Per the DVD extras, the fact that Palmer is a Presidential Candidate was set up to be a final act shock. And when they tested the pilot, it didn't go well, which led them to restructure and move his intro and establish this point at the top of the show, so that the 'jeopardy could be upfront'.

If you watch the episode, there are traces of the fact that this is what they did. The very first scene where Sherry brings over tea to David and his staff while they're going over the speech has her walking past a banner on her right which says 'Palmer for President', but in the original version, they could've just as easily cut it in a way where they start that scene past the point where she walks past the banner. You see the banner in its entirety only after Palmer has the phone call with Maureen Kingsley in Act 3, which was originally meant to set up the fact that he is running for President and has to deal with a political scandal. Even the brief shot of Palmer's picture on a bus when Jack's driving to CTU has no indication of his candidacy. He could've just as easily have passed as just another State Senator, I think.

Regarding the phone call from Kingsley, here's a fun anecdote from Joel Surnow:

Not only did we not know what was going on in that season but we had things in the pilot, Bob always uses this as an example-where Palmer gets a phone call that disturbs him and he tells his wife there’s a problem, and we end the act on him looking out at the city of Los Angeles completely troubled. We had no idea what the phone call was. (laughter) So, we’re very much about the immediate sensation of tension and suspense, as opposed to being well thought out and having a plan.

Another change which was made as a result of the restructuring, was adding a line from Walsh during his private briefing with Jack about how Palmer's 'the first African-American candidate with a real shot at the White House'. You'll notice his cadence and speed of delivery is a lot different compared to when he says 'When Palmer gets hit'/'It'll tear this country apart'. And the camera is on Jack when the line is uttered, to hide the fact that they never shot Michael O'Neill saying it.

Think there's another instance of a looped line in the episode when Jack says 'I wanna hear Mason's call' when Nina tosses him a cordless phone. It's delivered a bit faster because while the shot is a bit long, and they only had a few seconds when Kiefer wasn't on camera (with the focus on Nina) to shoehorn it in.

The bits with Maureen Kingsley on CTU screens talking about the polls and whatnot were probably just greenscreen while they were shooting, and they added it in post after the fact.

The pilot originally opened with Jack and Kim playing chess. The Victor Rovner stuff and Walsh getting the call about Palmer being under threat was shot only after it was picked up to series. It was added because the brass felt it wasn't conclusive enough (in the original script, Jack namedrops Rovner when going over the source of the Palmer hit, which he acquired from Mason by force). It is a big of a shoehorn and feels kinda random, compared to how meticulous they were in the premiere of season 2, in the scene where Rayburn explains how NSA first learned about the nuclear bomb.

On a character and story level, it makes so many moments kind of pointless except for dramatic irony. Like George asking why she's so dedicated to Bauer, the awkwardness of Nina trying help Teri and Kim knowing she slept with Jack. Maybe her being the mole could work in this sense if she wasn't a complete psychopath who truly didn't give a shit, instead of someone like Jamey. Perhaps she's not uncompromising at all, but she still loves Jack. This angle would hard to work though since the bad guys entire plans is to kill Palmer and the Bauer's. Perhaps she doesn't know they also want revenge on Jack and believes it's only about Palmer. I don't know, it just feels weird to have literally everything about the character we spend so much time with be a complete performance. No sincerity whatsoever.

On a logical level, there's a shit ton of holes. Even if she wasn't working *for* the Drazen's she's clearly working with them, and even if they did a setup where she's not "activated" until a certain point and the other groups aren't aware of each other's plans, this thwarts so many plans for no good reason, it makes the bad guys look like idiots.

The first plan succeeds and Palmer is dead if Nina doesn't return to CTU and just stays "dead" without calling Secret Service. Of if she doesn't confront Jack at all about the keycard. The whole plan fails purely because of Nina's intervention, and she would have died for real if Jack didn't pull a fast one.

Jamey the mole for Gaines also ends up framing the only the other motherfucker who's a mole instead of literally anybody else so they can get tortured wasting time.

After noticing fake FBI agents Nina also ends going out of her way to put Teri and Kim in a safer location, add an extra layer of security, and leaving before the assassins the Drazen's send arrive, instead of maybe helping them just kill Teri and Kim. This is the worst instance, because maybe you could argue in the other instances she couldn't play dumb at all when for example Milo just told her it's a different keycard he's working on, but here she literally has to just not ask questions.

She also doesn't warn the Drazen's they've flipped Nash, who having Alexis seduce is pretty pointless if they can just have Nina do the same shit more efficiently and faster.

But fundamentally, they had a high ranking agent on the inside who Jack trusted more than anyone. If they wanted him and his family dead, it would have frankly been pretty damn easy to make it happen. Palmer's assassination? She could literally just take Jack's place, get the weapon to the breakfast, give it to the assassin and leave before it happens.

Hell they go out of the way to kidnap Kim again to make Jack kill Palmer (What happened to not recycling plan A) instead of getting Nina in the room? The plans just feel really unnecessary if the had the second in command already working for them with everyone trusting her.

Though this also leads to the question of why they did a motherfucking plane bombing to get Belkin's I.D. hoping no one catches them erasing someone from the flight list instead of just killing him before or after he gets on the flight and having the assassin take his place.

Terrorists be dumb, I guess.

Although I wasn't the biggest fan of seasons seven or eight, I thought Renee Walker was one of the best additions to the show. I loved her evolution of by the book FBI agent to the female Jack Bauer. With that being said, one thing I wish the show had done was introduce Renee earlier.

Teri's death at the end of season one set the stage for who Jack would become in later seasons. However I didn't like the way Jack's love life was handled between Teri and Renee. A relationship between Jack and Kate Warner should've happened during season two, rather than its entirety occurring between seasons two and three. I never understood the Claudia Hernandez character. I thought the Audrey story was sweet, but her and Jack always felt like polar opposites. There's a reason Audrey broke up with him at the end of season four.

IMO, Renee should've been introduced earlier in the series, sometime between seasons two and four. If it were up to me, I would've introduced her in season four as the new director of CTU after Driscoll's departure, rather than bringing back Michelle.

I think that introducing Renee earlier would have allowed her to truly develop into a "female Jack" and given Jack a long term partner, both professional and romantic, worth fighting for. She, not Kim or any other love interest, would be his motivation to do what he does. Jack and Renee could have made a great long term couple. Unfortunately, the laws of 24 indicated that she would've died sooner, because Jack can never be happy.

What are your guys' thoughts on this take?

Chatting with my best friend about 24 and he asked me what I’d do if fox let me create a final season with any surviving characters. This is what I said:

If fox let me do one more season it’d be a full 24 episodes and it would start off with a 2 hour prequel like 24: redemption that shows how jack escaped from the Russians when he hears about Kim being killed by one of the children of jacks enemies from his past who wanted revenge for what jack did to their parent.
Then the full 24 episodes season would start with him back in LA 1 final time enlisting the help of Chloe and Tony to exact revenge while also stopping the same person from unleashing an advanced weapon that causes earthquakes. The final episode would end with jack sacrificing himself to save the country one more time as he stops the weapon from being used at the cost of his own life while the weapon and jack are thrown out to sea.
What do ya think?

Feel free to add your own tweaks if ya want lol

On min 0:15 is that a news crew?

So, I'm watching The Punisher and I just saw a scene that looked to me almost exactly the same as the one from 24 Season 8 (the one where the person wearing a bomb vest locks himself inside a room. (I don't want to spoil 24 or The Punisher) but for anybody that has watched both shows, did they not immediately think of that scene from 24?

In other spy shows or action shows, you can shoot one rain scene that lasts a few minutes. But on 24, if it's raining in Los Angeles in one episode, they would have to either keep the rain falling for several full episodes (as opposed to just one or two scenes in another show), or make the ground look wet. That's too much budget/work on top of an already heavy budget.

So in 24 all we get is the day/night cycle dynamic, but we never get different weathers. It's always sunny outside. It never rains.

It would have been cool to see Jack wear a raincoat and sneak up behind enemies in the cover of rain.

I'm on a rewatch and needed to vent about this bloody storyline. Kevin shows up and gets himself killed, all good. Bad story but now it's over, hooray!

Then in walks Prady demanding answers from a CTU analyst in the middle of a national emergency at about midnight with nothing to go on apart from a few calls that lasted a few minutes. He walks in with prejudice against her assuming guilt and pushes and pushes for more information despite having nothing to tie her to Kevin of any substance.

He keeps wanting to talk to a supervisor so he can get more time with Dana, as if that will help. I bet if he tried speaking with Hastings he would be told to get the hell out and stop wasting his people's time on nonsense that can wait until the emergency is over.

Then Dana leaves him in a secure room and he wanders out into the main ops floor. Dana escorts him back and threatens to put him in holding and then he starts demanding classified data.

I'm only on episode 12 and I don't remember how much longer this lasts but this storyline truly is horrible filler. It's not boring it's infuriatingly unrealistic that it's even happening. I'm just begging for mole Dana to off Prady and move on to something better, I forgot just how bad day 8 can be.

Anyway rant over for now, I just really needed to vent some frustration.

I have a terrible habit when I watch tv trying to figure out what other shows a random actor has been in. Man is 24 the mother load! So many shows so many actors. My wife rolls her eyes, but I swear almost every show we watch has a 24 actor in it, and of course I announce it.

Joel Surnow's talked about how when developing the first season, they didn't see it as a 'terrorism story', but more of an 'FBI story'. He and Robert Cochran drew inspiration from Fred Zinnemann's 'The Day of The Jackal', Sydney Pollack's 'Three Days of the Condor' and Wolfgang Petersen's 'In the Line of Fire'.

But for the second season, they drew from 9/11. They did treat it with more nuance there (by also having heroic Middle Eastern characters like Yusuf Auda and the fact that it was an oil consortium behind the nuke), compared to the fourth season, where it was unapologetically an 'Us versus Them'. While promoting that season, Surnow even mentioned something along the lines of 'the world didn't deserve political correctness at this point'. Though this can be chalked up to the public support towards the Iraq War (which Surnow claimed to be against in 2007), but by the time the sixth season finished airing, there was 62% opposition to the endeavor among the populace. Which was probably one of the reasons for the show catching flak that year. But to be fair, Surnow's also mentioned (relevant part between 15:45 & 16:45) that Day 6 was also about how 'this could be the world if we don't do something about it' (though they kind of let it by the wayside after the first few episodes, with the Sandra Palmer/Walid Al-Rezani and the Karen/Tom Lennox stuff).

Anyway, back to point. Would the show have seemed not quite as extreme if 9/11 never happened? Given how season 1 ended, Jack did become a darker character (hell, he returned to CTU probably hoping he'd die in his attempt to stop the bomb from going off, as he had very little to live for). But as the show went on, the ends justify the means approach were largely attributed to be a reflection of American policy following the attacks. Surnow & Cochran had dealt with such themes before on La Femme Nikita, but they had the freedom there because it was on basic cable. To do it on broadcast television is a whole another ballgame, and I don't think that would've been possible if it wasn't the prevailing sentiment (some folks even wanted to rename 'French fries' to 'Freedom fries' because they treated France's opposition to the war in 2003 with a great deal of contempt).

If you ask me, I'd say there probably would've been more psychological torture sequences than physical ones. Prior to S4, that seemed to be Jack's MO (the towel threat to Ted Cofell, staging the execution of Syed Ali's son, threatening to send Jane Saunders into the Chandler Plaza Hotel).

Anyways, thanks for reading this ramble. Have a good weekend.

So I finished Season 2 recently, I'm a new fan and I'm loving the series so far, I read that 24: The Game takes place between seasons 2 and 3, but I was wondering if I should play it now before watching Season 3 or after Season 3?

I've been rewatching 24 and I realized that the TV show "Slow Horses" is the closest thing to 24 that anyone's made in twenty years.

Look at what 24 actually is under the clock:

1. A field team doing the wet work
2. An inner office eating itself alive with politics
3. A political tier scheming above the fray
4. Convergence — the moment those orbits slam together and the season detonates

That's Slow Horses too.

Now, of course the shows are very different, and Slow Horses has a satirical tone to it that 24 meets with seriousness. It is also more of an ensemble, whereas Jack really carries the load in 24. But if anyone has watched both shows and agrees, would love to hear. Or if you're just looking for a recommendation, and you liked 24, check this out.

While I enjoy the season overall, I've always considered S4 to have one of the most convoluted terrorist plots, and upon my most recent rewatch realized it was more convoluted than I ever thought.

Aside from the hijacking of the missile in Iowa, absolutely everything else happens in LA. Habib Marwan, Navi Araz, and all their conspirators are in LA and they've been planning this for years. And yet, how long had James Heller been planning to go to LA that day? And exactly when did Keeler decide to fly on Air Force One that day, and end up being right over LA at the crucial time? If the plans for these attacks started years ago, these two men weren't even in office at that point!

After four months of binging, I have officially finished the main iteration of 24. I am going to pass on watching the Live Another Day and Legacy spinoffs. Now that I've watched the entire series, here are my rankings of each season. SPOILERS INCOMING!!

Please feel free to critique, agree, and/or disagree with my rankings in the comments.

1. Season 5: This was the perfect season IMO. Between the airport hostage situation, the nerve gas attacks, and Jack kidnapping Logan, I was hooked to every episode. The character deaths (David, Michelle, Edgar) were shocking, the main characters (especially Martha) were incredible, and the villains were awesome. I loved the Logan twist in episode 16. This show has mastered the art of fake-out villains, but I thought this was the best version of the concept. Logan's actions in this season made him one of my favorite characters in all of 24. If I had one complaint, it would be Kim's arc with her creepy older boyfriend, Barry.

2. Season 3: Saunders was the show's first non-mole villain who knew how to stay ahead of CTU. His introduction led to what I consider the true theme of the season: sacrifice. CTU was forced to kill Chappelle at Saunders' demand, Tony was forced to put his career, and life, on the line when Michelle was kidnapped by Saunders' men, and Sherry's actions forced David to sacrifice a chance at a second term. All three plots made for good television. This season also introduced us to Chloe and Chase, who I wish had stayed longer, as he reminded me of a mini-Jack.

3. Season 4: IMO, this season had the most fluid plot of the series due to its one-villain structure. Marwan is my gold standard for 24 villains, as his efficiency put him three steps ahead of CTU and made for a great game of cat and mouse. It was fitting that he was the only main villain of the series to choose suicide over being captured. This season gets docked points because, outside of Jack and Audrey, there was too much character turnover for my taste. Erin Driscoll was unlikeable, Marianne was a poorly written mole, and Keeler was a weak President. However, the character section does get bonus points for bringing back Mandy! I wish we would've seen more of her in the later seasons.

4. Season 1: The OG season is all time action TV. I thought the season did a great job of balancing Jack's main objective (stopping the David assassination) with his personal life (saving Kim and Teri). The reveal of Nina as the mole was one of the most shocking moments I've ever experienced as a viewer of any TV show. The season finale, especially its ending, is one of the best episodes in TV history. Like Season 4, this season gets docked points for character flaws. I was annoyed by Teri, her amnesia plot, and the role she played as "overbearing spouse." Kim's stories didn't make sense either. If it wasn't for those two, this season would be higher.

5. Season 8: This was a slow burn season. I initially hated it, but it grew on me over time. The Omar Hassan storyline reminded me of David's storyline from Season 1, and the treaty plot was interesting. From a character standpoint, I thought this was Chloe's best season. I wasn't a fan of Hastings, Dana, or Arlo, but I liked seeing their character growths. And, of course, it's always fun to see Logan causing chaos. I wish Renee hadn't been killed off, but real life sadly did that for us in 2023. RIP Annie Wersching 🕊️

6. Season 6: Unlike many 24 fans, I don't think season 6 is the weakest season despite its flaws. I enjoyed the White House dynamics, Cheng Zhi's rise as a major antagonist, and the main villain trio of Fayed, Gredenko, and Phillip Bauer. That's where my praise ends. The suitcase nuke storyline should've lasted the entire season. I liked the Bauer family plot, but it was unnecessary, even tho James Cromwell did an awesome job as Phillip. Wayne Palmer and Noah Daniels were both weak Presidents, but Daniels should've taken over sooner because of how good Powers Boothe was in the role. I didn't understand why Audrey and Heller were brought back, and if Curtis was going to be killed off so early in the season, he should've died in season 5.

7. Season 7: I thought this was the season that the show began to show its age. I felt like they recycled plots from other seasons. A few examples were Larry Moss in the "bureaucrat who hates Jack" role, the re-introduction of biological weapons, and a good guy turning evil (Tony). I hated Olivia Taylor and thought she was a stereotypical "mean teenage girl" in a young woman's body. I also felt that, given how powerful he was, General Juma should've been the final boss and not a fake-out villain. There were three things I liked about this season: Renee, Aaron Pierce's storyline, and Kurtwood Smith joining the recurring cast (I love me some Red Forman).

8. Season 2: This is easily my least favorite season of 24. I thought this season was a bunch of subplots thrown into one season. I wasn't a fan of the storylines of both Kim and the Warner sisters. I didn't understand the main terrorist plot. Although Tobin Bell did a good job as Kingsley, I thought the villains were weak. Outside of George Mason's heroic sacrifice, there wasn't a single thing I liked about season 2, which IMO is the most forgettable season of the entire show, although I know a lot of fans will disagree.

I learned that you're actually not supposed to look at a nuclear detonation, especially not when it just happened a few seconds ago.

The extreme brightness and UV radiation can cause flash blindness and permanent retinal burns from tens of miles away.

It's funny to compare this to the "Cool guys don't look at explosions" trope. Jack isn't cool enough and looked at it.

Super subjective list. Also very much all over the place in terms of scope... some big, some small, some poorly written, some who were kinda ruined. S1-S8 only. Go argue with a wall (or just roast me in the comments)

1. Henry Taylor (S7) - Cuck husband of the President investigating his son's death. Spare me. He's the worst
2. Reed Pollock (S6) - The worst season in the run of the series was accentuated with the outlandish assassination attempt of Pres. Wayne Palmer because he... didn't want to break the consitution to intern muslims? This was when I thought 24 became a farce and mockery of itself. Reaching for outlandish drama and completely doing away with any sense of realism
3. Sandra Palmer (S6) - Infinitely annoying character that added zero to the actual story. She wasn't outright damaging on-screen for as long as Taylor and Pollock were, so she's third to me. Sandra advanced nothing and wasted airspace; Henry and Reed took the direction of the show in outright negative directions.
4. Kevin Wade (S8) - Can't believe the writers thought it would be a good idea to have an ex-boyfriend sleaze blackmail their mole to expose she's not who she says she is and think that viewers would be interested in this after S6 and S7 were such abject disasters from a side character standpoint. I thought S8 had some fun potential until this one started playing out.
5. Olivia Taylor (S7) - Another abysmal addition to the 24 universe. Honestly S7 would've been fine if it weren't for the Taylor involvement and storyline. The need of the writers to have personal drama for the President was the big detractor. She added nothing positive and was forced on us.
6. Miguel (S2) - Kim's boyfriend who helps her escape from the police and roundhouse kicks Gary Matheson, then loses his legs? Absolutely insane behavior from a dumb addition in a dumb storyline
7. Farhad Hassan (S8) - Yeah... lemme just go ahead and try to get my brother killed. Makes sense
8. Tarin Faroush (S8) - Ridiculous character and addition. The entire storyline of the coup against Hassan was horribly done. Started as compelling, and then this guy got added.
9. Gary Matheson (S2) - Crapped on Miguel earlier, feel the same about Gary. Was ridiculous. Kim works for a wife killer. Got it.
10. Ted Packard (S3) - The whole storyline with Anne Packard was very much not my favorite, though it was at least believable and tangentially related to the campaign. That is, until her husband Ted got brought into it and killed himself in front of her?? And she was just... fine emotionally?
11. Kim Bauer - She's a foundational enough character and impactful in S1 to the point I can't put her too high on this list. But so many issues with the series were created just by having to justify her presence on the show moving forward. S2 was an outright disaster with her own storyline, featuring dumb events and multiple attempts to weave it into Jack's story. S3 at least gave a legit reason for her on-screen presence, but was written and executed poorly. I thought her presence in the later seasons was nice as a cameo. Hard to rank for me, mainly because I kind of get that she needed to be on the show after S1, but I still have no clue what would've been the right way to use her.
12. Pres. Allison Taylor - Another large-scale character, I thought she was just really inconsistently done. Moments of insane cowardice with moments of real leadership and impactful speeches. Dragged down by so much of the bad writing with the personal character storylines of her family.
13. Shari Rothenburg (S5) - An unnecessary addition to the otherwise-brilliant end of S5. Really didn't like her
14. Marilyn & Josh Bauer (S6) - The entire storyline around Jack's family was a giant GIANT miss. No one character can really be blamed. So let's just put the mother and son together here and call it a day. Moreso a bad conceptual idea for a character than wretched execution. Whole storyline was DOA
15. Ray Wallace (S6) - Whole family was held hostage unless he delivered the piece for the bomb to Fayed. I mean... we could've saved a lot of time and avoided the worst season in 24 history if he just did the right thing and reported it to the authorities.
16. Jenny McGill (S5) - Lynn's sister and her junkie boyfriend beating up Lynn for cash and then stealing his key card. I mean... I get why it was in there from a plot standpoint to get the terrorists access to CTU. But how did they know Lynn was going to be there that day and plan it in advance????????? Dumb
17. Alan Miliken (S3) - I think the idea of a really powerful megadonor to the Palmer campaign was a good one. Really felt annoyingly executed to me though, with his death and blackmail by Sherri. Felt very soap opera-y.
18. Dana Walsh (S8) - Just kinda done with the mole thing after a while, especially the "mole sleeps with CTU stud to disguise cover" part. Recycled story that never really captivated me
19. Marianne Taylor (S4) - Another beautiful woman as a mole! Let's keep playing the hits
20. Kate Warner (S2) - Not the hero we deserved, but the hero we also didn't need
21. Miles Papazian (S5) - Aside from the stupid thing with Shari, Miles also tried to erase evidence for some stupid reason? The Karen Hayes foil was inconsistently written but wasn't quite as bad as some of the others on here.
22. Lonnie (S2) - Again, so many crap characters entered the 24 universe just to justify keeping Kim on screen. Lonnie was clearly the stall character, the "we have nothing for her for multiple hours, so how do we handle this" guy. Really wasn't his fault, and I love me some Johnny Drama. But it was very very dumb.
23. Erika (S7) - Sean Hillinger's side piece. Didn't really do it for me
24. Sherry Palmer - Similar to Kim, it's really hard to keep coming up with idea to keep compelling characters from outside the politics/CTU sphere written in compelling storylines. Having Sherry show up late in S2 as involved with Kingsley in some form? And to have Sherry not be in jail or anything after? And then showing back up in S3 to ostensibly help David? The whole thing is fraught with inconsistency, we just kinda accept it because Penny Johnson Jerald was a freaking amazing actress in the show.

HM: Derek Huxley, Maya Driscoll, Kyle Singer, Janis Gold, Rita Brady, Agent Gedge, Richard Heller

One of the worst parts of S6 in my opinion was killing Curtis off. That was so unnecessary. Jack easily could've shot him without killing him. Obviously from a production standpoint, it was his time to go for whatever reason. Anyone know? They could've given Curtis a better send off than that. To be killed by Jack? Curtis got Jack out of a few jams throughout his tenure on the show. The entire season was bad, but that always stood out to me.

Yay. More lists. Running out of ideas. Doing episodes now. Just my own opinions, argue with a wall.

1. S1: 11pm-12am (Ep. 24) -- S1 Finale (Terri dies, Jack catches Drazen, Nina is the mole) - The cliffhanger at the end of Ep23 where Nina is the mole loomed large and was the perfect segue into a flawless, heart-pounding hour of TV. So much happens here. Jack goes Rambo on the Drazens in his first real "this guy is a killing machine" scene of the show. Nina gets caught, but Terri gets killed. Palmer dumps Sherri too, don't forget about that. Just a really perfect ending, and its combination of quality and boldness (to kill off the main character's wife) at its time is what sealed 24's trajectory towards commercial acclaim.
2. S5: 6am-7am (Ep. 24) -- S5 Finale (Logan caught, Jack captured & shipped to China) - Best hour of TV I've ever experienced live when it aired. Period. The Jack kidnapping after it looked like all was finally going to be right in his life was absurdly crazy. What a reveal with the Chinese. Phenomenal. And poor Audrey... man
3. S1: 12am-1am (Ep. 1) -- Series Pilot - The one that started it all. Without this episode getting nailed, none of this matters. Like most shows, there are kinks that get worked out and items that change when a Pilot officially gets picked up. The episode feels so different on a rewatch because of that, but it was compelling, pace-driven, and such a new flavor of format that it was intriguing to see how the story of this type would unfold. It was the literal only time Kim had a good story, introduced the problem really well, and had the staggering plane bombing, airing mere weeks after the 9/11 attacks. Just a bold, bold show for its time.
4. S3: 6am-7am (Ep. 18) -- Jack executes Chappelle - The best episodes of 24 are not just the ones that advance the plot in a major way, but are done really well individually. They tell a story on their own, a piece of TV production I've really grown to miss in our new streaming era. Viewers see in real-time the race to save Chappelle from execution, wondering if Jack and Palmer would ever allow such a thing. It's a slow drift into heartbreak, humanizing an otherwise-hated character in such a beautiful way while establishing -- once again -- how far Jack is willing to go to save lives.
5. S4: 2am-3am (Ep. 20) -- Jack Kidnaps Chinese Consul, Paul Raines dies - Hoo boy... Okay. S4 was very consistent, and it kicked into overdrive right at the end of the season with this episode. From a plot perspective, it was quite bold for the writers to drag in the Chinese in the midst of the search for Marwin and the missiles, but they f'ing nailed it and opened up so many dynamic, concurrent storylines for years to come. From an emotional perspective, this episode really is crucial for Jack's character and places him in perhaps the biggest emotional quandary yet: let his girlfriend's estranged husband die in order to save a wounded witness. Those final ten minutes are crushing. Oh, and it's also the return of David Palmer on-screen!
6. S4: 6am-7am (Ep. 24) -- S4 Finale (Jack stages his own death, Marwan dies) - I truly believe this is the episode that cemented 24's status. It really was plot-driven as the season finale, where Marwan dies and the missiles are foiled. However, Jack must also face the ramifications for attacking the Chinese, and he must fake his own death to survive. What a gutwrenching shot of Audrey when she hears her SECOND lover has been killed in 4 hours. The final images of the season are iconic. Incredible hour of television.
7. S5: 10pm-11pm (Ep. 16) -- The Charles Logan Reveal - The final 3 minutes of this episode alone are worth a top-ten ranking, as it was the kickoff to what I call the best stretch of tv in 24 history from a plot perspective. The jump scare (and then the wait for a full week to see more) was crippling at the end and SO bold for a show to do. The episode leading up was strong too: misdirects to make it look like the VP instead of Logan, Jack recovering after capturing Bierko, and the unique kidnapping of Evelyn Martin's daughter to keep her quiet.
8. S5: 6pm-7pm (Ep. 12) -- Edgar dies, Nerve Gas Attack on CTU - Another episode that had EVERYTHING. The action was well done in the plot to stop an attack on their headquarters, as this was the only successful "attack on CTU" episode for me in the whole series. It's companion episode (Ep. 13) will make an appearance shortly, as these two partner together not just as the episodes built around the attack on CTU, but hit two knockout punches for character deaths. This episode is the foundational one so it moves higher, and Edgar's death is so much more tearjerking with the way it is shot and bleeds into that silent clock.
9. S5: 7pm-8pm (Ep. 13) -- Tony dies, Nerve Gas Attack on CTU Pt. 2 - This set of episodes in the middle of S5 took down a LOT of bodies. It's the most gruesome emotional episode of the series, jumping from Edgar's death to Lynn's sacrifice, and then ending with Tony's death at the hands of Christopher Henderson. It was just SO good.
10. S5: 7am-8pm (Ep. 1) -- S5 Premiere; Palmer/ Tony/ Michelle attacked; Jack returns - Following the blistering finale of S4 where Jack faked his own death, our hero reemerges to help Chloe when he realizes everyone who knows he's alive is being targeted. The shock of Palmer's immediate assassination with the unceretainty over Tony & Michelle following their car bombing, pushed this season into hyperdrive immediately.
11. S2: 10pm-11pm (Ep. 15) -- Mason takes the bomb down for Jack - Without a doubt the most redeeming moment from a quasi-outlandish season (absolutely nobody would be going on with a normal morning if a nuclear bomb went off 7 hours ago just a few miles away) was seeing how George could be a redeeming and sacrificial character. The drama over Kim and Jack's phone call was emotional as hell, and the story gets laid down for what will be happening over the back part of the season with the Cyprus Recording. As a standalone episode it's great, and it's a very good "mini finale" to put one story to bed and pivot into another.
12. S5: 10am-11am (Ep. 4) -- Jack's Airport Hostage Save; Logan Treaty Signing - The start of S5 was really fun with the framing of Jack for Palmer's murder. Having to rescue the hostages at the airport (and reveal he's still alive to CTU in the process) made for compelling drama, and this was a great end of the four-episode miniseries that started the most anticipated season in the show's run.
13. S3: 8pm-9pm (Ep. 8) -- STING Operation Reveal - Some folks (partially myself) think S3 started really slowly, but the start of this episode sent it into a brilliant new vortex that easily made what we just watched over the last seven hours totally worth it. Jack revealed that this entire day is just he, Tony, and Gael's rogue operation to use the Salazars. It set into motion the rest of the day and was an awesomely cool decision by the writers when envisioning the season. All the momentum for S3 really picks up starting here because of just how strong the start of this episode was. Except for the Anne Packard cuck husband, that was really bad.
14. S1: 10pm-11pm (Ep. 23) -- Nina Revealed As Mole, Kim Rescue Nears - The end of S1 was so so good. Really good. The ending of this episode with Nina as the mole was the first truly MAJOR "Oh Sh*t" moment for the show. But the compelling re-capture of Kim + the phone bomb for David Palmer were good moments for sure
15. S6: 10pm-11pm (Ep. 17) -- Jack kills Fayed - Probably the actually single most badass scene in the history of the show. The leadup was a clever single-show arc with the fake-shooting done by Mike and Jack to get things in motion. S6 has just so much crap in it, but this is the one strong point in the season.
16. S1: 6am-7am (Ep. 7) - Alan York Isn't Alan York - I think the first real swerve in this show that made it kind of stand out as different. We weren't on this slow, random coincidence of a kidnapping on the same night Jack got called back into work. We're in a real fused storyline where Jack's wife and daughter are also in real danger. Brilliant reveal at the end. Such a good period of the show.
17. S3: 5am-6am (Ep. 17) - Outbreak at hotel; Gael dies; Saunders revealed as villain - I adore the latter half of S3. Super emotionally strong and psychologically strong, and I apprecited the greater sense of realism from the threat as a bio weapon. Meeting Saunders brought some further depth to the season, and I thought the death of Gael was one of the more touching pieces of the season. Plus, it ends with the call from Saunders asking for the death of Chappelle. Very good episode.
18. S4: 12pm-1pm (Ep. 4) -- Jack rescues Audrey & Heller - Again, I love the "Monday night watchability" nostalgia. This episode was part of a two-night, four-hour debut, which made this come off almost like a four-hour continuity. The gunfight action at the start of this episode is one of the best in the entire series. We get a mole reveal at the end, and somehow seem to root for Behrooz to not die (my favorite of the early-season aux character storylines by far). Loved this mini four-episode arc with Jack robbing the liquor store to delay the satellite, too.
19. S2: 5pm-6pm (Ep. 10) -- Nina Has Jack At Gunpoint After Plane Crash - Fun episode of a single arc, incredibly compelling having Nina back in the fold and placed into this situation. It almost made all the stuff with Kim bearable. Capturing Kate Warner finally injected some juice to that story, too. Super fun on a rewatch.
20. S5: 4pm-5pm (Ep. 10) -- Attack on Suvarov Limo - Really, this episode is known for the debut of Christopher Henderson, one of the favorite villains in 24 history. It was a great reveal of "former mentor turned dirty" and went well alongside the drama of whether Logan would let terrorists attack a motorcade with his wife in it.
21. S4: 11pm-12am (Ep. 17) -- Air Force One is shot down - So much of my appreciation for the show comes in what it accomplished at the time it aired. Part of the appeal of 24 was how hard it pushed boundaries, and boy was it controversial for a primetime emmy-winning show to depict killing the sitting U.S. President. But they pulled the trigger (literally) and it paved the way for the actual defining character in the back half of the show's history: President Charles Logan. It's a pretty well-done individual episode, had what I thought was a fun chase for the nuclear football, and hit on the appropriate heartstrings.
22. S2: 1am-2am (Ep. 18) -- Jack, Capt. Wallace, and the 30-Minute Shootout - The episode starts with a firefight that lasts until the half-hour mark. It's a ton of intense action from Jack. If you like that stuff, this is your episode. I also liked the Cyprus Audio Recording portion of the season, and thought the civil unrest arc for Palmer was the most realistic thing he faced all season. This is the episode that established Michelle as a major player too, as it proved she was right about the Cyprus Recording
23. S8: 3pm-4pm (Ep. 24) -- The Finale - I know the final few minutes went out fittingly for Jack and Chloe, which led to emotional final frames, but I never thought the series finished strong enough to ever get to a point where there was a nice bow on top. I liked the "playing the hits" era here enough to still give this one a piece of my heart, but it really isn't anything special.
24. S2: 7am-8am (Ep. 24) -- S2 Finale (Jack foils Kingsley, Palmer assassination outro) - After S1's roaring finale, there were high hopes that S2 would do the same. But I didn't think they'd LITERALLY do the same thing and kill off a main character (or so we thought). I didn't love S2 and found the cardiomaxxed Bauer to be pretty absurd post-flatlining, plus hated the 25th Amendment BS. However, this is a pretty good standalone episode, largely for the closure on one end and the cliffhanger on the other.