YMMV / 24: Live Another Day

• Awesome Music: The "Street Chaos" teaser is set to Zack Hemsey's "Vengeance".
• Broken Base:
  • Jack throwing Margot Al-Harazi out a five-story window to her death was either the most awesome thing he's ever done, or the most monstrous.
  • President Heller's Disney Death. Some felt it ruined all the build up throughout the season and was a poor copout, while others are fine with it.
• Captain Obvious Reveal:
  • Adrian Cross selling Jack out (and later being revealed as Steve Navarro's contact)would probably have been more surprising if he hadn't been played by perennial villain actor Michael Wincott.
  • Cheng Zhi's return is completely spoiled by Tzi Ma being openly listed in the guest cast credits.
• Catharsis Factor: Cheng Zhi's death was a long time coming. That was is via decapitation only makes it more spectacular.
• Complete Monster: Cheng Zhi. See 24 for more details on what he did here to reach this special position of evil.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Kate Morgan has managed to get pretty popular after just a few hours thanks to her own pretty badass behavior.
  • Margot Al-Harazi also established herself amongst the series' best villains in only a few episodes, primarily due to Michelle Fairley's incredible performance.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Episode 8 features a pointed statement that America does not negotiate with terrorists. At the time of its airing, five Taliban leaders had recently been traded for an American POW.
  • The reveal that Moscow is conspiring to start a war between the USA and China so that Russia can gain a strangehold on its Eastern European neighbors is eerily unsettling in light of the ongoing Ukraine crisis.
• Like You Would Really Do It: The "death" of President Heller. Even 24, a show that kills off main characters left and right, didn't take the risk of killing off the President of the United States of America while he was still in office.
  • Although technically Heller had resigned just before leaving the building so that his sacrifice would be a personal, not a state, decision
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • Margot Al-Harazi torturing her own daughter to pressure Naveed into piloting the drone attacks.
    • And later, ordering Simone to kill her sister-in-law and niece on the off chance that someone might discover their connection to the Al-Harazis.
  • After Jack threw Margot Al-Harazi out a window, fans have been debating whether he crossed the line by murdering a woman who was no longer a threat in any way or gave a monstrous terrorist exactly what she deserved.
• Narm:
  • Chloe's sudden resemblance to Lisbeth Salander gives on the impression that the showrunners were trying way too hard to telegraph the fact that she's now a morally-ambiguous hacker.
  • The real time format doesn't do any favors for the sequence where a torturer simply stares at Kate while threateningly revving a drill without actually doing anything with it for at least ten minutes. This includes an entire commercial break.
  • At one point, Margot Al-Harazi talks to Simone about whether her loyalties lie with her husband or her mother and gives off a Death Glare. It's kind of hard to take her seriously when the tea kettle in the background starts whistling shrilly.
  • The miniseries also features what was perhaps always the inevitable end of the "perimeter" motif, as Eric describes the terrorists as making one of their own. They're finished a few moments later.
• Paranoia Fuel: As with previous seasons, almost anyone can be The Mole.
• Questionable Casting: Stephen Fry as the British Prime Minister, especially since most Fox viewers know him as the goofy psychiatrist from Bones.
• Retroactive Recognition: Who knew that Jack Bauer would have to clear Finn's name?
• The Scrappy: Mark Boudreau started off tolerable as the typical Hero Antagonist who in this case had some very good reasons to think Jack was up to no good. But then he continued working against Jack after the real situation became clear for a quite astoundingly petty reason, and quickly became insufferable.
• Unexpected Character: Absolutely no one in-universe or out expected Cheng Zhi as the final villain.

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