This is, in part, follow-up to
Armando's
Diary of last saturday that talked about Frank Rich's
Column in the
NY Times about how 'Jack Bauer' probably has a better plan of fighting actual terrorist threats, than we do here in reality.
I just got through watching all 4 hours of the premier, & it was great. The show just never disappoints. One thing that sets the show apart from others in its genre, like "ALIAS" & "MI-5", is it's realism & darkness. Where most TV shows "wimp out" with a happy ending, "24" will go there...
One thing I've always wondered is what the writers & producers of the show are trying to say about
TORTURE. There is someone being tortured in probably every other episode. Either American agents are torturing "suspected" terrorists to get answers, or terrorists are torturing civilians & agents to find out how much the authorities know. Jack Bauer has...
- Saved a Presidential Candidate
- Stopped a plot to NUKE Los Angeles
- Save the world from a deadly virus
Yet, he's tortured & killed people to get answers, in order to save us all. In that way, the show does send the message
"sometimes bad things have to be done to protect us."
SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T WATCHED THE NEW SEASON YET...
- Some people have found the terrorist sleeper cell being depicted as the muslim family that could be living next door, as racist. However, this isn't a new idea. There were always theories during the Cold-War about the Russians sending over KGB agents who would take residence as average people living next door.
- Since David Palmer isn't President anymore, that means the Republicans are in charge of the Administration. Secreatary Heller, a few minutes before his kidnapping, mentions "the sixth grade logic of Michael Moore" in the arguments with his son.
- ...And about his son, CTU is torturing him because he is supposed to be the only one that knew that his father was coming by to see him. That isn't true. His sister Audrey, Jack's new squeeze, knew about the stop. One has to wonder, with Jack's past taste in women (Nina Meyers), if maybe she's the traitor?
- Alberta Watson's portrayal of the new CTU head Erin Driscoll seemed to be a different version of her past character on "La Femme Nikita" of MADELINE. The character of Mary-Anne Taylor, who schemes to get inside CTU, seemed to act like the little sister of Sherry Palmer.
- Jack Bauer who has sacrificed his wife, his health, and his sanity to save the United States & the World, can add sticking up a gas station to his resume.