'24' Finale Review - USA Today

Season finale frenzy: '24'

By Robert Bianco, USA TODAY

(Warning for our timeshifting friends: if you haven't watched the finale of Fox's 24 yet, come back when you have.)

Rating: * * * 1/2 (out of four)

Great day in the morning.

The sun is back up at 24, as this still-inventive Fox hit capped its season-long creative resurgence Monday with a finale that was characteristically rousing and uncharacteristically thoughtful. Spurred by Tony's betrayal and his own sense of impending doom, Jack allowed his heroic façade to drop — allowing the show to dig a bit deeper into the nature of his heroism.

While this final stretch of episodes brought out the on-screen best in Kiefer Sutherland, the key to last night's two-hour conclusion — and the season — was Carlos Bernard's Tony Almeida. In one last twist, it was revealed that Tony was working for no one but himself, and his sole motivation was revenge for the murder of his wife and unborn son.

Without Tony, Jack never could have captured the season's Big Bad, head conspirator Alan Wilson, which makes Tony either a criminally insane good guy or a deluded but well-intentioned bad guy.

Go with "bad guy," as to get that revenge, he was willing to use Jack as a human bomb to blow up Wilson. (Who, by the way, was behind not just this year's conspiracy, but every problem stretching back to the assassination of President Palmer.) Nor was Tony the only one planning to weaponize poor Jack: Wilson's team was hoping to use him as a giant pathogen petri dish.

But both plots were foiled, thanks in no small part to — and here comes the best part — Kim! Think of it as Cougar Girl redeemed: She freed herself from her kidnap crisis, helped kill one of her captors, rescued his computer from a fire, and told Renee how to use it to locate the conspirators. (The what's-with-this-family look on Renee's face was priceless.)

In some ways, what was best about the finale, as with this season, was not so much what the show got right (though that was impressive) as what it avoided getting wrong. Yes, once again Jack had to appear to switch sides and rescue Tony, but this time, he told Renee why. And yes, once again Kim was in danger, but this time, she got herself out of it.

And as a reward, she was given the final word. Arriving at the hospital to find her father in a coma, she ordered the doctors to harvest her stem cells in an experimental effort to save him, even though he had forbidden the procedure because it put her at risk. "I'm sorry, Daddy," she said as the show ended. "But I'm not ready to let you go."

That scene capped a closing half-hour that was unusually reflective for 24, as it pondered the meanings of duty and responsibility and the price they exact. You saw it in the face of the president (the fabulous Cherry Jones) as she turned her daughter in for murder. And most importantly, you heard it in Jack's discussion of the rule of law with Renee, and his plea for forgiveness with the Imam.

As you'd expect, the show did leave a few balls in the air. Jack's fate is up for grabs, as is Tony's; he lives on, though under arrest. And when last we saw Renee, she was ready to do a full-out Jack attack on Wilson, in hopes of making him reveal his subordinate conspirators.

Which is fine, by the way, as long as they are all actually subordinates. Chase down underlings all you want, but please, do not add yet another layer of conspirators on top. At some point, there has to be a tip to the pyramid.

But that's a concern for tomorrow. For now, let's just be happy that a show many had left for dead has rallied, wrapping up a terrific season in terrific fashion.

You go, Jack.

And then come back for another day.

Link: USAToday.com