TAKING IT BACK

Last night was the series finale of 24. I have been on pins and needles since the season started. From the get-go there has been talk that Jack might not make it out alive. Horror of horrors. Honestly, it wasn't looking good. My last couple of blogs on my TV blog have been devoted strictly to this subject.

Let me tell what I love most about 24. First, it is like watching a 24 hour movie. Seriously. I got hooked on this show when I started buying it on DVD. It was like the unending action suspense movie. My heart rate went up and I thought, "This is like a cardio workout without the working out part." The next thing I liked was that it was good every season. There wasn't a single season that I walked away and thought, "Well, that one the writers really tanked." I also liked that MOST of the time that our President was a person of moral integrity who wanted to do the right thing. I saw how hard that choice was to make at times. Running the country is just not a job I want.

As for Jack and his counter-intelligence skills... I liked the fact that at the beginning he was always just a little bit behind. Sometimes the results were bad. However, he never gave up, and he always caught up a little at a time every show. It was like watching a runner gain ground. And sometimes lose a bit of ground, too. However, he was relentless. At the end, in the final hours, there was the beauty of watching it all unravel for the bad guys, watching Jack pick up speed, get in front of them, and put the whole ugly mess "down." Catastrophe averted. Bad guys lose.

This season started off more or less the same, but it took a bad detour. Our President, who is a person of moral integrity, became blinded by the forest for the trees. She wanted something that was GOOD so badly that she turned a blind eye to a whole lot of UNSPEAKABLE BAD to get it. When you do that, you tarnish the good, and it isn't good anymore. A lot of people tried to tell her that ~ people that she trusted. But she couldn't see it. And then it got ugly. And that is when I got that sick feeling in my stomach that our government (aka our President) was going to be the one to kill My Jack. Because he is the good guy who can't just let it go, even if it means that he is now working against the President.

Let me tell you, folks, it all came down to the wire. I thought My Jack was a goner. Fortunately, the President had that moment of revelation at the eleventh hour and FINALLY saw the bigger truth. As I am sitting on the couch, holding my breath, clutching the armrest, because My Jack is about to be executed by the Secret Service, the President makes "the phone call" and it is over. She then talks to him and apologizes. She says something like, "I'd give anything to take back the time. If I had listened to you, none of us would be in this mess. Now, you have two governments trying to track you down, one of them being ours. I, of course, will have to answer for what I have done here today. There will be consequences." And then she tells him to run. No one can become a ghost faster than My Jack.

Naturally, I was crying like an idiot. Not sure why. They didn't kill him. The President came to her senses and moral integrity actually won the day. It was a win.

After I clicked off the TV I thought about what she said, "I'd give anything to take back the time." And then she said something about having to live with the consequences for her choices. I suppose that is something to which we can all relate.

JACK, WE ARE RUNNING OUT OF TIME

24 is in progress and I am writing. One of the things that I am going to miss most about 24 and Jack Bauer is how "in your face" Jack is. I guess I mean I like how smart and street savvy the guy is and how he always knows a trap ahead of time. He runs one step ahead of the bad guys, which is their downfall in the end.


One of the things that is killing me right now is that he has hit the point of no return. It is hard to watch. He has been here before... the man with nothing left to lose. After Teri died at the beginning of Season 2... When Kim left and cut him out of her life he hit bottom... After Audrey lost her mind trying to rescue him from China... Yeah, he's been down a lot. But, he thought he was going to get the big happy with Renee, and get to go live close to his daughter, and grand-kid, and it all went straight into the gutter when she was shot and killed.


There is lots of talk (for those who pay attention to this sort of chatter) that Jack might die at the end of this season. That is a kick in the teeth. And it makes sense. What is that saying? He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword. The biggest irony of all will be if he is killed by our government ~ our President ~ for trying to expose the truth of a conspiracy that the President should never have covered up in the first place. I would hate it if terrorists took Jack out; I would cry like a baby, and boohoo to anyone who would listen about how I wished that the writers had chosen differently, and let Jack ride off into the sunset. However, having our President give the order to kill Jack gives a whole new meaning to "friendly fire," even if she's doing it via former President Logan, who is seriously lacking moral fibre. She wound him up and let him go knowing exactly who she was letting loose on Jack, and the world. That makes her ultimately responsible.


Therefore, if my worst fears come true and our government fires the silver bullet, I'm just not sure there is enough Kleenex to make it okay. It gives a whole new meaning to cry me a river.