"It may be useful to remember that Christian faith is ultimately dependent upon what actually happened rather than upon the views of historians."
- I. Howard Marshall
Monday, April 13, 2009
Watching Fox's hit series 24 is a guilty pleasure compulsion of mine. I admit it.
The show has become so ridiculous it is almost a parody of itself. But it remains strangely compelling.
Did anyone watch tonight's episode? What a complete, unexplainable, did-they-just-make-that-up? twist. I admit I was surprised. And not pleasantly.
Based on all that's happened on this "day", it doesn't make any sense. At all. Can anyone explain it to me?
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Comments on "24 Jumps, Leaps, Hurdles, and Catapults Over the Shark":
2. Andrew
- 04/14/2009 11:09 am CDT
I haven't been able to watch much this season (I think I've seen six or so episodes), but I'm not really surprised. They're running out of stories, running out of ways to shock. The novelty has worn off. It's becoming to forget how awesome the show was in those first few seasons when it was still new and fresh.
I also find myself splitting with Surnow and Co. on a moral level. I had been able to bury that aspect of the show in the back of my mind, but it's getting harder to swallow.
3. Bill
- 04/14/2009 12:23 pm CDT
For what it's worth, at least in the last ten eps or so, they've not engaged in any torture. But it sure was a big topic early on.
And someone just got sent to the FBI for interrogation. So here we go again.
In thinking about this (and reading a forum or two) I'm starting to wonder if Tony really killed Larry. The "suffocation" sure took awhile. Any chance it was just a sleeper hold?
Any chance that Tony is not evil?
4. Ben
- 04/14/2009 1:45 pm CDT
Shocking yes, but, I don't think we know the whole story. I'm thinking that Tony is this 'ends justify the means' type of character and that he's not all evil. Then again, that could be just me being an eternal optimist. To the title of this piece though, I agree that last night they jumped the shark with monster truck glowing with sparklers and shooting laser beams out of the headlights.
5. Whitney
- 04/14/2009 3:59 pm CDT
When yet another season of 24 was announced, I vowed to not watch. Last season was just too much, I couldn't take it anymore.
Yeah... anyways...
About last night. CRAZY! I was in shock. Yes, shock.
Bill, I'm also hopeful that Larry will make a re-appearance. I know it can be done, but will it??? These are the questions I ponder. Not to sound too girly, but I thought that there was totally going to be some sappy love connection made between Larry and Renee. Does this just open the door for Jack to move in when he is miraculously cured from his incurable disease???
More importantly, at what point will Jack speak in a normal voice?
Yes, I'm sucked in. It's ridiculous. But true.
6. Bill
- 04/14/2009 4:07 pm CDT
Heh - yes, ridiculous.
Someone pointed out that Tony wasn't covering Larry's nose when he was strangling him.
And don't you normally strangle someone by choking their neck?
Someone else pointed out that it's official, according to the 24 powers that be, that Larry's dead.
So I dunno. I was starting to like him.
Renee and Jack . . . not so much. I mean, I like them as individuals. But I don't understand Renee's newfound devotions to Jack, at all.
I thought Jack was dying too. He probably still is (for the time being) but will hit the field with his gun anyway. He ran around in one of the earlier seasons with a major heart condition, and had heart attacks as he went.
Deadly bio-virus? Pah! This is Jack Bauer.
They also telegraphed "personality changes". So expect Jack, in the heat of battle, to go nuts and start firing on the good guys (or something).
Or maybe he'll become a pacifist. Who knows.
24. I want to look away, but I just can't.
7. nhe
- 04/14/2009 4:28 pm CDT
"Jumped the Shark" is way too strong - to me, that's when one stops watching. ER jumped the shark around year 6 or 7 when the last original character left.....I haven't watched it since. Twin Peaks jumped the shark when it was determined that the Laura Palmer murder would never be solved. Jumped the Shark is when a guy who can start jukeboxes and electric hairdryers with his fist can suddenly also water ski jump over schooling sharks, even though he has never water skied before. My point I guess is that jumping the shark is far worse than Tony going bad.
Come on, when Larry took off his handcuffs, and then Jack pleaded with the president for leniency for Tony, didn't you see it coming?
Tony has been a brooding loner all season. I think its valid that Tony used the Starkwood situation to his benefit. He helped Jack (who by the way he feels no more loyalty to because he thinks Jack is dead anytme) and he was able to contact a mercenary buddy inside Starkwood to grab a stray WMD.
Tony "went off on his own" for about 5 episodes after he initially helped Jack. Obviously, this was his time to advance his own agenda. Starkwood came up for Tony as nothing more than an opportunity.
Granted, I would have preferred Tony getting killed right there next to Larry, with both of them lying there with a "silent clock" at the end. That would have preserved Tony's redemption. Oh well.
Where I do agree with you is that I think the whole "the government killed Michelle, so the government must pay" thing with Tony has been played......its getting old. (Though who doesn't want a Tony/Jack showdown to end season 7?).
I was shocked like you guys were, but I don't think its completely out of left field. I was definitely more shocked with Nina in season one.
And btw, there is less than 0% chance that Larry is alive.
I'm far more disillusioned by the whole stem cell treatment from Kim subplot.......gimme a break. I think it would have been more realistic to recover some kind of anecdote inside Starkwood.
8. stroke
- 04/14/2009 4:38 pm CDT
tony killed larry that way so it would like he died from the gunshot... not from strangulation which would show bruising, handprints, etc.
it was just bad filming that his nostril wasn't covered, i think. the bullets did most of the damage anyway. it looked like the preview for next week showed tony shooting himself to claim being wounded in a shootout.
this is only my second season to watch, so i figured they were all ridiculous. i imagine they have to pull out stuff like this to shock anyone.
i don't think 24 can jump the shark unless jack peels back his skin to reveal that he's an alien/cyborg... OR they do a crossover episode with the simpsons... oh wait...
also, jack looked stronger and back in action next week, too, so i'm assuming some kind of cure is upcoming.
9. Bill
- 04/14/2009 5:23 pm CDT
Come on, when Larry took off his handcuffs, and then Jack pleaded with the president for leniency for Tony, didn't you see it coming?
nhe, you must not know me very well. I never see it coming :-)
OK, in retrospect, it may not be the biggest shock. In my defense, for a whole lot of people 24 jumped the shark (i.e., they quit watching) several seasons ago.
On the other hand - can you explain the complicated series of events that led to Tony having a WMD? Is there any way he could have orchestrated that? How did he know, for instance, that his buddy inside Starkwood would escape in the way he did, and that he and Larry would just happen to be in the one helicopter that gave chase, and that they would be alone, and that the pilot would be killed (no witnesses), etc., etc., etc.
I think it would have been more realistic to recover some kind of anecdote inside Starkwood.
Yes, an anecdote would have been nice. For that matter, even a tall tale, a yarn, or a fish-story would have been helpful.
10. nhe
- 04/14/2009 8:10 pm CDT
Are you going to quit watching Bill?......I think I would if I felt that way. You haven't said anything positive about the show all season.....and yet, the 2 or 3 other blogs I've read on the show have said that this is the best season out of the past 3 or 4......and I would agree.
I'm really not able to defend how/why Tony would get the nuke until I see it play out.
However, as I mentioned before, I prefer a redeemed Tony over a terrorist Tony. So I do understand your sentiment.
Let's see what happens though, maybe we'll get a few answers that satisfy.
11. Bill
- 04/14/2009 8:39 pm CDT
Are you going to quit watching Bill?
Of course I won't (quit watching) :-)
nhe, I like the show. Trust me on that - I watch it every single week.
I'm just not sure why :-)
For what it's worth, I'm almost positive I've said, in this space, that this is the best season in awhile. I really, really liked Redemption, the two hour prequel. I really liked this season early on, although things began to get shaky right around the time Juma's men broke into the White House, in the middle of a red alert, by swimming under it, in a hitherto unknown Potomac river aqueduct.
12. Whitney
- 04/14/2009 8:48 pm CDT
Nobody has said it. So I will.
You all know that the reason you are so addicted to the show is to hear Jack rasp his entire dialogue. The only time he doesn't rasp is when he's yellin' at some poor soul... and then we're strangely intrigued. I mean, it must be a critical situation for him to raise his voice, therefore it must be worth watching.
It's the rasp... I'm convinced.
13. nhe
- 04/14/2009 10:10 pm CDT
Sorry, I have no idea what Whitney is talking about, and I've never missed an episode......Bill, I liked the whole White House scene....of course I wouldn't base my domestic terrorist policy on the truthfulness of it.....but I just never have felt like I've needed to live in reality during the hour I watch 24 each week.
Bill, I think I feel the same way about Lost that you feel about 24......the difference is, I bailed on Lost.....seriously, talk about far fetched.....and if you say Lost is fantasy/sci fi, then I guess I just wish it were good fantasy/sci fi.
I feel like I've disagreed with you a lot lately, sorry. I usually agree!
14. Bill
- 04/14/2009 10:20 pm CDT
Whitney's talking about that Jack Bauer velvet.
I feel like I've disagreed with you a lot lately, sorry. I usually agree!
No problem. Especially in matters like this. Taste is subjective. I'm glad 24 makes you happy, and it's cool that Lost doesn't. (I like them both, but only feel one is ridiculous. I'm not saying which :-)
Appreciation for art, movies, tv, music, etc, is completely subjective, regardless of what the snobs tell us. So I'm good with you disagreeing with me. To your opinions I say a hearty Huzzah! You hold them eloquently and well
15. Bill
- 04/14/2009 10:21 pm CDT
(and I'm sure you feel the same way that I'm not all hero-worship on U2)
:-)
18. Whitney
- 04/15/2009 8:38 am CDT
Yes, nhe, Bill is correct. I am referring to the way in which Jack delivers his lines.
You know... that gravelly, desperate tone??? Ah, well, maybe it's just me...
19. Bill
- 04/15/2009 9:02 am CDT
nhe, you're just going to have to trust Whitney
[Bill says in a gravelly, desperate tone]
20. Bill
- 04/15/2009 9:02 am CDT
Bob, the actress is on maternity leave - I believe she'll be back at some point this season though.
This season has already been completely filmed, I thought.
22. Mike Verdicchio
- 04/15/2009 6:25 pm CDT
I have been a fan since season one, and I was really surprised that Tony is one of the "bad guys." But the writers have always, since season one, kept us guessing as to who the "bad guys" are. And it would appear that once again, even though it did surprise me, nothing surprises me. I had already started to guess about next season - the president approving of a new CTU type organization: Larry Moss heading it up, with jack, Tony, Renee, Chloe and her husband... oh well...And, as for Tony, my "guess" is that he disappears in the last episode, just so he can surface in the next season.
23. Eloquorius
- 04/16/2009 4:34 am CDT
For me, the season power-catapulted the shark when a small crew of jungle-trained militants from a small mythical African nation managed to SCUBA their way up the Potomac river to a hence undiscovered secret underwater cave beneath the White House where they proceeded to drill their way into it, then usurp control from the sparse crew of mildly armed Secret Service geldings who were posted around the halls. It's so bad you'd otherwise have to make this stuff up as a comedy punchline.
24. Bill
- 04/16/2009 6:59 am CDT
Eloquorius,
Exactly. And the fact that they were under terrorist alert, and the last attack had happened in DC only a few miles from the White House, yet the protection around the President was sparse, they didn't seem to have much of a plan to get her under lock-down, and they didn't know the WH was under attack for at least a few crucial minutes (couldn't hear the screams, bullets, etc).
Ridiculous.
But strangely compelling . . .
26. Eloquorius
- 04/17/2009 6:20 pm CDT
I knew it was going to be a bad season when the "First Husband" was riding the front seat of a generic government vehicle accompanied by only one Secret Service agent whose services were, apparently, optional at the discretion of the First Husband; who proceeded to talk -- unrecognized by any member of the public -- up a busy sidewalk and into an apartment building unescorted. Oh, and technology CTU had (a "pinhole frequency" Jack said) that allowed them to get cell signal *anywhere* is apparently unavailable to the Secret Service.
Compelling? No. I have no idea what happened after the episode where Jack got exposed to the alleged biological weapon. Instead, I opt for something more realistic and believable... like, say, Transporter 3.
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man, i sure can't. but the writers seem committed to surprising us with the character of tony. i really couldn't buy his return from the dead or his philosophical turnaround in joining in with "the bad guys" post-resurrection. i'm wondering how jack's total misjudgement of tony's loyalties will be resolved. jack has never been this snookered before...only everyone around him.
i guess it's even possible that tony will yet be vindicated for what he just did, but i can't imagine any scenario that would allow for that.