24 - Obviously

I really disliked Season 4. I don't know why except that it suddenly felt a lot more impersonal (I know, I know. It's a TV show) and convoluted. The story just felt loose.

Part of the problem is that there is 'another family'. This time, it was a nice and cuddly terrorist extremist family. Similar to the focus on the Warner family in Season 2 (also a season that I didn't particularly enjoy), it felt out of place and not as satisfying as the rest of the story. Season 1 started, continued, and ended with action, which gets people hooked and establishes authenticity for the characters. Suddenly, there's a nice family sitting at a table whom you know nothing about, which is also stupid.

I don't know whether or not I've watched too many of these shows, but certain parts of season 4 seemed utterly predictable to me. Season 4 also seemed bloodier than past seasons (if that's possible, or maybe I'm reaching my saturation level). The season just felt heavy and not that inspirational. I never thought that I'd say this, but this season missed Kim Bauer. While she's extremely annoying over 90% of the time, she brings lightness to the show that just isn't there in the midst a group of stern, harsh middle aged and almost middle aged men and women trying to save the day and who are literally breathing the word gravitas.

I don't like the fact that Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler are still running around at CTU in this season. The producers shouldn't have listened to the fan boards and should just have killed them off at the end of season 3. For some reason, I've never found Tony's character appealing or interesting. For all of his dark and brooding looks, he comes off as relatively insipid.

Michelle has potential, but the acting is more or less inconsistent. There are times when she looks uberfeminine, then she takes over and shoots people. Pick one and stick to it. Yes, yes...the love story is cute, but wouldn't it be cuter if they had died in each other's arms 24 hours ago? However, I do like the fact that Michelle is given the same difficult decision that Tony was given last season and actually makes the right choice.

I also don't like the whole Jack/Audrey pairing. Except for the crying, she seems cold and businesslike. And when he's cold and businesslike (all of the damn time), that makes for a vey icy relationship. OK. I understand that he likes strong women, but Teri and Kate and even Nina seemed better suited for him than Audrey because they actually reminded him that they were female.

For all of its importance, I don't really remember the storyline too well, and I don't know how I feel about the ending. One problem is that I just hated the entire Chinese consulate twist. It seemed so irrelevant and stupid. It seemed even stupider that they would decide to kill Jack. It seems very unlikely to me that an invasion of a foreign consulate would be on the same page or even more serious than the possible meltdown of over a hundred nuclear reactors. I know I'm supposed to suspend disbelief, but I can only do it if the story's really good or if it's not blatantly stupid.

Thankfully, Season 3 was amazing and my favorite season to date (I haven't finished Season 5 yet). It reminded me of a better paced Season 1. From the very beginning, this season was bewitching. We find out that Jack has a heroin problem (some extremely talented acting on his part). Unfortunately, it makes heroin looks good (like every other TV show and movie awash in drugs). The only inconsistency is that his heroin problem completely disappeared in the latter half of the season.

It's always good to have Nina Myers on hand and good to have her die before she wears out her welcome. I'm not the greatest fan of Chase. Too young and too earnest. I really liked Kim this season. Instead of having her customary bouts of stupidity, she really grew up. It's always amusing (and well done in this case) to reflect some of the parent off the child. It was obvious in this season that she was Jack's child, that she had an overinflated sense of honor and duty (just like him), and that she was more than capable of defending herself (racking up a body count). I especially liked the part when she was going on assignment with Jack in the helicopter and he told her that when they were in the field, she had to listen to him. You see Jack in the dual role of father/commander, which is very intriguing. The only part of Tony and Michelle's relationship that I like is the fact that they have to work together and to deal with the same command issues as before.

I skipped over the Sherry Palmer parts, but they looked decent and better than her role in the first season and Ann's role in the second. I'm also glad that she's no longer with us. Saunders was an amazing villan (probably only equaled by Marwan). The story flowed well this season, with the hotel episodes being especially good. I only started to like Michelle when she went to the hotel and afterwards. There were just more good scenes in this season than any of the others with the exception of season one. However, season one was like a roller coaster while this one felt much more enjoyable, like a nice 80 mph drive through the countryside.