someone dies on 24, I act suprised
I apologise for those on my flist who have no interest in 24. I generally don't post a lot of fandom musings for that reason- a lot of my flist varies, so I try not to post a lot on the same show/game/movie. 24 has just managed to piss me off to an incomprehensible degree on its LAST SEASON, so I suspect I am going to be belting out a few angry entries on it up until the finale.
So we begin the night with a facebook update from FOX's 24- with a lovely behind the scenes from this episode) picture of Annie waving with blood leaking out of her mouth, waving from a hospital stretcher.
...are you serious
If anyone didn't know what was going to happen at this point I would be very interested in leasing some space under that rock they're living under. With a sigh I sit down and watch an infinitely better episode of House. Not only was it funny and bordering on inspiringly cute, it didn't rip my poor beating heart out of my chest, which is too much to say for this nights 24.
Jack sleeps with Renee. They've both been awake for more than 14 hours straight (at least), he was knifed (by her) in the gut hours earlier, electrocuted, and, hey, she was raped earlier today.
As this was leaked in the promo, I was prepared. I put on my suspension of belief shades once again. A makes a "dat ass" face, and then comments that he had "never heard of Jack fucking up before." I repeated the statement as if it would make more sense that way, then it slowly dawned on me that he was making a sex joke because Renee was defs on top. I am grossed out, but damn, it was a pretty good joke. My evolving facial expression would have made a legendary GIF, I tell you.
They move to other parts of the episode, A and I speculate on Renee's fate. Chloe calls, Renee gets sniped.
I was literally cringing my way through most of it just because of the cheesiness. He nails her then less than a minute later she gets popped? WEARING NOTHING BUT A BED SHEET? Needless to say this elicited much angry screaming from both A and I. Some stuff happens, he shoves her bleeding body into a cab and gets her to the hospital. I thought, for once, they make take advantage of the whole "24 hours" thing, since surgery, you know, can last hours. They wheel her in, things are looking up. Jack angsts on the phone.
No less than a minute and 30 seconds later, I kid you not, team walks out and says, "Oh, sorry man".
This probably made me angrier than anything else in the entire episode, and that's saying a lot. Last time I checked, you could be on that table partially disembowelled and if you weren't dead already they'd at least spend 5 minutes trying to resuscitate you (unless it was some sort of city wide crisis), especially if you were a PRIORITY CALL. I'm not sure of the exact time, but I think I'm going to measure it once it's online just to prove my point. Additionally, she had one shot to the chest and had a BP upon arrival (80/50 exactly, which isn't THAT bad), it wasn't like he just dragged her cooling corpse into the hospital lobby.
Needless to say, its only 30 minutes after and the internet is in an uproar, an obvious indicator of how badly you've fucked up.
I'm going to go ahead and quote the Jack Sack because his thoughts at this point are much more coherent than mine, and they express my feelings perfectly. I didn't absolutely love Renee (I've learned not to get attached) but she was pretty fucking rad and Jack going on a roaring rampage of revenge is just as about as exciting as watching your Twitter feed update itself.
And yep, she gets shot. Jack reacts quickly, taking her to the best cab driver in all of Manhattan. They get to the hospital in 15 seconds. If Jack got her to the hospital any faster, they would have gone back in time. But, for reasons of plot convenience and a lack of deft storytelling, Howard Gordon and his crew decide to kill off Renee Walker.
I'm not writing this as a huge Walker fan, because I'm not one. I liked the character, and I think Annie Wersching is a fantastic actress. But as someone who cares about plot, this move smells of desperation. They needed to motivate Jack that badly? I have no emotional reaction to this move.
What's worse is that it comes on the heels of a very excellent setup from last week. Can they salvage this misstep? I don't know. Certainly, I'll be sticking around, but I care a bit less about what happens now because I'm too aware of the presence of the writing. Logan's return is a bright spot. Gregory Itzin is a top-notch talent. But setting off Jack on some maniacal revenge quest is about as original and exciting as a trip to the post office. I was hoping for something better.
-The Jack Sack
In the awfully contrived, five (literal) minutes that the writers devoted to killing off this character, they apparently decided to create the last image of Renee as the naked sacrifice to sex with the Jack, dead in his bedsheets o' lust. Way to go, assholes. Sorry your death was lame, Renee. Sorry you became a plot device instead of a character. Look on the bright side. At least you have those G bedsheet tying skills. I wish my bath towels stayed on like that.