Thank you, Jack Bauer (SPOILER ALERT)

AGAIN, SPOILER ALERT...IF YOU HAVEN'T YET SEEN THE FINALE AND INTEND TO, DO NOT READ ON






OK, I've warned you...







Tonight was the big event (bigger than Lost, if you ask me), the series finale of 24. The two hours were riveting and I was at the edge of my seat throughout! I believe this will go down in history as one of TV's best finales. In the end, Jack lives, he honors the memory of Renee, Chloe has his back (again) and President Taylor came to her senses and then took responsibility for her shredding of the Constitution.

As we have seen with Terry, his relationship with Kim and Audrey Raines, Jack Bauer has lost people close to him. Renee Walker (one of the best character additions in the history of the show) was the straw that broke the camel's back. As he worked with Renee, their adversarial relationship had grown into one of mutual respect, then interdependence, then love. At that one moment, he was happy. He was ready to walk away, then Pavel Tokolov's bullet took that all away and sent Jack on a path of no return (you can align this to the death of Anna Reilly-Rapp in Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp novels). Jack saw President Taylor's refusal to listen, as well as her misuse of power to build her legacy, as a vacuum that he had to fill. In doing this, Jack saw himself as both judge and jury...remember his line "I want justice." Not only justice for Renee's death, but for an honest peace. With Russia's role and President Taylor's deception in covering it up (while shredding the Constitution), there could be no honest peace. He stopped at nothing to see that justice was served and yes, in Jack Bauer style, it got messy. And I find it interesting it was Chloe who talked him down from assassinating Suvarov, reminding him that he is dishonoring Renee by doing this. Agreeing with her and realizing the ramifications of his act, he stood down and planned to expose the truth and get justice Chloe's way.

A little on Allison Taylor. When I first heard they were going to have a female president in Day 7, I rolled my eyes because I, like other 24 fans out there, thought she was going to be a Hillary Clinton clone, who we all remember back in 2007, was going to be coronated as the next president (until a man named Barack Obama came about, but I digress). We continued to roll our eyes in 24: Redemption after her Inaugural Address and in the beginnings of Day 7. However, 24 fans started to change their mind about Allison Taylor, as she saw the need to back Jack Bauer, began to understand what he does and the sacrifices he makes in doing it. By the end of Day 7, we were further impressed in how she upheld the Constitution, even at the expense of her daughter's freedom. That was a damn hard decision to make and I really don't know how many of our 43 would have made it the way she did.

By Day 8, she began to lose her way and was heavily (and badly) influenced by Charles Logan. However, it cannot be Charles Logan alone to blame, it is two of the downfalls of many of our 43 (reminder...Grover Cleveland was 22 and 24): power and legacy. The major arc of this season was the signing of the peace treaty between the US and the IRK. She put her heart and soul into getting this done, it was her baby and she wanted to see it through, at all costs. If she did, great things would be written of her, schools would be named after her and maybe after her days in the Oval Office, she could be memorialized somewhere on the Mall along with Lincoln, Washington and Jefferson. Knowing the enormity of their jobs, many of the 43 have likely felt this...has it driven their every day decisions? Have they become engrossed in it? I don't know and you'd have to ask them, but I believe Allison Taylor was. There was no turning back for her when Ethan Kanin, her loyal ally, resigned. It was that wanting of a legacy that drove her to misuse her presidential power by going against her own principles which she so strongly stood behind in Day 7, straining Jack Bauer, hiding the true identity of Omar Hassan's assassins and then having the temerity to threaten an ally with a nuclear response if they didn't dance. Furthermore, she went so far as to allow the assassination of Jack Bauer to hide her lie. Realizing her misdeeds, she was able to save Jack's life and did take responsibility for her actions by resigning and allowing herself to be investigated (and likely face charges). While good, she did not go far enough as I think she should have pardoned Jack Bauer, considering his service and sacrifices to the country (as well as saving Allison Taylor's own hide from the barrel of General Juma's gun) Allison Taylor can be compared to other presidents like John Adams, Andrew Jackson, Woodrow Wilson, FDR, and Nixon who have misused their presidential powers and as a result, had their legacies tainted, the opposite effect of what they had intended.

President Taylor's decision to not pardon Jack Bauer leads me to come to the conclusion that 24's ending was a sad one. Jack wanted nothing more than to walk away, go back to LA, catch up with Kim and get to know his granddaughter. All that could never be as the country he had sacrificed his life to protect is sending him out the door. Along with being on the run from the Russians, Jack Bauer will be on the run from the Americans. And that is the sad irony of the finale.

Anyone who sacrifices in this fashion, be it CIA, military, police, fire, etc, deserves our gratitude need to be thanked. We must show our gratitude for their service and a simple thank you goes a long way. Thank you, Jack Bauer, and all like him!