Right Wing Nut House

5/21/2007

“24″ SPECULATION FEST AND DEAD POOL

Filed under: "24" — Rick Moran @ 11:18 am

May I have your attention please?

As we prepare ourselves for tonight’s sure-to-be-rousing finale of 24, there are a couple of things we should keep in mind so that the shocks and surprises don’t overwhelm our nervous systems and send us scurrying under the bed, not to emerge until next season.

First, don’t expect too much. Relying on the writers to make good on all the plot twists and threads that they’ve carelessly thrown in to the show this year would be dangerous. Best to approach the show tonight with the very same attitude that the writers have; viewers are stupid sheep and we’ve forgotten just about everything that’s happened except for the last six hours or so.

I guarantee you won’t be disappointed if you keep that thought uppermost in your mind during the entire two hour finale tonight.

Secondly, expect the death of a major character. To facilitate our speculation, I’ve started a dead pool here at the House. Please choose one of the following (or offer your own choice for shocking death) in the comments below. You will note that I have not included Philip Bauer. It would obviously not be a shock to see him offed by his own son. Nor have I included anyone at the White House.

1. Audrey Raines
2. Chloe O’Brien
3. Morris O’Brien
4. Nadia Yassir
5. Bill Buchanan
6. Josh Bauer
7. Marilyn Bauer
8. Mike (Little Ricky) Doyle
9. Jack Bauer

I included Jack for a reason.And that is, my main speculation for tonight’s show is that we will not know at the conclusion whether Jack Bauer is alive or dead.

I think that Fox wants the option of not bringing the show back after its disappointing ratings this season. I also believe, reading between the lines of several Howard Gordon interviews I’ve read in the last two months, that the producers are not quite sure where to go with the series to revive it. Let’s face it. The show is tired. Six seasons is an awful long run for a show with this kind of format where the writers are constantly challenged to come up with ever more inventive plot twists and threats against America. Gordon himself may be anxious to move on to other things.

For all those reasons, expect an ambiguity surrounding the fate of Jack. He may even end up being thought dead by his CTU comrades but no body will be found.

As for the rest, my pick in the dead pool is Chloe. Almost written out of the show at some points this season, Chloe has lost her snark. She’s become a kindler, gentler, more human Chloe. Time to pull the plug.

And what about the paternity of Josh Bauer? Whose son is he?

Will Phillip be killed off? Or will they try to bring him back next year to torment Jack some more? If he dies, will Jack kill him, thus adding patricide to his ever growing burden of hellish images he must live with for the rest of his life?

Will Audrey make another appearance?

Does anyone care if we avoid war with Russia?

Give it your best shot in the comments. And tomorrow, we’ll see if anyone came close. (Note: I’ve never come close in three years of doing this.)

20 Comments

  1. I’ve been worried about Chloe since the first episode this year when I saw that Mary Lynn’s name had moved to second place in the credits. As someone with Asperger’s Syndrome, Chloe is my all time favorite TV character. While you goobers frequently laughed at her, I found her refreshingly normal. Like all NTs, the writers have tried to cure her. I’m afraid that they will now kill her.

    Comment by Juan Paxety — 5/21/2007 @ 11:51 am

  2. I have a real problem predicting death for characters I like, but it does seem to be Chloe’s turn. She’s the last, most-loyal-to-Jack character left.

    Except for Bill Buchanan, come to think of it. He’s even dropped his by-the-book attitude to a certain extent, at least as far as expecting Jack to follow it.

    I do not think Jack will kill Phillip, unless Phillip forces him to (by threatening someome else who isn’t a bad guy). Jack will let Phillip kill him first, but not someone else.

    Finally, I found Little Ricky’s absconding with Josh very suspicious. I’m wondering if he was a last-ditch sort of mole for Phillip: that is, go ahead and help CTU with whatever they want to do, but if the crunch comes (as it did with Josh), you help me out.

    I don’t think Jack would have any trouble killing Ricky. I thought perhaps Milo would do it for him, but that’s moot now.

    Comment by Jennie C. — 5/21/2007 @ 12:27 pm

  3. I also worry about Chloe. When they showed the previews after last week’s episode, I thought they had a short clip with Morris crying out and bending over somebody. Is that “somebody” Chloe?

    I also wonder about Bill Buchanan. His CTU career is seemingly over anyway, but he has been on the show for several seasons so his death would qualify as a “shocker” like Tony and Michelle’s deaths last year.

    I can also see Jack’s “death” as the season cliffhanger, but I hope the writers don’t do that to us.

    Just over four more hours to go! Everyone remember that it’s a two-hour final and starts an hour earlier than normal.

    Comment by Steve — 5/21/2007 @ 2:26 pm

  4. My vote is Bill Buchanan, a man with integrity who strives to always do the right thing. Too good not to kill off. They bring in a new guy or gal next year - if there is a next year - whose devotion is primarily to personal politics or is a deep cover double agent. Lots can be done with that scenario. However, my hunch is that the first poster is correct. Chloe it will be.

    Comment by KathyP — 5/21/2007 @ 3:00 pm

  5. The only two people on your list who matter at all to the audience in terms of providing a season-ending shock with their death are Jack and Chloe. Taking out Buchanan would be a mild surpise but I don’t see much emotional attachment to his character among the show’s viewers. Everyone else is pretty much taking up space. So I concur with your thought that Chloe goes down tonight if anyone dies at all.

    As for the status of the show itself, they should’ve pulled the plug on it at the end of last season. The final scene of Season 5 with Jack on the slow boat to China would have been an appropriate tragic ending to the saga of Jack Bauer with him giving all that he had for the defense of his country only to end up in some godforsaken Chinese prison and leaving the viewer to wonder what would ever become of Jack Bauer. It could also have set up the potential for a terrific movie with full production values (instead of a model helicopter hanging from a rooftop). Overall, this season just seemed like everyone was going through the motions. The villains were pedantic and uninspired and the new cast could not connect on the same level as Tony, Edgar, David Palmer, et al. They simply cannot do the same thing anymore. I think it would be cool if they did a prequel that looked at Bauer’s military service in a way that explored the character to reveal the first hints of what he would later become.

    Comment by Paul S — 5/21/2007 @ 3:03 pm

  6. I would be surprised if at least 1/3 of your list (i.e. at least three) didn’t get killed off tonight.

    Comment by mpro — 5/21/2007 @ 3:11 pm

  7. Shame you said that about Chloe. Today’s her appreciation day!

    Comment by SVC Alumnus — 5/21/2007 @ 3:52 pm

  8. TV Guide had a short article in this week’s edition (5/28-6/3) from one of the “24″ bigwigs- Manny Coto- about the future of the show.

    Coto said pretty unequivocally that Jack would be back…..but that CTU might not be. The confines of the show would be broadened by a departure from the familiarity of CTU- which is a sort of “anchor”. I can see some merit in that. But I could also see that, for the audience, a lack of a familiar anchor might disorient viewers.

    The plot, says Coto, will be less fantastical and more credible. It will “hew closer to real life; tighter, more personal.” More personal than a fight with your own dad? Hmmm….

    Coto also promises many new faces in next season’s cast…along with a “few” returning characters. We’re pulling for you, Chloe!

    Coto also said that next season’s villian would be unlike any we’ve seen so far. I think the comment was that the person would be “fascinating”, “not a terrorist (nor a Muslim)” but rather “someone with a supremely dark past who’s done something horrific.”

    As for Jack, Coto says that he will have “found a place he thinks he belongs” and that his new job [i]won’t[/i] involve the government (at least nor at first….)” and that he won’t be living “under an alias”.

    I won’t be all that sad to see this season end- depending on who lives and who dies of course- because, even for a show that demands suspension of disbelief, this year’s run asked alot of the viewer. Maybe a clean slate- or virtually clean anyway- will be just what the show needs for next year.

    Comment by Robert — 5/21/2007 @ 4:09 pm

  9. You can count me in the Chloe pool. Especially after seeing that snippet of Morris crying out for help. Honestly, I’ve been more mezmerized by Morris than Cloe this season. Hey, if they can uncerimoniously dump Edgar, Cloe is fair game! Question is, who would Jack be able to count on to cover for him at CTU if Chloe finally bites the dust?

    Comment by Joel Hoekstra — 5/21/2007 @ 4:51 pm

  10. Somebody understands why Russia is threatening war against the United States because they let the stupid chip leak to the chineese, why aren’t they pressuring the chineese government? And why the hell haven’t we seen anybody pressuring the chineese governement to give back the chip? Their actions (attacking CTU!!!) are more than a little out of line, wars have been started for a lot less.

    Comment by Dom — 5/21/2007 @ 4:51 pm

  11. Morris, for sure. Then Chloe will have a opportunity to display her hidden sensitive self. She’ll be comforted by Nadia, thus opening up a plot line for next season.

    Comment by Geoffrey Leach — 5/21/2007 @ 5:35 pm

  12. I have thought all day about what may happen tonight and all scenarios I can come up with I also immediately shot down. There is an old saying, “say nothing and the world thinks you are a fool; open you mouth and you remove all doubt.”

    I fear that I would fall into this category by so speculating on tonight’s episode, therefore let the world think me a fool.

    Comment by Wramblin' Wreck — 5/21/2007 @ 5:37 pm

  13. Folks, it is not kind to include info from TV Guide interviews, web gossip, or even previews from the previous week (which I never watch.

    Chloe and Phillip are going down. In point of fact, I wouldn’t mind if Marilyn bought it, except for its being mean to Josh. She’s a suck-up.

    Comment by Jennie C. — 5/21/2007 @ 6:54 pm

  14. It’s 8:45 (ET) - or at least it was before I had to bring the machine back up, and I’m screaming “shoot the _boat_” at Jack. For that matter, _Doyle_ should’ve shot the boat. Geez, I’m not this good, they shoulda thought o’ that!!

    Comment by Jennie C. — 5/21/2007 @ 7:52 pm

  15. How prescient is this at this time?

    Bill’s buyin’ it. R.I.P. Mr Buchanan

    Comment by Jennie C. — 5/21/2007 @ 8:12 pm

  16. I am having too much fun with this.

    Hey, everyone on _rightwingnuthouse.com_ except me is independently wealthy right (smirk). So someone with AMEX, get me the download for the “debrief”, okay?

    Comment by Jennie C. — 5/21/2007 @ 8:37 pm

  17. JACK WILL NOT JUMP

    I have had 2 friends, and maybe another, who committed suicide. It’s the act of a coward and an extremely selfish person. Jack is neither.

    Rick, this is not your ambiguous ending for Jack. He will not jump.

    Comment by Jennie C. — 5/21/2007 @ 9:05 pm

  18. It has turned into a soap opera.

    Comment by Petros — 5/21/2007 @ 9:28 pm

  19. A good ending to a great season. I can’t wait till January!

    http://www.nelsonguirado.com/index.php/reviews/2007/05/21/24_season_6_debrief_hint_best_season_eve

    http://www.nelsonguirado.com/index.php/reviews/2007/05/21/bauer_babes_best_season_for_24_admirers_

    Comment by Asymmetric — 5/21/2007 @ 10:19 pm

  20. I’m thinking a cross-over hit between 24 and X-Files, where Jack has 24 hours to save the earth from an alien invasion.

    Better yet, alien terrorists!

    Not to be confused with ILLEGAL alien terrorists, because, well, that would be hitting just a little too close to home.

    Comment by Steve B — 5/22/2007 @ 12:24 am

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