Nice to see that 24 is straightening itself out. Like the Cincinnati Bengals, season 8 has a lot of bad character issues, but unlike Team Ochocinco, Team Bauer is beginning to smooth out a lot of the problems. President Hassan, lovingly referred to as Fantastic Sam by Entertainment Weekly's Lynnette Rice, started off as a reformer in the Gandhi/Mandela mold who has a thing for white girls, then becomes part-time despot when he's betrayed, then becomes paranoid and emasculated. Dana goes from tough-minded tech to jittery girlfriend of Freddie Prinze Jr. to chick who somehow hid her background from CTU (the same organization that can tell the shade of skid marks in your underwear from outer space), to crazy thief-helping lady who needs Freddie Prinze Jr. to clean up her mess. The scenes with Hassan and Dana/Jenny, up until two weeks ago, were nigh unwatchable. Then the writers remembered the most important key to making a great episode of 24: it's all about Jack.
Jack not only solves all of the problems on the show, he fixes all of the problems of the show. The show is structured such that we couldn't possibly care about Hassan and his marital problems. How did they fix that? Give him a gun, running next to Jack. Dana/Jenny nearly singlehandedly derailed the season. How did they make her interesting and useful? Now she's a traitor, an opponent for Jack. More Jack is always the solution to a flagging episode. If Jack hasn't kicked some ass or at least barked at a terrorist/traitor in the past 20 minutes, it's time to add that scene. Supporting characters come and go - Tony, Michelle, Kim, the 58 presidents they've had on the series - but Jack is forever.
24 is truly at its best when combining Jack's badassery with debate over tough and relevant ethical questions. Season five, the show's best season, asked us, what do you do when the president is the terrorist? Season seven reminded us of genuine questions about the efficacy and morality of coercive interrogation if it means stopping greater evil. This last episode, the top bureaucrats around the President have a vehement debate about whether they should accede to the demands of the terrorists and hand over Hassan or risk the consequences of a giant dirty bomb attack on Manhattan. It's a stirring exchange and sets up one of the great scenes in the show's history: President Taylor's ballsy speech about courage and morality. Actress Cherry Jones once again convinces us to vote Taylor, somehow being even more awesome than President Palmer.
For the series' final ten episodes, let's hope the show sticks to the formula that has made it great: more Jack.
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