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24 – What were the best moments of the series finale?

From "Best Tirade" to "Most Suspenseful Moment," here are some of the greatest scenes from the two-hour season finale.

Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) holds President Charles Logan (Gregory Itzin) at gunpoint

My, oh my. The final hours of Day 8 had so many great moments that I have decided to bestow honors upon my favorites. Of course, if you disagree with my choices, please feel free to chime in with your thoughts in the comments. And here we go.

Most Hilarious Moment

Jason Pillar hops into his SUV and is yakking away on his phone about how he’s going to catch up with Bauer very soon. While Pillar is still going on, Jack silently pops up in the back seat, puts a gun to his head, and says, “Sooner than you think.” When Jack appeared like that, I just about died and still crack up when I replay it in my head.

Runner up. Once again, the laughs come courtesy of Jason Pillar. Wasn’t it insane when Jack pulled a Mike Tyson on Pillar, mauling his ear so Chloe had more time to get away? That was so crazy that it was funny. Jack just loves freaking people out. If Pillar actually survived this season, he would need loads of therapy.

Best Tirade

Dalia. Need I say more? The new President Hassan is feisty. When Taylor threatened to use military force against the IRK if Dalia didn’t sign the peace agreement, I half expected her to slap Taylor across the face. Dalia’s furious reaction to the truth was, in a word, awesome.

Runner up. I don’t know if this counts as a tirade, but I loved how Logan talked Taylor into authorizing an ambush on Jack’s ambulance. He goes on and on about how Jack will claw his way out of the deepest, darkest hole and hunt them down and cut them up into little pieces with a machete (or something equally paranoid). Logan had the crap scared out of him twice in one day, but his rhetoric was a tad over the top, no?

Best Chloe Moment

This has to be Chloe shooting Jack, although I liked her throughout all her talking-Jack-down scenes. Their friendship is so wonderful because it has all this history behind it. No one but Chloe could bring him back from the path he’d chosen, because she is the one person who has proven without a doubt that she is on his side. So Jack forcing Chloe to shoot him was quite a climactic scene. The tension built up as they yelled back and forth, and then suddenly it snapped as Jack pointed the gun at his head and Chloe shrieked and shot him. Obviously, we knew he wasn’t going to die at that point. What made it so cool was that build-up and climax.

Runner up. “I hope you enjoyed yourself.” I’m sure he did, Chloe. Great, tense scene where Jason confronts and searches her.

Most Suspenseful Moment

For me, the signing ceremony was incredibly suspenseful. First with Dalia and then with President Taylor, I felt like an eternity passed as I watched the pen hover above the paper. Will she? Won’t she? Who will tell the truth? Will anyone? Loved it. What could have been a boring scene turned out to be intense.

Runner up. The almost-execution at the end was pretty good too. Last week, I was confident that Jack would survive Day 8 because of all the movie talk. But after reading theories that the movie would be a prequel or take place between previous seasons, I started to wonder if we were being thrown off the scent  so that Jack’s death would be truly shocking. In other words, there was enough doubt in my mind to make the near-execution quite suspenseful.

Most Touching Conversation

Jack’s phone call to Chloe at the end was, without a doubt, the most moving part of the finale. He voiced what we fans all probably felt. When Chloe first arrived at CTU, I thought she was beyond annoying. How could anyone with that obnoxious attitude and perpetual scowl last for more than one season? Instead, Chloe proved to be Jack’s most reliable ally, year after year. And she never changed! She’s still blunt, rude, socially-inept and scowling — but we love her now, and we know without a doubt that she’s one of the “good guys.” So it was quite moving to hear Jack finally let her know how much he values her for always being the one he can count on.

Runner up. President Taylor’s phone call to Jack was also deeply moving. Her apology felt very raw and honest. I hope that her course correction restored some of Jack’s faith in her, because he seemed especially hurt by her failure to live up to his expectations.

Best Jack Moment

Jack’s video recording gave him the opportunity to explain himself, explain essentially what drives him, what has motivated him through all these seasons (besides, of course, protecting Kim from cougars). His underlying motivation is a devotion to justice. His idealism is something that he thought he shared with President Taylor, but she betrayed their shared ideals. Watching Taylor react to Jack’s video was pretty powerful stuff.

Runner-up. When Jack had Logan in his sights, he ordered Logan to lure the Russian President to his office, and Logan asked how he was supposed to do that. Jack told him to try the truth for once: “Tell him you have intelligence on a threat to his life.” And then Jack smirked. That smirk was priceless, absolutely priceless.

So there it is. Do you have some honors to hand out? Now’s your chance. Leave a comment, and let everyone know what you thought of the finale, Day 8, and maybe even the series as a whole.

Silent clock for the end of my 24 reviews.

Photo Credit: FOX

Categories: | Episode Reviews | General | TV Shows |

14 Responses to “24 – What were the best moments of the series finale?”

May 24, 2010 at 11:21 PM

God, I’m going to miss this show. Even if it was repetitive year after year – I knew someone in CTU had to be a plant…again (what kind of security protocols do they have for employment?) – it was still an exciting ride hour by hour. I love how the story starts out as one thing then turns into something else, bringing new characters into the story while some disappear for several episodes, sometimes coming back, sometimes never heard from again. I never expected to see Meredith Reed again, but there she was and her appearance really kicked the last couple of hours into gear as she revealed her information to Kayla. I just hope that President Taylor was able to get her out of jail before she resigned! So many great moments tonight, but I loved when Jack told Logan that he was a world class liar. Gregory Itzin was just terrific and I’m so glad they found a way to bring him back – and also sorry that we won’t be seeing any more of him unless the movie is a prequel. Which brings up the question – where will the movie go if Jack is now a fugitive? Whatever happens, I hope a movie can do the series justice. Until we meet again, farewell Jack and Chloe. You will be missed.

May 25, 2010 at 12:02 AM

I think Logan, cockroach that he is, lived through his suicide attempt.

May 25, 2010 at 12:23 AM

Yeah, but they did say he would probably be brain damaged, so it might be tough to bring him back. Love the cockroach analogy!

May 25, 2010 at 6:46 AM

Also he has lost face if you know what I mean ^^;

This episode was definitely no Lost but since yesterday I guess that’s a good thing ;-)

Best Season of 24 since Season 3, at least for me. Lots of fun to watch. Best moment for me was when the President gave her speech and didn’t sign. That was chilling.

May 25, 2010 at 9:30 AM

“Also he has lost face if you know what I mean”

LOL. Sebastian, you are bad.

May 25, 2010 at 1:11 AM

My favorite moments were
-Jack biting Pillar’s ear off. And the fact that Pillar became such a coward when the gun was pointed at him.
-The quick goodbye to Chloe.
-Cole in the Genesis commercial.
-Logan killing himsel.. oh he’s alive. Damnit. I’ll repeat what I said in the chat: Dude should of jumped.
-Taylor realizing she was wrong was a little too late to redeem her.
-Chloe got the sleeper hold, “Don’t fight it…”

In all I liked the LOST finale better (hard to not compare the 2 when they end so close together), but it was a thrill ride. It was fun, [felt] quick, and exciting. The ending did leave me wanting more, but that is what the movie is for.

May 25, 2010 at 10:56 AM

I was actually a much bigger fan of last season compared to this. Actually last season was one of my favorites.

May 25, 2010 at 11:17 AM

Last season wasn’t bad, but I loved this season. I think what I didn’t like about last season was that there was no CTU – we had the FBI instead. That just felt wrong.

May 30, 2010 at 7:52 AM

I loved them both. And last season did give us Rogue CTU, dressed all in black, Section One-style, as well as that chilling moment when the FBI computer desktops blinked off, one by one, to be replaced by the resurrected CTU workstations. And Renee Walker and Larry Moss were actually good enough to be CTU themselves.

My favorite moment from the finale was Jack giving Chloe the tender “don’t fight it” chokehold, which, as we’ve seen, he only reserves for his closest and most dear friends.

May 25, 2010 at 12:17 PM

Wouldn’t it have been kind of cool if Jack did shoot the Russian President and started a war between the two countries? After everything he’s done for his country, he finally finds someone he can love then she gets shot and his country won’t help him out. It would a be a a final F… You to all of them. You knew he’d have to go on run anyways. And it would have been one hell of an ending with the US and Russia about to go to war.

May 25, 2010 at 1:01 PM

I was a little confused by the videotaped recording Jack left. It seemed that it was a goodbye to his daughter, yet Chloe, Cole, Logan, Pillar and President Taylor were all treating it like it was a general message to the public. Was it both or did I read too much context into how he was phrasing things?

May 25, 2010 at 1:49 PM

I think it was both. It was specifically a message to Kim, but it also served as the moral kick in the ass that Taylor needed.

May 25, 2010 at 3:14 PM

Ah, that makes perfect sense. Merci.

May 29, 2010 at 8:09 AM

The 24 Series is totally unmatchable as per this whole series was dramatic. 24 Series Season 8 Finale was of 2 hours and also was fantastic. The feedback was very impressive. i like to watch this serial at: https://hollywoodserials.com/24-day-8-300p-m-400p-m-season-8-episode-24/

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