24 "Day 5" Season Finale:
A Cautionary Cliffhanger
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Jack Bauer has the coolest job in the known universe. Okay, it's a little stressful, but what a perk-- save the world as we know it in 24 hours and take off therest of the year. How cool is that? Sign me up right now!
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For five seasons now, 24 has led us down a serpentine path strewn with corruption at the highest levels, deception at every corner, gunplay 'round every bend and enough general mayhem to make Quentin Tarentino come off like an altar boy. And we've followed every second of those 24 hour timelines, no matter how implausible. After all, plausibility has never been a prerequisite for thr action adventure genre. Nobody ever paused to think about Indiana Jones' transatlantic trip perched on the periscope of a Nazi U-boat in Raiders of the Lost Ark, for example.
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It's all about pacing, and in that area, perhaps no other series in the history of network television has done it better than 24. It invariably hits the ground running, and moves at such a breakneck pace that we don't even think about how no way could that happen in that timeframe. We want to believe that it could, maybe just maybe could, and we become willing participants in the milieu. And that, friends, is genius.
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Then there is the character of Jack Bauer himself. As portrayed by Keifer Sutherland, Bauer serves as a metaphor for American frustration-- tense, sweaty, set adrift in events larger than himself with seemingly no hope for survival. Yet he prevails, teeth clenched against all odds. We see in Jack Bauer what we want America to be--a steadfast figure bowing to no evil in whatever form it takes, but never flinching from a fundamental ethic of justice, determined to save our way of life, even if it means taking on the President himself. In other words, Jack is us. The only difference is he knows who the bad guys are. We have only our vague suspicions.
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From the start, the fifth season (or "Day Five", to use the jargon) of 24 played to our national paranoia, beginning with the assassination of former President Palmerthreading into a Chechnian nerve gas terrorism threat that involved an assassination attempt on the Russian president which in turn was engineered by the US President working on behalf of oil interests with the misguided attention of rescuing America from foreign energy dependency.
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With me so far?
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Good.
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Because of the "real time" format of 24, there is no way humanly possible to bring the unitiated up to snuff on all the intricacies fo the plotline of "Day 5." The last couple of episodes made it screamingly apparent that there were only two ways it could end, neither of which were particularly politically correct. Either the President had to be brought to justice as a traitor, or he would get away with his acts in the interest of maintaining the dignity of the office.
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In the end, the producers managed a climax that had it both ways, and without giving too much away, did so in a manner that served both justice and the almighty cover-up. But that was not the end--there are no endings on 24, unless you count ragged edges as endings. All is right with the world as the sun rises, except for Bauer's world. He's on a slow boat to China, courtesy of the Chinese government, who have not forgotten his assault on their embassy during "Day 4."
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All that aside, the 24 finale served up generous portions of all the elements that make the series relevant. Even I had to admit early on in this arc that the series might have finally jumped the shark. There was no way they could make this work, i thought.
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I was quickly proven wrong, and it wasn't because of all the smoke and mirrors the show employs. It was because, no matter what else you might say about it, 24 raises your heart rate. And it's not just the often cartoon-like action. It's because it speaks to us on a visceral level-- the idea that one man can make a difference, and revolutions really do begin with one person.
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Besides, I just have to know where the Chinese are taking Jack Bauer for the 2007 season.
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