24 4.24: "Day 4: 6AM - 7AM"
Written by Robert Cochran and Howard Gordon
Directed by Jon Cassar
In which CTU manages to get a lead on Marwan, ending the terrorist threat, but Jack cannot escape the consequences of his previous decisions, forcing him to make a surprising choice…
Status Report
As season finales go, this one is rather unique for “24”. The writers have flirted with cliffhangers in the past, but the most obvious example was a presidential assassination that was never given a true resolution. While this is hardly a true cliffhanger in the traditional sense, this is a season-long novel that ends with a definitive air of unfinished business. Jack may be walking down that track without looking back (or even calling his daughter), but there’s no doubt that it’s an interim situation. Sooner or later, Jack will be back, and this finale sets the stage for his return.
For a moment, the writers seem to return to that assassination, now more than four years earlier in the series’ continuity, perhaps to remind the audience that finales are a time of serious change. Not only that, but the fate of the nation rests on Palmer’s capacity for forgiveness. Palmer comes to his decision quickly and decisively, and in that moment, he makes it clear why he’s not the careless fool that Logan keeps calling him.
In the same moment, Mandy’s possible return is secured. There’s no telling how much trouble she could cause in the future. Having a clean legal slate is quite the gift for remaining flexible with one’s loyalties, and Mandy gets a chance to savor that deal with a long life, having sent Jack in Marwan’s direction. (Anyone else notice that Mia still looked damn good, despite the fact that she was supposed to be soundly beaten?)
Before long, the showdown begins. Instead of spending half the episode on helicopter stunts, the writers simply have Jack disable Marwan’s getaway vehicle and then transfer the action to the ground, where it belongs. Marwan gets the chance to destroy his PDA first, of course, but not entirely. The action moves into a parking garage (of course), and that’s when the fun really begins.
This being the season finale, death and change are par for the course. This is the final 20 pages of the book entitled “24: Day 4”, and the audience can’t count on anything. When Curtis takes a couple shots, it’s hard not to cringe, waiting for the head shot. It doesn’t come, but that’s because the writers have something even worse in mind. Rather than risk capture, Marwan tosses himself off the side of the parking garage. Not even Jack’s willpower can change the outcome, and since the warhead is on the way and Marwan has no intention of stopping it, it’s just a matter of time (and really bad digital effects).
Logan, showing his recent penchant for random madness, screams at Palmer for Marwan’s death. It’s not that Marwan was a zealot with every intention of letting Los Angeles bathe in nuclear fire; it’s that CTU and Palmer didn’t do enough to get Marwan to give up his evil ways. Of course, things go from bad to worse when the acting Chinese consul calls up with news of Agent Bern’s confession. Jack is now fully implicated, and the Logan administration is forced into “plausible deniability” mode.
Logan’s security aide (Cummings) not only questions Jack’s integrity, but figures that a bullet to the brain might be the most expedient solution. Palmer and Mike are suitably horrified, especially when Logan sounds less than convincing in his refusal to advocate assassination. But one thing is very clear: for once, Jack is going to have to face the consequences of proposing and carrying out one of his little black ops for Palmer. It actually brings the entire history of Jack Bauer and David Palmer full circle.
With the impending destruction of Jack’s career and possible life now on the table, the writers take all of five minutes to recover Marwan’s data from his PSP, generate a flight path (gee, LA, anyone?), and then blow the missile out of the sky. One thing is interesting to note: Jack claims that the warhead would be programmed to detonate upon impact with its target. That’s not usually the case. Nuclear warheads are far more destructive if they detonate at a certain altitude above the ground, prior to impact. Either Marwan and his people didn’t have that technology available, or the writers wanted to dance around that fact.
Upon their reunion, Tony is quickly forgiving of Michelle for her choice to place the fate of the nation above his survival. That doesn’t exactly come as a surprise, considering the fact that Tony has been doing exactly that all season long. But in this case, letting Michelle’s choice go is the key to getting the woman’s heart, so it’s probably a very easy decision for him to make.
On the other end of the relationship spectrum, Audrey does her version of letting Jack down gently. In typical fashion, it’s closer to ripping out Jack’s guts and making him feel like it’s all his fault for saving the world while going out with her. To be fair, Jack’s version of “doing his job” involves torturing her loved ones, among many others, and breaking international law. It might not be so hard to see things from her point of view! But that said, she’s ignoring the fact that he clearly loathes making those kinds of choices, and he wants to escape the trap that his life has become.
This begins laying down the foundation for the metaphor that ends the season. The trap of CTU soon promises to be nothing compared to the trap of his own choices: the Chinese prison where he is likely to be tortured and questioned in ways that are probably very similar to his own methods. Suddenly being trapped in CTU World doesn’t sound quite so bad, and Jack is trying to work out how saving the world has led to his own world being reduced to a cage.
That’s bad enough, but then Cummings turns around and does exactly what Logan told him not to do. Well, that’s the case if one ignores the mighty big wink that Logan gave Cummings when he forbade assassination tactics. So Jack moves from a metaphorical trap to an actual cage to the literal end of his life, all in a matter of moments.
Thanks to Novick, Palmer learns about Cummings’ plot and gets to confront Logan about the order. It becomes increasingly clear that Logan has both a very short memory and a similarity to Nixon that is purely intentional. Logan acts as though Palmer is losing his mind, when it’s actually closer to the truth to say that Logan is letting power go to his head. If he was doing his best George III impression when things looked entirely grim, he’s Caligula when things are going well, and Palmer has seen more than enough.
He warns Jack, of course, who has to be wondering what’s coming next in the “Dump on Jack” parade. In the space of a few minutes, Jack has to come up with a plan, and sure enough, Tony’s right there in the room, waiting for something heroic to do. Everyone who breathed a sigh of relief at the end of the previous episode was no doubt going back into cardiac arrest, because last minute favors in season finales are usually a very, very bad thing.
Perhaps most impressive is how quickly Jack and Tony formulate their plan, especially since Michelle and Chloe are in on it. (This is the crack team that couldn’t work out a cover up with 20 minutes of lead time, but faking a death in three minutes?) Sure! Surprisingly, Tony manages to deflect any hint of culpability by being the one to order the lockdown in the first place. Everything he does is designed to expose the true intentions of the Secret Service agent and give Jack time to prepare for his ruse.
During the final showdown, the writers really tease the possibility that Tony will be shot and killed, perhaps even in the process of letting Jack get away. But the situation is a bit more complex. Jack takes something that allows him to simulate death (where he got that in three minutes is hard to grasp, but this is metaphor, people!), and with a bit of blood poured on the floor to make it convincing, Tony blusters his way through the rest of the act. The agent, apparently all too aware that shooting Jack a few more times might tip his hand, accepts that the job is done.
Jack’s death and revival is meant to be dramatic, and it works as far as the metaphor goes. (Frankly, after Charlie’s death and revival on “Lost” this season, anything similar pales.) Jack’s old life is over, and in the process of being reborn (new identity and everything!), Jack is freed from the prison that his life was threatening to become. He’s a complete fugitive, of course, but at this point, where else was his life going to lead? Jack Bauer had done too much, gone too far, to ever live a normal life. Jack Bauer had to die in order for Jack Bauer to live.
Were the writers intending for the audience to feel pity for Audrey? If so, it’s a little late. For all that Audrey’s behavior could be understood in context, she seemed to ignore the fact that she knew Jack’s past and the kind of man he was; indeed, she supports her father without question, and he was always in line with Jack’s take on events. Perhaps she feels a bit responsible, believing that it was her rejection that led to his decision to go down fighting, but it’s still very hard to give her sympathy.
The final scenes of the episode are an interesting setup. Tony and Michelle seem to be leaving CTU together, looking forward to a bright future without the dangers and decisions that drove them apart. But really, on this series, does that ever last? Jack’s own experience should serve as a warning: sooner or later, the life will catch up with them. It’s really just a matter of whether or not Jack’s the one who comes calling.
The conversation between Palmer and Jack is a nice way to end the episode, but it may be more than just an end to a long and difficult friendship. It could very well be a hint of the direction of the next season. Palmer is now well aware of how unstable Logan is, and it could quickly become a problem if Logan lets power get to his head. Jack may have been reborn into a new life, but really, how long is that likely to last?
Jack is actually in a position to discover, to his immense dismay, that he’s no longer suited to the real world. He’s also the perfect black ops agent, because he’s now officially dead. How long will it be before one of the few people aware of his status comes looking for him, some crisis waiting in the wings? It wouldn’t be at all surprising if Palmer was the one coming around, perhaps because of knowledge of something Logan has done or is planning to do. In fact, if Jack had to help Palmer deal with a corrupt Logan in the fifth season, it could eventually lead to the truth about the Chinese consul’s death (at least the Logan administration’s part in it) and Jack’s ability to return to his old life.
If this had been the end of the series, the metaphor of rebirth would have been a good way to wrap up the various character threads. But the writers were aware of the renewal chances and planted the seeds for the fifth season. While this could ultimately undermine the strength of the metaphor in favor of more action-packed insanity, it’s part of the trade-off. The series as it exists cannot continue without Jack at its center. That was the decision of the producers and network a long time ago, and if that means Jack is never going to find true happiness, then so be it.
Looking back on the fourth season, the producers and writers were remarkably open about their challenges and limitations. Even before the season began, they admitted that their plans to stay ahead of schedule were quickly overwhelmed by real world issues. Instead of having weeks to work out the kinks in the story and develop proper depth, the writers were stuck with writing scenes literally hours before they were filmed. Sometimes, they had even less time. Looking back, it’s not hard to see when that strain finally became too much to handle.
After four seasons, have the writers learned anything? As the season marched on, more episodes were written by non-producers, which seemed to help take off the edge. They’ve hired a couple new faces for the fifth season, writer/producers with a strong track record of writing excellent episodes in short order. In terms of pulling together the right team to deal with a similar crisis, the work’s been done.
But the pattern of this season is suggestive. The first few episodes were a bit too obviously “staged”; it was too easy to see where the writers wanted each episode to end, and everything was designed to achieve that goal. In other words, it wasn’t very organic or natural in terms of narrative flow.
As the lead time quickly disappeared, the writers let that pressure drive them into a somewhat chaotic excellence. As the interest in the Araz family, especially the complex Dina, grew with every passing week, the writers took the opportunity to give the story new layers of meaning and subtext. The oft-depicted moral relativity of CTU was contrasted with the terrorists’ moral equivocation. It wasn’t just about stopping terrorists; it was about how counter-terrorism can corrupt the morality of those implementing extreme measures for national security: the hunter becomes that which he hunts.
As long as the writers could keep their eyes on the impending nuclear meltdown scenario and play off the audience’s interest in Dina Araz, they were able to keep up the momentum. When that plot thread came to an end, however, the writers stumbled hard. It was no longer a symmetrical race against time; it was one side hunting down the other, always several steps behind. Thus the plot was always dependent on how smart or stupid the terrorists were; CTU always had to be that much less aware of the situation. Not only did that force the writers to toss in ridiculous and often contradictory roadblocks (usually of the relationship type), but it wiped out most of the strong sources of layered storytelling and metaphor.
This seems to happen every season, but in this case, the lull turned into an extended drought. If this season is only average in the end, it’s because the storytelling never rose above the quality of a weekly popcorn movie. “24” is, at its most basic level, exactly that; however, it has also been used for character study and social/political commentary. This season had less of that than ever before, and the majority of that weakness is directly related to the writers’ lack of lead time. When it’s a struggle to deliver just the basic plot points one time, the extras tend to fall to the wayside.
Most of the time, the layered narrative is the result of character development. Most of that was confined to relationship issues this season, and those tend to be very self-contained. Contrast this season of “24” to this season of “Alias”; the difference is mostly a question of character study. Granted, it’s a lot easier when every episode can adjust theme and content to facilitate the drama, but “Alias” was also dealing with the challenge of taking four seasons worth of continuity and pulling them together. This season of “24” didn’t begin impacting the characters in a definitive way until late in the game.
Once the writers caught up, right around the time of the biggest plot twist of the season (terribly telegraphed), the depth also returned. It wasn’t just about the action anymore; now there were mounting consequences for all the choices made when the ends seemed to justify the means. While those consequences were sometimes over the top in execution, there was a real sense of eroding luck. The missing tension was suddenly back, and here and there, the writers pulled a couple of unexpected character moments and reintroductions out of the bag.
Thus the season was able to end on something of a high note, which was seriously in doubt. As already mentioned, if the writing staff has truly buckled down and taken the task of plotting things out more carefully to heart, the fifth season could justify the investment that FOX has made. They need to remember that the goal is not simply to have an action-packed season of thrill-ride proportions; it’s also about telling a story and giving the audience a reason to care. The new writing staff has a strong reputation, and one can only hope that they live up to it.
Final Analysis
Overall, this episode is a good ending to a rather uneven season. Oddly enough, while there’s a strong metaphor running through the entire episode, the fact that there’s a fifth (and even sixth) season already ordered steals some of the emotional power from the final scene. Some of the visual effects were strangely weak for an episode meant for big ratings, but the story is strong enough to overcome that flaw. It should be interesting to see how the writers handle things next season!
Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4
Final Rating: 8/10
Season 4 Final Average: 6.9
Directed by Jon Cassar
In which CTU manages to get a lead on Marwan, ending the terrorist threat, but Jack cannot escape the consequences of his previous decisions, forcing him to make a surprising choice…
Status Report
As season finales go, this one is rather unique for “24”. The writers have flirted with cliffhangers in the past, but the most obvious example was a presidential assassination that was never given a true resolution. While this is hardly a true cliffhanger in the traditional sense, this is a season-long novel that ends with a definitive air of unfinished business. Jack may be walking down that track without looking back (or even calling his daughter), but there’s no doubt that it’s an interim situation. Sooner or later, Jack will be back, and this finale sets the stage for his return.
For a moment, the writers seem to return to that assassination, now more than four years earlier in the series’ continuity, perhaps to remind the audience that finales are a time of serious change. Not only that, but the fate of the nation rests on Palmer’s capacity for forgiveness. Palmer comes to his decision quickly and decisively, and in that moment, he makes it clear why he’s not the careless fool that Logan keeps calling him.
In the same moment, Mandy’s possible return is secured. There’s no telling how much trouble she could cause in the future. Having a clean legal slate is quite the gift for remaining flexible with one’s loyalties, and Mandy gets a chance to savor that deal with a long life, having sent Jack in Marwan’s direction. (Anyone else notice that Mia still looked damn good, despite the fact that she was supposed to be soundly beaten?)
Before long, the showdown begins. Instead of spending half the episode on helicopter stunts, the writers simply have Jack disable Marwan’s getaway vehicle and then transfer the action to the ground, where it belongs. Marwan gets the chance to destroy his PDA first, of course, but not entirely. The action moves into a parking garage (of course), and that’s when the fun really begins.
This being the season finale, death and change are par for the course. This is the final 20 pages of the book entitled “24: Day 4”, and the audience can’t count on anything. When Curtis takes a couple shots, it’s hard not to cringe, waiting for the head shot. It doesn’t come, but that’s because the writers have something even worse in mind. Rather than risk capture, Marwan tosses himself off the side of the parking garage. Not even Jack’s willpower can change the outcome, and since the warhead is on the way and Marwan has no intention of stopping it, it’s just a matter of time (and really bad digital effects).
Logan, showing his recent penchant for random madness, screams at Palmer for Marwan’s death. It’s not that Marwan was a zealot with every intention of letting Los Angeles bathe in nuclear fire; it’s that CTU and Palmer didn’t do enough to get Marwan to give up his evil ways. Of course, things go from bad to worse when the acting Chinese consul calls up with news of Agent Bern’s confession. Jack is now fully implicated, and the Logan administration is forced into “plausible deniability” mode.
Logan’s security aide (Cummings) not only questions Jack’s integrity, but figures that a bullet to the brain might be the most expedient solution. Palmer and Mike are suitably horrified, especially when Logan sounds less than convincing in his refusal to advocate assassination. But one thing is very clear: for once, Jack is going to have to face the consequences of proposing and carrying out one of his little black ops for Palmer. It actually brings the entire history of Jack Bauer and David Palmer full circle.
With the impending destruction of Jack’s career and possible life now on the table, the writers take all of five minutes to recover Marwan’s data from his PSP, generate a flight path (gee, LA, anyone?), and then blow the missile out of the sky. One thing is interesting to note: Jack claims that the warhead would be programmed to detonate upon impact with its target. That’s not usually the case. Nuclear warheads are far more destructive if they detonate at a certain altitude above the ground, prior to impact. Either Marwan and his people didn’t have that technology available, or the writers wanted to dance around that fact.
Upon their reunion, Tony is quickly forgiving of Michelle for her choice to place the fate of the nation above his survival. That doesn’t exactly come as a surprise, considering the fact that Tony has been doing exactly that all season long. But in this case, letting Michelle’s choice go is the key to getting the woman’s heart, so it’s probably a very easy decision for him to make.
On the other end of the relationship spectrum, Audrey does her version of letting Jack down gently. In typical fashion, it’s closer to ripping out Jack’s guts and making him feel like it’s all his fault for saving the world while going out with her. To be fair, Jack’s version of “doing his job” involves torturing her loved ones, among many others, and breaking international law. It might not be so hard to see things from her point of view! But that said, she’s ignoring the fact that he clearly loathes making those kinds of choices, and he wants to escape the trap that his life has become.
This begins laying down the foundation for the metaphor that ends the season. The trap of CTU soon promises to be nothing compared to the trap of his own choices: the Chinese prison where he is likely to be tortured and questioned in ways that are probably very similar to his own methods. Suddenly being trapped in CTU World doesn’t sound quite so bad, and Jack is trying to work out how saving the world has led to his own world being reduced to a cage.
That’s bad enough, but then Cummings turns around and does exactly what Logan told him not to do. Well, that’s the case if one ignores the mighty big wink that Logan gave Cummings when he forbade assassination tactics. So Jack moves from a metaphorical trap to an actual cage to the literal end of his life, all in a matter of moments.
Thanks to Novick, Palmer learns about Cummings’ plot and gets to confront Logan about the order. It becomes increasingly clear that Logan has both a very short memory and a similarity to Nixon that is purely intentional. Logan acts as though Palmer is losing his mind, when it’s actually closer to the truth to say that Logan is letting power go to his head. If he was doing his best George III impression when things looked entirely grim, he’s Caligula when things are going well, and Palmer has seen more than enough.
He warns Jack, of course, who has to be wondering what’s coming next in the “Dump on Jack” parade. In the space of a few minutes, Jack has to come up with a plan, and sure enough, Tony’s right there in the room, waiting for something heroic to do. Everyone who breathed a sigh of relief at the end of the previous episode was no doubt going back into cardiac arrest, because last minute favors in season finales are usually a very, very bad thing.
Perhaps most impressive is how quickly Jack and Tony formulate their plan, especially since Michelle and Chloe are in on it. (This is the crack team that couldn’t work out a cover up with 20 minutes of lead time, but faking a death in three minutes?) Sure! Surprisingly, Tony manages to deflect any hint of culpability by being the one to order the lockdown in the first place. Everything he does is designed to expose the true intentions of the Secret Service agent and give Jack time to prepare for his ruse.
During the final showdown, the writers really tease the possibility that Tony will be shot and killed, perhaps even in the process of letting Jack get away. But the situation is a bit more complex. Jack takes something that allows him to simulate death (where he got that in three minutes is hard to grasp, but this is metaphor, people!), and with a bit of blood poured on the floor to make it convincing, Tony blusters his way through the rest of the act. The agent, apparently all too aware that shooting Jack a few more times might tip his hand, accepts that the job is done.
Jack’s death and revival is meant to be dramatic, and it works as far as the metaphor goes. (Frankly, after Charlie’s death and revival on “Lost” this season, anything similar pales.) Jack’s old life is over, and in the process of being reborn (new identity and everything!), Jack is freed from the prison that his life was threatening to become. He’s a complete fugitive, of course, but at this point, where else was his life going to lead? Jack Bauer had done too much, gone too far, to ever live a normal life. Jack Bauer had to die in order for Jack Bauer to live.
Were the writers intending for the audience to feel pity for Audrey? If so, it’s a little late. For all that Audrey’s behavior could be understood in context, she seemed to ignore the fact that she knew Jack’s past and the kind of man he was; indeed, she supports her father without question, and he was always in line with Jack’s take on events. Perhaps she feels a bit responsible, believing that it was her rejection that led to his decision to go down fighting, but it’s still very hard to give her sympathy.
The final scenes of the episode are an interesting setup. Tony and Michelle seem to be leaving CTU together, looking forward to a bright future without the dangers and decisions that drove them apart. But really, on this series, does that ever last? Jack’s own experience should serve as a warning: sooner or later, the life will catch up with them. It’s really just a matter of whether or not Jack’s the one who comes calling.
The conversation between Palmer and Jack is a nice way to end the episode, but it may be more than just an end to a long and difficult friendship. It could very well be a hint of the direction of the next season. Palmer is now well aware of how unstable Logan is, and it could quickly become a problem if Logan lets power get to his head. Jack may have been reborn into a new life, but really, how long is that likely to last?
Jack is actually in a position to discover, to his immense dismay, that he’s no longer suited to the real world. He’s also the perfect black ops agent, because he’s now officially dead. How long will it be before one of the few people aware of his status comes looking for him, some crisis waiting in the wings? It wouldn’t be at all surprising if Palmer was the one coming around, perhaps because of knowledge of something Logan has done or is planning to do. In fact, if Jack had to help Palmer deal with a corrupt Logan in the fifth season, it could eventually lead to the truth about the Chinese consul’s death (at least the Logan administration’s part in it) and Jack’s ability to return to his old life.
If this had been the end of the series, the metaphor of rebirth would have been a good way to wrap up the various character threads. But the writers were aware of the renewal chances and planted the seeds for the fifth season. While this could ultimately undermine the strength of the metaphor in favor of more action-packed insanity, it’s part of the trade-off. The series as it exists cannot continue without Jack at its center. That was the decision of the producers and network a long time ago, and if that means Jack is never going to find true happiness, then so be it.
Looking back on the fourth season, the producers and writers were remarkably open about their challenges and limitations. Even before the season began, they admitted that their plans to stay ahead of schedule were quickly overwhelmed by real world issues. Instead of having weeks to work out the kinks in the story and develop proper depth, the writers were stuck with writing scenes literally hours before they were filmed. Sometimes, they had even less time. Looking back, it’s not hard to see when that strain finally became too much to handle.
After four seasons, have the writers learned anything? As the season marched on, more episodes were written by non-producers, which seemed to help take off the edge. They’ve hired a couple new faces for the fifth season, writer/producers with a strong track record of writing excellent episodes in short order. In terms of pulling together the right team to deal with a similar crisis, the work’s been done.
But the pattern of this season is suggestive. The first few episodes were a bit too obviously “staged”; it was too easy to see where the writers wanted each episode to end, and everything was designed to achieve that goal. In other words, it wasn’t very organic or natural in terms of narrative flow.
As the lead time quickly disappeared, the writers let that pressure drive them into a somewhat chaotic excellence. As the interest in the Araz family, especially the complex Dina, grew with every passing week, the writers took the opportunity to give the story new layers of meaning and subtext. The oft-depicted moral relativity of CTU was contrasted with the terrorists’ moral equivocation. It wasn’t just about stopping terrorists; it was about how counter-terrorism can corrupt the morality of those implementing extreme measures for national security: the hunter becomes that which he hunts.
As long as the writers could keep their eyes on the impending nuclear meltdown scenario and play off the audience’s interest in Dina Araz, they were able to keep up the momentum. When that plot thread came to an end, however, the writers stumbled hard. It was no longer a symmetrical race against time; it was one side hunting down the other, always several steps behind. Thus the plot was always dependent on how smart or stupid the terrorists were; CTU always had to be that much less aware of the situation. Not only did that force the writers to toss in ridiculous and often contradictory roadblocks (usually of the relationship type), but it wiped out most of the strong sources of layered storytelling and metaphor.
This seems to happen every season, but in this case, the lull turned into an extended drought. If this season is only average in the end, it’s because the storytelling never rose above the quality of a weekly popcorn movie. “24” is, at its most basic level, exactly that; however, it has also been used for character study and social/political commentary. This season had less of that than ever before, and the majority of that weakness is directly related to the writers’ lack of lead time. When it’s a struggle to deliver just the basic plot points one time, the extras tend to fall to the wayside.
Most of the time, the layered narrative is the result of character development. Most of that was confined to relationship issues this season, and those tend to be very self-contained. Contrast this season of “24” to this season of “Alias”; the difference is mostly a question of character study. Granted, it’s a lot easier when every episode can adjust theme and content to facilitate the drama, but “Alias” was also dealing with the challenge of taking four seasons worth of continuity and pulling them together. This season of “24” didn’t begin impacting the characters in a definitive way until late in the game.
Once the writers caught up, right around the time of the biggest plot twist of the season (terribly telegraphed), the depth also returned. It wasn’t just about the action anymore; now there were mounting consequences for all the choices made when the ends seemed to justify the means. While those consequences were sometimes over the top in execution, there was a real sense of eroding luck. The missing tension was suddenly back, and here and there, the writers pulled a couple of unexpected character moments and reintroductions out of the bag.
Thus the season was able to end on something of a high note, which was seriously in doubt. As already mentioned, if the writing staff has truly buckled down and taken the task of plotting things out more carefully to heart, the fifth season could justify the investment that FOX has made. They need to remember that the goal is not simply to have an action-packed season of thrill-ride proportions; it’s also about telling a story and giving the audience a reason to care. The new writing staff has a strong reputation, and one can only hope that they live up to it.
Final Analysis
Overall, this episode is a good ending to a rather uneven season. Oddly enough, while there’s a strong metaphor running through the entire episode, the fact that there’s a fifth (and even sixth) season already ordered steals some of the emotional power from the final scene. Some of the visual effects were strangely weak for an episode meant for big ratings, but the story is strong enough to overcome that flaw. It should be interesting to see how the writers handle things next season!
Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4
Final Rating: 8/10
Season 4 Final Average: 6.9
posted by John Keegan | 11:09
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