"24" and the Breaking Point
After my last viewing of Season Eight of "24", it occurred to me that I had put up a lot with this series during its eight season run. Especially after the first three seasons. But this Season Eight episode, (8.17) "Day 8: 8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.", proved to be the final straw for me.
"24" AND THE BREAKING POINT
It seems a miracle to me that I managed to remain a steady viewer of FOX-TV’s "24" for many years. Despite being a pretty good series, it had presented its viewers with some truly mind boggling plot lines. Mind you, some of the series’ plot lines from Seasons One and Two left me scratching my head.
Kim Bauer’s (Elisha Cuthbert) Season Two adventures that included encounters with a murderous employer (Billy Burke), the law and a slightly demented survivalist portrayed by Kevin Dillon, come to mind. And the circumstances that led to Nina Myers’ (Sarah Clarke) revelation as a mole inside Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU) left me wondering if she had any sense. The fact that Season One featured two intelligence moles who had no idea that the other was a mole seemed to be skimming on thin ice to me. As did the subplot involving Presidential candidate David Palmer (Dennis Haysbert) and his family.
Then came Season Three. Personally, I thought it was a pretty good season. Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) and the CTU found themselves battling a former MI6 agent named Stephen Saunders (Paul Blackthorne), who wanted revenge for being abandoned during a disastrous operation against the Season One main villain, Victor Drazen (Dennis Hopper) by unleashing a deadly virus upon Los Angeles. This season also featured a con job perpetrated by Jack, Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard) and a CTU employee named Gael Ortega (Jesse Borrego); the return of Nina Myers; the introduction of Chase Edmunds (James Badge Dale) as the first (and my personal favorite) of several younger partners for Jack; a virus outbreak in Los Angeles and an exciting showdown in which Jack and Chase attempt to prevent one of Saunders’ men from carrying out his threat.
Unfortunately, Season Three seemed to have kick started many major mistakes created by the series’ writers over the next five seasons. I tried to deal with the introduction of the Chloe O’Brian character (Mary Lynn Rajskub). But I failed. After five seasons, I continued to dislike her. From Season Three to Season Eight, serious mistakes piled on one after the other - Jack's murder of Nina Myers; the subplot involving Wayne Palmer’s (D.B. Woodside) involvement with a billionaire’s wife and Sherry Palmer (Penny Johnson); Tony's arrest for the so-called "treason" charge for exchanging Jack's kidnapped victim for his kidnapped wife - CTU’s own Michelle Dressler (Reiko Aylesworth); the loss of Chase’s hand and his departure from the series (I rather liked him . . . a lot). In Season Four, I had to deal with Jack’s dull ass romance with the senator’s daughter Audrey Heller Raines (Kim Ravner), the stupid plot to infiltrate the Chinese consulate and extract a terrorist that ended in the death of the Chinese consul, the return of that traitorous ass, Mike Novik (Jude Ciccolella); and a disjointed and badly written season.
Season Five brought about a series of deaths that I still believe was heavy-handed - former President Palmer, Michelle Dressler and the near death of Tony Almeida. Many fans had claimed that Season Five - which centered around President Charles Logan’s attempt to sign some treaty with the Russians - was the best. I would have been more tolerant of that season if it were not for the series of murders that occurred in the season’s first episode, Kim's reaction to Jack's fake death, and a major plot that really did not require a 24-hour setting. Season Six - with a badly written story line about suicide bombers and Jack’s family (James Cromwell and Paul McCrane) - was the worst. Wayne Palmer became the new president, but he ended up in a coma from a bombing before mid-season. Chloe’s husband - the equally annoying Morris O’Brian (Carlos Rota) - played a major role in this season . . . unfortunately. I found Season Seven tolerable, especially since it introduced FBI Agent Renee Walker (Annie Wersching) and brought back Tony Almeida. However, Season Eight proved to be another matter.
Mind you, I did not hate Season Eight, like I did Seasons Four and Six. But . . . its plot about a group of Middle Eastern terrorists trying to prevent the president of their country from signing a peace treaty with the United States proved to be . . . old hat. Many fans could see by this time, "24" seemed a little tired and filled with some plot holes. The worst and dumbest subplot in the series’ history centered on CTU Agent Dana Walsh's (Katee Sackhoff) problems involving her criminal ex-boyfriend and some of the dumbest plot lines in television history. But one of Season Eight's episodes - "Day 8: 8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m." - proved to be the last, fucking straw for me. Two things happened. Renee Walker - whom Jack had fallen in love with - had ended up murdered by a Russian assassin. And Tim Woods (Frank John Hughes), Director of Homeland Security, demoted CTU New York director Brian Hastings (Mykelti Williamson) over the situation. Demoted the man for something that was beyond his control.
It was bad enough that producers Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran, along with screenwriter David Fury had killed off Renee. One, she turned out to be one of my favorite characters from the series. And she also seemed to be the only female capable of dealing with the real Jack Bauer - warts and all. Two, Renee’s murder ended up jump starting an old and tired subplot - namely Jack’s desire to go after the person or persons responsible for the death of a loved one. We saw this in his murder of Nina Myers in Season Three. We also saw this in Season Five, when he murdered the man who had assassinated David Palmer. Some fans see this as a return of the old Jack Bauer. For years, I had disliked Jack for his murderous inclinations, his hypocrisy and the fans’ hypocritical view of his crimes. For the first time in years, I had managed to enjoy Jack as a character. With Renee’s murder, that enjoyment came to an end. To this day, I suspect that Jack never really recovered from Renee's murder. And honestly . . . if Surnow and Cochran had wanted to kill someone off, they could have waited to bump off Jack either in the last episode or in the rather disappointing "24: LIVE ANOTHER DAY", which saw the return of dull-ass Audrey. But no . . . they had drummed up some contrived plot line to kill off Renee in order to bring back Killer Jack.
But the worst thing I ever saw during Season Eight and during the series’ entire run the demotion of Brian Hastings by Homeland Security Director Tim Woods as director of CTU New York and being replaced by that whining bitch, Chloe O'Brian. I had stated earlier, I do not like Chloe. I never have. I have always found her whining and personality disorders a pain in my ass. But this latest plot development regarding her promotion as CTU New York’s new director was truly the most utterly stupid thing I have ever seen on ”24”. On television period. First of all, Chloe was a computer analyst for CTU. A computer geek. Chloe has had at least one or two hours of experience in the field. And yet, that idiot Woods had decided she would be a better person to run CTU New York than Hastings. Why? Because Hastings had failed to sniff out Dana Walsh as a mole. No intelligence official in his or her right mind would allow a computer analyst to assume command of an intelligence field office. It is an utter act of idiocy. And yet, Surnow and Cochran allowed this to happen. And instead of realizing the stupidity of such a plot twist, many fans have been cheering Chloe’s promotion. Why? Because Hastings had failed to do two things - immediately follow Jack’s lead and sniff out Dana Walsh as a mole. Damn hypocrites!
Why do I call the fans, David Fury and the producers hypocrites over this situation with Chloe, Hastings and Dana? Hastings was not that popular with fans. Chloe was very popular with the fans. And the fans were impatient with Hastings’ failure to spot Dana as a mole. Well if that was the case, then allow me bring up another name. NINA . . . MYERS. Had fans and television critics actually forgotten that for several years, Nina was Jack's second-in-command at CTU Los Angeles? In fact, they even had an affair. Jack eventually learned that she was a mole out of sheer . . . dumb . . . luck. Nina was ordered to tell a lie about Kim in order to lure Jack into the clutches of Victor Drazen. No one has ever complained about Jack's inability to sniff out Nina as a mole, until it was almost too late. Hell, in Season Seven; Jack never knew that a vengeful Tony Almeida was playing a double game against him, the FBI and the Allison Taylor Administration until it was almost too late. Yet, Brian Hastings was criticized for failing to sniff out a mole. This is an example of the media and the fans’ hypocrisy at its worst. And all of this happened six or seven episodes before the end of Season Eight.
I barely paid attention to the rest of Season Eight after my first viewing. After the debacle of that particular episode, any enjoyment of the series I had finally ended. It took me years to re-watch the series, especially Season Eight. And what happened to Brian Hastings still pissed me off after so many years. Thank you Joel Surnow, Robert Cochran and David Fury for allowing any leftover enjoyment I had of "24" to hit rock bottom. T his is how I will always remember the series - with two of the dumbest plot developments I have ever seen.