Twenty-twenty-24...Jack needs to be sedated...

If any show really truly captured the anger & need for vengeance of post 9/11 America...24 was it. While Lost represented post 9/11 America's bright side...multi-cultural people working together to survive in a hostile environment 24 was our dark side & Jack Bauer was our Avenging Angel. What started out as an interesting concept...a show that operates in real time & takes place in one day turned into an 8 season show that stayed to it's unique formula & ended with our beaten & bruised hero on the run...to a Hollywood Full feature film. Over the years Jack took on threats to Americas securities that included Russians, failed Russian states, Chinese, Islamic Terrorists, American Presidents gone rogue(Logan), Us Militia nuts, African super-soldiers (that infiltrated the white house via the Potomac!), an ex-lover(Nina) a best friend(Tony Almeda), a Lady Macbeth like first Lady(Sherry Palmer) even a mountain lion going after his daughter Kim.

Jack endured every form of mental & physical beating throw his way. He is the personification of the American Underdog(interesting we still see ourselves this way since we are still the only real true superpower) a mutt, the average looking & built everyman..but skilled in the arts of war. Pretty much a Western hero that did what he had to do against impossible odds & yet being on the side of right persevered. He also used every means necessary to do so including beating, killing, hitting women, & torturing rather brutally in some cases to get the job done. Where this may have turned off those with more Liberal views...the fact that this show gave us our first African American President in David Palmer & our first female President in Rosalind Taylor showed that the show had a good grasp of who we are, where we are headed & tied in real world problems & issues.

Jack always had a great supporting cast...but who would have thought it would be meek little Chloe who ended up being Robin to Jack's Batman? One of the shows greatest moments I thought was when Chloe had to go into the field to retrieve something & an Assassin tracks her down. Jack talks her through how to use an M-16 (standard CTU issue in the trunk) to gun down the Assassin! Jacks Joker in a cruel twist is none other then his best friend & CTU co-worker Tony Almeda. The loss of Tony's wife Michelle a fellow CTU operative threw him over the edge. While we didn't see Tony this season...my call 24 the movie takes place in Europe(if it's not covered in volcanic ash or sunk into the sea from the debt of the PIIGS)w/ Tony as the antagonist.

All in all a fantastic show that had our hero beat up & drive one US President to commit murder & suicide, another to resign, made Chloe shoot him after he put her in a sleeper hold, bit off a guys ear, took out single-handledly in full body armor a Presidents entire security detail & in revenge for the Russians killing Renee after they finally give in & sleep with each Jack goes absolutely biblical...not medieval...but Biblical & slaughters an entire heavily armed security detail for a Russian Diplomat who ends up dead with a fire poker driven through his chest(the fact that they didn't show this happen...just the aftermath made it that much more powerful)! He gets captured, beaten, blown up, & when just about to be shot...saved by the President with a Predator Drone armed with hellfire missals...then wounded with nothing but the shirt on his back, on the run again after serving & saving American interests...he pixelates out...on his way to another 24 hours...

Lost...what long strange trip it's been...

"It's the journey not the destination". I don't know who said it first...a Manager of mine used to quote it & I have always really liked it. I think the writers of the show Lost must have been fans of it as well. For this show over the last 6 years was truly about the journey & not as evidenced by the season finale about the destination...or all the unanswered questions. The finale was if nothing else true to the show. A great story with great characters, that opens up as many questions as it answers. I do consider Lost one of the better TV shows of all time. Originally it was created to be a fantasy version of Survivor & last a season. However, from the get-go it caught on due to it's great cast of characters & it just hit dead on the zeitgeist of the time. The Tom,Dick, & Jane love triangle of Jack, Kate & Sawyer were some of my favorites. Jack the troubled "Good-Guy", Sawyer the "Bad-Boy" who evolved to be far more & of course Kate the not-quite-Girl from next door...could she be any cuter & more beautiful at the same time? I think Sayid was the shows best character. 3yrs after 9/11 & months after the invasion of Iraq we are introduced to a former Republican guard Communications officer who was also a Torturer. Accused of being a terrorist early on he proved to be an invaluable member of the group & in the end sacrificed himself to save his friends. He was a man of violence & was one in his flash-backs, flash-forwards & in the side-ways story. Yet I always found him one of the most intriguing characters & one of the good guys. To create a character like him during the time he was created really showed some talent by the writers. I could go on & on about all the others...(no pun intended)

Lost could get frustrating at times & it really required your attention & commitment. You could not just miss an episode & catch up next week. All in all one of televisions greatest products. It's ingenious use of the Internet to get fans to learn more about Dharma & other secrets really took things to the next level.

Now while the bulk of the 2 1/2 hour were great...I wasn't crazy how it was strongly implied that the "sideways" stories were some form for purgatory for the characters to re-unite in. Why they didn't go with an alternate time-lines or dimensions like Faraday implied is beyond me...it would have made more sense. The very end with Jack lying in the bamboo forest on the beaches edge watching the plane fly off after saving his friends...then his eyes close. Dead...sleeping...or just a device to book-end the beginning (The first episode starts with Jack lying in the bamboo...then opening his eyes...then runs around helping everyone while hell is breaking loose)?

I've seen this ending used before (Stephen King's Dark Tower series a perfect example) & I'm not a big fan of it. The truth of the matter is many writers can create great stories & characters...but few can close. I think it might have something to do with human nature...we never want the story to end...our quest for immortality. The other thing about the finale was the many questions about the island that were not answered. I think this show was originally about the characters & how they dealt with being stranded & as it went on the writers kept creating all this mythology & science to the island...& then got lost themselves somewhat along the way. In the end I think they decided either this show was about the island & it's mysterious or that the island & it's secrets were there just to drive the characters stories. I guess it safe to say they choose the characters...for now. I don't believe for a second this is the very last we will see of this island or these characters. It's been a long strange trip & a wonderful thought provoking journey. More TV should be like this...we may want closure...but like life...it's not the destination...it's the journey...