*****THIS WHOLE POST IS A SPOILER OF THE 24 SERIES FINALE*****

After eight riveting, albeit wildly uneven, seasons of terror, intrigue, and Jack Bauer kicking ass on “24,” the Fox series came to an end last night. Many thought this final season was the best the show has been in years, returning to a familiar “Jack is an outsider looking for justice” storyline. And the two-hour finale was certainly not short on roller-coaster twists, gunplay, and blood. There was even an ear bitten off! Oh yeah, Jack was balls out.

Here’s a rundown of the “good:”
Jack’s goodbye video message to his daughter Kim. When rogue CTU agent Jack Bauer decides to go full-throttle vigilante and take out the Russian president after learning he was the one who gave the order to kill Jack’s love, fellow agent Renee Walker, he realizes he may never see his daughter again. He makes a quick video phone message to her, explaining his murder spree, that U.S. President Taylor ends up seeing – and it’s the reason she decides to back out of her precious- though bogus – peace agreement in the final minutes.

Chloe O’Brian taking charge of CTU and talking Jack down. Any chance CTU’s most bad-ass nerd can get her own show? Chloe, played by Mary Lynn Rajskub, didn’t start out as a fan fave, but her consistently droll performance (and those patented IT- guy eyerolls!) as the only person at CTU who always has Jack’s back will be missed.

The Widow Hassan showing some backbone. When Dalia Hassan, wife of slain IRK leader Omar Hassan, found out that her purported ally, President Taylor, was covering up the Russian president’s involvement in her husband’s murder, the once demure Mrs. Hassan let the claws come out.

Jack and Chloe’s goodbye. Jack and Chloe are friends, but until the last few minutes of the final scene, they never shared a whole lot of emotion. Fans who have long loved the Chloe/Jack friendship probably got a little watery-eyed as Jack thanked her for her loyalty as he fled the country.

Okay, now for the “bad:”
Logan’s suicide attempt. I should have known not to get my hopes up when Jack’s sniper rifle sight was set right between disgraced former President and slimeball-for-life Charles Logan’s beady little reptilian eyes. Jack couldn’t bring himself to pull the trigger, and later in the episode Logan turned a gun on himself- but failed to finish the job. See? He really was the worst president ever – he couldn’t even kill himself the right way. After all the times Charles Logan double-crossed Bauer and betrayed his country, the audience deserved to see him taken out by Jack.

President Taylor’s 11th-hour attack of conscience. The female leader of the free world has become a character viewers rely on to be the ethical, honest president – the anti-Logan, if you will. She was the moral compass of last year, refusing to negotiate with terrorists and standing strong against torture. So the only thing less believable than President Taylor’s season-long character 180 at the flawed counsel of Charles Logan was her sudden change of heart during the signing of a peace treaty with Mrs. Hassan and the Russian president. Cherry Jones tries to make the inexplicable character shift believable – there’s a reason she received an Emmy award for her work on this show – but in the end, this whole storyline just doesn’t ring true.

Jack Bauer lives. I always thought that when the show ended, the only viable way to close out the show was for Jack Bauer to die. But of course, that would mean the end of any opportunity for a “24” movie, right? I think fans would rather see a mind-blowing series finale that is in keeping with the show’s long tradition of “no character is safe” than propping up characters because a movie in the works. Jack’s literal last-minute escape from his assassins just felt wrong.

Well, there you have it. What did you think? Did “24” go out on a high note?