[24H] Day 7: 7:00am-8:00am

TV Programme: 24
Season: 7
Episode: 24
Date I watched this episode: 07/06/2009
Time since I last watched this programme: 9 days.

What a disappointing end to a very disappointing season. This has been the worst season of 24 so far and this was definitely the worst 24 season finale so far, by a long way. Most season finales contain some shocking event or revelation, but all they could manage here was that supposedly "Alan Wilson was the man behind Charles Logan" well it just doesn't wash. They've already explained all of what happened on Day 5 by Phillip Bauer's conspiracy as revealed during season 6. So Wilson has no place there. In addition to that, I don't think he is a very well or interestingly written or acted character.

This season loosely fell into 4 sections. First of all we had the "reign of Dubaku". This covered roughly the first 10 episodes of the season and, I have to admit, this was the best part of the season. Dubaku was quite a good three-dimensional villain and these episodes also contained the initial meetings with Bill and Chloe, the mole at CTU, Prime Minister Matobo, and so on. Next we had the "reign of Juma". This covered roughly episodes 11-13 and mainly involved the attack on the White House. This attack was good but Juma was really not a good villain and the attack sequence didn't last for long enough, although it paid a tragic price - the death of Bill Buchanan.

The third section was the "reign of Hodges". This covered episodes 14-18 and involved Jonas Hodges and his bioweapon. This was really not compelling television; I didn't like Hodges as a villain and it all seemed a bit boring. Finally we have the "reign of Wilson" covering the last 6 episodes of the season. Once again, Alan Wilson is a rubbish antagonist, as are his associates, and they were really clutching at straws; they proved for good that they have no balls.

The finale didn't start well. We had Jack's supposed "escape", but he was soon recaptured and so that entire thing was rendered pointless. Then Tony revealed he was actually not a terrorist. So let's get this straight: first he wasn't a terrorist, then he was dead, then he was alive again, then he was a terrorist, then he wasn't a terrorist, then he was a terrorist, and now he isn't a terrorist again. At least with Arvin Sloane ([ALS] "The Two", [ALS] "The Descent", [ALS] "Before The Flood", et al) they made up interesting reasons why he had switched between being good and evil. It's good to see that Jack was as incredulous as us the audience about the revelation. I mean, why DID Tony go ahead with the attack on DC station which could have killed hundreds if not thousands of people? Also, why did Tony wait until this moment to reveal his motives to Jack?

The side-story of Olivia Taylor was okay I suppose but not worthy of a season finale. Allison's reaction to effectively destroying her own family was far too controlled; we need to see something quite dramatic in a finale; at least David and Wayne "had" personalities. The one redeeming feature here though was that Colm Feore's acting as Henry Taylor was excellent in these sequences; and well written too: his portrayal of the character earlier in the season makes it completely believable he would react this way.

I think above all, it just didn't feel like a season finale. The torturing scene between Renee and Alan Wilson seemed to cut off prematurely (although I suppose it did establish the closure on the "rules versus results" storyline). The final scene between Kim and Jack was both predictable and, well, it just didn't feel like a final scene to a season of 24. I'm not sure if Jack's earlier visit by the Imam was supposed to be dramatic; it really wasn't as we all know that Jack is going to survive this.

I'm really glad that this was the first finale I watched during Finale Day 6, as things could only get better from here.