About Last Night: 24 Season 8 Wrap-up

Can the series finale of 24 help Butler's spirits recuperate from his disappointment in lost? Journey beyond the jump to find out!


                In all of the hullaballoo regarding the wrapup of that whole Lost thing, it’s easy to forget that this week represents the end for another epic series as well.  And while 24 has not garnered nearly the mainstream attention in the last few years that Lost did, I feel it has been a pretty similar ride for its fans: A great start, a big-ass lag in the middle, followed by some tentative hints at redemption for the series in the end.  But unlike Lost, will the finale actually wrap up the show itself, rather than simply the last season, or will it continue my week’s cavalcade of disappointment in TV series finales?

             

   Well, the series has been tentatively on the rocks for me at all times, largely due to the introduction of multiple new characters to which we as viewers have absolutely no attachment, who long overstay their welcomes.  Dalia Hassan and President Taylor’s personal conflict over the treaty signing and the Russian murder of Omar Hassan took a front seat to the first hour of the 2 hour finale event.  Taylor, even though she has been the most likeable president since David Palmer, has had control relinquished from her by Charles Logan in such an obvious way, that her actions just can’t seem to be ascribed to her anymore.  In order to keep the process alive, she MUST continue down Logan’s path.  Any tears we see from her on the matter seem to be Alligator tears and we lost interest in her side of the conflict.  Dalia continues to be as a sympathetic as your average pet rock, as in the context of the show, and given that she is the wife of a politician, the personal manner in which she takes deceit and subterfuge comes off as juvenile, and not at all like the adept character we had seen come out in the last 6 hours or so.  Not that anyone ever liked or cared about Dalia Hassan to begin with.

"Don't cry for me, Middle Eastern country that is totally NOT Iran."

                The money shot(s) of the episode, however, come when the focus is brought back around to the characters who have had enough tenure on the show for us to legitimately care about their overall outcomes: Charles Logan, Chloe, and of course Jack.  You know, the other trinity.  There is a superlatively intense moment where Chloe is trying to talk Jack down from assassinating the goddamn president of Russia where he concludes that in order to live, she has to shoot him.  And she won’t.  No matter how much he screams, until he counts down and puts his own gun to his head.  Hell, I KNEW Jack was going to come out alive once news of the 24 movie came out and I still jumped.  But at that moment we saw some genuine understanding between Chloe and Jack: both his realization of how over the edge he had gone as well as her realization of HOW he had been driven to such lengths.  Logan, too, had his grand denouement in the form of his own suicide.  Even as Jason Pillar tried to talk him into lying his way out of another situation, a move that would be totally in character, we saw that he realized just how fucked he was.  And finally taking responsibility in the one way open to him that doesn't involve witnessing the death of his reputation for a second time, he paints the ceiling with his brains. 

Probably something like a combination

of the middle two hues.

My final fear of the finale was that they would not conclude the series in a way befitting a show that has had such longevity and at least averages out to “quality” (some bad, but a lot GREAT) for its duration.  And while having Jack leave the country under presidential decree reeked of the ending for season 4 where Jack… left the country under presidential decree, I think that they did the best with what they could given that killing Jack was not an option.  President Taylor finally assuming responsibility for her actions rather than scapegoating to Logan made me respect what they had been doing with her character much more (in retrospect), as it would have been a deal breaker for me if they let her off the hook somehow, left only to deal with her personal demons or some bullshit.  So while the focus on this nebulous peace process definitely seemed to overstay its welcome, it was worth it for the redemptive character arc (that could even happen in story, as opposed to in the goddamned afterlife.  Oh sorry, Lost spoiler.  Too late.  Fuck you.).  Jack will still be in a position where he must answer for his vigilantism when this movie comes out, but if you don’t want your conception of the show ruined by watching what will probably be an awful, unnecessary film, you don’t have to.  Jack has proven that he can pull the lone wolf routine, and Chloe has finally seen the person she will need to become with her newfound responsibilities as CTU director.  Given that everyone else we cared about is dead or had their individual arc seen through to completion, I can say that as a wrap up for the show, I have three words for the 24 team: GREAT. FUCKING. JOB.

And I mean every adorable word of it.