Last night, 24‘s FBI agent Renee Walker jumped her personal shark. (Spoiler [and I can't believe I have to add this for something that aired last night] alert.) All it took was two scenes: When she looked agonized at the notion of threatening the wife and baby of a bad guy, and when she stupidly told her boss Larry that Jack had killed that bad guy. Please understand, I’m not knocking Annie Wersching, the actress who plays Walker–she’s reading the lines and emoting as the scenes dictate.
But why do the 24 writers and producers have to make her such a sap? If Renee Walker is supposed to represent the conscience of this season–the character who’s caught up in Jack Bauer’s ruthless pursuit of his honorable goals–then why does Walker have to be such a wimpy sentimentalist? And why the hell did she have to go and rat out Jack to Henry? Sure, that move was a plot device, one that I’m sure will be analyzed brilliantly by my colleague Dan Snierson in his 24 TV Watch (go read it now!), but it just seemed so… pathetic. Making a woman the season’s weakest link–we’ve been there before. Her name was Kim Bauer…
Spoiler Alert!
Some of us haven’t seen 24 from last night and we manage to go all day Tuesday without the plot being leaked. Not today apparently.
I wouldn’t say this was jumping the shark – I would rather call it a smart move. This season is full of a lot of action, but it is also full of Jack screaming. The character that we all once admired has become a self-parody, and it makes me (a loyal 24 watcher) fear that this show is quickly transforming into this decade’s Walker Texas Ranger. The glimmer of hope (or reality, as it were) is to have a character like Renee Walker represent the normal, sane point of view. I have loved 24, but it seems that the absence of a season last year did not make this heart grow fonder.
Holly: If you haven’t watched it yet why in the world would you come to this site and read anything that has to do with 24? I don’t get it. Stay away.
Holly: If you haven’t watched it yet why in the world would you come to this site and read anything that has to do with 24? I don’t get it. Stay away.
I just don’t think the writers know how to write a balanced female character. When Renee has to go all bad-arse, it seems so forced.
She’s not going to ruin the season for me, and she’s not going to make it either. Now, if they bring back Audrey, that will ruin it for me.
Why did she “rat out Jack to Henry?”??? As far as I could tell, Renee never even spoke to the First Gentleman. I think you mean Larry. Since you’re obviously not paying attention, is it really fair for you to judge? I like Renee. Yes, she’s supposed to be this kick-ass FBI agent who plays by the rules and is conflicted by Jack’s (often successful) way of doing things. Yes, it’s a bit of a 24-cliche by now, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles. I like her!
AJ–You’re right: Larry, not Henry. Got my names-ending-in-”ry” confused. Thanks!
To AJ:
In all fairness to Ken’s Larry/Harry flub, I still don’t really know half the new characters’ names, because they sound so damn similar. Chalk it up more towards the writers not making them stick out more than their assigned roles than not paying attention. I even caught myself calling Renee ‘FBI Agent chick’ when I forgot her name a few times as well.
With that said, I don’t think it’s a bad move to make Renee more sympathetic towards Jack Bauer’s relentlessness. We already have the ex-CTU crew for that (especially Tony Almeda, who’s the Robin to Bauer’s Batman). I do think Renee should’ve kept the detail about the husband dying to herself, but I guess it’s to avoid telling the mother herself, who already hates Renee with a passion (though understandably so).
On the other hand, the subplot with Dubaku’s girlfriend and her paraplegic sister feels really forced and it’s another cheap escape to keep the plot going.
I don’t dislike season 7 like 6, but it hasn’t impressed so far.
So is it just me, or did Larry manage to pull classified secret service phone logs and all the files on the two SS agents history, download them to his PDA, and then get to the reflecting pool, all in under sixty seconds? Talk about jumping a shark. In all but two seasons, 24 has managed to have that one episode where I was so ashamed to be watching that I was done for the year. Last night was that episode. Well, actually, two weeks ago was that episode, but like a car crash I just couldn’t pull myself away for a while. So thanks to 24 for an episode that was so bad that now I can’t even watch it anymore just to make fun of it. I also like how the FG managed to drop off the grid for four hours in the middle of a terrorist attack on our country and no one noticed. And then we they did notice, no one got to excited at first. Because, you know, FG’s only have one SS agent watching them at all times, and nothing to do all day that would cause them to be missed.
Holly…you are a twit! Why are you reading this blog if you haven’t watched the episode and are concerned about “spoilers”? Get over yourself. It’s 24…not real life!
Actually, if you paid attention I believe she told her boss that Jack had killed Vossler so he would help her cover it up. Obviously police would be suspicious with a dead body outside an apartment, so I was of the impression that they need that cleaned up. And that’s exactly what happened when her FBI boss told her he’d contact a guy he know in the DC Metro…made perfect sense to me.
This show just seems like self-parody now. It’s ridiculous.
This show just seems like self-parody now. It’s ridiculous.
I agree with Dan…she told him so that he could cover it up. He told her at the end of the call that he had someone that would take care of it, be discreet and keep it out of the news. She wasn’t telling on Jack..she was helping.
I’d have to agree with Dan, Renee had to call Boss Moss to help cover up his death. DC Metro discovering the body of a dead SS agent on the streets would add too many complications that they couldn’t afford to have.
Personally, I really like Renee. But that might be because S6 was filled with too many awful new characters to count. So while she may not be a great character, she’s no where near as bad as Nadia.