I hoped to never have to write an article like this. I never even bothered to hope that 24 wouldn't have a down year (or day), because it's inevitable that the longer a TV series runs, the higher the likelihood that the quality will suffer in some way. I dare someone to point to a TV show that ran longer than five years which didn't hit a slump (though The Shield, now entering its sixth season is looking to become that example). Beloved characters die, plot lines are exhausted and recycled, familiarity with the format wears on even devoted fans. This holds especially true for 24, with its extremely high mortality rate and limited time frame.
Nonetheless, I'm mortified at how many critics and even fans claim to be giving up on 24, particularly after the latest episode, 09:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m., the sixteenth episode of the season. It is true that of the recent episodes, most seem to be overflowing with filler. Yes, Jack hasn't had a lot to do since he crashed the second embassy of his career a few hours back. Yes, the presidential plotline, which sees the Vice-President evoke the 25th Amendment in order to push Wayne Palmer out of power in order to start a Middle Eastern war, is a blatant rip-off of the second season plotline which saw the exact same thing occur. Yes, Mike Doyle's personality shift from asshole to nice guy feels contrived, to put it mildly. But not as contrived as Palmer's decision to continue ahead with the nuclear strike once regaining complete control, a twist that has utterly baffled many loyal viewers, and not in a good way.
And after Milo and Nadia's hookup, I'm officially frustrated that CTU hasn't completely banned workplace romances, seeing as they only lead to trouble. Nina and Jack, Nina and Tony, Tony letting Stephen Saunders go in exchange for Michelle's safety, Curtis and Marianne Taylor, and so fourth. I'd suggest firing all of the women at CTU, only I'd hate to think of what kind of workplace romances that would spawn.
I'd be lying if I said it probably wasn't the most boring episode I'd ever seen. But fans seem to be forgetting that 24 is perhaps unique in that it ultimately demands it be judged not by individual episodes, but by entire seasons. By now, even the most faithful fan would be aware of the difficulty of thinking of new plotlines, and I believe we're seeing the result of that difficulty. This season has experienced quality drops and resurgences like no other; the first few episodes were okay, then they got good, then weak, then really good again, and now back to weak.
It's too bad that 24 fans have to deal with this sort of schizophrenic watchability this year, but why all the whining? Even the weak episodes are still among the best series' on TV, the only two stronger ones currently airing being Lost and The Shield, two brilliant shows that still would eat the dust of 24's three best seasons (1,2, and 4).
Another thing that 24 fans are forgetting is that the show has suffered from bad plots before and came out fine. Examples:
Day 1 - Teri Bauer's amnesia.
Day 2 - Kim Bauer's nanny problems.
Day 3 - Kim's presence at CTU.
Day 4 - Erin Driscoll's daughter, which I pegged as an obvious setup for a suicide from the minute she appeared on screen.
Day 5 -Martha Logan's middle of the day advisory role to President Logan.
It would be spurious for me to pretend that Day 6 didn't have more problems than any other, but the truth remains that the series easily survived all of the low points I just listed, and can do so again.
I'll make a confession; out of curiosity I did something that I've never done before and went lurking through the spoiler forums, looking for a general idea of what to expect next. I can happily report two things:
1. The ending of the last episode, which some call the worst twist ever, is about to make a lot more sense, so all the moaning and groaning over it will be rendered mostly moot.
2. The plot arc for Jack Bauer during the final episodes is an AWESOME idea. I seriously got chills just thinking about the potential.
So, to any disheartened 24 fans that may read this, I implore you to stick it out to the end of the day. After five brilliant days, why quit now?
I would like to share my input on what 24 could do next season to bring things back to par. Consider this; Day 1 was the only season of the show that didn't involve the formula of "Jack chases terror suspect from one place to another while the president sits in his office and deals with enemies foreign and domestic." In Day 1, we never even glimpsed the president, and Jack never used CTU as his own strike force against terror. Not to knock the format, since it has worked so well, but Day's 2-6 have all worked the same way. A few suggestions for the seventh day of 24:
-More personal, less militaristic. Jack is at his best when going at it alone, perhaps with a little help from a computer geek at CTU.
- Cut the politicians! These plots are the most frequently dismissed of the series. We've had some great times with Presidents Palmer, Prescott, Palmer, Keeler, Logan, and Palmer (yikes!), but Jack and CTU is the core of the show, not the White House.
- Up the ante for Jack, not necessarily for the entire country. Day 1 involved no weapons of mass destruction and no plots to start massive wars, and yet it is arguably the most tense and involving. Just because a threat may be small in scale doesn't rob it of the potential to be important to the audience.
- You know those characters like Miles, Milo, and Nadia, the ones that none of the fans care about? They can be replaced. Season 4 started with only one familiar character (Chloe) other than Jack, and worked very well.
- Don't rush to conclude plotlines! 24 has developed a habit of taking potentially good plots and wrapping them up very quickly. Something like a kidnapping, the search for a stolen piece of technology, or a WMD can easily provide enough tension and twists to fill twelve episodes.
- Ditch the left-leaning plots. I'm not one of those those dickhead The West Wing fans who insist that my favorite TV show always parrot my own political bent, but 24's attempts to lean left this season are among the series' most awkward moments. 24 is at its best when it is right, something even the Barbara Streisand's and Bill Clinton's (both confessed fans) would have to acknowledge.
- Last, and most importantly, Jack Bauer is 24! This isn't so much of a suggestion as it is a rule. As long as Jack is the star of the show and acts true to character, 24 will always have potential to be a great series. New plots may be hard to produce, but they aren't impossible, and as long as the Jack Bauer that I've come to know and love is in the middle of it all, I'll be watching.
