Optimism and Pessimism about "24"

Two articles showed up on MSNBC.com on Sunday about 24, basically covering the two attitudes that many fans have towards season 5, particularly weighing in on the latest twists and turns (mouse over the text since I'm making it invisible so as to not spoil things for future DVD watchers):

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24 has finally hit its stride
Excerpt:
Even for an unabashed dramatic fantasy, FOX’s “24” has often leapt past the boundaries of plausibility, but it’s the storytelling that makes or breaks a season. Too many of “24”’s previous days have been ruined by a poor narrative arc.

However, in this, its fifth season, the series has reached its full potential. Its tendency to be both fantastic and absurd has been overshadowed by strong, believable characters and a plot that’s kept up the momentum. It’s frequently absurd, but at least it’s going somewhere.

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This season, however, the show’s plot twists have taken left and right turns, snaking around one another and only ending up back in the same place two hours ago, when we discovered that President Logan was actually the mastermind behind nearly all of the day’s events.

The twist worked despite — or perhaps because of — the fact that the president is such a huge weenie. Played masterfully by Gregory Itzin, Logan is so spineless it’s shocking that he’s not just a little puddle on the floor. He looked terrified every time he had to make a decision, and was easily manipulated by whoever wanted their way.

As it turns out, Logan’s stupidity was an act, and now he must do everything in his power to remain in power. With Jack Bauer on his trail, viewers pretty much already know how this is going to end, but watching the plot unfold should be thrilling.

More surprising than the revelation of the president’s involvement was the way the season has not yet collapsed under the weight of its own conceit, as it has in earlier seasons. In part that’s because the writers managed to create and link three distinct arcs: the assassination of former president David Palmer, the terrorist nerve gas threat, and now the president’s involvement.

Along the way, a number of different terrorists each seemed to be the one person guiding everything. The various characters were quickly discarded, so viewers had little emotional investment in them. But now viewers are left with characters we love and hate, and their battle in these final hours will be far more interesting than if a new villain had appeared out of nowhere.

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Now, with the revelation that her husband is the day’s real evildoer, Martha has the potential to become his biggest nemesis. Once she discovers she’s been betrayed, there will be an epic battle. As we’d expect from “24,” that showdown and the rest of the day’s events are sure to be ridiculous, but at least they’ll make sense.

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Is ‘24’ running out of time?
Excerpt:
Here’s the problem: the plot is flat-out ridiculous at this point — even by “24’s” own standards.

The villains of “24 always have plans involving hundreds of operatives, multiple objectives, and dozens of backup scenarios in case Jack Bauer stops the main attack. The terrorists can’t take 20 canisters of nerve gas to Russia to detonate them in Moscow? No problem! Plan B is a local shopping mall. That’s foiled as well? Rest easy! They have schematics of both CTU and a local natural-gas plant at the ready.

Despite the involvement of so many conspirators, nobody ever talks, there’s always several moles in CTU, and without the steady hand of Jack Bauer, we’d all be speaking Chinese/Arabic/Russian (take your pick) by now. But hey, whatever works. “Gilligan’s Island” rolled on for years, even though no one believed that a professor who could make a workable radio out of spare parts and coconuts couldn’t figure out how to use that to get help from the mainland. People don’t demand realism from their programs; just entertainment. Within reason.

However, the show’s legendary obsession with secrecy and surprise has always left it at risk of imploding, and this season it’s officially crossed the line. This season has gone from suspense to trickery, gambling that it can distract its audience with bells and whistles to make up for the fact that the latest plot developments come out of nowhere and contradict what fans already know about the characters involved.

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Logan has never been anything other than a weak, indecisive leader; that’s how actor Gregory Itzen has portrayed him, because the producers didn’t tell him about his character’s about-face until late in the game. That might have prevented Itzen from spilling the beans earlier, but it also leaves a hole in this season's plot that's big enough to drive a truck of deadly nerve gas through.

Last season, Logan spent the whole episode trying to stave off a full-fledged panic attack before being saved by the wisdom of President David Palmer. This year, his big decisions have involved either taking the easy way out of a messy situation or simply sitting back and hope for the best.

Now, he has to deftly switch gears and make it appear as if everything he’s shown the audience to this point was just him skillfully pretending to be a moron. That’s more problematic than even that sounds, because even this season, his character doesn’t appear to have been written with any of that in mind.
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Personally, I'd like to have a bit more realistic plot with more tightly-written points ... but this season I've pretty much decided to turn off my brain partway and just enjoy the ride. At the very least, the manufactured drama on the human and political sides is more interesting than in past seasons with the superweapon du jour.

Who do you agree with more?