Today’s post will consist entirely of carriage returns.

No, not really. It’s the final 24 post for this season, presented in glorious Spoiler-vision! It’s over!

Okay, so THAT was unexpected. But first things first.

Hour one: Not to get all “we love Mandy” again, but seriously – Mia Kirshner is maybe the first person on this show who’s actually ACTING. She’s making all the other “evil” characters look like jokes. That first scene with Michelle? It’s like she’s in a different show. Badass. And so clever. But wait! Jack is also clever. And Tony cleverer still! But Mandy is hot, so Mandy wins. I think Mandy needs a spinoff show. Everybody Loves Mandy. I think it could work. Tony and Michelle could play the wacky neighbours. Also, I’m trying to understand how it makes any sense that the Chinese would respond to an invasion on Chinese soil (the consulate) and the death of the consul with the execution of two CTU agents and the kidnapping of another on American soil? Way to give up the moral high ground, fellas. But there I go thinking logically again. Ain’t no place for that here.

Hour two: I guess they decided early on that taking down the missile would be an anticlimactic, uh, climax. After all, as we saw, all Jack could do was stand on the ground and wait. Not very exciting, but it would have been beyond the realm of plausibility – even for 24 – to have Jack hop into an F-14 and take it down himself. I thought they were in position to set themselves up for a couple really interesting season five scenarios. As I suggested before, having Jack escape from the Chinese prison and try to get to, uh, Tibet or something, or even better, have him actually escape and spend the next day evading the Secret Service, the Chinese, the late fees at his video store… But no, they instead cobble together a fake death scenario involving an awful lot of people in an awful short timeframe. I’ll refrain from commenting on how they got Jack from fake corpse to dead man with a new identity on the lam in under 10 minutes – after all, it’s been a long day. Nice closing shot, though. Wonder what his new name is – David Bruce Banner? I know I wouldn’t like him when he’s angry.

So Jack Bauer is dead, long live Jack Bauer. Pretty bold move apparently cutting all ties between him, Palmer, CTU and Kim (presumably) when the show has been renewed for two more seasons. Surely he can’t save the country again from that position? I guess we’ll find out.

JAM! also recaps the season finale. And the Kansas City Star gets thoughts from Carlos Bernard about the season that was.

And that’s it for another season. Overall, I thought this season was pretty good. By keeping civilian involvement at an absolute minimum, the writers kept the focus and all ancillary plot threads centered around the main plot. No ridiculous digressions just to keep up with characters of no consequence (hello Kim vs the mountain lion), etc. I really don’t know what I’ll do with my Monday nights now – in fact, that’s all of my TV programs wrapped up for the season (save Family Guy). Great timing for me to buy a new TV. I’ve been told that Veronica Mars, which is debuting in Canada next week, is worth watching. Perhaps I’ll give that a shot.

Good news – Dinosaur Jr is at the Phoenix July 17. Bad news – tickets $34.50, on sale May 27. Well, at least they never said they WEREN’T doing it for the money. I had expected it to be expensive, but actually seeing the price? Hmm, will have to ponder this one.

Rainer Maria will be at the Kathedral June 15 with Copeland and Denison Whitmer. I like RM, but never have any idea who these other bands they tour with are… There’s supposed to be a new Rainer Maria record due out this Spring, but considering the Spring is almost over, Summer is more likely.

IGN takes you on a 3D Quicktime tour of the new Batcave from Batman Begins. It looks… like a cave.

np – Spacemen 3 / Playing With Fire

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