7. 24 - “Day Four: 6:00AM - 7:00AM”: Jack Bauer dies
Jack Bauer is the benchmark by which action heroes are measured today. He fought for his family and his country for four seasons, always staying a step ahead of the bad guys. Simultaneously, 24 continually ratcheted up the stakes and heightened the tension with every new plot and story development. Just when it seemed that there was nothing left for the writers to throw at Jack… the killed him.
Of course, he didn’t stay dead. Season four ended with Jack faking his death in order to avoid assassination by the Secret Service to appease militant Chinese who believed Jack was responsible for a raid on their embassy. The first four seasons saw Jack often at odds with the Counter Intelligence Unit, but at the end of (and during) the day, he always had their resources backing him. With Jack apparently dead, all his connections were gone, and he was a lone agent on the run and in hiding. Season five opened with the world still believing him to be dead. It was then that the series did the unthinkable: as Jack returned to the living, three of the show’s key supporting characters fell in sudden and violent attacks. The losses of David Palmer, Michelle Dessler, and Tony Almeida rocked the show and shifted the focus to a new band of heroes while Jack’s mission became a personal one different from anything he’d tackled before.
What TV shows that took a sharp left turn did I miss in this list? Drop a comment with your thoughts.
One Comment
What about “The Inner Light” episode of Star Trek:TNG?
That was an amazing episode