Both are virtually flawless and highly enjoyable. George Mason was my favorite character in that show, Xander Berkeley turns anything into awesome. The ending of season one hit me like a train when I saw it, and season two had one of the best put together plots I've seen in a TV series.

My faorite seasons are 2,5 and 7.

Season 5 is the best of the series. So many surprises throughout the season and the first episode was great.

I think I agree, although I'm tempted to add Season 1 into that mix.

To date, Season 8 has been kind of "meh" to me....not a terrible season (dear God, keep us away from the familiy matters of Season 6), but not quite the return to form that we had last year. The Katee subplot has been such a FREAKIN' bore that I damn near fastforward my DVR everytime she comes on screen. I like Cole, though, so I hope they don't ruin his character with recent events (I'll be vague to avoid spoilers).

I love, however, Anil Kapoor on this series, and pitting him against Cherry Jones is like watching a masterclass in acting. Also, while it does feel slightly contrived to have him go "paranoid", it also is a somewhat realistic reaction that a Mideast leader would likely make, so I can't fault him or the series for it.

Jack's back as the Angel of Death, which is fine by me (and yes, that knife scene was frickin' awesome). Renee's psychoses are starting to bug me, especially since I now want to watch what actually happened to drive her to that point. For those of you who own the Season 7 DVDs, did they show that?

Erik

Last night's episode was by far the best episode of the season thus far! Just an all around awesome episode! The whole kidnapping thing was taut and gripping. And the last 10 minutes were truly amazing!

Did anyone even see that ending coming? First with Tarin actually still being alive and then Kayla bringing the car to CTU and the EMP bomb going off! Just awesome stuff.

I hope the rest of the season is like this. Then this could be a really awesome season!

Silent clock. What an emotional punch in the gut. 24 still has it.

I agree.



I will say one thing...in many shows where you have a "ticking bomb" counting down, you know the good guys will stop the countdown in time. With "24", you're never quite sure. By allowing disaster to strike in previous installments, you really get a good sense of tension when someone is racing to save the day that they might just not make it. Good stuff.

SPOILERS
I know 24 isn't afraid to "go there" but I was still shocked at how the bad guys actually won this time. They secured the fuel rods from the Russians, took out CTU with an EMP, took out Hassan's brother, and exchanged the bomb for Hassan himself. Jack has also been wrong a lot this season.

I think the remaining plotline will involve

Just a note: I don't think you need to use the spoiler tag in this thread. The title says that spoilers are welcome, so anyone viewing this thread has already been warned.

This season started out very slow, in my opinion. But the past few weeks has seen the show at its best. Not only is there great action, but the character development has been outstanding. The final fifteen minutes of last night's episode are the best in the show's history. As mentioned, because the show has a history of allowing catastrophic things to happen, the viewer can never be really sure that the good guys will always win. This creates a lot of tension, which culminated last night. Although now that Hassan is dead, I don't know exactly what direction the show will take. But it looks like 24 is deciding to go out with a bang (maybe literally).

I think I know what's going to happen next week. Kiefer and Howard Gordon have been dropping major hints about it. Unless I'm wrong about what happens.

Anyway, it's clear that whoever Dana works for is gonna be the villain for the rest of the season. Add to that the peace process. Something is obviously going on with Mrs. Hassan as well. And I can't wait for the return of a couple of awesome characters. This season is gonna end with a BANG!

They mentioned that the "rules of succession" are pretty murky in Hassan's country. With only a handful of hours (episodes) left, my gut tells me that Hassan's wife takes over as president just so they don't have to rush in a new character to fill the void.

But then that would be pretty lazy on the writer's part so I hope they wouldn't pull something like that.

Dammit! I hate being right.

RIP Renee!

Well...I got the Hassan-wife thing right last night (spooky). The Renee and Chloe storyline turns I did not see coming. (That was a pretty quick disposal of Renee...part of me thinks it was just a story-shocker for shocker's sake...don't think it fit into the overall narrative of the season except for the fact that we're in the final quarter of the day so more crap needs to blow up and people picked off.)

Once again 24 leaves me speechless. I did not see that coming. Although I guess I should have. The writer of the episode was David Fury. He used to write for a couple of Joss Whedon shows. Of course, Joss is known for dispatching main characters at any time, so I guess some of that rubbed off on David. Fantastic end to the series. Can't wait to see what happens in the final episodes.

OK...I'll back off a little on my criticism that the dispatch of Renee was out of left field. She was obviously damaged goods emotionally. Beyond redemption? Maybe, maybe not. No easy "off into the sunset with his best girl" for Jack.

Her being knocked off wasn't as pointless as, say, Curtis from a few years back...but it does smack a little of "housecleaning" before the series wraps up.

Renee's death, though sad, was nevertheless not pointless. It was needed to get Jack back into the main plot. To give him a story, a purpose for the remainder of the season. Now Jack is pissed off and in revenge mode and I couldn't be more excited! He's gonna kick ass and take names!

It wasn't just housecleaning. According to one of the producers, this storyline was planned from the beginning, before they decided to make this the last year.

http://ausiellofiles.ew.com/2010/04/13/ ... k-shocker/

Only a handful of hours left and Jack is going out in a bad-ass blaze of glory. A cold-blooded execution to start off his vendetta against the Russkies. Where will it all wind up? Does he take down the Taylor administration on his way to the end?

I for one thought it was a great finale. America is safe . . for now.

Am I the only one who felt Jack got screwed over by the series finale? I know they've been talking about a movie and they didn't know this way the last season till half way through but come on.