24 (Season 5)

Coming after the fairly lackluster Season 4, Season 5 of 24 had a lot to make up for, and it did, at least at first. 24's fifth season is as taut, thrilling, and surprising as the show has ever been, even if it peaked a bit near the start.

The first half of 24's fifth season is pretty much perfect. Right from the very first episode, there's a sense of propulsion and subversion that the last season just didn't have, as David Palmer and Michelle Dessler are killed off within the first ten minutes. After that, there's an airport hostage crisis, a mole in the White House, and a nerve gas being unleashed upon CTU in one of the best one-two-punches of the series. Season 5 is incredibly fast-paced at first, but it still manages to do a pretty good job of focusing on the characters as well. Jack is mostly driven this season towards revenge for David Palmer's death, which makes the story much more personal overall. The best character, however, is Martha Logan, the president's wife who is being gaslighted into thinking she's crazy. Martha is such a compelling character right from the start of the series, and becomes even moreso as the season goes on.

However, while the first half of Season 5 is one of the greatest stretches in the whole series, things get a bit shakier once President Logan is revealed to be the cause of the terrorist attacks. Logan is an entertaining villain, for sure, but Jack's desperate hunt for proof against him causes the second half of the season to play out almost exactly like the Cyprus recording arc from Season 2, which I already wasn't much of a fan of to begin with. Even more, the pace slows down drastically as well, at least until the admittedly outstanding final two episodes. It's not that this half of the season is bad, but coming after the outstanding first half, it just doesn't stack up. One aspect I really liked about this half, however, is the addition of Christopher Henderson, one of my favorite villains from the season. His rocky relationship with Jack Bauer is incredibly compelling, and he's acted with such intensity by Peter Weller. I wish he stayed around a bit longer, he's such a good character.

Being one of the best seasons of 24 so far, Season 5 definitely had some top-notch episodes:

7am-8am: This is how you start a season. David and Michelle's shocking deaths were so gutsy, but the show managed to pull it off really well. And the rest of the episode was just as tense, as Chloe's life was in just as much danger, though she was thankfully saved by Jack.

12pm-1pm: This episode surprised me by how early on in the season it was. I didn't expect the initial story arc about Logan's (presumed) mole would be resolved this quickly, but it allowed for a strong first meeting for Jack Bauer and Logan that solidified their relationship for the rest of the season.

6pm-7pm/7pm-8pm: These two episodes took place during the CTU nerve gas crisis and was consistently tense and chaotic. Seeing most of the CTU employees die so suddenly is a twist on par with that of the season's start, and the deaths of Lynn and Edgar were both absolutely devastating despite the fact that I wasn't that big of a fan of their characters. Kim Bauer and Tony Almeida had some memorable returns as well, making this easily one of the show's strongest arcs.

5am-6am: The final battle between Jack Bauer and Christopher Henderson was absolutely top-notch, beautifully shot, and just genuinely tense throughout. This episode also set up the finale excellently as Jack and Martha formed an exciting alliance to take down the president.

6am-7am: This season finale was unique by the show's standards as it didn't contain any action scenes. Rather, this finale was a series of verbal confrontations with Logan, which ultimately resulting in Martha's incredibly cathartic success in arresting the evil president. There was also a stunning cliffhanger about Jack being kidnapped, and some sweet resolutions for the side characters as well. 

Overall, Season 5 was a massive improvement on Season 4 with some strong villains, gutsy twists, and a great sense of tension, even if it ended up peaking fairly early on.

4/5 Stars