24, Season 6

So Season 6 is finally over. Of course, I'm talking about the mega-hit Fox show 24, where super-agent Jack Bauer leads the fight against all sorts of crazy terrorists trying to take a shot at the USA. 24 has always been a classic good-vs-evil story: good always prevails. But what 24 brings to the mix is the price of that victory - what cost, if any, is acceptable?

Ever since the first season, 24 has distinguished itself with an unpredictable storyline, quick and satisfying action, and a pseudo-plausible set of events. However, after five exciting seasons, cracks may finally be showing. Are the authors running out of ideas? If this season is any indication, 24's future success may need some re-evaluating.

Quick recap of this season: Muslim fundamentalists attempt to detonate suitcase nukes around the country. Lots of finger pointing occurs while CTU attempts to find out the real mastermind. While it took a lot of episodes in Season 2 for suspense to build up regarding the nuke in that season, this season's nuke just simply went BOOM in the suburbs of LA. Even though it was a nuke, it wasn't very exciting. After that, Jack goes about his usual self and the most retarded end to this whole affair comes about. I'm not going to give any details, but drunk guys in a bar are involved. A completely different storyline spins off here involving the Chinese. We knew these guys would return, so why didn't the producers give them a full season's treatment? It seems very strange that Jack (imprisoned by the Chinese at the end of last season) is released in the beginning only to face his captors later on in the same day. During all this, we're also subjected to humanizing efforts in the form of introduction to Jack's family, which for the most part are rather mundane and can lead only to the conclusion that Jack has one screwed-up family.

Aside from some logical potholes along the way, this season also suffers from copying itself. Things like CTU getting attacked (you'd think these people would have stepped up their security by now), possible mole in CTU (same thing here), Jack getting arrested and asking Chloe for help, etc. are becoming overly repetitive. With the use of torture complained about by the military, 24 really needs to find other outlets to engage the audience. And having more action sequences is not going to cut it. Having Jack unrealistically shoot down a bunch of baddies is not fun to watch anymore. Rather than repeating gunfights in different locales, more creative gunfights need to be arranged, be it new weaponry or team tactics. This series really need a huge overhaul.

Pros: Great visuals. By that I mean Jack Bauer.
Cons: Plot is simple, generic, and repetitive. Need smarter (and better equipped) terrorists.
Conclusion: Definitely the low point of the series so far. Let's hope it doesn't get any lower.
Score: 2.5/5