Is 24 jumping the shark this season?

Each episode of 24 this season has been getting better and better, but there have been several things that have made me think, okay, that would never happen. I mean, with a show like 24, obviously, you’ve gotta think that Jack Bauer wouldn’t keep having these Really Long Days year after year. He must be afraid to wake up every day, wondering if he’s going to have one of “those days.”

And clearly, the guy must have a superhuman chip. In past seasons, he’s emerged from solitary in a Chinese prison to jump back into saving the world. He’s been tortured, beaten, and shot, and continued to save the world. At one point, he even died, for cripes sake! And yet somehow he managed to spring back to life and save the world.

And let’s not even get into how many of his friends, family and coworkers he’s seen perish, only to shake it off and jump back into saving the world. Heck, some of them he even killed himself.

But a couple of things in this week’s episode made me wonder if the show is really starting to jump the hypothetical shark. What kind of inner resolve must a guy have to see one of his best friends die before his eyes, and then continue on with the business of saving the world? Sure, it’s happened before, but this time seemed different, maybe because Bill Buchanan was such an integral part of the show from way back.

Then there’s the White House staff. I understand that there must be systems in place to carry on if something disastrous happens. But the White House was under siege, the staff held hostage, the President and her daughter nearly killed, and explosions and fires and such. And yet, just a few minutes later, things seemed to be completely in order. The President was back behind her desk, her newly-employed daughter running damage control with the press, and neither seemed to have a hair out of place.

But what really did it for me was seeing Jack behind the wheel of that big tractor, pushing over the building with the bad guy inside. I’m not sure why this particular thing put me over the edge. I guess it should come as no surprise that Jack Bauer can operate anything from a plane to a helicopter to a big tractor. Heck, I’m sure if he got behind the controls of a space ship, he could safely bring it back into the Earth’s stratosphere to land calmly on land or sea.

But the scene with the tractor made me throw my hands up in the air and go, “Come on! Really?!” Maybe it’s not so much that he could drive the thing — that’s no big feat. I grew up on a farm and could probably figure it out in a matter of seconds. I think it was just the fact that the tractor was there at precisely the right location for him to hop in, start it up, and push that building over.

What do you think? Is 24 jumping the shark this season moreso than previous seasons? Or is it just the fact that these preposterous things keep happening year after year?

Clacked by Jane Boursaw
on Mar 19, 2009 @ 12:30 EST5EDT