24 (Season 7)

[Nevermore]

It's the MacGuffin.  Jack needs to get it to save the country and HE'S RUNNING OUT OF TIME!

[MrHat]

It's the MacGuffin.  Jack needs to get it to save the country and HE'S RUNNING OUT OF TIME!

He'll explain later.  For now, you'll just have to trust him.

[ahoythematey]

Coincidence that President Obama finished his address right before the next episode of 24 would begin?  I think not!

[Sunbury]

Uhh, OK, they send the limo with two secret service agents and fake prime minister to the trade point.

They pull up, and see a FULL SQUAD OF UNIFORMED ENEMY COMBATANTS!!!!

I think they would call in and tell the President its time to call out the National Guard, or the 82nd Airborne since Washington has been invaded?!?!?!

Sure, wait 20 min to see what happens to the 1st husband, but for crying out loud....

[patience]

a) is for 'orses
b) for lamb
c) for miles

The first time the internet has become too strange for me. *steps away from keyboard*

[Tale]

a) is for 'orses
b) for lamb
c) for miles

The first time the internet has become too strange for me. *steps away from keyboard*

Strange? I fear you may be experiencing symptoms of monoculture.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/at-last-the-truth-about-the-alphabet-has-come-to-me-1045223.html

Also, 24. There was this hilarious moment where the FBI agent Bauer is working with looks at a computer showing a standard Windows desktop with icons on it and says "I can't get it to boot". A window opens on the screen. She turns away and gives up because it won't "boot". I guess they only know how to use superduper FBI computers that run the 24 operating system.

[Nevermore]

Cloe wasn't available to open a socket.

[IainC]

Also, 24. There was this hilarious moment where the FBI agent Bauer is working with looks at a computer showing a standard Windows desktop with icons on it and says "I can't get it to boot". A window opens on the screen. She turns away and gives up because it won't "boot". I guess they only know how to use superduper FBI computers that run the 24 operating system.

[ahoythematey]

It really is ridiculous, even for hollywood, how 24 treats computerin'.  I don't know if it's because they know a great majority of their audience is retarded, or that they themselves are unbelievably retarded, but in the 24 universe computers=magic.

[Righ]

They are writing for a Republican audience, and if Jeanane "alleged comedienne" Garofalo is in the show it must be mocking them.

The reason a person is a conservative republican is because something is wrong with them. Again, that’s science – that’s neuroscience. You cannot be well adjusted, open-minded, pluralistic, enlightened and be a republican. It’s counter-intuitive. And they revel in their anti-intellectualism. They revel in their cruelty.

[Rishathra]

I don't know if it's because they know a great majority of their audience is retarded, or that they themselves are unbelievably retarded, but in the 24 universe all movies and TV shows, computers=magic.

[eldaec]

I loves me some 24 but here's my problem: Why would you ever, from a rational, technical, security minded standpoint, ever develop a system that could be locked down and controlled by one box? Was that explained in the premier? I must admit I get all giddy for the violence that details escape me.

Given some of the boneheaded decisions IT security 'professionals' make irl I never find this suprising or unrealistic.

Having critical systems that can't be pulled out of the wall and still operate while completely disconnected from teh internets, or safely shut down without the computer turned on at all is the unrealistic bit. Because happily noone in charge of things that can do physical damage is stupid enough to trust IT.

[tazelbain]

*sigh*

[DraconianOne]

As bad as 24's techo-jargon gets, it can never match CSI:NY. When they're not creating GUIs in VB to track down the Killer's IP (funniest scene I've ever seen but no longer on YouTube) they're doing this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbxwtEKpEL4

[Gutboy Barrelhouse]

CSI PvP rocks, where do I sign up?

[Tale]

Dubaku is still alive because ...

a) Bauer will torture him.
b) Bauer will have to work with him.
c) Agent Walker will enjoy torturing him as revenge.
d) He still contains a motherboard.

[shiznitz]

Agent Walker will torture someone before this show is up. I hope it's Janene Garoflo (sp?).

[Triforcer]

Agent Walker will torture someone before this show is up. I hope it's Janene Garoflo (sp?).

You missed the boat on that one already.  It took her one hour after knowing Jack Bauer to completely lose all that anti-torture nonsense.  His personality is that corrosive.

[Triforcer]

Perhaps the most ludicrous two hours of 24 ever.  The White House is the new LA CTU!  And who knew there was an underwater tunnel to it?

On the plus side, Jack tasered a phone.  I'll repeat that in case your puny mortal minds can't fully grasp the cosmic awesomeness of that.  He didn't want to talk to the person yelling at him, SO HE TASERED THE FUCKING PHONE.  Every single moment of your Internet time that you spend doing things other than watching that scene is a wasted moment. 

[Tale]

On the plus side, Jack tasered a phone.  I'll repeat that in case your puny mortal minds can't fully grasp the cosmic awesomeness of that.  He didn't want to talk to the person yelling at him, SO HE TASERED THE FUCKING PHONE.  Every single moment of your Internet time that you spend doing things other than watching that scene is a wasted moment. 

I nominate it for an endlessly animating forum avatar GIF.

[patience]

What makes it an unbelievably bad 2 hours is that we have no clue why the government mustachios are motivated to help Jubaku.

Pure greed has to have its limits. If their explanation is nothing better than that this will easily go down as the worst season in 24 history.

[Tale]

Another feature is there are no good black people. Everyone in the FBI and the administration is white. White people who work with black men are evil. Black men seen elsewhere are just agents for the other black men. Black women are portrayed as innocents, but all black men are bad.

[Trippy]

They had a Black President on the show, though.

[shiznitz]

Another feature is there are no good black people. Everyone in the FBI and the administration is white. White people who work with black men are evil. Black men seen elsewhere are just agents for the other black men. Black women are portrayed as innocents, but all black men are bad.

Or you can look at it as black men were using white men to do the dirty work until the white men fucked it up and the black men had to finish the job right.

[Nevermore]

Tell that to Jon Voight.

[Tale]

Or you can look at it as black men were using white men to do the dirty work until the white men fucked it up and the black men had to finish the job right.

And the Secret Service tried to stop them with all-white agents.

BTW the sekret underground tunnel was how the bad guys got into CTU also. You'd think someone would learn.

[Tale]

They had a Black President on the show, though.

Two. Both assassinated (OK one shot dead, one survived being blown up but became a vegetable).

[Nevermore]

Or you can look at it as black men were using white men to do the dirty work until the white men fucked it up and the black men had to finish the job right.

And the Secret Service tried to stop them with all-white agents.

BTW the sekret underground tunnel was how the bad guys got into CTU also. You'd think someone would learn.

Don't you know that all major cities are riddled with miles upon miles of long abandoned underground tunnels that no one remembers, yet the villains are still able to somehow find out about.  Of course, that pales in comparison to the idea that US borders are so porous that the equivalent of Saddam Hussein along with a large group of very well armed soldiers were able to not only get into the country, but into the one city were he'd most likely be recognized, and still remain completely undetected.  Not that I think US borders are especially secure.  But I think if Vladimir Putin or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad tried to sneak into DC, they might have some trouble. 

All I can say is the fictional US in 24 is so incompetent, it makes Bush's government look like super geniuses.  In the span of 7 years there's been no less than 3 Presidential assassinations (I don't remember if the President actually died in two of those attempts, but they were disabled enough to be removed from office) and that's not including the current season, no less than 2 nuclear weapons detonated on US soil, at least 3 nerve gas or biological attacks that let to the deaths dozens, if not hundreds of people, a President so corrupt he was engaging in terrorist attacks against Americans, and that's only the stuff I can remember off the top of my head.  It's no wonder someone like Jack Bauer is their best hope.

[tazelbain]

That's just goes to show what outlandish lengths the writers have to go to justify JB's existence.

[ahoythematey]

Reality has no place in the universe of 24.  It is a live-action comic book, you'll enjoy it better if you give it only that much.

[tazelbain]

Sorry, there are too many people who think it is relevant to real life to dismiss it.

[ahoythematey]

Maybe certain overarching themes could be considered relevant to real life, but the details may as well be Gandalf the White and a bunch of horcruxes.

[patience]

Or you can look at it as black men were using white men to do the dirty work until the white men fucked it up and the black men had to finish the job right.

And the Secret Service tried to stop them with all-white agents.

I had to post just point out that's not entirely true. Any of the black secret service agents were killed before the alarms were officially raised.

Maybe certain overarching themes could be considered relevant to real life,

It's been a bit more relevant than you are implying. Some people have been using 24 as an apologia for to increase the US powers to use torture.  It's gotten so bad the FBI or the army sent representatives to the production team of 24 to try and reeducate them on how they operate in these matters.

Things have settled down since the election campaign was in full force last year but for a time 24 was used as an argument moreso than it probably should have been.

[Tale]

Some people have been using 24 as an apologia for to increase the US powers to use torture.

Isn't that exactly what it is? (yes it's also entertaining)

The series, Surnow told me, is “ripped out of the Zeitgeist of what people’s fears are—their paranoia that we’re going to be attacked,” and it “makes people look at what we’re dealing with” in terms of threats to national security. “There are not a lot of measures short of extreme measures that will get it done,” he said, adding, “America wants the war on terror fought by Jack Bauer. He’s a patriot.”

For all its fictional liberties, “24” depicts the fight against Islamist extremism much as the Bush Administration has defined it: as an all-consuming struggle for America’s survival that demands the toughest of tactics. Not long after September 11th, Vice-President Dick Cheney alluded vaguely to the fact that America must begin working through the “dark side” in countering terrorism. On “24,” the dark side is on full view. Surnow, who has jokingly called himself a “right-wing nut job,” shares his show’s hard-line perspective. Speaking of torture, he said, “Isn’t it obvious that if there was a nuke in New York City that was about to blow—or any other city in this country—that, even if you were going to go to jail, it would be the right thing to do?”

[Tale]

I want to post about the most recent episode, but there's nothing to say.


But I was entertained.

BTW who's the baddie? Have we seen him in past 24s?