24 Review:
"2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m." and "3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m."

No surprise deaths. No questionable twists. No shocking torture scenes. Nearly all of the standbys we’ve come to expect from 24 over the past eight years were notably absent in the two-hour series finale. Nearly, for the one thing we’ve come to demand since day one remained the driving force ’til the bittersweet end: suspense, the race against time, exploited to near-perfection to go beyond a tale of vigilante-style revenge and government conspiracy and into the realm of something more weighted.

In the final six hours (executed so seamlessly even a newbie could jump in and enjoy the ride) leading up to the finale, our heroes delved into layer upon layer of lies, murder and corruption. Last night’s hours outlined their path to redemption, beginning with Jack sparing the life of Jason Pillar early on. After Jack takes the man hostage and forces him to drive him to a building near the U.N., he tells Pillar to stitch up his wound. He does so, and Jack orders him to get down on his knees. Pillar leaps into a teary-eyed plea for his life. When he mentions he has a family, including a daughter, we see the first crack in Jack’s armor. Instead of shooting him, he whacks him over the head and stuffs him the back of an SUV.

It’s a tough scene. I don’t like Pillar, but at the same time, I’m rooting for him. He’s so helpless and pathetic that to kill him, Jack would have to be even colder than I’d thought. As soon as he discovers this man he’s about to kill has a daughter, I could almost imagine a flashback to the beginning of the season where he’s happy—about to take off into the sunset with his own daughter and hers, his grandchild, Teri. Of course, such actions are not permitted. As we were reminded twice last night, the show’s events take place in real time.

One of the big questions last night: Would Jack take down a world leader? I don’t think anyone would have been surprised if he put a bullet through Subarov’s head, but thankfully, he didn’t. Because in the battle between President Allison Taylor and Jack Bauer, while reason and logic took a backseat to indelible crimes committed on both sides, it was easy to forget Chloe O’Brian and her undying friendship to Jack. And while Jack’s tear of violence was quite entertaining, it was great to see Chloe talk him down from assassinating the Russian president. Even better was the emotional standoff between the two where Jack yells at her to shoot him. She can’t do it, until he turns his gun on himself.

In the meantime, a great drama unfolds between President Taylor and Dalia Hassan when the latter discovers the mound of lies her supposed friend and ally hid from her. The keywords here are trust and transparency. Day 7 saw President Taylor as a beacon of hope in American politics, if only in a fictional world. Now, we don’t recognize this person as she invokes the “greater good” and bullies Dalia into signing a peace deal with the very people who murdered her husband, Omar Hassan. One of the most tense moments of the finale comes when the three leaders are to sign the agreement. Subarov signs. Dalia Hassan follows, somewhat reluctantly. Then, it’s all President Taylor. We wonder if she’ll take the final step to the darkside and secure her legacy as not only a great U.S. president, but an all-around influential world leader, or return to her roots—as an honest, good-hearted person more interested in the truth than manufactured aesthetics. When she finally chooses not to sign the deal and publicly comes clean, I found the whole sequence very emotionally gratifying. It’s not a sweep-it-under-the-rug Watchmen kind of conclusion, where everything falls into place. It’s very messy. Where do they go from here? Who knows. But even if it’s quite unrealistic, it’s refreshing to see the truth prevail in an area where no one expects it.

Which brings us to former-President Charles Logan, the mastermind behind the continued efforts to hide the truth. As he sits down for a celebration drink with Jason Pillar, he discovers the news of President Taylor’s confession. The phone rings. He knows it’s the president ordering him to call off an ambush he set in place to eliminate Jack Bauer. He doesn’t answer it. For him, the death of Jack Bauer, the man responsible for his demise in every way, is the last thing for which he can hope. But Pillar, not wanting to add murder to the list of crimes, picks up the phone. Sadly, for being the one man taking all the beatings the past two hours, Pillar doesn’t get very far in the conversation before Logan bludgeons him over the head with a hard-glass bottle. In a matter of seconds, Logan puts a pillow over his friend’s head and blows his brains out. He then puts aims the gun up through his chin and pulls the trigger. Miraculously, he survives. I say miraculously because Gregory Itzin, who plays the defamed president, is so spectacular as Logan that the possibility of him reprising his role for the movie has to be tempting for the writers and producers. You can probably make the case he deserves yet another Emmy nomination.

Simply, I don’t think we could ask for a better ending to the series. Jack is about to be executed by Logan’s people when Chloe and President Taylor swoop in for the rescue. After the president calls and orders the men to back down, she speaks to Jack, expressing her sorrow and regret for her actions. Then, the out: Get out of the country while you can. He then shares a touching moment with Chloe where he tells her to do everything she can to protect his family in L.A. It’s a sad moment. We know this is the last time we’ll see Jack and Chloe together in this format. As she watches him via drone camera trying to choke back the tears, Chloe finally tells Arlo to kill the feed. The closeup of Jack’s weathered, beaten face pixelates and finally cuts to black. The final clock ticks to 0:00:00.

And now, the countdown to the movie.

A few random (and slightly humorous) reminders of why I’ll miss 24:
- Chloe gets a thorough pat-down from Jason Pillar, who hopes to find a memory card Jack passed off to her. After the ordeal, without she delivers one of her patented snarky quips. “Hope you enjoyed yourself.”
- Speaking of Pillar, Jack has a little fun at his expense, too. After Chloe shoots Jack, he lies down with an oxygen mask over his face. He appears to want to tell Pillar something and takes off the mask. Pillar leans in, and like Mike Tyson, Jack latches on and doesn’t let go until he has a good chunk of ear. Love how he rabidly spits it out.
- With the crosshairs resting on Charles Logan, Jack calls the sneaky bastard and tells him to lure Russian President Subarov to his quarters so he can get an clean, easy shot. After Logan calls Subarov, he asks Jack how he did. “You’re a world-class liar. I’d expect nothing less,” he responds. When Subarov arrives, I couldn’t really tell if Logan was relieved or disappointed Jack hadn’t pulled the trigger.