24 Series Finale

After the 2 1/2 hour waste of my time on Sunday night with the finale of LOST (good riddance), I looked forward to 24's finale on Monday night.

For the majority of the last eight seasons, the writing, acting and film editing of the series have been superb. I said mostly because season 7 is questionable to me. I hated that season the most of all of them - but I digress.

Day 8 (Season 8) started and the fast paced action reminded me of Day 1. There were new faces, but the action was there from the start. Freddie Prinze, Jr. was convincing as a CTU agent, but I have always liked him anyway. Mykleti Williamson got on my nerves in the beginning playing the wimp CTU director, but after a heart-to-heart with Jack, he grew a pair and really acted like someone in charge of a government agency.

Chloe had her snappy wit from the beginning and signs of being close to Jack all of these years really shined through (like holding the NSA agent at gunpoint, having an attitude with Logan's sidekick, etc.). Former President Logan was the weasel he was in the previous seasons, so Gregory Itzin did not let me down. The funniest scene to me was when Jack was shooting up the tunnel and Logan cowered in the back seat telling Secret Service -"that's Jack Bauer, kill him." I was falling over in laughter. All of the dirt he dealt and when he was going to pay for it, he shows the yellow stripe down his back.

In the end, Jack is proven to be right - yet again. President Taylor's conscience finally gets the best of her (took her 23 hours) I guess better late than never right? She was able to stop the hit on Jack (that she ordered I might add) before they pulled the trigger. She apologizes and tells Jack to get out of the country.

The final scene between Jack and Chloe was touching and I got choked up. He said that all of the years ago when she walked into CTU, he never would have imaged she would be the one that had his back. She did a lot to try to save him, and he thanked her. She killed the satellite feed and Jack disappears. The Russians are after him, and the Americans are after him. Even though he rode off into the sunset, the clock ticking down did not leave you saying - what the hell? It was a fitting end to an awesome show that I am truly going to miss.

I could not think of any other actor playing Jack Bauer. Keifer Sutherland played the role and WAS Jack Bauer. He really can be proud of the eight seasons, because he entertained us, had us stressed out and sometimes even had us shaking our heads because you just never knew what Jack would do next. Shows like this do not come around often, but when they do - the stress, excitement and exhiliration is well worth it.