Is anybody else of the opinion that the terrorists in each season of 24 have a poorer motivation than the previous one?

• Season 1: "You killed our mother and sister in the process of trying to assassinate our father."
• Season 2: "We want a war to drive up oil prices."
• Season 3: "We're terrorists."
• Season 4: "We're radical Islamic terrorists, no less."

At this rate, season 5 will just go straight for

• Season 5: "We're Islamic!"

Or perhaps

• Season 5: "..."

I think the main thing that's bringing 24 down is the writers' desire to always top the previous season. Season 5, if it is intended to top season 4, will have to open with New York being nuked, taking out the President and every other high-ranking politician at the same time. Jack Bauer will then assume the Presidency and, all in the next four or five hours, mastermind, lead, and, after his backup is killed, SINGLE-HANDEDLY PULL OFF an operation to INVADE AND CONQUER IRAN. Drama? How's this? Twelve hours in, Jack will be forced to shoot his daughter Kim in the head in order to save the world. Tick tock tick! Holy smokes! Get me Chopper Command! Find that hard drive! We don't have time for anything except torture! "Damn it!"

Wanting to top the previous show isn't in itself a bad thing, but what the writers don't realise is that

1. a higher body count does not equate to a better show
2. properly handled human drama is far, FAR more compelling than an abstract threat to {m/b}illions of faceless people
3. "You killed my father" is a much more dramatic reason to want to kill someone than "I disagree with your country's foreign policies"

Are you getting what I'm saying here? First, write some characters that I can care about. Then, make me care about them. Deal?