No one said anything wrong about this show having 24 influences because the creators wrote on that show too. The problem is when people try to make everything that this show is about into some compare and contrasts between 24. This show was never really realistic plot wise and it was never about the plot. It's about the psyche of two people on opposite sides and how their decisions and personalities attract each other.
So the biggest problem with this season is that the plot has been more of a focus than the characters so it's thrown alot of people off. The pacing also has taken the show through many changes each episode.
Season 1's plot points woulda been nitpicked to hell too if it wasn't so original but thanks to this new found popularity and awards it's under a microscope. That's fine but it's not even close to falling off it just seems like the writers wanted to wrap up this part of the story so they sped the plot up a bit.
I'm not writing this show off at all, it's still too tense and leaves me every week. Plus I learned my lesson with The Wire after the docks.
Season 1 being unrealistic doesn't change the fact that season 2 is even less realistic than that. Again, this doesn't bother me, but there is an obvious difference and some people don't like it. I will reserve judgement until the finale, since that's what the writers said to do.
And season 1 was original because it was based on an Israeli series called "Hatufim" by Gideon Raff. So season 2 is what "Homeland" will be from now on, because this is the first time Howard Gordon, Alex Gansa and Chip Johannessen (all from "24") have had to come up with their own ideas.
Fred.