Patrick Day

(Photo courtesy Fox)

Comments

[Tom Nobles]

A native Los Angeleno, I live here in South Florida now, I always get a kick out of explaining to fellow fans out here how it is impossible to get from Culver City to Simi Valley in 20 minutes even at 2am. And why is it there is never a rush hour?
And last week? Where is there a northbound running tunnel on Adams that runs east-west, and I certainly know of no tunnel anywhere on Adams.

How can you not love this show though?