24: The Days Ranked

AKA Day 2.

An odd pick, I know, but for me Season 2 is undoubtedly 24's finest hour (pardon the pun). There are many reasons for this: great action, acting, intensity, character writing, excitement and villains (including a pre-Saw Tobin Bell I might add). For me, this season has everything that makes 24 great and then some.

Not to mention how at this point, it's leaps and bounds ahead of the first season. The pacing is much better, transitioning from its various storylines in a much more streamlined fashion this time round. It feels a lot better paced and more exciting to watch because of it.

And boy, is it exciting. Numerous setpieces in the series rank among the best throughout 24's history and some of the most surprising twists (Marie Warner being a terrorist anyone?). It helps this individual series provide some of the best moments in the series as a whole, making it an utter blast to watch as a result.

But for me, the main clincher for me is that this has the most emotional depth of the entire series. The story arc of George Mason here is perhaps the most heartfelt it gets, and it is extremely compelling to watch him continue at his job as long as he can before inevitably dying from radiation poisoning, as well as highly emotional. His heroic sacrifice near the end of the series is one of the few times in the series where I got slightly teary eyed at.

It is also the only series that takes a more balanced look at the idea of torture and whether it can actually achieve anything. As opposed to the other series where they would take a blind eye to Jack's torturing or vaguely analyse it, here there is some legitimate questioning as to whether it actually solves anything and is actually ethical. The scene where Jack is torturing Kate Warner's sister, only for Kate herself to look shocked hearing the screams of her sister is pain encapsulates this, putting the idea of torture in perspective, considering all those who it affects.

Are there problems? Inevitably. The pacing still isn't perfected yet, as the transitions between the main plots is clunkier in the last few episodes, and it does run out of steam a little too early because of it. The utter cancer that is Kim Bauer is also a continued blight on humanity, with a completely useless subplot that slows the story down. Cutting it out would have made sod all difference quite frankly.

However, for all its issues, Season 2 is by far and away the best season of 24. Not only does it present the series at its best in terms of writing, storytelling and action, but also has the most heart of the entire show. It's just great TV, and highly worth watching.

AKA Day 3.

One of the better seasons of the show. It finally perfected the storytelling from prior series, making it flow better and have a stronger sense of pacing, making it all the fun to watch. The action is great and also is one of the better seasons for the action aiding the story. There's plenty of tense sequences, most notably during Jack's various confrontations with the Salazar brothers. There is also great character struggles, like Jack's heroin addiction and his further encounters with Nina. It also introduced the very awkward, but likable Chloe O'Brian to the series, who is still one of the best characters the show had to offer. All around, it's just great to watch and while it lacks the emotional punch of Season 2, it is still one of the better Seasons of 24, and does improve on many of the issues of prior seasons, like the pacing. There are minor gripes, but nothing that ruins the overall excellence of the season as a whole.

What can I say? After a few dud seasons, LAD is a triumphant return to form. One of the main improvements is cutting down the episode number to 12, allowing for much better pacing and a lack of relying on contrived scenarios as previous seasons. But on top of that, this is as good as 24 gets. Great story, acting, writing, character development, twists among many other things, all the while avoiding the redundancy of repeated plotlines of numerous prior series. Oh, and being a Londoner, I love the way they filmed our city.

My main problem however is the ending. While Season 8's ending wasn't perfect, it was still appropriately bittersweet. Here, the ending is contrived and a cynical attempt to extend the series, which seems rather pointless since Sutherland refuses to do another one. Not to mention how it still has the occasional pointless subplot and the occasional rubbish character that dragged down earlier seasons.

But all in all, this was a great return to form for the series after a bunch of seasons that ranged from half-decent to utterly disappointing. It relies on the series' strengths while minimising the numerous weaknesses of prior seasons, making it one of the better demonstrations of 24 at its peak. It may not be perfect but it is far better than expected, and was a very solid note to end this series on.

AKA Day 4.

A very good season, but a clear indicator of the decline of the series. The recycling of plotlines shows its hand here, most notably the whole Arab terrorists stealing nuclear weapons from Season 2, but without that season's emotional punch. Meanwhile, the season does have its fair share of utter ridiculousness, most notably the store holdup at the beginning of the series of which is clearly designed to elongate this to 24 episodes.

Then again, looking past that, it is a great season, continuing on from Season 3's use of strong action and storytelling. It's just a very exciting season, with all of the great twists and characters many of us 24 fans were expecting by now. Not to mention the introduction of new great characters, like the Heller family, of whom while slightly more annoying in later seasons are very enjoyable here, including a setpiece of them trying to escape a terrorist facility early on in the series which while utterly daft is still very entertaining to watch. Oh, and no Kim Bauer. That alone should indicate that this is one of the best seasons.

AKA Day 1.

And here we have the first season, of which can still hold its own against many of the later ones. Admittedly, it is not perfect and has many faults. The series hadn't quite managed to get the pacing and storytelling down right, making the transition between different plots throughout the show feel a lot more awkward than future seasons. Not to mention how there are many pointless parts (Teri Bauer losing her memory which just slows down the pacing) and Kim Bauer is still as annoying and dumb as ever, ranking her with some of the worst damsels in distress out there. Oh, and who can forget some of the ridiculous villains, like Dennis Hopper and his hilarious attempts at a Bosnian accent?

Then again, the season has a lot of good things to say about it. The plane crash opening is still one of the show's finest hours, creating strong anticipation for things to come, and the season is full of similarly great setpieces throughout. The action is exciting and tense, and it does have some surprises along the way, mainly the revelation of Nina Meyers being a mole, of which while such a twist became redundant in later seasons (to the point where the series would put a spin on it in the future) was unexpected and a helped to make the show memorable. And the downer ending, while a slight ripoff of Seven's climax, is still effective and showed how willing and risky 24 was in its early days, keeping viewers intrigued as to what would happen next. It is also good at mixing up the action and espionage of the Bauer parts with the more political and mystery aspects of the Palmer sections, helping to give the show more depth and variety from your average action TV show.

It's main success was to create a TV icon in the form of Jack Bauer, helping to flesh out his character very well. He's loyal to his country and CTU, but willing to defy orders to do what he feels is right. He's hard as nails but also caring to those closet to him. He's trying to move beyond his spy work to concentrate on being a good father, but inevitably gets tangled back into such a line of work. He's a very interesting character, and the show is very good at developing his personality. No wonder he's become one of the most iconic characters from TV over the last few decades. Kiefer Sutherland's brilliant performance helps strongly here to, being very charismatic while subdued and more sensitive during the show's more dramatic elements, creating a great balance between the two, making sure he isn't just a generic hard man archetype.

So Season 1 still holds up very well today. Despite its problems and being slightly dated (the technology used in some parts, and Palmer's quest to be the first black President feeling odd in a post-Obama age) it has a lot to recommend and is still some of the show's better output, especially compared to the later seasons. It's just great TV, something that all the best seasons of 24 have in common.

AKA Day 7.

Not much to say on this one. After the disappointment of Seasons 5 & 6, this was a nice return to form for the series, and while there's nothing particularly great about it, there is a lot of good about it. It is well paced, acted and written with great action and storytelling throughout. Meanwhile, I like how it tries to do something slightly different with its villainy, centring it on the African militia as opposed to the endless slew of Arab/Eastern European villains of previous seasons. It kept things fresh and exciting. Not to mention, Renee Walker is one of the better characters the later seasons had to offer, delivering the charisma and enjoyment value many of the other new entries failed to deliver, with added sex appeal to boot. It doesn't live up to the greatness of the early seasons, but it is a nice return to form after a few duds.

AKA Day 8.

The original end of the series, Season 8 was a decent, albeit unremarkable conclusion to the series. It continues on Season 7's road of decent action and plotlines, despite having its fair share of problems. Charles Logan makes an unnecessary return and whose idiotic actions slows the series down, not to mention the numerous retreading of various plotlines (like CTU moles and political corruption) does get tedious after a while.

However, it at least attempts to tie up the series nicely, all the while questioning Jack's gung-ho attitude, especially in the last few episodes, of which pays off quite nicely. All the while, it may not try much new, but it does provide what 24 fans with what they've come to expect (in terms of action and twists at least) quite nicely. Also, the ending (while left very open) is quite emotional, ending on an appropriate poignant and bittersweet note for the series as a whole. It may not be great, but it is a good conclusion to the show as a whole. Or at least it was, but more on that further up the list.

AKA 24: Redemption.

For me, this TV movie represents the best and worst aspects of 24 as a whole. On the plus side, it is very watchable and exciting. The action is great, and it is far better paced than the two prior seasons combined. There are great characters introduced, like Robert Carlyle's Carl Benton. And it is fun and entertaining to watch as whole, getting the viewer ready for what was to come in Season 7.

However, it still has many of the same problems that have plagued previous seasons. Great characters are introduced and then killed off (like Benton). Characters still make stupid decisions to keep the plot going. Contrived events (rather than good writing) occur to create false tension, like Jack and the children being denied access to the embassy. But my main criticism (which many echo) it just feels like an extended episode or a pilot for Season 7, as opposed to anything that stands on its own. That's fine for something supplemental like this, but it doesn't hold up as strongly on its own as many of 24's individual seasons does.

So all in all, it's a perfectly fine supplement to Season 7, albeit nothing special and doesn't stand up particularly strongly on its own.

AKA Day 5.

I know some of you may be surprised to see this so low, but quite frankly, I find this to be the most overrated season out of the bunch. It's biggest sin is perhaps killing off so many of the best characters in the opening, only for it to barely follow it up with anything substantial. Not to mention how the plot is insanely convoluted at points, with a corruption scandal reaching the President that is hard to follow and understand. Meanwhile, the numerous contrived hoops it jumps through to keep the season going, most notably the President's taped confession being lost and then not, which gets irritating and leaves the audience feeling cheated, relying on cheap cop outs rather than clever writing. And the season ripping off Season 3's plot (changing out a virus for nerve gas) shows how much the series was running out of steam and ideas at this point. Not to mention how the real time gimmick the entire series ran on has been undermined with Jack being able to be anywhere within minutes.

There are some great things here though, most notably Peter Weller's Christopher Henderson. Weller is always great value, and this season is no exception, being a great frenemy to Jack. And it's to the season's major determent, they predictably kill him off at the end. Great. Meanwhile, the action is still good and it is paced nicely, and it's attempt to try and take such risks in killing many major characters is an interesting risk to take. Shame it doesn't follow through on it very well.

In the end, the season isn't the worst among what 24 has to offer, but it is still a disappointment and one of the most overrated series in the show's back catalogue.

AKA Day 6.

Yes, I know it's the obvious pick and that I'm beating a dead horse at this point, but that's because Season 6 is definitely the weakest of the bunch.

Despite this, I don't hate it at all, and I think there are many positives to this series that fans look over because of which season they're in. Firstly, the action scenes are spectacular, which is what you would expect at this point. For me, setpieces like the invasion of the CTU base and Jack's fight with the rank as some of the most memorable (and best) action scenes in 24's history. Not to mention how this season does take risks, at least initially. The nuking of downtown Los Angeles raises the scale of threat and keeps you compelled as to where it is all going. And I also like some of the casting as well. Being a big fan of James Cromwell (one of the most underrated actors ever IMO), it was exciting to seem him play Jack's estranged father, as well as the subsequent conflicts he has with his family over the course of the season. However, that element is underutilised I think, and becomes a waste of potential overall.

That is the biggest problem with this series for me: despite having good ideas and taking occasional risks, in the end it is a waste of potential. All the numerous criticisms that season 6 receives is pretty much spot on. From the anticlimactic way that they brought Jack back from China (what a way to spoil a perfectly good setup), to the numerous repeated plot points from previous seasons (the 25th amendment being using to undermine a Palmer President, Jack breaking into an embassy, a mole at CTU), to the awful pacing which transitions through the main plotlines so poor it feels like three sets of episodes awkwardly stuck together, to killing off great characters (like the completely unnecessary death of Curtis Manning), boring villains & really boring spots: this series truly lays out all of 24's dirty laundry and boy is it disgusting at points. Meanwhile, the season's social commentary (from having a Dick Cheney inspired character to themes of Muslim discrimination) are a little too on the nose for my liking, and it doesn't pay off very well either.

So in short, it may be the weakest, but it does have its positives that I think people tend to overlook. It's not bad, just disappointing and an overall waste of potential. It could have been a lot worse in hindsight, considering the numerous problems throughout.