Every Season Of 24 - Ranked From Worst To Best

Plot: After a season out of commission, CTU is now headquartered in New York City, where Jack Bauer and a largely new cast of agents contend with assassination threats during peace talks between President Taylor and President Omar Hassan of the fictional Islamic Republic of Kamistan.

After eight seasons, the show was really showing its age. The real-time format had been used to its full potential, and the usual season twists of moles inside CTU, the leakiest organization this side of the Trump administration, had grown stale. The first half of the season is almost rote, with even Kiefer Sutherland tired of the role.

Then, in the season's final act, something interesting happened.

After the death of (another) love interest for Jack, and the president essentially writing him off, he starts down a vengeful kill rampage. He goes full Charles Bronson, and by the series finale, he's essentially about to pull an Oswald until his only friend left, Chloe, talks him down.

Jack's rampage is meant to be seen as a mental breakdown, but it does lead one to reconsider his actions in the past eight seasons. For if you take the country out of the patriot, the killing they do becomes immoral. The ultimate American hero is a sociopath. At least it ended honestly.