You know what to expect from tonight’s end of “24.” They’ve got to save the world and, at the same time, save the potential for a “24” movie script.
But story resolution is not why you watch. You want the vicarious adrenaline rush. Also the snarl and snark so reliably delivered by Mary Lynn Rajskub as Chloe O’Brien.
The woefully uneven series about a counter-terrorist who never sleeps goes out the same way it has limped along for 194 hours, absurd but maddeningly addicting.
“24” showrunner Howard Gordon has maintained for years that the ending can’t be happy-ever-after for protagonist Jack Bauer. The two-hour finale, 7-9 p.m. tonight on KDVR-Channel 31, successfully straddles the line between offering a downbeat resolution and leaving the door open for the movie currently in development.
It’s not spoiling anything to note that the timing, the day after the remarkable “Lost” finale on ABC, does no favor to “24” on Fox.
Where “Lost” was an enigmatic, cosmic thrill ride with spiritual underpinnings, “24” was one long chase scene, often conducted on cell phones (“We’re 10 minutes out!”), with an American superhero torturing his way through nine years, a few presidents, a heroin addiction, weapons of mass destruction, assassinations and a “real time” conceit.
The ever increasing suspense invited parody. Still, “24” was guilty-pleasure, cheap-thrill television, terribly resonant in the post-9/11 age. And now it’s time to shut it down.
The watercooler conversation will last only one sweep of the clock for “24”–it was right for its moment but overstayed–whereas the debates over “Lost’s” questions, answers and import will continue.
Joanne Ostrow: 303-954-1830 or jostrow@denverpost.com
