What I’m Watching: 24

24: Season 8, Episodes 15 & 16 “6:00AM-7:00AM” & “7:00AM-8:00AM” (F)

I find it extremely hard to write about what’s currently happening on this show when I don’t buy the twist that came two episodes ago and has led to what’s happening now. Dana has completely changed as a character, and her decision to start strangling people and shooting security guards while she’s been dawdling and caving to the demands of a small-time convict for hours of this day doesn’t make any sense. Why she’ll only speak to Jack Bauer is also a mystery since she’s put up with the idiocy of everyone else at CTU for the rest of the day while trying to maintain her cover. If only this wasn’t the first time that a CTU employee pulled the love of his life from a car while holding a gun to her head, and you’d think that they would have learned right now not to reinstate those guys immediately. Both Hastings and Jack telling Cole to get over it and go back to work is a bad idea waiting to explode and get worse. Another nitpick I have with the events of these two episodes is the recording of President Hassan’s execution. While the sight of him dead and Jack arriving too late is the only semi-powerful moment of the whole two hours, there’s no way that Samir would have had time to kill him and record it, and more importantly, no reason that he would rush through killing him instead of trying to get him to confess to his crimes first. The death of President Hassan marks the departure of the unquestionably strongest character on this show in a long time. It’s fitting therefore that he gets the signature tribute from this show of the clock ticking out silently at the end. Anil Kapoor delivered a great performance, and it’s unlikely at this point that his successor, whoever that may be, will be anywhere near as impressive as him. There are eight more episodes in this season – what is there possibly left to do?

In important show news, it was announced last week that this will be the final season of “24.” It’s about time. As soon as it’s over, I’m going to go back and watch the first season to remind myself that this show did in fact once used to be good.