Before the half-season, which is 24: Live Another Day (2014), this was the final season of the phenomenon that was 24. And after the mediocre season seven (my review here), I hoped this season would finish in style. And it delivered. Sure, I voiced my opinion before that had this show ended after season four, it would have been remembered as one of the best action shows ever, so it doesn’t deliver “that much” for me. Don’t get me wrong, this season was really messy, but it was at least enjoyable kind of messy.

Jack is finally out and just wants his piece, but of course, he is needed back. Because despite the plethora of people working for the US government, nobody is as indestructible as he is, apparently. So they pulled him back in, and that pretty much destroyed his life. I won’t spoil anything major, but the way this season starts, he is after everything he’s gone through in a happy place. And I don’t think it spoils anything to say after this season ends (and at the time, this show), he is not. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

I think what helped in this season was that there were no more dumb clichés. Nobody came from the dead there was no new surprising family member, just a good old-fashioned (potential) nuclear catastrophe. What also helped was the casting, mainly Anil Kapoor (the producers knew how to cash in on that Slumdog Millionaire (2008) love) and Katee Sackhoff (who is having a bit of a career renaissance thanks to The Mandalorian (2019 – ?)) were great additions to this seasons. And they had crucial roles, even though Katee’s character started to annoy me towards the end (no spoilers, but you probably understand why if you’ve seen it).

This season was also interesting as we could see the moral compass from the last season (Cherry Jones, aka President Taylor) shake and make some questionable decisions. I was split by what the writers have done with her character. On the one hand, I was annoyed by how dumb her decisions were; on the other hand, I could see the point. The ultimate power ultimately corrupts you no matter how “pure” you are; everybody will eventually “cave in”. It just felt that in her particular case, she caves in once, and since she does it in the worst possible moment, there is no way back from it. It was fascinating to see her character fall throughout the season.

Also, this might be the season where Jack felt the most unbeatable. Especially after something (yet again) drastic happens in his life (this guy has been through a lot), he goes off, and when he does, it feels like he has just unlocked a secret power-up. No bullet would harm him no matter how many people were in his way; they would all end up dead… He has killed many people throughout the show (IMDb trivia says Jack killed 267 people!), and I would not be surprised if a large chunk of that number came from this season. Again, once he goes into his full Rambo/Dark Superman mode, he is hard to kill.

And despite that, I had much more fun with this season than the previous two. The end felt appropriate (and almost touching) even though you know there were consequences for everyone. The show even addresses them in the “ninth” season. But with the supporting actors doing their best and Kiefer Sutherland going through hell and back to do “what needs to be done”, this season was enjoyable. Messy and flawed but still enjoyable enough.

Overall, the eighth (and until 2014, the last) season of 24 was a major improvement from the previous season or two. It focused mainly on the core, established people and only brought in some new characters that made sense, and they brought in their A+ game. This (back then) final season delivered as best of an ending as it could have. 24 is an intriguing case study of what happens when you let your show run for a bit too long because it seems like there is no “active” fan base anymore. And I have seen fan bases of other shows that weren’t such a big hit as 24 once was still active today, doing rewatches and discussing new things about their shows. But more about that during my review of the final season.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke