The three most powerful punches of the Fox 24 finale all came at the very end -- like one final triple flurry of potent, emotional "Ka-Chunk, Ka-Chunk" sounds as the clock counted down one last time...

First came the final close-up image of Keifer Sutherland's Jack Bauer -- given a reprieve one second before execution, and staring into the direction of CTU's flying camera drone. His face was a bloody mess, but his expression said everything, as he thanked Mary Jane Rajskub's Chloe for being concerned about his safety the entire time.

Second was Chloe herself, in similarly tight close-up, responding to Jack's grateful praise with a stream of tears and sobs. It was the validation she'd always been seeking, and the friendship she'd seldom heard acknowledged. With the disgraced President turning CTU over to Chloe to find and help Jack, her time had come at last.

But it came, ironically, just as time for Jack Bauer literally ran out. At the end of another long day, having brought down another White House resident whose behavior was, in the end, unconscionable, Jack fled to evade detection before government factions (his and the Russians) caught up to him.

Except this time, as the final second counted down, we weren't shown a graphic of the last seconds leading up to a new hour. Instead, 24 counted down, as with a rocket on a launch pad, counting down to zero. Or, specifically, to 00:00:00.

Mission accomplished. Series over. Nine years in real time, eight days of TV "real time" -- and, as with ABC's Lost, the end of 24 marked the passage of a groundbreaking drama series likely to be remembered for years, and decades, to come.