I keep waiting for the President’s sister to say “you’re going to reject that >>> contract” or “baby, tell the the FBI to show you the money…”
See, I thought that the first two seasons were trying to be realistic… but not really succeeding well enough that I wanted to watch it. The stuff since then has been much more fun, and at times, quite the reward.
The other part of the question stands… though, I suppose, I’d have to admit that even if it’s transcendantly ludicrous at (a lot of) times, it’s got an ability to create superbly dramatic situations (precisely at the end of each hour of the day, no less!) that I don’t really think is matched by even the better dramas on TV. So that should count for something, at least.
Ahhhhh, Mandy…!
o~
Well you came and we screwed in the bathroom,
then you blew up the plane, oh Mandy.
well you killed me with that bomb that went boom
just to steal my ID, oh Mandy!
Well you met up with your lezzie girlfriend
but she wanted more money, oh Mandy
well Gaines didn’t like it in the end
and he shot her ass down, oh Mandy!
o~
On the topic of whether 24 is really good… it fits into an odd category for me. It’s obviously ridiculous and contrived and goofy. And yet at the same time it somehow presents itself in a way such that I can turn off my suspension of disbelief and enjoy it for what it is, not just by silently MST3King it or laughing at the camp. I don’t know quite how it manages to hit that zone, and if someone else just thinks it sucks I can’t really tell them they’re wrong. But damn if I don’t have a blast watching it, and if it doesn’t manage to be truly shocking/moving/exciting from time to time.
While singing through your lyrics I remembered lovely Mandy. Has she been in this season’s epi’s? Don’t recall seeing her.
My $.02 on the caliber of 24, it’s just a good time, and I need some of that from time to time. I question my rationality though when I boo the presidential adviser who promotes taking away citizens’ civil rights, but have no problem with Jack torturing suspects and/or family members, breaking and entering with no warrant,
not to mention the confiscating of various modes of transportation and communication. Jack just always seems to pick a real bad guy and not an innocent by-stander. Has Jack ever got it wrong as far as torchered victim goes?
Paul Raines is the only one I can think of.
Jack Bauer doesn’t get things wrong. Raines must have known something subliminally and Jack was picking up that vibe.
Well, Paul actually had a bit of info he needed, but turned out to NOT be working with the terrorists. Their use of a place that he (or his company or something) owned (not sure if I’m getting that detail right…) – it was not with his knowledge.
But then, Paul was trying to get back with his estranged wife, who had been boffing Jack for a while – so that was reason enough. 
Jack will know that Graham’s “son” is actually his once he sees him caught in a cougar trap in the backyard.
Let me give you a piece of advice. Mandy is hot, but do not ever sleep with her. And if you do, make sure that you’re still useful to her. And NEVER turn your back on her.
On the other hand, the last lay of your life is likely to be the best.
Whatever the relationship, I just realized something. I think every season is required to have an unruly-haired teenage (or slightly older) boy who gets in over his head.
Season 1: The kid who helped in the kidnapping of Kim, then realized things were much worse when Ira Gaines shot his buddy in the head.
Season 2: Shaggy, Kim’s boyfriend. He had a good spin kick, at least early in the day he did.
Season 3: The kid at the beginning, who was carrying what he thought were drugs into the country, and what was really the virus, but eventually turned out to really NOT be the virus – just a pretend version of the virus – because it was all a plot engineered by Jack, Tony, and Gael, to break Ramon out of prison so that they could go after the real virus.
Season 4: I guess it’s got to be Behrooz (aka The Beaver), although he wasn’t quite as unruly-haired as the others.
Season 5: The kid whose mom was renting Jack a room at the start of the season, and who got himself in major trouble when he ran back into the airport after Jack, only to end up one of the hostages in the airport takeover.
Season 6: Must be this kid. Jack’s brother’s son, who might turn out to be Jack’s son, or in a strange plot twist, might just turn out to be Jack’s daughter.
In case you’re interested and you happen to have access to today’s Wall Street Journal, there’s an article in the “Weekend” section about how the dilemmas that Jack Bauer and co. face on the show each week compare to the real-word dilemmas the country faces.
As well as what? Amnesia from a car crash and running into your lover (whom you don’t remember) while your husband is trying to rescue you from terrorist kidnappers?
24 watchers have very low standards - so long as something blows up every so often.
Naming a prominent character actor as the man to be playing Jack’s father is spoiler material? It’s not like ‘Jack’s dad’ is spoiler - it was mentioned left, right, up, and down this episode. Now, if someone said Donald Sutherland was guesting as Jack’s dad, I’d probably agree. But that dude? It’s about equivalent to announcing that Mary Lynn Rajskub is going to be playing the IT person an episode before she appeared.
Not knocking you, bouv, I’m just confused.
Gee, thanks, “friend.” I might as well stop watching altogether now.
Well, for instance, he might show up as an ambiguous figure whose identity we’re not sure of for a while, followed by a big reveal of who he actually is. If we know and recognize the actor playing Jack’s dad ahead of time, then that reveal is ruined.
Granted, that also might NOT happen. But the rule in 24 threads is to be overly cautious when it comes to spoiling.
Max makes a good point here. For example, if somebody had jumped in before this episode (Ep. 5) had aired and said, “Yeah – that short guy with the glasses, I think he appeared in last season’s episodes… Graham, or Graem, or something… he’s playing Jack’s brother” – that would have been a major spoiler. Even though we’ve already seen the guy in season 5, his “brotherness” to Jack had never before been revealed.
You never know when they are going to throw in a little misdirection like that.