Here I am, as usual, late for the party.

I'm not the gal who shows up as the host is getting ready for bed, I'm the gal who stayed home, drinking her own wine until six weeks after the party ended, then shows up, bombed out of her mind, to tell the host what a good time she would have had, if only his party had fit her schedule.

Whatever; it's my world.

I know that 24 actually finished it's eight year run well over a year ago.  But I couldn't watch it in real time, so I've waited for it to come out on Netflix.  I'd have bought it myself, but Target and Sam's club have only offered it in a conclusive, all seasons package and I already have the first seven.

Two of the disks I got were damaged and I had to send them back so it took forever to finish watching it but it was worth it.

Season 8 started off with the return of Renee Walker, a kick ass, semi nuts, disgraced federal agent who's the only one on Earth who understands Jack.  Naturally, he loves her.  The first thing she does is cut off a Russian mobster's thumb with an electric saw to free him from his monitor cuff. 

Sweet.

Renee is who Veronica Mars would have become if she had continued on the the FBI.

Naturally, she doesn't survive.  No one Jack loves, or promises to protect ever does.  It's amazing that his daughter Kim is still alive and kicking.  Of course, they fly her out of town in the first five minutes.

In this eighth season, Jack has long since retired from government work but is dragooned back into service to help track down nuclear materials that have been smuggled into NYC to use as leverage to derail  an historic peace treaty.

Everything happens to keep the signing of this treaty between the US, the Islamic Republic and Russia on track.

What bothered me was that events on the ground prove the stupidity of a peace treaty. 

Jack Bauer agreed with me and goes completely off the rails to prove it.

The mayhem he causes to bring to light the truth of the behavior of all parties involved is a bloody mess and a joy to behold.

I have no idea what the final body count was but here are a few highlights; in addition to Renee's impromptu thumbectomy, the victim of which is shot to death by someone else not a half hour later, there's a victim of radiation poisoning who's own dad shoots him, a near beheading, a stabbing, a garroting or two, death by car crash, snipers, torture, evisceration, bites, suicide and more shooting deaths than you can keep track of with a calculator. 

There were so many corpses littering the screen that they don't even show Jack take out the entire Russian delegation to the UN with his bare hands; they just show the carnage, which includes the head of the delegation pinned to the floor with a fireplace poker.

It all ends happily with the bogus peace treaty crashing and burning, a former president eating a bullet and the current president (a wishy washy woman who goes power mad in the midst of it all) pulling her head out of her butt and telling the truth,  offering her resignation from office and facing the consequences of her flouting of the Constitution and abuse of office.

Unfortunately, since Jack spent the last six hours waging war on the US, he has no choice but to leave the country and disappear.

Again.

Via CTU drone, the last we see of our hero is a very touching conversation between Jack and his right hand man, Chloe; the only friend or colleague to survive her association with Jack.

Chloe first appeared in the second season and quickly became a huge favorite with fans of the show.  She was a breath of fresh air in the windowless dungeons of CTU; she was snarky, sarcastic and plain spoken.  Not only was Chloe unwilling to speak in the government jargon of the rest of the agents, she refused to allow them to do so.

In this season, the new head of CTU spends ten minutes telling Chloe she needs to improve her performance or there will be consequences and she cuts him off in mid mealy mouthed sentence with "Wouldn't it just be easier to tell me to get up to speed or I'm fired?"

Chloe is always the smartest person in the room but her reaction to that isn't smug self satisfaction, it's usually surprised irritation that everyone else is so stupid.

Chloe's faith in Jack throughout the seven seasons is unwavering and she risked her life, limbs and liberty several times during each crisis and her faith is always rewarded.

Jack tearfully thanks her before disappearing into the wind, saying  that all those years ago, when she first showed up at CTU, he never imagined she'd be the one to always have his back.

Knowing Jack has burned his last bridge, Chloe sheds a tear.  We haven't seen that since Edgar died in front of her back in season (4?).

And then, as the drone shows us Jack's face, she tells Arlo "shut it down."

And the screen goes dark.

And the clock runs down to zero.

And he's gone.

 

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