The general consensus in the blogosphere is that writing a bad post is far worse than writing no post at all. This is probably true about all writing. With that in mind, I have tried to write this synopsis a couple of times already but each time it has felt stale. The fact is it’s all been said before. Season six of 24 didn’t measure up to season five. The character interactions were awkward. The Bauer family’s involvement was simply too hard to believe. The creativity that defined the series as innovative television was absent from this season.
I’ve tried to look at season six from a big picture point of view rather than as its own entity, and when I do that a lot of the decisions made by the writers make sense. I don’t think people understand what this season was for. Season six, like season three, was a bookend. It needed to bring stories — and characters — to a close. Allow me to explain.
Look at the final hour of Day 6. Very little actually needed to happen. Blow up a computer chip, kill a bunch of henchmen, do something about Phillip Bauer and Cheng, and rescue Josh. They did all that in about twenty-five minutes. The rest of the episode tied up the loose ends. Bill and Karen have been pardoned but will never work in the government again. Chloe and Morris are having a baby which may signal their ride off into the sunset. The conflicts with the Chinese and Russians seem to have reached a natural conclusion. And, of course, Audrey and her father is now apart of Jack’s past.
What about the rest of the day? The Palmer family has likely seen its last day on 24 now that Wayne is comatose. The Logans went out with a bang. Sadly, Aaron Pierce won’t be leaving the series with a happy ending, with his new wife likely going to the funny farm. Other characters like Milo and Graem, who appeared in previous seasons, were killed off.
In short, every character that was apart of this season that also had been on the show in a previous season either died or was given some sort of logical way to make their exit.
After watching the season finale I believe the writers when they say they want to reinvent Jack Bauer. In fact, they probably knew they needed to do this while they were writing season five, but with so many plot threads left unresolved they had to create a season with the sole purpose of bringing a sense of resolution.
Their decision to do this while incorporating Jack’s family so heavily into the plot probably sounded like a good idea at the time, but it wasn’t executed well. But again, I can see why they did it. Jack’s family, just like everything else, is now dead to him. While he does still has a daughter, a sister-in-law and a nephew, his father and brother are dead and Kim, as of season five, isn’t speaking to him. I can’t imagine any of them playing a significant role in the rest of his life. This gives the writers even more freedom now that there are not even any family constraints to tie him down.
So the final verdict from me is that this season was necessary even if it wasn’t the best season yet. Personally, I enjoyed the first four and the final four hours but suffered along with most of the rest of the 24 nation through the middle sixteen hours. Sutherland’s performance in the season six finale was incredible. I still have high hopes for the next two seasons despite many critics claiming the series has peaked.
Two pieces of 24-related business to take care of before closing. First, most of my predictions regarding the season finale were wrong. Bill Buchanan is alive and well, not to mention a free man. Phillip Bauer is dead, but Cheng is not. The Russians have settled down and the Chinese seem to now be out of the 24 picture.
Second, I must congratulate Hillary Smith for winning the 2007 Bauer Count Challenge. At the beginning of the season she guessed that Jack would kill 45 people. He ended up killing 49 people this season, according to bauercount.com. That’s a new high for Jack. The next closest in the pool was my roommate Porter who guessed 55.33 kills. Congratulations Hillary!
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