TV Clock Runs Out on '24,' Bauer
Rodney Ho - Atlanta Journal Constitution
May 25, 2010
The fantasy world of "24" has been terrifying yet oh so reassuring.
Whether it's Los Angeles, New York or D.C., you can get from one place to another in 20 minutes or less. Your cellphone never dies. And you never need to eat, drink or sleep. But if Jack Bauer is in town, terrorist attacks, bombs and kidnappings follow way too often. And forget about being president. Or a friend of Bauer's. Or, God forbid, a romantic interest. That's a ticket to the morgue.
And all this happens in real time, a gimmick that seemed absurd to pull off. Yet "24" lasted eight seasons, ending at 8 p.m. tonight in a likely river of blood on Fox.
"It could have fallen apart," Mary Lynn Rajskub said in an interview Thursday. As Bauer's only major confidant who hasn't died, her character Chloe went from obnoxious CTU computer programmer to head of operations this season. "It turned into this wonderful thing. ... Viewers can feel that it's challenging. You know it's on this time clock. How are they going to make it work? How are they going to make this fresh again? [The producers] keep it exciting."
Indeed, Kiefer Sutherland's intense take on Bauer, the head-turning plot twists and sleek production have kept fans around. His torture techniques were celebrated by some, reviled by others.
"The timing was great," said Paul Zehe, a 38-year-old Atlanta real estate agent and devotee since Season 1, soon after 9/11. "He was the guy getting it done. He was the guy you wanted to see to deal with terrorism. We're always hoping there's a real Jack Bauer out there."
Sharon Goldmacher, head of an Atlanta marketing firm, dubs Bauer "kind of a good bad guy. He's heroic but still human. You feel all the emotions he's feeling."
Bauer lately has amped up the violence after a sniper killed his lover. He shot a CTU mole in cold blood. He slit open a Russian operative's stomach to retrieve a phone SIM card. A week ago, he kidnapped and threatened a slimy ex-president, choking him unconscious once he got the info he needed.
And he himself has hardly gone unscathed. Just this season alone, he's been tortured, shot and knifed. He enters the final two hours bloodied, like "a wounded animal," as one bad guy called him.
Executive producer Howard Gordon said "24" is effectively a tragedy. "We tried a couple of different endings for size," he told reporters earlier this month. "One thing we tried and it didn't work was happily ever after for Jack. ... We leave him in a compromised place morally, ethically and emotionally."
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