What A Rush!

Wow! Another season of 24 ended last night – and what a great show it is!

Sure, it’s entirely unbelievable in many respects, but it’s all about drama and intrigue and heroism and stretching oneself beyond all reasonable capabilities … and the people who put this show together do a GREAT job with suspense.

It was great to see some old friends returning this season (Milo, Wayne, Curtis, Aaron, Martha, … and the all-to-briefly introduced Morris at the end of Day 5), and the continuation of characters we knew very well (Chloe, Bill, Karen, James, Audrey and of course Jack). We also met many new characters, some of whom we initially couldn’t trust but generally came to like (Mike, Nadia, Tom, Sandra, Walid, Hamri, Marilyn, Josh and even Noah, to a point).

And – most importantly – we saw the ‘bad’ characters get just what they deserved (Lisa, Reed, Dmitri, Graem, Abu, Phillip, Cheng and especially Charles).


The cast of 24, 'Day 6'. Left to right: Dead, alive,
alive, forced to retire, pregnant, utterly exhausted,
forced to retire, alive, alive and unknown.

Unfortunately not everyone who worked on the side of ‘good’ managed to survive the Day (some survived in the literal sense, but took heavy damage to their body, psyche or career), but there had to be some casualties, in order to keep the viewers on the edge of their seats.

The thing about 24 is, we never know (while we watch) just who’s going to survive the Day. Apart from Jack (who may die one Day but not before Day 8 because I know he’s contracted that far ahead), very few characters are still alive who appeared in Day 1. In fact, I could count them on Captain Hook’s bad hand.

Okay, that’s a slight exaggeration, but in reality it’s only four. Jack Bauer, Kim Bauer, Mike Novick and Aaron Pierce. Everyone else is dead or unaccounted for. So them’s some pretty bad odds.

I certainly wouldn’t want to be working in CTU during one of these crisis Days, but I guess if my name was Jack I’d feel somewhat assured that I’d live through the tumultuous events that were going on around me.

I’d just be feeling pretty broken by the end credits. And I’m fairly sure I’d be ready for a nap.


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