How Much Season 6 Sucked

[nerd4hire]

I finally managed to watch the last few episodes of 24. Having completed the whole season now I've come to the conclusion I didn't like it. I say it's the first legitimately, consistently, bad season.

There's a poll. It's 10 points, with multiple choice voting, so I figure if the majority votes for 7 points or more my opinion is vindicated. Feel free to post your Season 6 rocked poll if you disagree.

 

[Old Master 3.0]

There's my votes for ya. :: tu ::

I certainly hope this doesn't mean you're renouncing your "24" fandom. 😛

 

[The Arcane]

Okay, I actually ticked all the boxes and yet this is coming from somebody who didn't entirely hate the season, which should tell you exactly how mixed my feelings are for season six.

Before I try to explain that I should say that all the other problems stem from the most obvious problem. NOT ENOUGH JACK! 24, for all it's interesting cast members, is about Jack Bauer. Having a good B and C story is fine as long as Jack is front and centre. Kim on the run? Fine as long as Jack is looking for her. Tony betrays CTU to save Michelle from Harry Dresden (okay, that wasn't his name then but that's how I see him when I rewatch season 3 now 😉), also fine as long as it's Jack that solves the problem. Presidential politics and betrayals? Well, they actually need both Jack and David Palmer for that to be interesting, but that's another issue.

Basically you have a Jack-lite year and to top it off you have new characters that are pale copies of old favourites and a season arc that doesn't hold together and runs out of steam about 6 episodes too early. The CTU stuff just made it so obvious that killing off Tony was a mistake. I really love Buchanan as a character and I hope he is back next year but Tony was the soul of CTU.

Ironically, the last six episodes were actually the strongest this season offered. Jack was back at CTU, front and centre, and the story was fast and well paced. A shame the entire year wasn't Jack against Chang because that would have worked a hell of a lot better.

The good news is that next season looks to be going back to the basics of having Jack in the middle of the crisis rather than out in the field and forgotten about for 12 out of the 24 hours we get. It certainly has to be an improvement over this season. I watched every episode and will probably buy the DVD set and watch it again (hey, I'm a fan) but it won't be the season I look forward to seeing again by any stretch of the imagination.

 

[goldenboy]

The Chinese chip adventure at the end was pretty good, but after all that's come and gone with this show, it's all feeling a bit formulaic now.

I actually thought it was a lot of fun early...up until shortly after Jack offed Curtis, then the nuke went off. That was all good, tense, bleak 24 action. Jack was a wreak, there was so much desperation.

This season I missed Jack. I missed pushy, rude, funny Chloe. The White House team was...meh. The new CTU staff paled in comparison to pretty much all the other seasons. I liked Morris. Mike Doyle (Schroeder)...I could take or leave. Nadia had potential. Was good to have Prez Logan and Martha back, briefly.

I still enjoy watching even mediocre 24, though. They'd have to get rid of Kiefer, Mary Lynn for me to ever consider ditching it. Looking forward to the new formula, location change, I think.

 

[teentitan]

What made season 6 totally suck can be blamed on one thing...the end of season 5.
The Chinese kidnapping Jack was a huge mistake unless it was going to lead into the 24 movie then it would have been brilliant. But season 6 starts with Jack getting off a plane after 20 months of torture and all it took was a haircut and a shave, which he gave himself, and he was good to go!?!?
Jack's psychological stability seemed to drive the ebb and flow of the show. There was just too many re-runs (nuclear bomb, assassination attempts, Whitehouse cabinet powerplays etc) but when new opportunities arised like Jack confronting his brother and father the scenes were flat.
And how in the hell does a guy who was so severly tortured still have that marksmanship shooting? Plus it is no wonder CTU is constantly attacked they never change their damn protocols! An agent goes MIA every protocol changes yet Jack knew all numbers to call when he took a civilian cell phone?
They writers just expected the fans to overlook too many flaws in the story this year. I will be watching season 7 but they had better pull their socks up to around their underarms to not only keep their faithful watchers satisfied but to salvage the borderline viewers.
One suggestion...get away from the CTU/Whitehouse/terrorist triangle! Go off the grid by making Jack a solo act with a small tight squad to back him up tech wise and in the field.

 

[Edmund Blackadder]

I've said it often enough - Get Chloe out of CTU and in the field.
You could have a fantastic Show with Jack, Chloe and a few select members.

Problem is, CTU is jointly at the heart of 24 with Bauer.
The aspect of the show that makes it appealing, is by now, the thing that is starting to hold it back - the Real Time.

I love Real Time BUT lets be honest, the show could be better if they were not confined to Jack having to stay in the California area.

 

[teentitan]

I've said it often enough - Get Chloe out of CTU and in the field.
You could have a fantastic Show with Jack, Chloe and a few select members.

Problem is, CTU is jointly at the heart of 24 with Bauer.
The aspect of the show that makes it appealing, is by now, the thing that is starting to hold it back - the Real Time.

I love Real Time BUT lets be honest, the show could be better if they were not confined to Jack having to stay in the California area.

You haven't watched season 6 yet have you or found out about it have you? Chloe...nahhhh it wouldn't be fair to tell ya'

 

[Edmund Blackadder]

You can't do that....I wanna know whats happened to Chloe.
I won't be able to watch this season for ages.

 

[nerd4hire]

What? You didn't hear? Chloe died in an ostrich attack. Radio controlled ostriches attacked CTU en masse. One of them mistook Chloe's sour face for a lemon, and swallowed her head whole. She suffocated. Oh, it was an ugly scene...those chubby, little legs kicking in the air.

 

[Mr. Pointy]

What? You didn't hear? Chloe died in an ostrich attack. Radio controlled ostriches attacked CTU en masse. One of them mistook Chloe's sour face for a lemon, and swallowed her head whole. She suffocated. Oh, it was an ugly scene...those chubby, little legs kicking in the air.

You are a cruel, cruel man...leave BOTD and me to our delusions until we catch up with the end of the season...don't mock the BB celeb...I meant Al, not me btw, on account of he's the only one here who has actually been seen by millions on TV 🙂

 

[Edmund Blackadder]

You are a cruel, cruel man...leave BOTD and me to our delusions until we catch up with the end of the season...don't mock the BB celeb...I meant Al, not me btw, on account of he's the only one here who has actually been seen by millions on TV 🙂

4.3 Million to be precise(that was the highest rated episode!!!)


Things went decidedly down hill after that ending with a huge 60,000 tuning in....but that was after I left😉

 

[teentitan]

Yeah, yeah you got big tv numbers but man Chloe... sorry just can't put it in words. Not like N4H tried I mean real words.

 

[Anya2012]

What? You didn't hear? Chloe died in an ostrich attack. Radio controlled ostriches attacked CTU en masse. One of them mistook Chloe's sour face for a lemon, and swallowed her head whole. She suffocated. Oh, it was an ugly scene...those chubby, little legs kicking in the air.

Not very nice. I actually liked Chloe.

 

[Fallen Angelus]

Honestly, I thought everything went downhill once the nuke went off.

Not that it was the nuke itself that was a bad thing - because that was genuinely suprising and interesting - but what came of it was no good.

Firstly, the explosion sent Jack back into "normal" mode. In the first four episodes of the season, we got a Jack who was actually and deeply effected psychologically by his time in China - and unlike in the past, it seemed he was no longer able to compartmentalize. Then the bomb goes off, and it's business as usual. Jack is Jack. There's a ton of wasted potential there.

And then there was the ridiculous drama with Bauer's family. Firstly, having President Logan's shadowy business associate be Jack's blood-brother (and consequently the cause of all of his problems from Day 5 on) seemed silly and jump-the-shark-ish. That wouldn't have been so bad, because it opened up the door for some good storytelling possibilities...which were completely wasted by making Phillip Bauer a cookie-cutter, generic terrorist villain and Marilyn Bauer little more than the annual love interest. From there, it was a definite uphill battle - and just as they're making progress towards the end of the season, Phillip Bauer shows up AGAIN!

I will admit, though, that the finale, in my estimation, is one of the best episodes of the series.