I am totally bummed. My DVR hiccupped and I did not get the episode. AAAUGGHHH!!!!! A guy at work told me that Kim is in peril, AGAIN, so I may be glad I didn't get it, since I hate that beeyotch.
It just occurred to me that the writers probably knew that they could get away with the writing of Kim's character until now. Now that she is in danger, even though she's unaware, the writing hopefully should become better in the next episode (the finale?).
Let's see what becomes of her in Season 8, if at all.
Aaron will have the goods on Olivia soon, it seems.
But.. you know they had to get Kim Bauer back in the plot somehow, she's the only one who can save Jack's life.
The Tony-being-evil plot seems a bit like OMG we have 24 hours to fill, better spin the plot in some new direction for a few hours. I kept waiting for Tony to give his "Why I Became Evil" speech, but all he could really do is just scowl. And I call B.S. on Tony's "You think I have anything to lose?"* rejoinder. He was a national hero until he decided to go evil to stretch the plot out. So he lost that.
There were some great moments, there is no doubt about that. Jonas Hodges is my new favorite villain I think. And I love the idea of the villain running a Blackwater-type outfit, I don't know why.
I didn't care for Janis. I miss the presidents from previous seasons, I think President Taylor was kind of weak and for me it is hard to imagine her having won an election. (Uncanny resemblance to her screen daughter though, maybe because of the hair.)
I think in the past Jack Bauer had a lot of layers, like an onion (like Shrek!) but this season he has pretty much just been just The Torture Guy, even in his dying hours. By the way, whatever happened to cutting back on torture because it was becoming too much of a cliché?
(I can't find the article now, but back when it was announced that Indian film star Anil Kapoor was going to be in Season 8, the New York Times mentioned in passing that Joel Surnow left the show in 2008. I noticed his name is still shown in the opening credits.)
Also in the past, characters who had disagreements about methods or whatever did a better job of making their case. That way you got a sense that tough decisions were being made, that people were choosing the best of two unacceptable alternatives. They didn't do a good job of that this year.
For better or worse, some of the plot twists looked more like Alias than 24 (before Alias got all science-fictiony).
I liked the "first gentleman people thought was crazy" plot better back when it was first lady Martha Logan.
Anyway, the 2 hour season finale is always good. I am pretty crappy on my predictions, but I predict the season will end with Jack in a coma, maybe Day 8 will pick up immediately after Day 7. They never said he has to die by 8 AM.