I’m not going to spend much time here waxing poetic about the lasting impact 24 has had on the landscape of network television over the last decade (which it has), or the ways in which being a fan and being part of a community of fans via the Internet has impacted my life and livelihood for the better (which it has).  There is no denying that Jack Bauer (as well to a lesser extent his network of compatriots, allies and enemies) has become an indelible cultural icon, a Great American Hero.  There have been and will continue to be pieces flooding the Internet about the overall impact of 24 as a series and its perspective on the world.  I will probably write one sooner or later.

What I would really like to focus on now is these final two hours, and how they worked as a conclusion to both Season 8 and the series as a whole.  Unlike other series with a less defined or concrete structural premise (the real-time concept), 24 did not have the luxury of revisiting old themes or old events or old characters in a significant way with its swan song.  There could be no flashbacks, no dream sequences, no overt exposition to tie up all the loose ends.  The writers of Season 8 faced a unique challenge in that they were expected to successfully resolve the plot of this season while adequately paying tribute to the roots of the show … where it came from, its overriding thematic statements, the many evolutions of its protagonist.  All in the final 2 hours.  And I feel that for the most part they succeeded.

There is no doubt in my mind that 24 is simply not the show it used to be.  There are many reasons for that, ones which I have discussed ad nauseum in other posts here and on the site’s forum as well.  I don’t say this as a criticism right now, but when anything transforms from a diamond in the rough into a juggernaut over the course of a decade, it is going to round its edges a little.  I knew going in that my relationship with the show had changed, and on the heels of the disappointing news that Tony Almeida would not be part of the season, my expectations were pretty middled out.  For the first part of Season 8, despite the compelling performances of Annie Wersching and Callum Keith Rennie in the Renee Walker Russian mobster storyline, I was left a little cold.  The acting on the series has always been first rate, and that was the only thing that made the first half of the season legitimately watchable.  A seemingly bizarre subplot involving the secret past and psycho ex-boyfriend of CTU agent Dana Walsh was dragging things down into bad melodrama, and the first half of the season’s plot was mundanely derivative of seasons past.  Middle Eastern terrorists and nuclear materials and Russian conspiracies and Jack getting pulled back in just when he thinks he’s out.  Not that any of us were going anywhere, because if we’d made it this far we were sticking around until the end, but the magic seemed to be gone.  I was very concerned that if this was going to be the last season (which at that point was still unconfirmed), they were not doing justice to the show’s epic legacy.

However, somewhere around the 2/3 mark of the season, something wonderful happened.  The writers killed President Omar Hassan in one of the most gruesome and affecting deaths of the series, they made Dana Walsh a mole desperate to cover her secret past with her idiot boyfriend because she was afraid it would expose her connections as a Russian spy, they resolved the story arc with the dirty bomb and innocent lives, and they re-introduced the series’ most beloved villain, disgraced former President Charles Logan, pathologically eager to manipulate his way back into the political arena at Allison Taylor’s expense.  NOW, we had something on our hands.

And thank Almeida for that!  The writers finally got their shit together just in time to send the series out in style, and gave us a thrilling “mini-season” for the final third of the run chock full of political intrigue, uncompromising violence, blurring ethical lines and a near-psychotic Jack Bauer who snapped when the “game” took things just one step too far by killing newly anointed lover Renee Walker moments after he disentangled himself from his first time in her arms.  In other words, the stuff 24 is *really* made of.

I’m not going to sit here and write that Season 8, or the final third of Season 8, or even the final two hours of Season 8, were the “perfect” sendoff for this landmark series.  My sentimental fan lovefest on how this is the greatest TV series in the history of the world now or ever and can do no wrong ended the day 24 (fake) killed Tony Almeida in Season 5.  Both the Season and the finale had their flaws, but in the end (particularly the very end), they were a fitting tribute to the place 24 has held in the cultural landscape and in the hearts and minds of fans.

And now after that long and pontiferrific introduction, let’s talk about the actual finale.

Jack Bauer

So at the last moment, Chloe and her invocation of innocent lives at stake got to Jack and helped him regain his conscience, pull the plug on his attempted assassination of Russian President Suvarov, and avoid starting a war.  Great, but it was a little pat.  Jack has been on a murderous rampage for the last 6 hours, killing almost everyone and anyone remotely connected to the conspiracy in the most brutal and inhumane way possible, for no reason other than he was mad at them for taking out his girlfriend.  I was annoyed that during this emotional confrontation between Chloe and Jack, there was absolutely no credence paid to the hypocrisy of Jack’s actions in light of his position vis a vis Tony last season.  Then, in the space of 5 minutes, he changes his mind.  For all the lead up to this moment, Jack didn’t really put up much of a fight.  Perhaps in the end, deep in his heart, he wasn’t so convinced what he was doing was right or ethical all along, which is what made it so easy for Chloe to call him off.  But it still seemed too easy.  I’m still not sure that this late turnaround is enough to redeem Jack of the crimes he committed in Renee’s name.  If he was not willing to forgive Tony, why should we forgive Jack?  No doubt, the epic heroism of his character was tainted by his little revenge spree.

That being said, I truly enjoyed the scene where Jack records a goodbye video to Kim explaining himself.  Though he never names her, it is obvious who he is talking to, and even though Kim was not there in character, she was there in spirit in a nice nod to the entity which functioned as Jack’s last (and often only) link to his humanity throughout the duration of the series.  On a related note, the scene where Jack shows mercy on Pillar because he claims to have a daughter sees Jack putting himself in the other man’s shoes, reminding us of who Jack was in Season 1, and allows his white hot rage to blur back to grey just a little.

His final conversation with Chloe in the last scene of the series was very touching, and paid great tribute to the unique and compelling dynamic between these two characters throughout 6 seasons of the show.  I loved how Jack’s image on the screen in CTU loomed larger than life over Chloe, mirroring the way that Jack’s presence has loomed larger than life for us fans.

Although the end was slightly anti-climactic because it was already a foregone conclusion that the efforts of Jack’s adversaries to take him out would fail, watching him walk away into next untold chapter, ready to fight another day as the drone’s feed blooped to black was inspiring and highly reminiscent of his departure into the sunset at the end of Season 4, about to be reborn into yet another new life.

Chloe O’Brian

Our awkward and badly dressed little tech nerd sure has come a long way, baby!  One of my long-standing complaints about this season overall was the failure of the writers to make Chloe’s character matter, to get her heart and soul involved in the action.  Once Jack went rogue and Chloe was promoted to CTU Director, all that changed.  At last there was a moral and emotional conflict for this character, and Mary Lynn Rajskub did a beautiful job once she finally had some material with a little soul to work with.  These final two episodes were the culmination of that.  We Chloe as sure of herself and committed where she once was insecure and hesitant.  This character finally came into her own during the final act of the final season.

The scene where Jack is urging her to shoot him was breathtaking.

Charles Logan

Charles, you are a horrible, selfish, manipulative man who is willing to sacrifice anything to reclaim your tainted glory, but you saved this season.  Gregory Itzin’s portrayal of Logan’s patent weakness and fear and utter disgrace was spellbinding, and it was great to see Jack tangling with somebody toward whom he has a long-standing grudge.  It made the action personal again, which is what a large part of the season was lacking.

I was very disappointed with the writers’ decision to make his suicide attempt unsuccessful.  Though grimly humourous in that Logan has failed miserably at everything he has ever tried to accomplish, including blowing his own brains out, I thought it was a weak choice and reeked heavily of a deliberate attempt to leave the door open for the character’s potential role in the upcoming movie franchise.  If the show had stayed true to its roots, Logan would have successfully offed himself.

President Taylor

Though Taylor’s eleventh hour crisis of conscience and subsequent decision to come clean and resign the Presidency was incredibly obvious and surely we all saw it coming, it was still the appropriate outcome.  Throughout this final act, I have questioned the realism of Taylor succumbing so completely to her own goals and ambitions, as well as the manipulations of a disgraced and dishonest ex-President, that she would cross every ethical line in the sand she has ever drawn for herself.

Nonetheless, Cherry Jones sold the story from top to bottom with her performance, and it was gratifying to see her story mirror that of David Palmer’s from Season 3.  Though Taylor’s fall from grace will be much more public and humiliating, at the end of the day these were two Presidents who sacrificed their own moral values in pursuit of their own self-interest, and then just as quickly regained them to renounce their right to their Office in light of their selfish failure.  They went out as the good guys.

Other General Musings

• I thoroughly enjoyed every scene involving Dalia Hassan.  Necar Zadegan was the surprise breakout in both the finale and the season.  Her rage at Taylor’s betrayal was epic, and I was rooting for her the whole time when she was layin’ it down.
• Although I think making Dana Walsh a sociopathic villain with no moral conscience was the right move, let’s be honest:  her actions and demeanour during the Kevin Wade debacle, most especially the scenes where she was alone and stalking Kevin, don’t make a lot of sense in light of it.  During that time, she was playing the scared girl from the midwest with a checkered past who doesn’t wanna lose her fiance and let things go too far.  There was no trace of the cold blooded killer and highly trained operative she was later written as.  Which is fine, because it actually gave the brilliant Katee Sackhoff an opportunity to play something other than the wet and wide eyed victim cliche.
• Sean Callery’s score work was outstanding as always through the finale.  A beautiful mix of the majestic and orchestral which evoked shades of much of his most wonderful work from seasons past, and the more modern, electronica-driven feel of his more recent contributions.
• I was disappointed in the lack of reference to Tony Almeida, and the absence of Aaron Pierce.  It would have been nice to see these two tour de force characters in the world of the show get their due in the final hours.  However, 24 has often been criticized for bringing characters back just for the hell of it in forced storylines, and while it would have been nice to see Pierce or hear Tony mentioned, was it absolutely necessary to provide closure to this season’s story?  Probably not, so I guess I applaud the show for sticking true to its vision of the season and not coddling the fans.  As much as I truly wanted to be coddled.
• I didn’t think the “countdown” clock at the end was necessary.  I would have preferred the traditional silent clock, a moment of silence in respect to the series as a whole.

All in all, it’s been a hell of a ride.  I’m sure I will be clocking in with more follow-up articles in light of the end of the series (like Definitive Top 24 Lists), but for now, just as Jack Bauer embarks on a new life post-CTU and post-TV, I too embark on a new life post-fandom (at least until the movie comes out).  Almeida Be With You!

50% (119 votes) – I’m pissed off, I really wanted a 9th season.
41% (96 votes) – I’m sad to see it go, but it was time to move on.
5% (11 votes) – I don’t care enough anymore to have an opinion.
4% (10 votes) – I’m glad to see it go, put it out of its misery!

Though the second place finisher in this poll was the early leader, as the days started ticking down closer to the series finale, the mourners came out of the woodwork to let us all know they were angry about the non-renewal.  There is a new poll up to the right about the series finale, so please vote!

Although Annie Wersching’s performance as Renee Walker was one of the highlights of this season (I’m sorry to see her go), and her death was more than a little contrived, it’s evident what the writers are up to, and while it seems an obvious choice to have Jack go rogue in the wake of Renee’s death, it’s also the right choice.  This entire episode was a pretext for Jack’s break from the chain of command to pursue his own agenda of vengeance (justice?).

Taylor’s decision to ignore the Russians’ involvement with terrorists and assassinations to “serve the greater good” and sign the peace treaty — I’m not sure how it is sitting with me.  I get that she can’t exactly go to war with the Russians over this.  I get that she can’t bear to abandon the peace treaty that will define her Presidency.  Like Jack, however, I am uncomfortable with the idea of the POTUS deliberately covering up elements in Moscow willing to attack the United States and assassinate a world leader.  Jack of course has the added Renee factor, and I have a feeling he’s not seeing things entirely clearly.  I think Jack has always been a character that has flirted with madness and the fact that he hasn’t yet truly snapped is a miracle (though he’s bent prettty nearly in half a few times).  If Renee hadn’t been murdered in front of him (the way Michelle was murdered in front of Tony) I think that no matter how disgusted with the decision he was, he would have ultimately obeyed Taylor’s orders.  But Renee’s death was a breaking point, as Michelle’s was for Tony.  While I don’t think that Jack is about to orchestrate an elaborate revenge scheme or decide that civilian lives were an acceptable loss to get revenge for Renee’s death, as Tony did with Michelle, he is about to go on a rampage, and this will be a somehow familiar yet elevated version of Jack Bauer that we have never seen.  At least, I hope.  And I cannot tell you how much my heart yearns for Jack to take that chopper he just hijacked and fly is straight to Washington DC to break Tony out of federal prison so they can take down Logan.  Sigh.

When Jack just loses it and starts berating Taylor in earnest … holy fuck.

OK, so speaking of Logan, best line of dialogue all night: “It’s good to be back in the game, even if it’s through the rear entrance.”  Oh my Almeida, Charles, you dry, smarmy bastard, you.  As many of you know, Season 5 was not my favourite.  However, Charles Logan is still one of my favourite characters on the series and I am so glad he’s back for the final episodes.  When he was ranting all about how Jack Bauer torpedoed his Presidency, it struck me that he is living on his own plane of reality right now.  Things are going to get VERY interesting.  Jack is going to expose the people behind Novakovich, Logan is going to be balls deep in it, and Logan is going to try and take down Bauer before Bauer can take him down.  The only thing that would make it sweeter is if Tony got to have a little revenge on Logan as well.

I really enjoyed watching the Taylor and Logan characters react to each other, especially in the scene where Logan has to tell Taylor about the Russians’ involvement in Hassan’s assassination.  Her rage was just so palpable, so present, so consuming, yet so controlled.  Jones has that aspect of this character mastered.  Allison Taylor has definitely reached Top Tier Female 24 Character status with me, alongside the likes of Nina Myers, Michelle Dessler, Sherry Palmer and Martha Logan. (I also consider Kim Bauer to be an Elite Female 24 Character, but she’s not QUITE in the same niche).  And Logan being a blowhard, trying to tell Taylor how it is and ask her to trust him after all he’s done — phewwwwwwwwwww.  Fuck.  At last we have some character stuff!  Some intrigue!

I really enjoyed Chloe’s role in this episode as well.  Jack is probably the most important person in the world to her next to her husband and son, and she knows what he is doing is, if not *wrong* then at least a very very bad idea.  MLR did a great job capturing Chloe’s dilemma and her emotion.  The final scene on the helipad was one of her finest in the role to date.

I’m pretty excited about the final episodes if this is the path they’re going down.  And I still yearn for a last minute Tony Almeida appearance.  I would even settle for the final scene of the series being Bauer getting tossed in jail for going rogue and probably killing Logan, and seeing Tony from across the crowded prison yard.

I give this episode a 9.5/10.

Other thoughts:

• Makeup people, do you have to put that much makeup on Greg Itzin?  His eyeliner is out of control!  So is his foundation powder!  I like my Logan grizzled!
• If it’s one drink when Jack steals someone else’s car, it will now be 2 drinks when Jack hijacks someone else’s helicopter.  Because it wasn’t the first time.
• Dig the Sackhoff/Sutherland vibe.  Katee Sackhoff makes a much better villain than she makes a victim.
• Ethan Kanin joins the ranks of the miraculously recovered!  This elite group includes the likes of Jack Bauer, Tony Almeida, Audrey Raines, Nina Myers and more!

While I will say up front that I will never be capable of thinking that anything 24 puts out not involving Tony Almeida and the Brotherhood is as good as what they put out when Tony is involved and Jack and Tony are mixing it up, these latest two hours have injected some much-needed life into the action and investment into the audience.  So in the spirit of drinking from a glass that’s half-full, I’ll offer up my highlights. I apologize in advance if it seems stream of consciousness.  I’ve had a rough few days

First, Dana Walsh.  Let’s get the disclaimers out of the way up front.  Number one, her storyline stunk up the joint for the first 12 episodes, no question.  I remember saying somewhere – maybe Twitter, maybe the forum, I can’t recall specifically – that I had a thought her desperation to hide her past might be indicative of more than just a desire to hide the things she had done as “Jenny Scott”, and that she could be a mole.  Then I dismissed this idea, thinking it was just too far out there, even for 24.  Turns out, I was wrong.  There is never anything too far out there for 24 and Dana did indeed turn out to be a mole.

Let’s set aside for a moment the undeniable knowledge that moles have been done to death on this show, and that their shock value is now virtually nonexistent.  Let’s also set aside for a moment the fact that, as Gareth of TV or Not TV so astutely pointed out in his mid-season review I posted a link to recently, unless the writers are able somehow to explain how a girl from Hicksville, USA that once sweated up the sheets with the likes of Kevin Wade acquired ties to a high level organization that supplies black market intelligence to terrorists, then it’s just sloppy writing.  My question at this point is whether or not Dana Walsh was even Jenny Scott at all?  Was it yet another cover? In these latest episodes, the writers alluded to “help” that Dana may have had establishing her credentials and getting through vetting for her position at CTU NY.  I will be a very upset viewer if they do not extrapolate on this coming through to the final hours, and if the Dana character is dropped after this.

However — the fact that the writers did make Dana the mole, perhaps a mole as ruthless and as (debatably?) sociopathic as Nina Myers herself (though personally I don’t think Dana’s character was as well-established as Nina’s, and as Gareth also pointed out, the audience was predisposed to distrust her from the get-go, so there was no emotional investment in her moledom) — this is truly fucking awesome, thanks to the unbelievable abilities of Katee Sackhoff as a performer.  I loved her in BSG and, despite how poorly written Dana’s character was through the first half of the season, I still love her performance in this role from the top down.  She has offered up an admirable and credible performance with very dubious material, and now that the writers are finally giving her something substantial, dramatic (as opposed to melodramatic) and relevant to work with, she has exploded.

The interrogation scene between Katee Sackhoff and Kiefer Sutherland was bone-chilling, and very well-accented by the scathingly austere, futuristic glow of the white interrogation room set.  WELL DONE!  Katee Sackhoff paced every piece of dialogue brilliantly, and her delivery with those fucking eyes rockin’ the Nina Myers Interrogation Room Gaze At The Surveillance Camera™ hammered it home.

But of course, the true highlight of this storyline was what happened before that in the parking garage.  In a massive homage to the Season 1 finale, the director (the amazing Brad Turner, who has been directing episodes for the series since Season 3) mirrored the Jack/Nina “last standoff” scene with Mason and Tony, using Cole and Dana with Hastings standing in for George.  From Hastings busting in yelling “Cole, don’t do it!” to the disbelieving heartbreak, anger and betrayal on Cole’s face to Dana’s matter-of-fact dead stare, it was a wonderful tribute to one of the best moments in the series’ history in this, the final season. Sackhoff and Prinze Jr. totally made that tribute scene their beeyotch.  Brava, Bravo.

I thought Hassan taking out Bauer and giving himself up to the terrorists was pretty fucking great.  Taking out Jack Bauer is a feat that not even Tony Almeida was able to accomplish.  *Clap clap*.  Hassan is one Badass Pompadour Rockin’ Motherfucker.

In all seriousness, though, the Hassan storyline through these two episodes was very well executed.  There have been moments throughout the season when I questioned Hassan’s character.  Samir was correct when he called him vain, and self-absorbed.  Over the last few episodes before this, Hassan was sort of faced with how he had failed and disappointed the people he cared about the most, and how what he worked so hard to achieve was being hijacked by the very men he was trying to stop.  These two episodes were about his reckoning, and in the end he came through as a hero who was willing to sacrifice himself to protect his ideals, his beliefs, his vision and innocent people.  I am proud of you, Mr. President.

I knew there was something off about the pursuit from the get-go.  As soon as they entered the apartment building, and it was being cut with scenes from Samir’s rant, I got a distinct “Chase in Season 3 busting into the routing room” vibe (the episode where Ryan Chappelle dies).  But I was expecting Jack to bust in and Hassan to be gone, or for it to be a decoy and for Dana to have been lying.  I didn’t expect Hassan to be lying dead on the floor with his throat gaping open.  WOW!

I think this was a very important and very good decision by the writers, especially at this juncture.  Ratings have been flagging a little, reviews have been mixed, fan response has been mixed.  So far, for me, this has been the only truly impactful death of the series so far this season.  Although bodies have been dropping left and right, none of them have belonged to anyone we truly care about (largely because there haven’t been THAT MANY *to* care about).  However, over these last two episodes, Omar Hassan rediscovered himself on an existential level and so by the time they reveal his brutal slaughter, the audience is absolutely low-hanging fruit, ripe for the picking.  Very well-done.  Probably the best stretch of writing the show has seen so far this season.  I also thought the dialogue itself in all of Hassan’s scenes was very effective and of course Anil Kapoor’s performance was exquisite.

I didn’t think it was OMG-Love-It-More-Than-Anything-In-Season-7 good, but I think they have finally found their stride.  It’s unfortunate that it’s taken this long, but on the bright side there are still 8 episodes left to go.  That’s a third of the season and now that they have wrapped up the thread with the Middle Eastern terrorists and the nuclear materials, they could go absolutely anywhere with it.  The ending of last night’s episode has left me pretty excited to see how they will take the series down to the final seconds.

I also think it was very important at this juncture for Jack Bauer to take a hit emotionally.  So far things have gone his way.  Sure he’s had some close calls, and it sucked when Owen died, but all in all, he’s had a pretty routine day for Jack Bauer.  He’s stayed in his “good place.”  Hell, he’s even falling in love with Renee all over again.  But, 24 has always been a tragedy, and I think for the show to stay true to its roots, there have to be some pretty heavy losses coming through these final hours as well.  There have to be sacrifices and reckonings — Jack’s, Chloe’s, Taylor’s, Logan’s, Pierce’s (if he ever shows up).  It’s good that Jack has failed and it will be good watching him (and Renee also) go through it.  I think it will also be good from the motivational and emotional point of view of Taylor’s character as well.  Cherry Jones was excellent in these episodes, and the devastation on her face when she saw Hassan was gut-wrenching.

Overall, I give this 2 episode double header a 9.25/10.  Nothing without Tony Almeida will ever get a perfect score from me.  But yeah, I was into it.

Other thoughts:

Callery, I love you, forever and always.  How you resurrected that sort of Spanish guitar type retro theme during the hunt that was prevalent in Seasons 1/2 and gave it a new twist with the electronica stuff.  I know you’re probably already married and probably think I’m a whackjob, but I would have your children, absolutely.

I liked how Chloe and Renee worked with Jack to identify the mole, but I still wish the emotional stakes for Chloe would be demonstrated a little more profoundly.  So few old guard characters left coming through to the bitter end.  Although it was badass in 8×14 when she asked herself “What Would Jack Bauer Do?” and then pulled a gun on that NSA asshole.

I’m extremely pumped for Logan’s return next week.  Cannot wait to see Greg Itzen in that role again.

Avery told me she hopes that on some off-chance, Dana’s employers is connected to Nina’s mysterious employer from S1.  I’m not holding my breath, but that would certainly rock the house.

I agree with whoever said that the actress playing Kayla Hassan is kinda mediocre.

Loved it when Tarin freaked out on Hassan about his “Western whore”!!!!  I “oooooooohhhhhhheeeeeed” out loud.

Glad Ethan didn’t die.

I counted 3 shots in the AIG drinking game for last night’s double-header: 2 “we’re running out of time” related instances of dialogue, and Jack stealing someone else’s car (always a personal favourite of mine). Any I missed?

Very few television shows maintain utter brilliance for the entirety of their run, and 24 was no exception; the show has seen a steady decline in quality over its last few seasons and it pains me to say it but it has gotten to a point where it has become a shadow of its former self.

The decline in quality hasn’t been as obvious as say, a Prison Break and to the casual viewer, 24 probably still seems like one of the most white-knuckle, high octane thrill rides (and all those other clichés) on TV; but to the diehard fans, the magic of those first few brilliant years has now long gone.[...]

Season 8 was always going to be fighting a losing battle with me over the shocking decision not to have Tony Almeida as part of it (although, I still hold out hope this could be a ruse and he will eventually return) but all personal bias and feelings aside, thus far, apart from a few classic moments and performances season 8 has been somewhat of a disappointment.

It genuinely feels like the writers have run out of ideas, this year we seem to have had just about every plot line from seasons past recycled – mole at CTU, EMP going off, nuclear materials on US soil, evil Russians, evil middle Eastern terrorists, presidential assassination plot… the list goes on.

[...]

Every season it seems there is a bad guy within CTU and yes I appreciate it adds to the tension and the drama but it needs to be believable – in these remaining 11 episodes they have to address how Dana managed to fabricate this life and how the hell this girl from Hicksville managed to get ties to the IRK, otherwise it’s just sloppy writing. A show like this needs to be watertight in terms of plot holes but there have been more gaping holes in this season than Briana Loves Jenna.

I know that each time the writers put a mole inside CTU that they are doing their best to recapture the Nina twist of season 1 but that’s just never going to happen. The Nina double crossed worked so well because they had painstakingly built up our trust in her over the entire season – she didn’t just betray Jack and Tony… she betrayed all of us.

But now, we’re so desensitised by these moles at CTU it just doesn’t shock anymore; plus we already had no trust in Dana because we know her life is built on lies, so when it was revealed she was in league with the terrorists this past week it was more just a shrug of the shoulders than a jaw on the floor moment.

60% (146 votes) – The fact that Tony Almeida isn’t in it.
21% (51 votes) – Dana Walsh psycho ex-boyfriend subplot.
13% (31 votes) – Repetitive, unoriginal storylines.
5% (12 votes) – I neither like nor care about any of the new characters.
2% (4 votes) – Lack of meaningful screentime for Chloe & President Taylor.

Unsurprisingly, the community of this site overwhelmingly selected the lack of Tony as the worst aspect of Season 8.  Don’t forget to vote in the new poll about 24‘s cancellation.

But in light of the news that 24 will not see another season beyond the current one, coupled with the fact that the 8×15/8×16 double-header seems to have inspired the fans, I decided to re-open the forum and invite my loyal (though shrinking) community of contributors and lurkers alike to finish out the season by posting their thoughts on the forum as usual, if they so wish.

So welcome back everyone.  Being that this is the last season of the series, I invite anyone who has lurked but never posted to get involved.  Let’s try to send the series out in AIG-style.