S09.E12: Day 9: 10:00 PM-11:00 AM

[benteen]

If the Russians are smart, they'll use Jack.  They have just acquired America's greatest natural resource.

[hoosier80]

 

The show kind of fell flat for me after Margot died.  She made this show.  Cheng is a cartoon, and I didn't care for the Russians.

 

I totally agree.  Cheng just didn't have enough time to be a full on baddie.  True, he ordered Audrey to be killed, but I think they could have had Margot's story run until the end.  

 

As Jack got in the helicopter, I kept thinking he was going to escape.  As it flew away, I went noooooooooooooo..................  The ending fell flat for me.

 

Lots of loose ends:

 

1.  Simone - dead or in a coma?

2.  Navarro - what happened to him?  Didn't see him once they got the tracking device code.

3.  So Cross had the device designed, but who really asked or paid for it?  Did Cross just get a wild hair up his butt and decide on his own to design such a thing? It seemed like Margot had bargained with the first guy (sorry forgot his name) to buy it.  So was he part of Cross' organization?  And once Margot was out of the picture (or window), did Cross then sell the device to Cheng?

4.  What was Cheng's end game?  We know the Russian guy wanted it to make Russia the world power, but what was Cheng's angle?  Just revenge?

5.  Heller kept saying he had his illness under control and seemed ok through all of the crises.  Then he says oh that he forgot who the woman in picture on his desk was - that totally doesn't jive with what he'd said all along.  He remembered the picture Audrey had of when she was younger, when they were at the beach when he went to surrender to Margot.  Unless he just gave up once Audrey was killed.  Plus, didn't he send a resignation letter so that the unnamed vp would then be president?

 

Other than just being pissed off, there was no reason for Cheng to kill Audrey once Jack was already on his dock/ship.  He kills Audrey, there went any leverage he had over Jack.  The villains rarely have a good plan b.  Why not say I have multiple snipers throughout London ready to take her out if you act?  Or something else. I don't buy that he could have set up sniper 1 and 2 in the short time given, especially since he didn't seem to be that great on thinking through his plans.

[WhoAmIWorkingFor]

As best as I can figure:

 

1. Simone: As best as I can recall, while being woken up for interrogation resulted in her having a seizure, she wasn't totally dying.  Since the CIA building wasn't bombed or gassed, she could have made it through (to spend a lot of time in prison anyway).

2. Navarro: Presumably still in custody.

3. Cross and the override: Developed it with Cheng's financial support.  Yates was working on it as well, though in the later conversation with Chloe, Cross said that he personally was more involved with actually creating it.  Margot just got really lucky that Yates was a greedy backstabber and stole the thing; Cheng wanted it the whole time.

4. Cheng: Did it for the lulz, and because Kirk left him marooned on Ceti Alpha V.

5. Heller: Probably not far enough along that bits of his memory are totally lost, but events like not recognizing Audrey's picture were what got him to notice that he had a problem.

 

Meanwhile, it occurred to me that moving things to London meant that they could really screw with time and space in ways that most of us wouldn't recognize (or at least it obfuscates it for more people, since fewer US viewers will have experience with London than LA or NYC or DC).  I mean, the show abandoned the inconvenient geographical realities of real-time many, many seasons ago, but I have absolutely no idea where they were for 98% of this season.  Which is also a bit silly, since they transported the show to a great new location only to show it in tiny slices; might as well have been back in LA then.

[Mrs OldManBalls]

 I have no idea what to do with myself on Monday nights now that this is over. 

[valandsend]

What exactly was Audrey's job in the White House? She was allowed to sit in on high-security meetings, so she must have been more than the president's daughter and the wife of the chief of staff. But would she have been confirmed for such a secure position given her past mental health issues?

 

I wonder if the president's line "Speak!" to the aide who delivered the news about Audrey was scripted. Devane used to say that a lot when he was on Knots Landing.

[Boundary]

Kate should do what Jack said, learn to live with what has happened with her.  If she's smart, she'll return of the US and pretend that she never even heard of Jack Bauer.

 

That's what Renee did initially, until she walked into CTU New York to help them out on the same day Jack did the same.

 

I'm sad to Audrey but there was no other exit for her: she obviously still loved Jack, even after years of marriage. But she couldn't have really tamed him, his daughter Kim eventually understood this point. In S6 Heller was also right in recognising that Audrey's proximity to Jack eventually results in danger. The only people who can handle being with Jake are fellow agents, like Renee and Kate.

[snarkylady]

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong....but didn't Jack promise to turn himself in (to be given to the Russians) if President Heller would let him take part in getting Margot?   I may be mixing up a few things but I'm reasonably sure that Jack said he would give himself up and that's what he wound up doing.  

[blackwing]

Don't think I saw it mentioned here.  But for the previous episode, we were discussing the Phillip Winchester character, and how possibly inappropriate it was for an Army Colonel to be in the inner circle.  In the finale, Heller enters a room, asks for a situation update.  "Admiral?"  The Phillip Winchester character doesn't hesitate at all.  No awkward glance, despite the fact that Admiral is a Navy rank.  Then later in the episode, Winchester is again addressed as Colonel.  Not sure if we are supposed to chalk this up to Heller's Alzheimer's, because if we were, they didn't do a good job of conveying it.  Winchester could have looked at one of his colleagues with a puzzled look, he could have pointed to himself in a "me???" manner, he could have just not answered necessitating Heller to ask him why he wasn't responding, etc.

[Sake614]

blackwig, thank you, I thought I was losing my mind when I watched that scene! Admiral or Colonel, the guy was far too young to be either, but I didn't know what was going on!

[Raachel2008]

I'm must be naive, I thought Jack and Audrey would be okay because the show came back after 4 years and a bad ending so they would be nicer this time, but no Jack can't catch a break. I read the interview linked, the showrunners and Kiefer are convinced Jack is a tragic figure and can't have a happy ending but killing another person he love, being sent to torture again it's just overkill..

 

 

They can make Jake a tragic figure all they want, but they should stop killing or hurting the women in his life. It is not even a plot device now, it is  man!pain! at its worst. Audrey's death accomplished nothing, because Jack was going to kill Cheng one way or another, and he was going to turn himself to the Russians. They were never going to be together, even with Mark rotting in a prison somewhere - there is no way Jack can have a normal life. So, what is the point? None, just the same old bullshit - kill the romantic interest to add a dead cherry on the top.

Edited July 16, 2014 by Raachel2008

[Kris117]

An agent who represents an actor on the miniseries told me that Jack actually had a grenade he was going to use. You'll remember he wasn't subject to a body search? The helicopter was to blow up but they apparently had second thoughts in the month between wrap and broadcast. I'm glad that didn't happen.

 

I was fully expecting that helicopter to blow up with Jack on it. Then we would be left with "Oh, no, Jack is dead……or is he?" I do like the idea of him wreaking havoc in a gulag, though. 

 

I never cared for Audrey—she always struck me as a drip, so I wasn't sad to see her go. I was more moved by her flag-draped coffin than I was by the death scene. It wasn't that Kim Raver wasn't fine in the scene; it was just how I felt about the character.

 

I am glad Chloe, Belchek and Kate survived. Yvonne Strahovski was a great addition to the cast, and it wouldn't have been the same without Chloe. I did a lot of eye-rolling when I the news broke that they were reviving the show, but I thought they did a good job keeping some of the old framework but freshening it up. 

 

Dear TV Character: If your character is married to Tate Donovan, run. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200, just run. 

[Kris117]

I think Jack made it to Siberia—a brand new crater was discovered recently. 

 

The list of possible natural explanations for the giant hole includes a meteorite strike and a gas explosion, or possibly an eruption of underground ice.

 

…or Act of Jack. 

[jonnysokko]

I kept thinking how nice it was that the British powers-that-be just allowed the American, Chinese and Russian operatives to run amok all over London without hardly any interference from the host country's military whatsoever. So what if drones were used to destroy Wembley Stadium, a hospital and real estate far and wide. Saying nothing about the mass carnage everywhere. Seemed that after the drone issued was settled, the Brits just became spectators to one of the more horrific days in 24 history. And that's saying something.

[benteen]

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong....but didn't Jack promise to turn himself in (to be given to the Russians) if President Heller would let him take part in getting Margot?   I may be mixing up a few things but I'm reasonably sure that Jack said he would give himself up and that's what he wound up doing.  

 

He did but a couple of hours later, Heller told Jack that he pardoned him for all crimes committed on Day 8 and Day 9.  I don't know if Heller would have handed him over to the Russians though.

 

Agreed about Jack's man pain.  He's always going to be a tragic figure and he's always going to have the death of loved ones on his mind.  Any further deaths is just overkill.

Edited July 16, 2014 by benteen

[WhoAmIWorkingFor]

He did but a couple of hours later, Heller told Jack that he pardoned him for all crimes committed on Day 8 and Day 9.  I don't know if Heller would have handed him over to the Russians though.

 

Agreed about Jack's man pain.  He's always going to be a tragic figure and he's always going to have the death of loved ones on his mind.  Any further deaths is just overkill.

While Jack must have known that the Russians were still angry with him, I also figured that when he said that he'd turn himself in, it was to the USA, not "to the USA so I can end up in Russia," because it would be stupid to turn a one-man army over to the Russians.  At least, Jack should have some domestic charges of his own for shooting his way to Charles Logan, deposed President or not.

 

Jack's doomed love interests, to use the terms of the classic tropes, started out as the Cartwright Curse, but Audrey's death this season on the heels (in the viewer timeframe if not Jack's) of Renee's last season is headed straight toward Stuffed In The Fridge.  As multiple people have already mentioned in this thread, Jack didn't need Audrey's death to spur on any of his actions in the bottom half of the episode.  Margot, who he had absolutely no prior history with, got tossed out the window on general principles; Cheng had already tortured Audrey once, so his chances for survival were none and none.  And after seeing them together for about six seasons, the viewer already knows that Jack would do anything for Chloe, even if they don't talk about it that much.  Killing off Audrey is just piling on the trauma by picking on an easy target.

 

(This is on top of all the other tragic figure choices Jack's had to make in the cases of people that he didn't have intimate relations with, like Chase's hand and Paul Raines.  If I type that out as glibly as possible it doesn't look like a weird sex joke.)

[benteen]

Stuffed in the fridge, that is the PERFECT analogy for what they've been doing to Jack's love interests.  Whatever name it goes by, it's clichéd overkill.  I recall in Season 8 that they said they always intended Renee to die and they needed that to fuel Jack's actions.  It showed me how shot they were creatively if that was the best they could do with the Renee character, who was the breakout star of Season 7 and the actress that should have gotten the Emmy nomination.  It would appear four years later, they haven't learned any new tricks in this regard.

 

Yeah, I don't think Jack would have agreed to surrender to the government if the Russians were involved.  I couldn't remember how that scene went down.

[WhoAmIWorkingFor]

Stuffed in the fridge, that is the PERFECT analogy for what they've been doing to Jack's love interests.  Whatever name it goes by, it's clichéd overkill.  I recall in Season 8 that they said they always intended Renee to die and they needed that to fuel Jack's actions.  It showed me how shot they were creatively if that was the best they could do with the Renee character, who was the breakout star of Season 7 and the actress that should have gotten the Emmy nomination.  It would appear four years later, they haven't learned any new tricks in this regard.

 

Yeah, I don't think Jack would have agreed to surrender to the government if the Russians were involved.  I couldn't remember how that scene went down.

As you said in the post preceding mine, "he's always going to have the death of loved ones on his mind.  Any further deaths is overkill."  From that I'd also say that killing Teri was enough.

 

Jack was pretty screwed up at the beginning of Season 2, he wasn't going to be someone that a viewer would think had gotten over events.  Need him to go Judge Judy And Executioner on a neutralized opponent?  He blows away Nina in the next season.  Season 8's post-Renee rampage is different in terms of the level of sustained violence, but doesn't reveal anything especially new about Jack; it's a vehicle for a vicarious multi-episode killing spree.  (The scene where Chloe snaps him out of it redeems it slightly.)  But you could also look at the S1 finale where Jack singlehandedly tore through all of Drazen's guards and Dennis Hopper's Ridiculous Accent and see the same thing, just shorter.

 

Need to see Jack doing a bunch of gray morality things for the greater good?  There's hacksaws, prison riots, shooting Chase in the head with an unloaded gun, and The Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique.

 

Hmm.  That may have been some four-year-old latent crankiness about Renee being killed.

 

Back to surrendering: Since I can't rewatch, it's not easy for me to remember that scene verbatim either.  Heller says that the Russians would be unhappy to know that they had Jack and let him go, Jack says he can turn himself in afterward.  I suppose it's possible that Jack expects that he might end up in Russian custody; he's never really lied to Heller in the past (well, aside from the whole affair while she was married to Paul Raines), so it probably wasn't just a ploy to encourage Heller to let him back out again.

 

Again, though, even if it wasn't a ploy, letting himself back into US custody is a long way away from letting himself back into US custody so they can immediately turn him over to the Russians.  There's no extradition treaty with Russia in real life, and no reason for there to be one in the 24 world; he goes into US custody, Russia never sees him again anyway despite diplomatic protests and saber rattling and all that kind of stuff.

[Quilt Fairy]

From the very beginning until the President's final scene I kept wondering if the Chief of Staff was doping him with something to mimic Alzheimers. When he signed the President's name to Jack's rendition order it came so naturally that it was obvious that he'd been forging the President's signature for some time. Maybe it was just to cover up Heller's lapses, but at some point he became a stooge for the Russians, and who knows what else he did for them.

 

I was expecting that either the helicopter would explode, or Belechek would shoot it down, and I'm very unhappy with TPTB's re-edit to have Jack flying off to be tortured by the Russians. It gives no closure. It doesn't help that one of my favorite mystery novels is Polar Star by Martin Cruz Smith wherein the hero has escaped from the KGB and in flashbacks you are told what they did to him. Not pleasant.

 

I was glad to see the Prime Minister show up in the end. I guess once the immediate threat to London was over he decided to kick back for some tea and crumpets and a long nap.

[babycakes]

Does anyone know what the music was that played when Audrey's casket was being carried and during President Heller's speech? It was really beautiful & powerful, I noticed it was the same piece ironically that played when Audrey was processing that Heller had decided to sacrifice himself. 

 

[RedheadZombie]

I thought Jack would just beat Cheng to death, but once the katana was put into play, decapitation was assured. Ah Audrey, you would've had a much simpler (and longer) life if you'd never met Jack Bauer. Heh, the only females who've survived in Jack's life are Kim and Chloe.

Ending was a little too Season 5, but otherwise this season was the goods.

 

Having sex with Jack is deadly.

 

You know, I felt sorry for Mark.  He did one wrong thing, trying to hand over Jack to the Russians, and now he's going to prison, his wife is murdered, his boss is losing his mind, etc.  He wasn't a bad guy, he just did something stupid.  In the world of 24, is he one of the only characters to actually go to jail for a crime?

 

I thought Heller would be sentimental about Mark after Audrey died.  I was surprised he didn't try to protect him (not that he deserved it).

 

Actually, when Jack grabbed the katana I was expecting Cheng to say "I'm not Japanese, you God damn racist!"

 

Heller telling the Prime Minister he wouldn't remember anything was brutal.  A tremendous musical score in that scene too.

 

 

 

Perhaps the katana was written in by someone who's a fan of Michonne on TWD.

 

When Heller finally acknowledged his memory problems, I'm surprised the PM didn't react.  When the PM questioned Heller on that subject, Heller became very indignant and basically lied.  I felt like that was an inconsistency.

 

 

I agree that Kate should bear responsibility for Audrey. A stroll through the park is perhaps unwise after foiling a sniper standoff. How about sit tight under cover until the CIA backup arrives?

 

After being fired, tortured, and discovering your boss betrayed you and is responsible for your husband's death - she was off her game a bit.  Jack should understand - he didn't save Terri or Renee.

[John Potts]

A bit of a letdown after good start - as with previous seasons, the plot just went off the rails at the end. I don't see why we couldn't have stuck to Margot/drone plot for at least most of the Season with maybe Cheng turning up to collect the device at the end. She could have been the one to torpedo the Chinese carrier (to provoke the Chinese to retaliate against the UK/USA) without much change to the plot. The Russians could have been lurking in the background threatening to arrest Bauer without actually appearing (beyond a voice over the phone to Mark). TPTB seem to get so caught up in making everything WORLD SHATTERINGLY EPIC that they forget to actually make a decent story.

 

As for the ending - I don't mind a downer ending, but did anyone actually get a happy ending? Not only Jack (and I was totally expecting an explosion after he got on the chopper - I guess Keifer didn't want to categorically rule out another series) but just about everyone else too: President Heller, Navarro, Mark, Cross... even the bad guys didn't fare too well (well, they were mostly dead!). The closest thing to a "happy" ending was Chloe, who got out of detention and was (presumably) pardoned by the President and Kate who was vindicated (although she looked like she was quitting in any case).

 

Jonnysocko I kept thinking how nice it was that the British powers-that-be just allowed the American, Chinese and Russian operatives to run amok all over London without hardly any interference from the host country's military whatsoever.

 

Well we don’t like to make a scene…

 

WhoAmIWorkingFor Cheng: Did it for the lulz, and because Kirk left him marooned on Ceti Alpha V.

 

So he’s going to be played by Benedict Cumberbatch in the remake?

[Sake614]

Heller probably thought he had nothing left anyway so why not? Besides, he already told Audrey that they needed to go hem and talk to the veep. So it was about to become public knowledge.

[kay1864]

Anybody else thinking (this ep and the last) that the President's daughter has the worst Secret Service detail ever?  (someone did post last week that Audrey never should have been out in the open with tall buildings around).  No vetting of the park, only two agents, etc.  Might be plausible for a Cabinet member, but never for the First Daughter.

 

Plus the CIA detail should have wrapped her in Kevlar immediately after taking down the sniper, and rushed her to a car.  "Oh, Cheng had a second sniper?  Dang, we never thought of that!"

 

The writing this season was pretty tight up to that point, but how the writers handled the Chinese killing Audrey was just lazy.

[WhoAmIWorkingFor]

So he’s going to be played by Benedict Cumberbatch in the remake?

Star Trek Optional Colon Into Darkness angry rant of your choice goes here.

 

Anybody else thinking (this ep and the last) that the President's daughter has the worst Secret Service detail ever?  (someone did post last week that Audrey never should have been out in the open with tall buildings around).  No vetting of the park, only two agents, etc.  Might be plausible for a Cabinet member, but never for the First Daughter.

 

Ah, that was one of mine. Since I can't quite let the Khan references go, "You still remember, Admiral.  I cannot help but be touched."

 

Plus the CIA detail should have wrapped her in Kevlar immediately after taking down the sniper, and rushed her to a car.  "Oh, Cheng had a second sniper?  Dang, we never thought of that!"

The writing this season was pretty tight up to that point, but how the writers handled the Chinese killing Audrey was just lazy.

With a couple of extra days to get my dander up, the whole business there also feels like unnecessary character incompetence.

 

Version 1: Chloe tells her that they're all busted, she makes the attempt, something goes wrong or Cheng's sniper is simply good enough at the job, Audrey doesn't make it, Kate feels bad,.

 

Version 2: Chloe tells her that they're all busted, she makes the attempt, everything's swell.  Then some random guy materializes out of thin air and shoots Audrey because they're conveniently strolling around.  Kate feels bad.

 

One of those is a natural result of actually running out of time, which hardly ever happens on this show anymore.  The other one is just a cheap audience yank that requires an astounding lack of competence even to be possible.  (It also reminds me of a FPS game scenario where I managed to get some NPCs through a barely-survivable situation without cheating, but the game decided that I shouldn't have them anyway, so they spontaneously died around the next corner.)

Kate had four people with her, and probably their ride hiding a couple of blocks away.  The moment that the shooting started, that car should have been driving up to them for them to get into, and they should have gotten into it.  There were clearly enough personnel around for them to have a driver at the ready, considering that Jack was worried that too large a team would be obvious.

[TimWil]

Well, after today's passenger jet catastrophe it appears that Russia really will need Jack Bauer.

Uhhh...why should Heller agree to have the US provide reparations to China for the carrier incident? It wasn't our fault.

Edited July 17, 2014 by TimWil

[Watcher0363]

Anybody else thinking (this ep and the last) that the President's daughter has the worst Secret Service detail ever?  (someone did post last week that Audrey never should have been out in the open with tall buildings around).  No vetting of the park, only two agents, etc.  Might be plausible for a Cabinet member, but never for the First Daughter.

This is the Secret Service we are talking about. They are in London, which has a legal red light district. They were just counting the minutes til they could down a pint or two while singing Roxanne to their paid date for the night.

[benteen]

Well, after today's passenger jet catastrophe it appears that Russia really will need Jack Bauer.

Uhhh...why should Heller agree to have the US provide reparations to China for the carrier incident? It wasn't our fault.

 

Probably to provide their "ounce of flesh" or whatever the saying is.  I agree though...if anyone should be paying, it's Russia.  America, England, China, and that fictional Arab country from Day 8 should be furious with them for all the crap they've been part of.

 

As for why the Secret Service didn't do a good job, law enforcement and federal authorities can't handle anything in the world of 24.  I'm reminded again of Season 8 where they had that guy who kidnapped that foreign leader's daughter surrounded.  Jack and another federal officer give the local NYPD swat team leader an order not to go in until they arrived or something to that effect.  But for absolutely no reason whatsoever, the swat team leader completely ignores his order, rushes in, and proceeds to get himself and his men killed.  That's the kind of competence they have to deal with on this show.

Edited July 17, 2014 by benteen

[ottoDbusdriver]

Uhhh...why should Heller agree to have the US provide reparations to China for the carrier incident? It wasn't our fault.

 

Technically, the Chinese aircraft carrier was sunk by torpedoes from a US Navy sub.  There's that, and having an insecure chain of command that was vulnerable to hacking.

[needschocolate]

Uhhh...why should Heller agree to have the US provide reparations to China for the carrier incident? It wasn't our fault.

 

We knew about the device, and knew it was in the hands of the wrong people, yet we didn't institute any changes to the protocol for firing torpedos.  We could have easily sent a message to all of our aircraft, ships, and subs, telling them that receiving an order electronically wasn't enough in itself, they would also have to have verbal confirmation from someone in command. 

 

So, even though we didn't send the torpedo, we knew it was possible and we did nothing to prevent it from happening.  If the situation were reversed, I would expect China to pay. 

Edited July 18, 2014 by needschocolate

[John Potts]

Another thing I thought was stupid was Chloe going "I'll just wander off over here so I can get kidnapped, shall I?" (OK, those weren't exactly her words), which reminded me of Kim managing to get into mortal danger in no matter how mundane the circumstances were. Granted Chloe had better reasons to off by herself, but she really should have pulled the connection once she realised she was made.

 

Cheng made remarkably good time to get to Southampton for his ship (as did Jack, for that matter) given it's over a hundred miles from London (Dover would be more believable as it's considerably closer). I mean, technically the trip is probably doable with fair traffic and a tailwind, but it's pretty unlikely (It's roughly comparable to the distance between NY City and Baltimore). Then again, this is a series that never had traffic trouble even in LA!

 

Watcher0363 They are in London, which has a legal red light district.

 

Technically that isn't true: there are areas of London where the authorities operate a "Don't ask, Don't tell" policy, but prostitution is still illegal in Britain (unlike, say, Holland).

[benteen]

Technically, the Chinese aircraft carrier was sunk by torpedoes from a US Navy sub.  There's that, and having an insecure chain of command that was vulnerable to hacking.

 

That's true.  In 24, security is ridiculous.  You can hack into any system and the government seems to employ literally hundreds of people who will betray their country at the drop of a hat.

 

And yeah, I laughed too at Chloe managing to get herself kidnapped again.

[Jordan27]

 I have no idea what to do with myself on Monday nights now that this is over. 

Well, you could watch something that has good guys, over the top bad guys and even Russians, with convoluted storylines. 

 

It's called WWE Monday Night Raw. 

[Watcher0363]

Well, you could watch something that has good guys, over the top bad guys and even Russians, with convoluted storylines. 

 

It's called WWE Monday Night Raw. 

I refuse to watch anything that preposterous and fake

Technically that isn't true: there are areas of London where the authorities operate a "Don't ask, Don't tell" policy, but prostitution is still illegal in Britain (unlike, say, Holland).

Well for us Americans that's close enough to legal. Try finding one of those areas in the US.

[Bort]

Well for us Americans that's close enough to legal. Try finding one of those areas in the US.

I'd say you have a good shot of finding that type of thing in Vegas.

Edited July 17, 2014 by kariyaki

[TimWil]

The first split screen ever on 24 included the city of Kuala Lumpur. Just sayin'.

[JoeSchwike]

I thought Heller would be sentimental about Mark after Audrey died.  I was surprised he didn't try to protect him (not that he deserved it).

 

I would assume he still blames Mark (at least in part) for Audrey's death - Mark collaborated with the Russians, if it weren't for that and his interference with Jack, they might have recovered Cheng and the device before Audrey had to go out for her midnight rendezvous.

[Jordan27]

I refuse to watch anything that preposterous and fake

 

Everything on TV is fake and most of it is preposterous.  So, you don't watch much TV?

[BigDfromLA]

At the end of Jack's phone conversation with Kate, when she told him about Audrey's death, he dropped his cell phone, got up in a stunned state and left with his phone still on the ground. Yet he used his phone a short time later. What happened?

 

This was an excellent season, probably the second best after Season 1. The shortened time frame worked really well. I don't think Kate could carry a spin off series on her own. You can't have 24 without Jack/Kiefer Sutherland. Since Jack didn't actually die, he could emerge again. Another 12 episode season  in the early summer would be good.

 

Audrey probably had the position of Senior Advisor to the President, which is a position Valerie Jarrett has now with President Obama. It is not a cabinet position, but a very close advisor to the President.

[AV8n]

At the end of Jack's phone conversation with Kate, when she told him about Audrey's death, he dropped his cell phone, got up in a stunned state and left with his phone still on the ground. Yet he used his phone a short time later. What happened?

.

After Cheng lost his head, Jack went back to retrieve his phone and take a selfie with the head.

Edited July 18, 2014 by AV8n

[Boundary]

I don't think Kate could carry a spin off series on her own. You can't have 24 without Jack/Kiefer Sutherland. 

 

Kate can't carry the spin off, not yet anyway. But next season (common sense says they should come back, right?) she could be allowed to carry a few more episodes, giving fans a feel of what it would be like, similar to earlier this season when Jack spent almost an hour uploading a file to Chloe while Kate investigated other things.

[benteen]

Sadly I think if she were back for another season, the only thing the writers could come up with is killing her off, ala Renee.

[WhoAmIWorkingFor]

I wonder if Kiefer being okay with Jack's narrative arc ending in Russia for the foreseeable future is going bump into other people's ideas for bringing the show back.  He did get to be Executive Producer, after all.

 

I'm okay with Jack not being a main character in a continuation, but I'm not entirely pleased with ending it with him being eternally dumped on yet again.  Settling his story with being retired with Kim and the grandkids would be enough after this season's tragic ending on top of last season's tragic ending.  Having him killed offscreen would be supremely annoying.  Having him come back just to get conveniently killed onscreen would be even worse.  (Fortunately they don't seem to be that stupid.)  To think of another franchise... Harrison Ford wanted Han Solo to die in Return of the Jedi, which didn't happen, and now that Disney has their claws into that I can't possibly imagine what they're doing with him in the new movies.  (Plus the on-set ankle-breakage.)

 

So... I don't know what I'm getting at here, really, aside from thinking that I don't really want to see Jack come back just so he can go through hell again.

[needschocolate]

I get what you mean, WhoAmIWorkingFor.  If they are going to retire the TV character of Jack Bauer, I want him to have a happy ending.  Do a season where Kate, Chloe, and Belcheck rescue Jack from the Russians, Jack then teaches Kate everything he knows while saving the president/country/world from terrorist plots.  Or have Jack work for the Russians and in the course of events, meets up with Kate, Chloe, and Belcheck and Jack teaches Kate everything he knows, yada, yada, yada.  Then, do the time jump at the end - Jack gets a medal and makes a speech about how he plans to take up fishing (underwater spear fishing in the Arctic, because it is still Jack) and spending time with his daughter and grandkids (with his pet mountain lion), and how he is leaving the safety of the country in capable hands, as he looks towards Kate, Chloe and Belcheck.  Then they can continue the fun with Kate and Co. and change the name of the show to 12.

[benteen]

Well, the producers have said that while they considered a happy ending, they and Kiefer view 24 as a "tragic story" so I would say the ending has kept with that.  I couldn't see Jack just going home with his family at the end of this season.  Not just because of the Russian's vendetta against him but I think his character has pretty much forgotten what it's like to live as a normal human being.  He's not wired that way.

 

That being said, I wish the producers and Kiefer would get over their tragedy fetish and stop stuffing Jack's various love interests in the freezer for the sake of drama and Jack's man pain.  Or let me put it this way, fridging his love interests because they are incapable of doing anything else in order to "create drama."  Someone pointed this out before but the way I could see 24 ending for Jack was with him still on the loose.  He'll go around, doing what he thinks is right.  That's Jack Bauer.  Maybe he'll get to see his family too.

 

I still don't think Jack is going to his death at the end of this season.  As long as we see him still alive, there's always a chance for him to "live another day."

[Micks Picks]

Heller's speech was encouraging.  He stops taking his meds, he forget about what he has lost.

 

Jack has got to be so tired of being tortured.  No way would I be smiling walking to the helicopter.  He sure looked the worse for wear when he started out one of the seasons fresh out of years in Chinese custody.  Amazing he recovered within minutes and was back to killing and amazing feats of martial arts for the next 24 hours.

[Milburn Stone]

Heller's speech was encouraging.  He stops taking his meds, he forget about what he has lost.

 

Point of information about the meds and the amount of control Heller has about how much he will forget: Based on my personal observation of close family members, the meds that exist today don't make a whole lot of difference. Maybe they work a little bit around the edges. Maybe they slow down the progression of the disease a little from what it otherwise might have been--that's impossible to say because life isn't a controlled experiment in which you can see how a person who is taking the meds would do if not taking the meds. But basically, our current state of medical science makes us helpless in the face of the disease. So when Heller says, "I'm not going to remember this," it's not because he's going to stop taking his meds. It's because he knows that no matter what he does, nothing can stop the inevitable. 

Edited July 21, 2014 by Milburn Stone

[blackwing]

Frankly, I wouldn't watch a season with Kate Morgan as the lead.  To me, "24" IS Jack Bauer.  Without Jack and his mannerisms and catchphrases that have become so familiar, it's not the same show.

 

I really hope we get another season that starts with Jack being rescued.

[Kellyim]

Husband and I watched the last 3 episodes yesterday. Then we had to watch a couple of episodes of The Simpsons as a palate cleanser because we were so very, very depressed. Geez, 24!

[millennium]

I enjoyed this last episode and even the final scene -- almost as much as the first time I saw it in the series finale of La Femme Nikita.  It's the same situation, the same hostage exchange.  Jack being handed over to the Russians so that Chloe can live her life = Mr. Jones being handed over to the Collective so that Adam can live his life.   All that was missing was Sean Callery's musical accompaniment, "Always Trust Your Father."   Is it just a coincidence that 24 and La Femme Nikita: The Series were created by the same guys?   Don't think so.  Fortunately, Jack seems to have gone away with a slighter edge than Mr. Jones had.

 

That aside, Jack's reaction to the news of Audrey's demise was a nice piece of acting.   Ditto for Heller's conversation with the British Prime Minister.

 

Kudos to Yvonne.    Hannah no more.

 

I really hope the series returns.    

[GodsBeloved]

Audrey was not Silent Clock worthy.

 

The season was OK but forgettable like seasons 5-8 ended up being.