After the eight longest days of Jack Bauer’s life and 194 hours of incredible television, 24’s final episodes will be broadcast this Sunday night at 9 o’clock on Sky1 and Sky1 HD. The era-defining series, about the heroic Counter Terrorist Unit agent played by 1980s film star Kiefer Sutherland and his battles to prevent terrorist plots against a background of intrigue at the White House, will continue to live on in a series of motion pictures over the coming years, but the television series is coming to an end. First broadcast in 2001 just weeks after the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, the series has drawn on the fears and anxieties of the “War on Terror” with it’s myriad of biological, nerve-gas and nuclear threats, while in many ways being a good-fashioned action thriller, full of unexpected twists and explosive set-pieces.
The series’ most innovative gimmick has been the use of real-time, with each episode taking place over an hour and the story continuing, unseen, during commercial breaks. This was more closely observed in earlier seasons, when greater care was taken to ensure journeys took realistic lengths of time. Nonetheless, the use of split-screens and the iconic ticking yellow clock are still a fantastic way to ramp up the tension and keep viewers at the edge of their seats.
Over the eight seasons, 24 has developed a few predictable quirks – there’s always a mole or two at CTU, there’s always a moment that Jack has to go rouge because his bosses are getting it wrong, and the bad guy at the start of the season always turns out to be a small part of the picture, with the big boss only revealed a few episodes before the end. But it never fails to surprise, with the ability to shock over and over again. Memorable moments down the years have included the jaw-dropping ending to the first season with Jack’s wife Terri being tragically shot just as it seemed that all was well, Bauer being forced to kill his own boss, Ryan Chappelle, the killing of several main characters at the start of season five and the nuclear explosion in downtown Los Angeles in season six.
This season has seen attempts to sign a peace deal at the United Nations in New York between American President Allison Taylor and the fictional Islamic Republic of Kamistan, with the Republic’s President being kidnapped and eventually murdered. As ever, it’s now emerged that the IRK rebels we thought were responsible at the start of the season were only a small part of the plot, with the Russians turning out to be behind it. We go into the final two hours with Jack Bauer on a revenge mission against those responsible for the shocking murder of his lover, ex-FBI agent Renee Walker. Unfortunately for him, it means going against President Taylor who is committed to getting the peace deal signed, no matter how, and has even accepted help from the brilliantly villainous Nixon-like former president Charles Logan (Gregory Itzin) to make it happen. This means that every fan’s favourite quirky CTU analyst Chloe O’Brian (Mary Lynn Rajskub), now temporarily in charge of CTU, and field agent Cole Ortiz (Freddie Prinze Jr) are having to instigate a manhunt to capture Jack, last seen wearing some sort of Iron Man-like protective suit as he went on the rampage against the bad guys like never before. It’s all coming down to a showdown between Chloe’s instincts to protect her friend, who she knows has always been right before, and her duty to follow orders.
Executive producer Howard Gordon has promised that the series will end in a way that feels consistent with what we’ve seen over the last eight seasons. Gordon says that Jack Bauer finds himself “in a compromised place morally, ethically and emotionally. This show is a tragedy, and to give Jack a happy ending didn’t feel authentic. Chloe and Jack are in a real face-off, Chloe has to decide between her duty and friendship to Jack. It’s about as hairy a confrontation as you can possibly imagine.”
One thing’s for sure – however the TV series comes to an end, this isn’t the last we’ve seen of Jack Bauer.