Day 5 is done.

Ok, I gotta lay down a few thoughts on 24. The season finale was on Monday and now that I've had a few days to mull it over, I'm a little disappointed...But a good disappointed, not a bad disappointed. After Jack saves the day by taking down President Logan and everything's all hunky dory at the airfield where President Palmer is being flown from, Jack is told by a Secret Service agent that his daughter is on the phone on a landline inside. He walks in and picks up the phone, but the line is dead. A group of masked men grab him from behind and hold an ether-soaked rag over his face, knocking him out. Soon after, the show finds Jack in a dark room, beaten to hell, insisting that his captors kill him. The Chinese ambassador from last season tells him that China has not forgotten his incursion into the Chinese embassy and the death of their envoy. You then see that Jack is actually on a cargo ship bounding across the Pacific.

It's an awesome way to end the season. I was wondering the entire season what would happen when the Chinese found out that Jack was still alive. I guess now we know. That's what's disappointing. This wasn't the like the end of a season, where Jack prevails and there's a nice, satisfying twist at the end (ala season 1). This was a cliff hanger. Now we have to wait until January to find out what the hell is going to happen to him.

And here's what's good about the China twist. This wasn't a bad season, but it was starting to get a little stale at times. Terrorists attempting to attack the greater Los Angeles area with a weapon of mass destruction. Oh, and there's a mole. That's every season. I always thought it was a little short-sighted to have the setting in SoCal all of the time and to revolve around CTU. After last season when Jack went into hiding, you'd have thought that something new was in the mix, but it turned out not to be the case.

The China factor presents an opportunity to inject a bit of adrenaline into the show. I'm hoping that it has to do with Jack's escape from China and takes place there as well. Time to get out of LA for a bit. The only downside of a "big trouble in little China" season would be the lack of stock characters. It's tough to envision how Jack in China would involve the rest of CTU. The 24 nerdery would have to do without Chloe, Curtis, etc. The political perspective would be huge though. I'm interested to see how they handle Logan's departure. Buchanan speculated at the end that he would probably resign quietly in exchange for clemency, so as to spare the nation the added shock of having a traitor President on top of everything else that had happened. Naturally the Vice President would come in, but the writers have shown before that they're fully willing to ditch a Prez, like Keeler in the Air Force One crash. I'm really hoping that the next season maybe takes place post-election so we can have a Heller Administration. He'd be a kick ass President. And maybe they'll have him in a wheel chair or something as a result of the car wreck. Certainly he'd put a lot more passion into saving Jack from China than a Vice President who lacks the same background that Heller has.

Anyway, the ending was truly redeeming. This franchise is only going to get bigger as time goes on. Word is that they'll start filming as soon as Season 6 is finished. Here's to hoping it's a prequel--maybe Operation Nightfall?