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Kiefer Sutherland will return as Jack Bauer on the Fox...

Kiefer Sutherland will return as Jack Bauer on the Fox series, "24." Credit: Getty Images

Yes, Virginia, there may be a "24" movie after all. Jack Bauer lives, and as Bauer goes, so goes the franchise that ended on TV Monday night after eight thrilling, wonderful, violent, ridiculous years. (And come to think of it, how could a movie ever top any of that? Maybe if it's in 3-D . . . )

The two-hour series closer had everything that has made this franchise so exhilarating, while precisely spelling out - unintentionally one can assume - why it had to end. The showdown between President Allison Taylor (Cherry Jones) and wife of assassinated President Hassan, Dalia Hassan (Necar Zadegan), absolutely jumped off the screen, while Taylor's tortured decision over whether to abort the peace agreement was one of the most memorable performances of the season.

But as any "day" progresses, "24" eventually demands that you take your disbelief and suspend it to the bitter end. Stuff needs to happen to get the show across the finish line, and that stuff doesn't need you or me to nit-pick it. Don't ask how Jack (Kiefer Sutherland) just happened to get into Jason Pillar's (Reed Diamond) car; don't ask how Jack avoided a million security cameras around the UN; don't ask . . . oh, just don't ask.

Was Jack's conversion from a maniacal revenge missile about to take out the Russian president to OK-Chloe-let-justice-take-its-course entirely plausible? Maybe not, but after eight days of what Jack Bauer has gone through, mental consistency is bound to be a casualty. Jack can do whatever he wants to, and who's about argue with him?

Over the course of two days, two classic decade-defining TV series have come to an end - "Lost" and now "24" - and neither had finales that were completely satisfying. ("Law & Order" may yet get a reprieve.) But we loved these shows - really loved them - and how foolish to judge them based on these last, flawed glances.

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