24 - "11:00pm - 12:00am"

By Chris Wyatt     May 22, 2002

The season finale of 24 was one of the greatest hours ever broadcast on American television. There can be no reasonable argument to the contrary. Everything, from writing, to direction, to camera work, to editing was simply and undeniably perfect.

The finale definitely capped an amazing season. Since even before the premiere aired, the series had so much hype around it that the show seemed set up to fail. What show could really have delivered on all the promises that Fox was making? And yet, 24 did deliver.

This TV show was more cinematic than most feature films. It was wild enough to play with film conventions - so much so that you'd think Mike Figgis was one of the producers. It was pumped enough to deliver spectacularly tense action scenes. It was intelligent enough to offer intriguingly labyrinthine plots. And yet, among all those other things, it never forgot to keep track of its own humanity. The show, in essence, offered us a HIGH NOON for our generation; with Kiefer Sutherland as a very worthy successor to Gary Cooper.

Sure, during the course of the story the writers made a few missteps, like the tired subplot about Terry's two-hour bout with amnesia. But such missteps were few and far between. And in every first season a little rain must fall.

Last night's season finale captured everything that was best about 24. It spends the first half on the eloquently brutal firefight between Jack and the Drazens. Jack's daughter Kim, who last episode had escaped from the dock where she was being held, makes it to safety. But Nina, who was recently revealed as the mole inside CTU, feeds Jack false information, reporting Kim's death. Jack, as Drazen calculates him to do, flings himself wildly into action.

The second half covers Jack's race back to CTU where he uncovers Nina's treachery and attempts to finally reunite with his family. During all of this Senator Palmer takes permanent steps to deal with his own family issues.

I have to admit that I personally had my doubts that the finale could really live up to viewer expectations. I asked a lot out of it. But the pacing was tracked unbelievably well and it took turns that, even after 24 episodes, still surprised me. It offered me images that I'd never seen before (like Nina and Jack's vehicular joust). And it resolved everything that I felt I needed to have resolved, while still giving me a new question to ponder: Nina's status with the Germans.

All of the performances were solid last night. Particular kudos need to be awarded to Kiefer Sutherland and Carlos Bernard. Sutherland for the heartrending depiction of Jack believing his daughter to be dead, and then wordlessly deciding to go after Drazen; and Bernard for a subtle and believable moment when his character Tony sees Nina for who she really is.

Fox has renewed the series for a second season, with the producers vowing to keep the show in the "real time" format. It will be interesting to see if the show can maintain the same sense of energy, intensity and ingenuity for another whole go around the clock. But no matter what happens with season two, this recently completed season will always stand as a unique achievement in television history.

Whenever Fox makes the inevitable step of putting season one on DVD, this is one reviewer who will be up all night.

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