24 Season 8 Episode 20, 11:00AM-12:00PM – review

Fact: Jack Bauer is a police officer’s worst nightmare.  Think you can take Bauer into custody? WRONG!  Think Jack Bauer is afraid to shoot you through the foot? Guess again.  Think Jack Bauer will apologize? Absolutely.  Bauer continues to be violent and noble by turn as the series winds down to the LAST FOUR 24 episodes EVER!  Now, we’ve all watched a lot of 24 in our day, and nobody realizes that next year, there will be no 4-hour, 2-day premieres; there will be no edge of your seat season finales in May; there will be no more Bauer!  So you better enjoy your time with 24 while you have it, because we never know what something means to us until it is gone.  That said, this is a strong action episode with great qualities, but it fails to knock it out of the park.  Something about Katee Sackhoff switching between Terminator determination and movement (she really would have been a good T-X, or a Terminator for the fantasy third season of the TV show) and wild-eyed manipulation.  The writers are trying to channel Nina Meyers, and well they should, but Sackhoff is a different breed, and only capable of a few patented facial expressions.  Here is desperate to escape Dana Walsh; here is conniving bitch Dana Walsh; here is determined Dana Walsh about to murder you.

Well, luckily Dana Walsh is fucking dead by the end of the episode.  This is one of the biggest reliefs of any television show in recent memory, not because she was a good character, but because she has been dragging this season down like a lead weight.  It is easy to forget how much time was spent on her sordid redneck background; man, that was the dumps.  Pile on top of this her constant irritating presence at CTU and never-ending complaining to Cole, and it was like a breath of fresh air to have her dead.  This should have been one hell of a moment, but neither Bauer nor Walsh really sell it as well as they could.  Dana Walsh was always best when ruthlessly killing hapless CTU guard drones; now, may she rot in a grave forever.  

Speaking of graves, Bauer was putting people in them left and right this episode. Here is Jack raiding a Private Military Company safehouse and shooting the mustachioed henchman in the head.  He then kills mercenary after mercenary with a snub nose revolver (a Bauer first), a grenade, and his trusty USP pistol.  Most importantly, Jack has a great shoot-out with Dana Walsh in a busy NY street and puts two rounds into her chest.  Jack is really showing off his spooky shoot-out moves in these scenes.  After eight years of Bauer, Sutherland does all of this subconsciously, unlike Prinze Jr., who sells Ortiz as a dangerous man but doesn’t have the skills quite down.  Can you believe Freddie Prinze Jr. is playing a tough guy, and doing okay at it?  Ortiz is really almost off the hinge here, but his well played stand-off with Jack based on his feelings for Walsh is kind of boilerplate.  The writers missed out big time on what could have been a great story:  Dana Walsh should have been pregnant with Ortiz’s child, and he didn’t find out until after Jack killed her.  Right guys? Guys?

Aside from the heavy action, Charles Logan is still scheming and scheming, installing his pocket bureaucrat at CTU and dealing the Russians in on Bauer.  Dalia Hassan is giving ironic speeches about President Taylor’s “integrity,” “trustworthiness,” and “honesty.”  I expected her to say, “If President Taylor knew anything about the murder of my husband, I’m sure she wouldn’t try to cover it up.”  Yeah, that’s right, President Taylor, you should feel bad for your lies; Jack Bauer saved your ass from a crack squad of Sengalese special forces in the White House last season, and this is how you thank him.  Jack is always his best when facing impossible odds, so this story arc wins, but he doesn’t really make you believe he is all that angry about Renee.  Sheesh, he only slept with her once, at least now he won’t have to call her back.  

“Spoilers” within–next episode promises Jack using a blow torch on a Russian goon, another Bauer first.  Way to end things on a high note, 24.