WRITERS: Robert Cochran, Manny Coto & David Fury DIRECTOR: Brad Turner
CAST: Kiefer Sutherland (Jack Bauer), Peter MacNicol (Lennox), Mary Lynn Rajskub (Chloe O'Brian), Marisol Nichols (Nadia Yassir), Carlo Rota (Morris O'Brian), Powers Boothe (Noah Daniels), Ricky Schroder (Mike Doyle), Tzi Ma (Cheng Zhi), Rena Sofer (Marilyn Bauer), James Cromwell (Philip Bauer), Evan Ellingson (Josh Bauer), Kenneth Choi (Cheng's Operative), Nick Jameson (President Yuri Suvarov), William Devane (James Heller), Kim Raver (Audrey Raines), Tom Everett (Dr Hastings), Lex Cassar (CTU Agent Ryan), Marci Michelle (Marci), Christian Maccio (FBI Agent #1) & Bob Gunton (Ethan Kanin)
The airstrike on the oil rig is moments away, Daniels begins to questions his suitability as acting-President, Chloe has some amazing news and Jack attempts a daring rescue...This is it. The final hour. It was hard to envisage Episode 24 managing to turn around the poor start to the two-hour finale, although the fact three writers were involved gave me some hope. Robert Cochran, Manny Coto and David Fury each had a hand in this script, so surely three minds could find some way of reversing the decline for a last hurrah?
Sadly not. This is mildly better than Episode 23, but only by virtue of finality and the lack of exposition. Things move along fairly swiftly, but also with painful predictability. As it's the last episode of the season, enjoyment comes from predicting who'll survive events. Will dastardly Cheng escape? Will Jack kill his evil father? Will Josh be sacrificed?
The main action moments, with Jack boarding an oil rig to rescue Josh, minutes before it's blown to smithereens, is pretty good action machismo. That said, I found it frustrating that Philip's comeuppence lacked bite. James Cromwell does his best with the material, but his age renders him unthreatening these days and his character has been badly written. Jack Bauer's father deserved to be a far more threatening and iconic character than Cromwell managed to deliver.
James Heller (William Devane) would have been a far better choice to play Jack's daddy and his return in this episode is certainly good evidence for this. Devane is again superb and it's a shame Heller has been underused since his debut in season 4. He just occassionally turns up to give fans a brief thrill. Devane works particularly well with Kiefer Sutherland, and this episode's denouement is an extended scene where acting takes precedent over action.
Kiefer Sutherland rarely gets a chance to act in 24, with Jack Bauer becoming increasingly two-dimensional as the seasons tick by. At best he's thrown scraps by the writers and does his best to inject pathos into his character between the gunfire, fights, explosions and tortures.
It's a crying shame, as Sutherland proves he's capable of so much more in his scene with Devane at the episode's close. Here, Jack quietly rages at Heller's condemnation of his life, culminating in a touching farewell to Audrey (Kim Raver).
The final scene is poignant, but ultimately disappointing when compared to previous season's jaw-droppers of faked deaths, assassination attempts, harrowing deaths and enemy captures.
Instead, season 6 bows out on a quiet note with Jack staring out to a dark sea. Fans may not have been given a final boost of adrenaline they perhaps deserved for sticking with season 6, but it's a sign the writers are going to tread more carefully in season 7. Let them reflect on the backlash to season 6 and dream up a new adventure for Jack Bauer; one that does justice to the real-time concept but isn't a rehash of past glories...
Jack will be back. But better than ever? Well, let's just wait and see.
The clock's still ticking...
