What a fantastic season of 24 this year. It's amazing that a show can systematically kill all of my favorite characters and yet I think this was possibly the best season yet. Of course, it's hard to compare current seasons to the first, if only because the first season was truly unique, truly new. But boy oh boy, this season was gooood.
I honestly think the writers of the show don't tend to think about the next season when they write the finale each year, so that they're unafraid to really write what the show deserves in its final moments. Last night was no exception. How they plan to deal with this next year remains to be seen (I wouldn't be surprised to see a "Two Years Later" situation next season), but when you look at this season alone, without worrying about what's coming, it's an excellent step for the series.
Minor spoiler alert, so avert your eyes if you want to know nothing about this season: To watch Jack Bauer for four years, growing and experiencing these horrible things, all the while protecting, more than all else, President Palmer, only to see him assassinated, was one of the best moments of this show. To go on and kill most of Jack's friends took real balls, and the show did it without blinking. They took and took and took, and they really made Jack Bauer fight for everything this season. After the past few years, it was hard to watch Jack lose everything, but even more important to see him succeed.
The show is a thriller, a drama, a format in its own right, and it's just amazing television. When I heard that Kiefer Sutherland signed on for three more years, and I was honestly, really, really excited. Television doesn't get much better that this, and I'm already looking forward to January of 2007.