Jack Bauer may continue to save the world (as we know it) but I won’t be watching anymore. I used to love the show and reveled in how super agent Jack eliminated our enemies one by one (while injuring a few friends in the process). But this season, I just couldn’t stand it anymore. It’s not that the president is a lady this time around, it’s all the baggage she brought with her: a belief that tens of thousands (or more) of American lives can be forfeited to help a few thousand in Africa, a liability of a husband (who probably turns out to be the great savior), the vast number of American traitors in our government (par for the course in any season of 24) who murder and maim at the drop of a hat. Her course of action alone should have gotten her executed for treason. And that soppy face of hers, spouting disbelief that some bad guy would actually “push the button”, “pull the trigger” or whatever after he said “do this or else”… well that was just too much.
And then there’s the character of Jack himself, played by Kiefer Sutherland, his nonstop whispering urgency as he delivers his lines. Even when he shouts, it’s as if he’s still whispering (loudly … yes, I know, there’s a bit of a contradiction there).
Some shows just cross the line.. The term is “jumping the shark” named after an incident in the old TV show “Happy Days” when the character Fonzie, literally jumped a shark while water skiing. For me, 24 has indeed jumped the shark this season. It is no longer fun to watch.
If I were the producers of 24, I would send Jack Bauer on a mission to eliminate all the people who destroyed the U.S. economy in the last number of years. I know it would take him a long time to get them all. But that would ensure that the show would remain on the air for many years to come and just think of how much fun it would be to watch all the creeps get their due at the hands of the ever resourceful Jack: beheadings, shootings, torture! Now that’s a show.
