And....we're finished...

The title of this blog a paraphrase of one of the better lines from this year...I had taken copious notes from last night's 2 hour finale, but now, I just ain't feelin' it...I felt very letdown...Admittedly, "24" had raised the bar to an extremely high level, and they just didn't do it this year...VP Daniels summed it up best perhaps last night..."It's easy to think you've got all of the answers when none of the ultimate responsibility lies with you..." Maybe it was the writers' way of responding to the many critics of this year's "Day"....I leave it to you to fill in the blanks, my friends...Last night's finale has left me feeling hollow....Can't wait til January....

Runnin' and Gunnin'....

First of all, can we all agree that while possessing mesmerizing, piercing, incredible eyes....Rena Sofer as Marilyn Bauer is an awful actress??? Thank you...I knew I could count on you...

This episode wasted no time getting to the action, something that has been glaringly missing this year...Jack headbutts a bad guy, Nadia's kickin' butt and Morris, MORRIS, is applying a WWE-like sleeperhold to the enemy...Doyle saves the day. (did he really???...only time will tell)

Last night had a few particularly good scenes for me...

Loved when Jack popped up out of the man hole and POP! POP! POP! stops the evading Chinese, who now hold Josh...
A major firefight insues...Jack SLIDES and POP! POP!...double taps a baddie....COOL! (I don't think they'll let me try that one at the range...)

Josh kicked Cheng in the face! Yep...He's Jack's son all right....

Cheng escapes in the melee...
Doyle: Your father's involved with the Chinese? Why?
Jack: I'll ask him...When I find him. (can't wait...)

How's about that naughty eavesdropping that Tom and the Secret seervice types were doing?
I just about fell out of my comfy chair when Tom said..."Annnndddd, finally we're done."

And, when after they've caught the lobbyist/spy hunk he said: "You've already familiarized yourself with the White House staff..."

OK...Help me with this one...Division inspectors arrive less than 1 hour after the raid on CTU...it's 3:40ish in the morning...AND they're wearin' suits???? PUH-LEEZE....

I thought the Morris/Nadia exchange was pretty good...Actually I think any scene with Nadia is pretty good...

The VP gets a 2 hour warning from the Russians...Hmmmmm...EXACTLY the amount of time left in this day...Hmmmmm.....

What's so important about Josh???

Russians are being squeezed...By whom?

Jack has a phone call...WARNING: This is NEVER a good sign.

Doyle appears and takes Josh from Jack...Jack is held down...He screams "JOSH!!!" Josh mouths "Uncle Jack!"....Ka-Chung Ka-Chung Ka-Chung....

Previews: Chloe is hurt!
2 hour finale....
I think Jack sums it all up very well in the preview when he says:
"I would rather die than live with everything we've done wrong today..." (sounds like an admission of guilt from the writers themselves to me...) I am looking forward to the wrapup, but I have come to believe that they have gone from the strongest season in #5 to the weakest season this year....I'll be playing golf with Greg Itzin (Logan) this weekend at the Duke Children's Classic...I'll tell him "Hi" from all of you ....

OK...Here's a link to a "sort of" spoiler....Very intriguing...Click at your own possible risk...I did, and it gave me hope for better things to come...
http://www.buddytv.com/articles/24/24-major-spoiler-revealed-326-5367.aspx?show=24.aspx

CTU ain't what it used to be...

Another up and down episode, I thought. I did like the early part with Jack in holding. For the first time I sensed his true plight...how do I get outta here.

GREAT scene when he cuts both security guards a glance and Nadda says "don't even think about it." Hey, did you notice the security guard backing out watching Jack? Guess the CTU security union's been talking about how hard Jack is on guards...

What I didn't care for...MOST of the episode. I've really started losing interest in President...I mean Vice-President...acting-President....oh, Powers Booth. I actually think he was more interesting when he was...gulp...evil and mean. Logan, at least the old Logan, would have been proud. (By the way, check out the interview on FOX50.com, VIP section with Howard Gordan).

I am WAY over the, as I'll call it, LOVE BOAT part of this season. What the heck was the "moment" between Nadda & Doyle..."be careful"...Even Doyle's look was like..."the writers just made you say that?"

Now my aside on ole CTU. Well it just ain't the place to go for safety. I used to joke that anytime Jack said, "they're taking you to CTU...you'll be safe..." it was a REALLY bad sign.

So far in 6 seasons CTU has been: bombed, gassed, overtaken and a virtually death pit for A LOT of the crew. People have walked in with fake IDs, walked out without problems, kidnapped people and basically just did whatever they wanted. You'd think after a while, they'd tear it down and, to quote a popular song, "put up a parking lot." Rumor is there will be BIG changes next season...I'm betting this is the last we see of CTU.

And the end...Milo...wow! Gotta admit when he stood up, I saw it coming, but still it was shocking to see it.

And Farmer Hoggett is back! I was a little surprised and really interested to see it play out. Chang or Daddy...who does Jack shot first?

Only 2 more episodes left!

I am officially interested again...

Episode started out with Audrey acting like a few consultants I've known....
She thinks Doyle is Jack! Not hardly, my dear....

"There's a spy..." Captain Obvious salutes you sir!

Cheng's out joyridin' in his stealth Humvee...He learns that the chip is damaged and is out of warranty...Needs someone with the necessary expertise...Hmmmmm. Wonder who that might be? Please, not Morris again!

Lisa's "Studmuffin" (my wife's description, NOT mine) is the spy! Downloads important stuff from her PDA immdeiately following what we assume was a "zesty frolic"....Wait til the VP finds out....

The scene between Chloe and Morris was heartwrenching...(I'm such a softy...) When Morris said, "We're done..." Couldn't you just FEEL it? Can't stand to see Chloe cry (please see the previous "softy" comment)...I think they'll reconcile...

Audrey is a "Type 3 catatonic" THAT explains it....(another reason she reminds me of some consultants I've known...)

Oh Oh! The VP learns that Lisa has sleepin' with a spy Studmuffin! (my wife's description, not mine) The scene where he confronts her with the truth was STRONG...I swear I could watch Powers Boothe read the phonebook....He's creepy good.
LOVED when Tom asked him "How are you sir?" "I'm better NOW..."

Doyle's turning out ok...Un-handcuffs Jack with the words..."I think you need to do something....Make it look good..." A little choke hold later and jack's on the prowl lookin' for Audrey...Finds her, springs her...Takes her to a quiet spot in CTU...Well, other than the alarms blaring...and tries to debrief her...Another heartwrenching scene...
Nadia catches grief from Doyle and Milo, and rightly so...But...in the end she steps up...Nadia's IN CHARGE, and she's HOT...(sorry, haven't mentioned that in a while....and, by the way, that's MY description of her, NOT my wife's)
James Heller returns! And he ain't happy! OUCH! Orders Jack to NEVER SEE AUDREY AGAIN! dang...He looked MEAN.....
"You're cursed, Jack. Everything you touch, one way or another, ends up dead...."

Preview: The Return Of Marilyn Bauer...Only, what? 4 hours left????

"Dynasty On Crack!!!"

The title of this blog is from a quote by Kiefer when asked to describe the "best show on television"....And last night's episode, in my humble opinion, lived up to the analogy....

Did anybody else notice that the standard "Viewer discretion is advised" opening sounded a little different, and the music was creepier than usual?

Ya know, sometimes with his weird facial expressions, President Montel just looks constipated...IMHO, of course...

Don't cha just sometimes wanna stop a car in the middle of the street...Scream, "I'm a federal agent in pursuit!!! I need your vehicle!!!" And then toss the driver aside like a dirty shirt.... ???
Heck, Doyle didn't even show the dude a badge or nuthin'....

This whole episode was a pretty cool commercial for the Toyota Tundra...

Jack tells P.F. Chang that it's gonna be "his way from now on..." I LOVE that....

What's that female's name that VP Daniels "assistant"? (aka "Ho", in my wife's opinion) Anyway, she's gotta go home 'cause she needs a change of clothes for her "sleepover". (snicker, snicker) Based on the previews of next week, I believe that SHE IS THE SPY!!!

The Chloe vs. Morris exchange was absolutely brutal..I actually hurt for Morris when Chloe uttered the line about "Don't arm nuclear bombs for terrorists..." She really knows how to hurt a guy....

The whole who's it gonna be, Karen or Bill thing was pretty strong, I thought...(I think my wife's wanted to "fire" me a time or two over the years...) I'll bet this'll put a little chill in the air on their next beach vacation...

I absolutely cheered when Jack slung his "man bag" over his shoulder! YES!!! The return of the "Jack Sack"!!! Wonder what goodies it contains?

OK...OK....Doyle just "happens upon" Jack's truck??? Come on....PUH-LEEEEZE....

Ya know I thought that whole Jack guaranteeing that the subcircuit board wouldn't fall into Chinese hands was a little flawed...

Jack's placed "in custody"...Just how many times can a guy get arrested????

AUDREY DOESN'T RECOGNIZE JACK....Pretty heavy scene...

According to my math, there are 5 hours to go...They said last nite, "4 more episodes..." so I'm figuring the finale will be a 2 hour deal like last year...

All in all, I thought it a very strong hour....What think you?

Only 6 hours to go...

First of all, I'm led to ask the question again: What did the USA "pay" to get Jack released in the first place this season? (Day?)

jack calls Chang and learns that the Chinese want something I can't pronounce...something about an FB subcircuit board with algorythms (sp?) or something....Anyway, it'll let the Chinese defeat some Russian systems.....Goody Goody....They will trade the complicated whatchamacallits for Audrey....(I suspect that things are not quite what they seem with Audrey...)

President Montel is still not "himself" whatever that is...

VP Daniels is asked to resign...He ain't gonna, because just in the nick of time, President Montel collapses....How convenient....

I LOVE how Chloe believes that the Chinese will never get the device because "JACK GAVE HIS WORD..." Jack bluffs the Marines and gets to the device...Doyle gets the Marines to whack Jack in the noggin...He gets to call Montel and utters the great line: "Mr. Montel, you owe me..."

(at this point I can't read my own handwriting from the notes I took last night, and am admittedly a little fuzzy about the final scene when Jack drew down on Doyle) Please forgive me dear readers as I became a grandfather on Saturday morning, the rest of the weekend with family, and yesterday down at Ft. Bragg with a group called the "Friends of Special Operations Forces", hanging out with some REAL Jack Bauers....I'm pretty well wiped out this morning, so I'll ask YOU to please fill in the gaps of this blog with your highly insightful take on things....I apologize for my lack of professionalism...I'll be back in form next week. (I hope!!!)

"Now we're gonna have some fun..."

First of all, my humblest apologies for not filing a post re: last week's show...I was in Orlando for a Children's Miracle Network conference regarding radiothons/telethons for children's hospitals...My "back-up blogger" was also on vacation...So....on to last night's GREAT episode....

I truly feel that we're back on track...LOTS more Jack was the recipe...I still think that maybe Kiefer had suffered some sort of real life injury and was being written out of scripts intentionally...I can't fathom a rational reason for his lack of presence this season...

As the hour unfolded...a missle has been launched, just entered the target's airspace and is five minutes from impact...Does it bother you that the actual name of the country has NEVER BEEN MENTIONED????? Very un-PC of me I suppose....

President Montel bluffed 'em!!! It wasn't really a nuke! Apparently inspired by the wacky VP, he's finally steppin' up...Of course, the shot of adrenaline ain't hurtin' either....

Cool...Jack and Doyle get to have a little "chat" with Fayed....Burke is put on standby with a pharmaceutical package....And, Jack utters a quotable quote: "Now we're gonna have some fun..." JACK IS BACK.....

President Montel's sis is referenced as going to the hospital to see Walid....Will he figure more prominently in the day's events? The question returns...

President Montel's got the shakes...This ain't gonna play out well, me thinks...

Whilst transporting Fayed back to CTU and an appointment with Burke, our heroes are ambushed! The driver's down! Doyle is down! JACK IS DOWN!!! Fayed is sprung! Wait!
A FAKE AMBUSH!!!! Loved it when Jack just sat up....I was very confused....Brilliant. Again, a sign that we're back on track....

Meanwhile, back at the CTU ranch, Milo's gettin' testy with Nadia because she showed concern about Doyle....I'm tellin' ya....There's something at play here that's bigger than it seems.

President Montel collapses, apparently from an old talk show injury...

Didn't you just know that when Fayed asked for a weapon, then checked to make sure it was loaded that it wasn't gonna bode well for our "faux terrorists"?

Fayed hijacks a garbage truck and is headed east...Jack hitches a ride...great action scene with Jack in a shootout with the baddies and then hand to hand, mano a mano with Fayed....Biting and head buttin', kicking and gougin'...and ....another quotable quote: "Say hello to your brother..." That's m'boy...

SHE'S BAAAAAACCCCCCKKKKKKK.......Just when Jack has nailed the last terrorist and has secured the remaining nukes, Audrey calls to complicate an already too long day....

Loved the previews....The Chinese want "the component", whatever that is, Audrey needs rescuing, the VP refuses to resign, and Jack tells President Montel that "you owe me!!!"....I also love that the Chinese guy, Chang's his name I think, gave out a phone number...It's the SAME # they've given out all season...I called it of course...goes to the mailbox for "24"....That # is...
310-597-3781
If you're lucky, someone may actually answer, I'm told....

Your thoughts, pretty please.....