The end of shows, finales gone wrong

I usually let King Tom handle all the “24″ episode recaps, but I need to speak out about this week’s final finale. And while I’m not a regular “Lost” watcher, I did see the finale and have some thoughts…and a few questions.

First off, if you’re looking for recaps of this season’s “24″ episodes, do head over to the King Tom’s blog for all the goods. Warning: spoilers below.

A vested interest

I started watching “24″ around season four or five. I remember the 24-meets-Robocop season pretty well. Life was good. Jack was killing people while fighting for truth, justice, and the American way. Since then, however, the seasons had slowly but surely fallen into a pit of suck. Seasons became less about watching Jack Bauer run amuk and more about political drama. I for one think there are plenty of political dramas on TV already, I didn’t need another one. This season “24″ started out similarly with just a bunch of quiet politics while we watch Jack drive a car around New York. Oh the excitement.

This last season didn’t start to get real good until after the half-way point when Jack started killing and people started dying. Finally some action that “24″ fans have been wanting for several seasons. However, the finale kind of sputtered out in my opinion. Following two episodes of Jack taking names, the finale was everything but. In fact, the one name Jack didn’t take was former President Logan. President Logan has to be one of the better bad guys I’ve seen on any live action show in a long, long time.

Villains deserve the best ending of all

Pres. Logan was a good villain but was jipped of a good ending

He was a wormy bad guy in his prime season a few years ago, and brining him back to end the show was a good move. But what wasn’t a good move was letting him live. Jack had Logan’s number a few times at the end and I was hoping for a Logan-Bauer showdown. Granted it wouldn’t be much of a showdown but it would have given Jack a chance to finish him off Mortal Kombat style. But no…instead Logan gets to attempt suicide, which he botches too. Logan need to go out in a big way as the most-hated bad guy in “24″ but that didn’t happen. Nothing is worse than seeing a favorite villain not meet their end properly.

Otherwise, it was an alright episode to a show that deserved better. Another president ended up in ruins and Jack was alive and (kinda) well at the end, once again running from The Man and trying to find peace with himself. Hopefully we’ll get a “24″ movie or at least a series of action books. I can see someone taking Jack Bauer and churning out some cheesy action fiction a-la The Executioner from my childhood. Now those would be books I’d read.

Why do we watch what we watch?

Jen was watching the finale with me and mentioned that one reason she didn’t like the show was that all the characters were unlikable…and that got me thinking. It made me realize that “24″ wasn’t a show where I cared about the good guys (shy of Jack). Frankly, most of the good guys turned bad anyway…no, instead, what I think I cared about most was seeing how the bad guys would end up. You knew the bad guys would die and the Jack would survive. You weren’t so sure about the other “good” guys, but that didn’t matter. I just wanted to see how the bad guys would go out…shot by stray bullet? Blown up with a dirty bomb? Or maybe just thrown in a dungeon where they are subject to Jack’s torture? Not sure…but all of those were good choices.

Not getting lost in Lost

The only character on lost that looked interesting

This investment into a show is seemingly a stark contrast to say “Lost”. I never watched a full episode of “Lost” until the finale. I watched the two hour recap show and then the finale. Granted I came into the show at the very end, but I wasn’t impressed. And I think the reason is the show was clearly about deep character investment…something I’m usually not interested in. “Lost” fans cared about the characters and how they would turn out. You wanted to see the good guys succeed, whereas with “24″ it was about the bad guys not succeeding…it didn’t matter how.

I don’t know if the “Lost” finale solved any lingering riddles for fans or really explained anything about the magical island, but the finale seemed like a cop out. You have this show that touches on a little bit of everything - fate, time travel, government research, flash forwards, faith, alternate realities, myth monsters - all sorts of stuff and in the end it’s nothing but a big purgatory tale. Meh. Although maybe, now knowing the ending, if I go back and watch the series from the beginning on DVD it might be better.

Now I need a new action show

All I know is that Monday night’s this Fall are going to be a little empty. Shy of “24″ I didn’t watch other shows on Monday nights except the occasional wrestling, which you can take and leave at any time. Unless they throw another action show in the 9PM slot on Mondays, I’ll be able to watch “Top Gear” - or maybe Monday night will just end up being a night of pizza and video games. Either option sounds okay by me.