I've never watched this show until this season in which I caught about five episodes, including tonight's . . .

Honestly - I don't know what all of the buzz is about this show which had one of the absolute worst endings to a season I've seen. The answers to the conflicts were lame, at best, and the questions posed for the next season are almost non-existent outside of "Does he live?" which is about as weak as you can get.

As far as the Islam thing goes, I did think it out of the ordinary. I chalked it up to me not knowing what the background was between the two characters. (For all I knew, Bauer had been muslim the entire time). I thought I would have heard about it.

Assuming this was a new thing, my guess is that his sympathy toward Islam grew out of his guilt/conviction over acts he had perpetrated against people of that faith in earlier times. (I assume that at least one, if not more, of the seasons focused around Muslim terrorists)

Also - the character played by Janeane Garaffolo (sp??) shared a "moment" with another female character over their work. It seemed as if there was something that was trying to be communicated, but I don't know exactly where it was going. Were they asserting Lesbianism or am I out in left field???

I suppose that he doesn't die and that Islam is dispensed with as a theme - you can't really center a show that features torture, murder, and violence around a "religion of peace," can you?

Let me also say -

I realize that's it's unfair for me to characterize or judge the show's season finale without having viewed at least a majority of the episodes from the same season. So I qualify my comment as a personal takeaway without much basis - please regard it as such . . .

ALSO, I've heard that the first seasons of the show were incredible and these latest seasons don't even compare to how everything began. One of these days, I'll heed the advice from about 1,000 people I've met and watch the first few seasons . . .

It was a pretty lame finale.

The part between JG and Chloe (the two women) had nothing to do with lesbianism. They are both techno-geek girls and they had had a nasty competition going all season as to who had the best techno skillz. Chloe is the master, but JG proved herself in the third to last ep.

I thought the muslim thing was dumb. I wasn't against them showing muslims in a good light (they did a quite respectable job of establishing that imam and another muslim guy as sympathetic characters, and that was actually pretty cool) - I just thought that Jack asking for the imam to visit him at the end was forced and silly. But not the worst part of this season.

In my opinion, the best season was season three (if I remember correctly) - which also had a virus canister of some sort. It also had a great finale.

GUYS!.......Jack is a seeker!!!....The series has made that very clear. He's had 3 key inquisitive moments - at least - the Bible on Logan's coffee table.....his conversation with his missionary friend in the "Redemption" movie.....and now the cleric. And we know he won't die (yet).....I'm still hoping (though not holding my breath) that Jack will have a final redemptive moment where the name of Jesus is mentioned.

I had no problem with the Muslim guy at all. Jack hadn't been to church in who knows when and was alone on his death bed. The last "minister" he remembered being in contact with was this guy.

Is it pluralistic mumbo-jumbo? Absolutely. However, the guy (thankfully) did not invoke Allah in his prayer - that would have made me cringe. They handled it well. I really hope no one would think Jack was becoming a Muslim from that. That would be silly.

It was a nice redemptive moment - think about it - would it really be any different if it was a priest who prayed the same prayer? The words were generic enough that it could have been. Heck, even on "7th Heaven" we rarely heard the name Jesus.......IMHO - that's worse.

Quaid, I think you would understand Tony's motivation if you had watched the earlier seasons.........sure, its a classic and overdone revenge theme, but it did make some sense, and was much better (IMO) than Tony just becoming a bad guy to stick it to the government.

I thought it was a pretty good season, and I liked that it ended without a lot of fanfare. I think Renee is a much better character than Audrey (Jack's former love) was. I like how it ended with her.

And Quaid, Chloe is happily married and hetero-sexual.......this "moment" was Chloe giving out a rare compliment, and maybe establishing them as friends working together next season. I hope not though, as I'm not a big fan of Garafalo's character.

Season 4 was my favorite season.

Well, judging by the handcuffs and witnessing torture, it looks as if Garafalo will be here for, at least, a while - and she'll play what seems to be a more expanded role.

So how does this work?

Jack's fate will be known in the next 24-48 hours. Will the show pick up and go through the very next day? If so, that's a lot of work for one guy whose just been almost dead. Will it pick up on another day weeks/months/years(?) later and we just find out what happened through back story a la LOST?

Also, is the show open to killing off Jack? Now that Sutherland has his side issues with the head-butting thing, he might be in jail. Can the show happen without him?

Quaid, I just edited my post above......some background on Jack's redemption thread woven throughout the series.

No - Jack won't die - he's contracted through season 8 which is believed to be the last season.

They likely will not pick up on the next day, though I think a 2 hour November movie leading into next season would be good to do the next 2 hours and set up season 8.

Blah. It's official... I'm going to try reeeeally hard to not watch the next season, for real, this time!
The "prayer" thing with the imam and jack... was anyone else thinking/saying outloud, "yeah, forgiving yourself it all it takes"??? Maybe I was the only one.
I agree that the show did a great job portraying Islam as "not always fanatical"; I really did feel badly for the Jibraan(sp) character. However, the ending was just to blah. I know Jack will live... no surprise there. I know Kim will once again be back in the picture. I saw President Taylor's noble act of turning in her daughter... none was a surprise. I have a feeling that Renee will be a mini-Jack next season...
Bottom line is: I just don't care.

Unlike The Office... I can't wait to see next season of that!!! :)

Told you Jack Shephard eats Jack Bauer's lunch.

And then vomits it back onto his face. While yelling and waving a gun around.

I'm assuming Jack Shephard is a "Lost" Guy....zzzzzzzzz....at least Jack Bauer keeps me awake.

day 8 is set for new york and renee will have a major role again, from what i've read.

also, keifer is hush-hush about his role in season 8 "for various reasons," he's said. (real life: trouble with the law, show life: possible hospital-bed coaching for renee or obi-wan ghost mentor!?).

i've also read that the powers that be aren't against killing jack at series end... maybe they'll move up the timeline?

this was only my second season to watch, so tony's story was lost on me. wasn't gonna hurt me if he was evil, which he still kinda is? idk. i did think it was a lame ending though. i kept thinking, "this IS the season finale right?" for me, 24 is just a saturday morning cartoon with WAY more violence. it's the fast paced ridiculousness that makes it what it is.