24: Ranked-- Day by Day

   A review of the FOX television action drama 24, ranking season by season in order from best to worst because hey why not. There's many times in which my opinion diverges from the consensus, but I've got very good reasons for these, which are delineated clearly. So here, from order to most awesome to least (but still very) awesome is my take on the matter.

OH AND ALSO MAJOR SPOILERS I GUESS.

1. Day 3- The entire season had one big narrative push. Procure the virus. This kicks off 24 of the most stunning hours on television, as Jack Bauer is ... from Los Angeles to Mexico... It is in this season that the team has to make the most heartbreaking decisions for the greater good: kill Chapelle? Allow Kim to go into danger? Sometimes it is already too late, and their only choice is humanity: pass around the suicide pills to those infected at the hotel? Plus it sports twists galore: Gael isn't a mole?  Which, I suppose, proves that throughout the entire show the only true moles at CTU are female. (The guy in season seven, for example, honestly thought he was working for the CIA.)
2. Day 6- Generally regarded as the worst season, I'm putting it here as the second best. Collecting all of the snukes gave the entire thing a narrative push, and by the end of it, when the snukes have all been recovered, a new twist is thrown in as the Chinese are still out to get Jack, and use  the (apparently not dead!) Audrey as leverage to get the Russian component, which brings Jack into one finale confrontation with his father, tying the whole shebang of a day up nicely. We see Jack at his most venerable (yes, even more venerable than his drug-addled season three self and his pathogen-exposed late season seven self), emotionally naked when he realizes that Senator Heller will never let him see Audrey again. Also, Milo, played by the ever-fantastic Eric Balfour, returns, and that can only be seen as a plus. I also love the political maneuvering, with Vice President Daniels trying to 25th-Amendment the encoma'd President Palmer using any means necessary, going so far as to actually wake up all 12 members of the supreme court to come together in an emergency session to determine if that's even constitutional at all. They decide it is, but Daniels has perjured himself to get to where he wants, allowing Palmer some delicious leverage. In fact, I could do an entire post on why day six is so awesome, but I think I've exhausted most of my talking points.
3. Day 8- Put in at the #3 slot due to a strong season overall and particularly its incredible finale, wrapping the entire series up in a way we genuinely cannot possibly dream of being handled better (they even brought back the "events occur in real time!"). Maybe I'll make a separate list ranking season finales. They are after all the final note on which that particular day is left, and a such strongly influence how said day is remembered. I call this the "wind-down hour." Winding down the season. But you could have guessed that. Since they're drawing the entire day to a close and not really introducing any new action, they tend to be a bit slow. Some finales are slower than others, which comes to bite season 5 in my opinion.
4. Day 2- Nina really gets her first chance to truly bear her teeth here. Frightening stuff. It She was established as being a good liar as early as the second episode of the entire show, with the conversation between her and Tony, so there was always that. This season, however, really shows how manipulative she can be. I mean, getting Palmer to preemptively pardon her for the (foiled) murder of Jack Bauer in return for information on the nuke? Cold, Nina. Very cold. The stuff with Kim isn't really as mockable as people make it out to be. And the finale is iconic.
5. Day 7- Spoilers ahead, regarding Tony. He's alive, and now a bad guy. Awesome. The second that gets old, it turns out he's actually a good guy. Awesome. The second that gets old, it turns out he really was a bad guy all along. Awesome. Mostly the only slow parts here are the seconds that gets old. And also when the terrorists drill underwater to get to the white house. That part was weird.
6. Day 4- A somewhat uneven season. The stuff with the nuclear football was good. The stuff with the nuclear reactor meltdowns, not so much. The first act, saving Senator Heller, was thrilling, and the real time format has never been put to as good a use as with that. But it turns out that was a cover up to distract CTU while the terrorists went through with their real evil master plan, a diabolically unparalleled plot of unsurpassed insidiousness: causing nuclear reactors across the country to melt down? Uh... huh. While this would be scary in real life, on a real time television drama is is somewhat underwhelming. Like, very underwhelming. Luckily, however, CTU shuts that down quickly, forcing the terrorists to come up with a plan C. The crash of Air Force One and nuclear football stuff is also incredibly tense, with T.J. Thyne, which I guess makes it even better, and just solid thriller. Paul is good, and so is Behrooz. All in all, this has got some really good, and I mean really good, episodes, but as a season it's mixed.
7. Day 1- The first season. Bizarrely intimate compared to the grandeur of later seasons, revisiting it makes you realize how surreal a format real time can be. (Hint: really, really surreal.) It's just, save the senator? Not even from nukes? It draws the arcs of Jack and Palmer together and explains the history of why these events are even happening, so it functions well as a standalone, making it an ideal first season. Jack's so young here, so innocent, if you can call it that. I don't think he even tortures any dudes. After watching the rest, revisiting this one is kinda jarring. But, hey, Dennis Hopper out of nowhere!
8. Day 5- Generally regarded as the best season, I'm putting it here as the eighth best. Which means worst. But to be fair, it is a really solid show. So, eight best. Anyway. Though the bad guys here are hipper than ever, the fall of President Logan is just too painful to watch, ending in an infamous "wind-down hour" that stretches out for two hours (in my eyes, at least.) Expectations change experience. The first episodes of this season are incredible, with Jack investigating the crime scene of the assassinated ex-President Palmer (even as the FBI is actively trying to hunt him down) and then having to go defuse a terrorist hostage crisis at an airport, being saved in that situation only by the fact that Sean Astin rocks. I guess that just makes the rest of the day a bit anticlimactic after all that. After you start out a day by killing Palmer, it's just all downhill from there. Day 2 had the prescience to save that exact thing for the end. Though Jack is forced to hijack a plane in this season. I guess it balances out. Let's face it: 24 is a really solid show.