24!

[Weak2ndAct]

So... I just watched the season 4 finale.  You know, the first 8 hours were pretty cool... but then it dovetailed into a buncha ridiculously over-plotted/implausible bullshit.  Having watched the first 3 seasons, I rolled with it.  There was some good stuff here and there... but the 2-hour finale today was the biggest heap of fucking bullshit I'd ever had the displeasure of laying my eyes on.  Fuck this show in the face.

[Ravi]

SPOILERS





The finale was anticlimactic.  Couldn't they have shown the missile being thwarted in a more interesting manner than showing it being blown up from afar?  It was more like, "Thwarted the nuclear bomb, check, what's next?"  Maybe they ran out of money or time?

The core idea of the show is ALL plot, but I think I understand what you're saying.  The whole thing with the Chinese on top of the nuclear bomb was pretty ridiculous but it could turn out to be interesting for next season.  24 thrives on some degree of implausibility but there are points where you just ask, "what the fuck?"  It seemed silly Logan would be such a wimp.  Just an excuse to get Dennis Haysbert back to the show.

Its a fun show but there's only so much that can be done with it, and if the writers fuck it up along the way you feel ripped off because you've actually spent 24 hours on it.  Its not like you can judge the show based on 3-4 episodes.

[Gamblour.]

More SPOILERS....








I really loved this season. Season 3 was soo bad, there were so many loose ends and melodramatic shit. It was recycled, by the end, you couldn't remember how it began, with so many dropped plotlines. Now, it's a lot more consistent, I feel the same way I did when I watched the first season. I don't think this season was 'over-plotted', it was actually a lot of the same over and over: new lead, pursue it, dead/captured, new lead, etc...Much better than drugs, Kyle Singer, no wait now a hotel is infected, but Michelle's ok, blah blah I can't even remember the rest of season 3.

I think President Logan being completely flaccid as a leader was a great storyline, it was a lot more fucking interesting than Greg the Bunny being a good leader, or at least a competent one. And if only an excuse to bring back Palmer, eh it doesn't bother me.

I was awfully confused as to who really knew what happened at the end, but my god Audrey is completely mind fucked by now, not is her bro gay but two of her dudes are dead.

I think they really rushed the last episode, the Chinese stuff did some to move really quickly, but the possibilities for season 5 are more open now than ever. Maybe we'll get more espionage than catastrophe, seeing as how they can't directly use Jack. It's funny, this was the most optimistic ending of any season, though I don't remember season 2 very well, I know some kid got his leg chopped off.

[grand theft sparrow]

I still thought it would be Chloe that showed up weilding a gun, that would have been fucking awesomer!!!!!

I meant to ask this back in April.  Are you psychic?



SEASON FINALE SPOILERS




As for the finale, I have 2 words:  DIE HARD.

From the helicopter crap on top of the building to Marwan's drop from the parking garage, it was all Die Hard.  But, poorly executed as it may have been, it only cemented my theory that Jack Bauer is the baddest badass in Hollywood since John McClane.  

Destroying the nuke was hokey as hell.  What a stroke of luck that it was heading for LA.  It was just a wild goose chase through the whole second half of the season until in the last hour, they find it and destroy it.  That was the first bit of bad writing I haven't been able to forgive this season.  All the other bad writing is fine with me... hell, that's part of why I like the show.  

I'm happy as hell that they didn't kill off Tony.  I thought for sure he was going to eat it since he saved Jack and Audrey in the greatest moment of the entire series (except possibly Chloe with the machine gun).  TV's Han Solo.

Can anyone tell me what Mandy's deal is?  I don't remember it being mentioned in seasons 1 or 2, and I missed season 3.

And Jack's basically just gonna walk the earth?  That only sets it up for my dream show, when they drop the CTU angle and Jack, Palmer, Tony, and Curtis (aka Black Tony) become soldiers of fortune and we have a new A-Team!

[Ravi]

SPOILERS FOR SEASONS 1 AND 2







I just finished watching season 2 and it only shows me how good season 1 was.  While I enjoyed it, they turned Jack into an invincible man, which, for me at least, takes some suspense away from the story because you don't doubt for a second what's going to happen next, whereas in season 1 Jack's hand is forced and he is made to attempt to assassinate David Palmer.  Season 1 was so tightly constructed.  Kim's storyline merges with the mother's, and that storyline then is connected to the one with Jack and the assassination.  Jack is vulnerable in this season, and they truly make you wonder, "how in the hell is he going to get out of this???"  In seasons 2 and 4 (will watch 3 soon) he's pretty much invincible, so whenever he's in a bind, all you can think is, "oh, he'll figure out how to get out of this soon."  IMO it would be more suspenseful if he was highly skilled but not ridiculously.

Season 2 is pretty good, though after watching 1 and 4, watching 24 becomes just a little less suspenseful and a little more of a game of guessing what happens.  I'm not particularly good at guessing plot developments, but I was guessing stuff left and right with season 2 and 4.  I suppose that since the show is nothing but plot, action film cliches are inevitable, like when a bad guy is about to kill a good guy and then suddenly the bad guy is shot, and someone saves the good guy just in time.

I wasn't that interested in the Kim story in season 2.  It got a bit silly with Matt Dillon's creepy brother out in the woods and the Hispanic guy killing the liquor store owner.  But the main stories with conflict with the President and some of his staff and the cabinet and trying to find the nuclear bomb were pretty cool.  George Mason's story was very touching.

[Gamblour.]

I agree, by far, that the George Mason aspect of Season 2 is one of the best parts of the entire series. It was just so fucking good.

And I'll be interested to know what you think of season 3.

[Ravi]

Anyone here read this?



http://www.silverbulletcomicbooks.com/news/109908021211678.htm

24 & Agent Jack Bauer Return In 24 Stories

Posted: Friday, October 29
Posted By: Shawn Patty
Print This Item

Drugs, Chechens, And A Very Dark Agenda

Following this summer's successful 24: One Shot, IDW Publishing will return to the world of Jack Bauer and CTU in early 2005 with 24 Stories, the second one-shot based on the hit TV show.

24 Stories answers some of the questions that have been in the minds of fans of the popular Fox show since the start of the third season. In their second 24 tale, returning writers J. C. Vaughn and Mark Haynes tell a tale about Jack's early days undercover with the Salazar drug cartel. Chechen separatists have taken control of a high-rise in Los Angeles and Jack must find a way to take them down without blowing his hard-earned cover.

24 Stories follows the unique format of the first 24 One-Shot, presenting a different hour of Jack's day with every two-page spread in the book. This ticking-clock method only adds to the story's tension, as Vaughn and Haynes present Jack and CTU with an ever-more-desperate and tense situation.

"Jack Bauer is one of the most compelling characters on television or in comics," said Mark L. Haynes. "This story highlights how the medium of comics is perfect for the continued exploration of Jack's universe, providing current fans and new readers alike with all the twists and turns they expect from 24."

Co-writer J.C. Vaughn added, The first time out, we started with Jack's first day on the job at CTU. Now we've got him hip-deep in drug addiction and caught in the middle of an unrelated and very bad hostage situation, so it's just another average day at the office for Jack Bauer and company.

This time around, artist Manny Clark add his craftsman's touch to 24, offering a photo-realistic style that exudes action and emotion with every panel.

24 Stories is a full-color, 48-page trade one-shot on sale in January 2005.

[Kal]

I never watched this before until now. Now that there is nothing to watch on TV, and the NBA is over,  I bought Season 1 and 2, and started watching.

Its really amazing how well its done... and I could never watch this on regular TV anyways cause the cliffhangers are too much... I watched like 6 episodes back to back until 4 in the morning last night, and tonight I'm watching again. If I dont go anywhere for 4th of July weekend I'll be done with Seasons 1 and 2 I think.

And I thought Lost was intense... but this is really great

[Fernando]

I never watched this before until now. Now that there is nothing to watch on TV, and the NBA is over,  I bought Season 1 and 2, and started watching.

Its really amazing how well its done... and I could never watch this on regular TV anyways cause the cliffhangers are too much... I watched like 6 episodes back to back until 4 in the morning last night, and tonight I'm watching again. If I dont go anywhere for 4th of July weekend I'll be done with Seasons 1 and 2 I think.

And I thought Lost was intense... but this is really great

I'm currently with season 2, season 1 is really amazing and so far 2 it's really good too but maybe not as good as one but still holds, I don't know anything about 3, but the 4th of the little things I've read in this thread and avoiding spoilers that one has some spectacular eps.

Agree also that it would be insane to watch this on regular tv, there's nothing better than seeing this back to back to back...

[Ravi]

My girlfriend finds season 3 for a reasonable price on eBay.  Turns out it is a Chinese version, probably a bootleg, since the discs are all single layer and the packaging is a little weird.  It has the extras disc, but it has two disc 4s and is missing the last disc   So never bid on DVDs from a seller in China.

Anyways, so far season 3 is pretty good.  I like it better than season 2.  More thoughts when I finish it up.

[Pubrick]

So never bid on DVDs from a seller in China.

Hahaha, oh ebeaman ravi ::kiss forehead and combs hair with fingers::

...so innocent...

[Kal]

I got the Kubrick Collection from China and its great! Less than 30 bucks too!!

Anyhow... I'm done with Season 1 and I understand why the hype about this show. Is REALLY good. And I never expected Keifer Sutherland to be so awsome. I love it.

I just started Season 2, and tomorrow I have a 8 hour flight that will probably be dedicated to continue watching

[Ravi]

This was the DVD we got.  I doubt a pirate company would have a website.  I was pretty sure it was a bootleg but now I'm not sure.  Either way I am pissed.

[Kal]

I think thats probably legal over there

[pete]

yo those backwards lawless assholes over there.  I wish I could drill a hole through the earth just to kick their chinky eyed asses.