Ma Takes Bauer Down. Down to Chinatown

Never underestimate the cunningness of the Chinese government, particularly in the world of 24, where loose ends always seem to have their way of coming back with a vengeance and biting Jack Bauer in his lost boy ass.

In last night's season finale, in stunning fashion, China's deputy consul, Cheng Zhi (played by Tzi Ma), strikes back within the final minutes of Jack Bauer's day, roughing him up, kidnapping him, tossing him on a ship to China, and leaving Audrey Raines alone, as she heads to IHOP for a Grand Slam Breakfast for one.

Although I thoroughly enjoyed Day 5, I personally found this season a bit more over-the-top than past seasons for some reason. Perhaps it was that the show spent three hours hunting down a tape recorder that was destroyed in a matter of seconds so ridiculously easy, when they could have simply made copies of it immediately onto Jack's PDA once he had it (don't even tell me that PDA thing doesn't have a voice recorder function to it) - or was it the randomness of James Heller deciding to drive off a cliff and die, then coming back to life, but for no apparent reason (at least for now), the stupid easy way Bierko escaped from CTU, or why no one seemed the least bit tired at 4am? I could go on, but I must say, this final scene with the Chinese totally took me off guard.

Kudos for the giving one final zing to a good, but not the best, 24 season (last season was my fave). However, setting up a cliffhanger like this involving the Chinese government definitely redeemed some of the past 24 hour leaps of faith. These next few months leading up to January's premiere should incubate several good theories about what's in store for Day 6. Will a new character be the focus whose mission will be to save Jack? Will Jack be forced to serve as a Double Agent to China? Will Jack find new Asian love in the Orient? We'll have to see.

One final note on 24 this season- pop quiz- what does Tzi Ma (pictured above), have in common with Graham, VP Hal Gardner, and Christopher Henderson? Yep, he too appeared in a Robocop film (refer to 4/25/06 post)! Don't believe me? Check his filmography at IMDB.