I read the letter last week ...
Question: I read the
letter last week from the person who had a problem with the
24 writers bringing Tony back from the dead, so to speak. I myself never thought Tony was dead, despite the silent clock, which, even if you think it's foolish, has been used for every "death" thus far. Just because the guy stabbed Tony with the needle and we saw Jack holding him and calling his name doesn't mean he's dead. There was a lot of talk about whether or not Tony was really dead, so I guess people were 50/50 on this. Anyway, you have to take
24 for what it is and enjoy the twists and turns just like with any drama. Surely
Grey's Anatomy is mostly fiction. I just don't see that kind of BS going on in my hospital, but who wants to nitpick when you're enjoying the escapism.
Answer: I agree with the last point for sure, and it helps to apply the "it's only TV" rule to a show like
24 from time to time. When it's on its game,
24 is unquestionably a more serious show than the fizzy romantic melodrama of
Grey's Anatomy, but we do ourselves a disservice by taking almost any TV show too seriously. My problem with the Tony twist is that going to this extreme puts the show in
Melrose Place territory (bringing Kimberly back from the dead, for instance), which is the land of the absurd, a difficult place to come back from. More importantly, I feel like it cheapens the emotional response I had to all of the loss I felt over the deaths in that best-ever season of
24. Whether he was dead and revived or was playing dead or whatever, it's a cheap stunt, but I figure I can get past it if the rest of the show holds up.
Here's more on the subject, courtesy of Jason from the U.K.: "I'm rewatching
24 Season 5. There is a plausible way Tony could be brought back (if he did indeed die). First, we know later in the season the president is the bad guy. He was told prior to the episode that Henderson (
Peter Weller) was sent to CTU for interrogation for leads on the whole conspiracy (giving the president time to make sure Henderson wasn't going to leak anything). Second, we know the meds didn't work on Henderson; he didn't say a thing and was supposed to be comatose from the drugs. Tony uses the same medical kit to administer an overdose to kill Henderson, but he awakes miraculously, overpowers him and injects him with that needle. It's safe to assume those meds were replaced with something harmless as per the president's instructions. Tony's stabbed through the heart with the needle, likely to pass out, even die. But his system isn't actually full of any kind of poisons or toxins, so he can be resuscitated. Jack's only human. But hey, Spock's half Vulcan and he thought he'd killed Captain Kirk in 'Amok Time' when McCoy fiddled with the meds!"
Huh? This is the
plausible explanation?
