24: Season 8: Part 1

If there was ever an example of jumping the shark, Season 8 of 24 is probably the best example of it.

I think one of the underlying problems with season 8 of 24 (And there are A LOT of problems) is when you get to the end and you ask yourself... how the flying fuck did we get here? How in god's name did this season start off with Jack watching cartoons with his granddaughter to him almost assassinating the President of Russia and going on the run as a fugitive from the federal government?

Almost all of the complaints from my review of the pilot stand. They should have kept Henry Taylor in the mix, bringing CTU back was still stupid, Cole Ortiz is still bland, and they still should have brought Renee Walker in earlier.

But some of the complaints, while they remain, they are only taken to the next level by the end of the season and its tough to watch near the end.

So where do I start?

Well let's start with something I kind of overlooked in my pilot review. The administration of Allison Taylor in the 8th season goes from boring to worse throughout the season. In the 7th season, the Taylor administration was suppose to be a change from the fear inducing administration of Powers Boothe, AKA Noah Daniels. In a sense, Allison Taylor was suppose to represent a sense of change within the United States that was suppose to be representative of the Obama administration. While the Obama administration hasn't been the shining example of demilitarization and a change of the Bush administration in reality, I don't think that's what they were going with in this show. And the best example is the reinstatement of CTU.

While Allison Taylor was not my favorite fictional president on 24, there was no doubt that she is a shining example of moral character. She was willing to let her daughter go to prison because she hired an assassin to kill Jon Voight. Even though Jon Voight deserved it, Taylor is just a character of integrity. There are things wrong with the 7th season, but its not Allison Taylor.

So then season 8 comes along and she suddenly starts doing some really stupid, and eventually really unethical things. In the first episode in fact, there's a possible credible threat against Omar Hassan and there's the classic two sides of the argument, should we tell Hassan that he's a target for assassination...? Wait why wouldn't you tell him that?

The two sides of the argument is that if he knew his life is at risk it would put the peace agreement at risk... how? How would that put the peace agreement at risk? But of course, Taylor doesn't tell him. And he figures out. Wouldn't you think that would put the peace agreement at risk more? But nothing happens. Not only that but there is never an inkling that the peace agreement is at risk... ever.

Its decisions like this that just kind of pointless and just discredits Allison Taylor as a character. Breaking down that moral high ground that she had held the entire time. But then it just gets more and more convoluted and just breaks down into horrible bullshit by the end of the season.

Cause then they bring this joker in. Don't get me wrong, I love Charles Logan. He's a great villain and frankly he needed to return... just not like this.

I'll get back to the last act of the season and Charles Logan is an intricate part of that, but to finish up with Allison Taylor, Charles Logan gets her in so deep that she actually becomes somewhat of a villain, all in the name of this stupid peace process. And while she does reconcile... in a way for her stupidity, Allison Taylor was just kind of a disappointment by the end of the season.

Her cabinet was just as silly. Rob Weiss, Ethan Kanin, just everyone. I would say that the parts with people involved with President Hassan were good... but they weren't. His daughter was whiney and just kind of annoying.

There is a plot line of how Hassan is weeding out people not loyal to him because his brother was a mole. This was actually an interesting plot line because while it showed how Hassan becomes a little paranoid and starts calling people out by association. Its an interesting storyline that kind of just goes away and amounts to nothing. And its all kind of undermined by the fact that Omar Hassan is killed.

But talking about Omar Hassan brings us to the villains of the 8th season. While its easy to assume that all terrorists are middle eastern. However, 24 tries to vary that assumption by having different nationality and ethnic groups perform these terrorist acts.

This season however was the contrary when they tried to have the villains be middle eastern. Its not like this has never happened before. However, whenever they do any villain, they need to have a comprehensive story and they need to be an intriguing villain.

With this season, the starting bad guys are Hassan's brother trying to smuggle nuclear rods back to his country and assassinate his brother so the peace process fails. However, as the day goes on, they bring in another villain who I'm still not totally sure who he is.

He first delivers himself as a henchman of Hassan's brother. But then he turns on Hassan and suddenly is the leader of this group. Throughout the entire season there is little to no explanation as to who this guy is. He's just a straight up terrorist. Its the same problem I had with Abu-Fayed in season 6, a ruthless terrorist who doesn't really have any other back story or cover other than just being a terrorist. They're not interesting bad guys and they don't make for fascinating characters.

The Russians also turn out to be a main villain in the season. But I will talk about them and the entirety of the final act of the season in a second review because I already foresee this going longer than I wanted it to.

Somewhat connected, we have the refurbished CTU and all the problems that go along with that. Like I said before, Freddie Prinze Jr. is bland, Brian Hastings is boring. You've got Arlo who I guess they were trying to make the quirky hacker, however he just ended up as a pervert.

And then you have Dana Walsh.

When I first saw this season, I absolutely hated everything about Dana Walsh. I hated her personality, her story, the fact she ends up as a mole, everything.

I think some of that changed when I saw Battlestar Galactica and started actually enjoying Katie Sackhoff as an actress. Looking back, I didn't expect her to be the mole, mainly because her annoying backstory threw me off her scent.

That being said, I still think the whole plotline about her ex-boyfriend blackmailing her was really stupid and did not need to be in the season, at all.

But before I end this post and move onto the second part of the review mainly focused on the last act of the season, I want to talk about the parts of the season that did work.

First, like I said in my pilot review, the beginning of the season was really good focusing on Jack and his new family. He's actually happy and it works really, really well. He's happy and that has never happened in 24, at least to the level he makes it to.

Furthermore, everything with Renee was really good. Things get kind of dark when she's with the Russian mob (which in itself is kind of weak but not anything regarding Renee) but everything works really well. The relationship with her and Jack is kind of rushed, but it works enough for the show.

Some of the other great parts of the show is the different characters and actors that did do a really great job. Annie Wersching, Anil Kapoor. There were som pretty good actors and actresses within the show.

And I have to give credit where its due. The show is really extraordinary to be going for 8 seasons. Its kind of like the prequel Star Wars films. There is too much background and too many nostalgic moments for me to absolutely hate this season. I just can't do it.

However, the worst is yet to come with the final act of the show. I will explain that in my next rant.

Give your comments on what I've talked about or anything 24 related below. I want to know your thoughts.

To be continued...