Well I watched two finales last night. One was for a show I used to consider my favorite, and it left me more then a bit disappointed. The other was for what I now consider to be my favorite show, and I absolutely loved it. 24 was the finale I enjoyed, and I'll leave the Buffy reviews for Pyronics.
Episode 2.24, "7 AM to 8 AM"
Story By: Robert Cochran and Howard Gordon
Teleplay By: Joel Surnow and Michael Loceff
Directed By: Jon Cassar
In many ways this finale was completely different then the one from last year. As I mentioned in my last article, the difference comes in the knowledge of the future. Last year the writers had no way of knowing whether or not they were going to be picked up for the next season, so they felt the need for the finale to truly be a resolution to the story they had been telling. This year, the writing staff already knew that FOX was picking them up for a third season (Yay FOX! . . . damn, been a long time since I could say that) so thus this finale could be about more than resolving the issues of the day, it could also serving as a bridge to the next season. Needless to say some people weren't necessarily pleased with this choice, but it makes perfect sense to me. If they had wrapped this story line up neatly, and simply put Jack in a new one next year, then we risk facing the Die Hard problem. Which boils down to "How can this much shit keep happening to the same man?" Now we have a reason why he will still be caught up in the events of next season. The tricky part is going to be working Kim and Kate into the mix I think.
So we left Jack suffering from heart palpitations due to the torture and death he suffered earlier in the day. His SUV has crashed into a ditch, and though Jack recovers his seatbelt becomes jammed. Seeing this, Sherry decides its time for her to get out of town while she still can. Jack pleads with her to not do this as he struggles to be free, but it's only when he brings up David Palmer that Sherry is given pause. Despite all the anger and resentment that she feels, there is a part of her that still loves David and she can't walk away from him. Which is an odd sentiment coming from a woman who actually helped bring his current troubles to fruition. Still, Sherry decides to help Jack try to stop this war, and by extension win David Palmer back his presidency.
Palmer's other betrayer, Mike Novick, is also confronted with a touch choice. Brian Jacobs has brought forth evidence that links Kingsley to Wallace. Faced with this possible validation of Bauer's and Palmer's beliefs, the man must now face his own crucible. Will Mike help the man he betrayed by trying to stop the very events that caused Mike to betray Palmer in the first place, or will he sit quietly by and watch a world go to a war that he now has doubts upon. It's a testament to Mike's character that he doesn't even flinch at this choice, and he calls up Chappelle and orders him to assist Jack Bauer in whatever ways that Jack needs.
This puts Chappelle in trouble though, since he has completely cut Bauer out of the loop and has no idea on how to contact the now rogue CTU agent. He is forced to go to Tony and Michelle and plead for their help, who agree to give it providing that Chappelle drops the charges against them. The man has no choice and reluctantly accedes to their demands.
Tony calls up Jack to let him know that he's back in play and Jack tells him about the meeting that's been set up between Kingsley and Sherry. Chappelle wants Jack to wait for backup, but Jack points out that they have no time for that. The bombers will strike within the hour. What he does do is have Michelle set up a voice print matching system for Sherry and Kingsley to prove the conversation is not fabricated, and then has a direct line put through to the White House so they can hear it all happen with their own ears.
Kate and Kim arrive at the CTU, and Kim demands to see her father. Tony tells her that he's in the field, but should be back soon. He has Kim go to a waiting room, but stops Kate to let her know that her father and sister are still there. Surprised at this, Kim rushes to the cell that Marie is held in, and sees her father pleading with Marie for an explanation. Marie sits there quietly, eyes dead to the world.
Kate tries to convince her father that there is nothing they can do or say to bring Marie back to them. The Marie they once knew is dead, and all that's left is a monster wearing her face. Bob Warner reluctantly backs off and leaves the room with Kate, but just as Kate is about to leave the room, Marie calls out her name.
Kate turns to confront her sister, who gets up and stands right in front of the glass partition that separates them. There's a nice camera shot here that shows each sister as the twisted reflection of the other. Marie mocks her sister, telling her that she's still not safe. Someone, apparently, will still be coming for Kate Warner. Whether this is connected to Kingsley and the Industrialists or one last remnant of the terrorist cell Second Wave is unknown. I'm guessing this is the sub plot which Kate and Kim follow next year.
At the Coliseum, Jack fits Sherry with a wireless tap, which should hopefully go unnoticed by Kingsley and his cronies. Sherry confesses her fear and Jack promises to do his best to protect her. Once again Chappelle urges Jack to wait for back up, but once again Jack points that they have no time.
Sherry goes forward with her meeting, and though Kingsley pads her down he does not find the tap. The two play cat and mouse with each other, as Sherry tries to get Kingsley to admit to forging the audio recordings that have prompted this first strike by the United States. Finally, he does just that to the shock of President Prescott and the rest of the Cabinet. With four minutes left to go until the strike, Prescott cancels the bombers' run.
When Sherry doesn't give up Hewitt under duress, Kingsley suspects that she's been lying to him. He orders one of his men who has a sniper position to shoot her, but gets no response. He looks up just in time to see Jack Bauer with a sniper rifle before running for cover. And if you know anything about Jack Bauer, it's that giving him a sniper rifle is a dangerous thing indeed. He proceeds to systematically eliminate Kingsley's men, until only Kingsley and one other guard remain.
Jack knows that he has what he needs, so once he runs out of ammo he collects Sherry and begins to flee. Along the way he's jumped by the remaining guard and a struggle ensues. Though they don't happen that often, I do love the fight sequences on 24. Unlike Angel or Alias, which embrace a very stylized and flashy form of martial arts, the choreography on 24 is much more basic and realistic. Nobody has time to do spin kicks or jump kicks, as every move is blocked and countered against each other. Limbs are attacked and leverage points are sought in one of the most fluid fight sequences I've seen on any show. Of course a bit of flash is added as Jack runs his body up a wall and comes down the other side, snapping his adversaries neck in the process. But when somebody can come off that cool, I say work it.
Of course all this exertion is not good on Jack's ticker, which is now working overtime due to the stress his body has taken. Having another heart attack, Jack is helpless as Kingsley cautiously approaches him. Of course Kingsley falls for stupid villain cliché #1, which is that he doesn't bother to kill the hero when he has him at his mercy. But an excuse is given that Kingsley was holding out hope that Jack would lead him to Hewitt, the only person that Kingsley believes can bring down the plan to lead America into war. The irony being that Kingsley himself has already unwittingly brought down the plan. When he realizes that Jack won't turn over Hewitt, he prepares to kill Jack, but is taken out himself by the CTU reinforcements that have arrived.
When Max, the seeming ring leader of the Industrialists finds out that the war has been called off and that Kingsley is dead, he is a little put out. Max, however, appears to have a back up plan in place. He calls a mysterious person and tells them to go ahead with the plan.
With the acknowledgement that he was actually right on his judgement call, Palmer is restored to the office of President and shows mercy to those who acted against him. He asks Prescott and the rest of the cabinet to stay on despite the differences between them. The only person who Palmer does come down on is Mike, the very man responsible for Palmer's eleventh hour salvation, because it was also Mike's betrayal that hurt him the deepest. He asks Mike to resign from his post and then gets ready for a press conference he's just arranged.
Kate and Kim arrive at the Coliseum and Kim rushes over to her father who is being loaded into an ambulance. She promises to take care of him as Kate looks on smiling. It'll be interesting to see what kind of damage Jack might have permanently suffered as a result of his injuries. His heart problems could be severe indeed, which could create a wrinkle to the seemingly invincible killing machine he often turns into.
Palmer is holding his rapidly assembled press conference on the steps of the CTU Division building, assuring the people gathered before him and all over America that the crisis has passed them by. As he's talking we see a mysterious woman work her way through the crowd in an attempt to get closer to Palmer. It's obvious that she's part of the backup plan that Max referenced earlier in the episode.
The kicker is when you see the woman's face and discover that it's Mandy. Mandy, for those who never saw the first season of 24 or just don't remember, was an assassin introduced in the earliest episodes. She was employed by Ira Gaines to obtain the security cards that his assassin would need to get at David Palmer. She accomplished this mission in grand fashion, by causing the destruction of an jetliner full of innocent civilians after snapping her targets neck and stealing his ID cards. After that, she faded back into the woodworks, staying out of the way as Jack took out Gaines and Drazen. So in other words, she's a bad ass of the highest caliber.
Palmer doesn't recognize her and as he leaves the crowd and shakes the hands of the spectators, she pushes herself forward and grasps his hand. After that she turns around and leaves the crowd, moving to an abandoned corridor where she peels a synthetic substance off the hand that Palmer shook and places it in a case.
Palmer meanwhile is preparing to leave when he begins to feel woozy. He looks down at his hand and sees that it's been burned before collapsing. People being to scream and shout for help as Palmer seemingly begins to die in front of our eyes.
Which is of course right where they choose to end this episode.
Some people have complained about this situation as well, wondering why it was so easy to possibly assassinate Palmer here when it was so complicated in the first season. What they're not taking into account is that these were highly different circumstances. To begin with, last season Victor Drazen had very special plans for David Palmer's death. He wanted Jack Bauer to be the gunman so that way Victor could have his revenge on both men. Death for the man who had ordered his death and a lifetime's worth of imprisonment to the man who had led to his own imprisonment. It was a nice little plan that Victor set up, so thus everything was set to accomplish that particular execution of the plan.
Secondly, Palmer called this press conference in an awful hurry. The Secret Service had no true time to sweep the area or inspect all the spectators. And since Mandy assaulted the President in such a subtle way, they had no way of stopping her or even knowing what she was doing. It seems simple and elegant to me.
Now the question is what did Mandy do to Palmer? Did a lethal virus infect him? Or is it something that was designed to simply incapacitate the man? Here's another thought, maybe Mandy lifted Palmer's prints from the latex substance on her hand, which will be used by Max to further his own ambitions.
The truth is that I have no way of knowing how any of this will turn out, and though I have to wait all summer to find out why; the fact that I'm so excited to find out shows that the writers did a damn good job indeed. I know I'll be back come the fall.
Episode Rating: 9.5 out of 10
-- Tim Ritenour
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