24: Live Another Day might just be the best season of a TV series I've watched this year, and I'm a huge Orphan Black fan who loved season 2. This was a great finale, wrapping things up and leaving it open ended just in case the show did want to come back. Seeing Jack go from empty to complete and utter badass was some terrific work from Sutherland, maybe one of the best scenes I've seen in his character. I hope the series comes back, but if it doesn't it was a great run.
I think it's interesting what they've done with Kate's character. It sort of mirrors Jack after his first season, having failed to save someone innocent from dying. At the end she seems defeated and broken. If she returns, I expect we'll see her struggling to come to terms with the choices she's made, much like Jack has, and then transforming into a total badass who doesn't give a crap because she has nothing else to live for.
What a season. Frankly, I'll be amazed if this is the last we see of 24 and Jack. As far as I am aware, this season has received pretty much universal praise from fans and the press alike. They'd be daft not to at least do another 12-episode season. Story-wise, the 3 characters best qualified to mount some kind of jailbreak are still alive - Kate's ditching the CIA judging from the symbolic "putting the badge and gun on the table" gesture, Chloe has naff all better to do now Adrian Cross is out of the picture, and who doesn't want to see more Belchek? One of the best lines this season was when Heller tried to order Belchek to take him back to the SS, and he simply smiled and said "I'm not a US citizen, and this isn't America". More Belchek, more Jack, and more 24 please!
^ Kiefer has always said that as much as he loved doing the show, this is the last time he's playing Jack. So if the show continues, they'll have to do it without him.
24 without Jack Bauer would bomb. He is too central to the show. I know Kiefer says that he won't do it again but many actors say that and then change their minds when they see the right amount of $$$. I think Kiefer could be persuaded to come back again for the right price.
I suppose they could do an entire season geared around rescuing Jack, who would only appear in the final episode in a 2-minute cameo or something like that.
One complaint about the finale...well...i guess 2,maybe. 1) Why in the world would Kate call Jack about Audrey as he is in the middle of an operation! What strategic value would it do? I know the dramatic reason, but c'mon... 2) Wouldn't it be important that Cheng is alive? I know why Jack would want to...but he's smart enough to not endanger the nation (and the world) for his personal grievances.
1. I agree, the presidents staff held it from Heller so he would not be distracted. 2.) I guess they wanted to match his voice and his face, after that he did not need to be alive anymore. The US can just send the body to China for a for dna/dental/fingerprint test, does not need to be alive for that.
^ Sean coming back to do one more film would be quite different than Kiefer (or any other actor) returning for an entire series.
Yes, I fell in love with Belcheck. I was absolutely sure he would die a redshirt death in the final assault or even betray Jack, having a loyal, competent secondary (tertiary?) character an have him survive is rare on this show.
Now that I've got seven out of the eight seasons under by belt (full seasons here, not counting LAD), I never felt like anything was extraneous. There were a few episodes here and there that were probably written just to make it to 24 episodes, but I've always felt the writing was good enough to where it didn't feel like filler (at least not to me). Even season 4, which I think is still the weakest season, still managed to provide some great episodes.
Driscoll's daughter? Teri's amnesia? Lynn McGill's sister? It led to a big event happening, but it was a total contrivance dependent on total stupidity. Just wait until you get to Katee Sackhoff in season 8.
For me, every season started off really well with a great set-up, then things got boring or convoluted by episode 5 or so and stayed that way pretty much all the way through. Then we'd get an ending that was hit or miss. I could never do what you did and watch the full run of the show in a short period of time because of that. These days I like to watch full seasons of most shows in a few days. I didn't do that with Live Another Day because I didn't think I'd be able to sit through that much 24 in such a short time. I did end up enjoying the season quite a bit though.
Seriously. Talk about an actor that goes from being great on one show to being totally crippled by bad writing on another.