Watch 24
If You Missed It Tonight You Missed Quite A Show
24 is awesome. If you don't watch this show, and you should, tonight's episode reached a terrific climax which affected in me in a way which only one other episode of anything ever has before - and that episode was, incidentally, also one of 24's. It's not the greatest show to have ever been invented, that would be Twin Peaks, but it does its drama extremely well and the final few minutes tonight presented the protagonist, Jack Bauer, with a situation where - due to the lack of medical staff at the Counter Terrorist Unit - he was forced to sacrifice a man in a critical condition on an operating table (who was not only being operated on because he had taken a bullet to save Jack's life but he was also the estranged husband of Jack's partner Audrey who happened to be in the room as this scene unfolded - and the two had reconciled in the previous few hours without Jack's knowledge) in order to get the doctors to instead bring around a man linked with a terrorist cell with vital information as to the whereabouts of that organisations leader and the nuclear warhead he was carrying. It was the perfect dramatic scenario - a man torn betwen two choices, and the one he made was the one he had to make, but in the process he had done something awful and Audrey would forever consider him a cold-hearted monster for it. Wow. Most shows don't dare tread this kind of ground, and 24 not only strives for it but executes it perfectly.
This scene brought back memories of an episode from a previous season which shook me to the same extent. The terrorist they were after threatened to unleash the virus he was carrying, which would kill millions of people, unless Jack killed one of his colleagues. And this is the bit where most shows have the characters pull a rabbit out of the hat and all is well. But in 24, the man who was to be killed knew of his fate, was torn between running and living with the knowledge that such as action would kill so many or else staying and hoping they could track down the terrorists before Jack's deadline. And they couldn't. And Jack took him outside, and down on his knees the man begged for life, unable to accept despite the cold-logic of one vs millions dying that he had to be sacrificed like this. But they both knew there wasn't a choice. And Jack pulled the trigger. I was taken aback. The show actually had the balls to do that. Bravo.
On a lighter note, here is the greatest kitchen-knife-holder ever invented:
Finally, thanks heaps to Rikky for his help in trying to restore the menu on the right to its correct position (see previous post). Turned out the margins were messed up for some reason and it caused that section to inexplicably end up at the bottom of the page. How perculiar.
24 is awesome. If you don't watch this show, and you should, tonight's episode reached a terrific climax which affected in me in a way which only one other episode of anything ever has before - and that episode was, incidentally, also one of 24's. It's not the greatest show to have ever been invented, that would be Twin Peaks, but it does its drama extremely well and the final few minutes tonight presented the protagonist, Jack Bauer, with a situation where - due to the lack of medical staff at the Counter Terrorist Unit - he was forced to sacrifice a man in a critical condition on an operating table (who was not only being operated on because he had taken a bullet to save Jack's life but he was also the estranged husband of Jack's partner Audrey who happened to be in the room as this scene unfolded - and the two had reconciled in the previous few hours without Jack's knowledge) in order to get the doctors to instead bring around a man linked with a terrorist cell with vital information as to the whereabouts of that organisations leader and the nuclear warhead he was carrying. It was the perfect dramatic scenario - a man torn betwen two choices, and the one he made was the one he had to make, but in the process he had done something awful and Audrey would forever consider him a cold-hearted monster for it. Wow. Most shows don't dare tread this kind of ground, and 24 not only strives for it but executes it perfectly.
This scene brought back memories of an episode from a previous season which shook me to the same extent. The terrorist they were after threatened to unleash the virus he was carrying, which would kill millions of people, unless Jack killed one of his colleagues. And this is the bit where most shows have the characters pull a rabbit out of the hat and all is well. But in 24, the man who was to be killed knew of his fate, was torn between running and living with the knowledge that such as action would kill so many or else staying and hoping they could track down the terrorists before Jack's deadline. And they couldn't. And Jack took him outside, and down on his knees the man begged for life, unable to accept despite the cold-logic of one vs millions dying that he had to be sacrificed like this. But they both knew there wasn't a choice. And Jack pulled the trigger. I was taken aback. The show actually had the balls to do that. Bravo.
On a lighter note, here is the greatest kitchen-knife-holder ever invented:
Finally, thanks heaps to Rikky for his help in trying to restore the menu on the right to its correct position (see previous post). Turned out the margins were messed up for some reason and it caused that section to inexplicably end up at the bottom of the page. How perculiar.
posted by Steve @ 10:04 PM
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