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3/1/2005
JACK BAUER: PATRIOT OR THUG?
CATEGORY: "24"

Who is Jack Bauer?

Is he the nice, sweet guy who always says “please” and “thank you” to co-workers, plays loving boyfriend to nice girl Audrey, and will do anything for a teamate (“I’m gonna need a hacksaw!”)?

Or is he the ultimate “ugly American” whose “get it done at all costs” attitude puts him just slight step above the terrorist trash he so relentlessly pursues?

He is, of course, both…and more. Jack’s complexities can be better explained by looking at American mythical figures like Daniel Boone and Davey Crockett the great hunter/heroes of the early 19th century, as well as other, later heroes created by Hollywood.

Both Boone and Crockett were popular, charismatic men whose charm and good humor masked an almost unfathomable violence that lurked just below the surface. Boone especially proved to be as single-minded as Jack as he pursued his goal of hacking a settlement out of the Kentucky wilderness. Crockett’s well known hard headedness led to both problems in his personal life as well as his ultimate defeat for re-election to Congress in 1836. Both men mirror Jack’s patriotic devotion as well as a willingness to do what ever it takes to succeed.

The myth of the hunter/hero gave way to the lone hero motif popularized by Hollywood. This hero, usually played by a small town sherriff (Gary Cooper in “High Noon”) or the gunfighter with a heart of gold (Alan Ladd in “Shane”), used violence to defeat greater violence. This concept was turned on its head in the 1960’s and 1970’s as the great “anti-heroes” of Clint Eastwood blurred the distinction between good and evil. Dirty Harry got the job done (as did the “Man with No-Name”) but at what cost?

Enter Jack Bauer who’s not quite the Clint anti-hero but not the pure, small town Gary Cooperish protaganist either. He is, in fact, the perfect hero in a post-9/11 world. Torn as America is between getting the job done at all costs while upholding American ideals, Jack simply can’t help himself. He necessarily sees the world in stark relief, a black and white universe populated by some really nasty thugs who don’t even blink at the idea of murdering hundreds of thousands of people. Like Audrey, we recoil at some of Jack’s tactics. But even Audrey recognizes that Jack is the guy doing what needs to be done to keep us safe.

SUMMARY

Jack: Paul, you need to start talking to me now.
Paul: I’ve got nothing to say to you!

BZZZZZZZZZZZZ! Wrong answer!

Try, “Give me makeshift CTU torture devices for $400, Alex”...

Jack, whose one punch knockout of Paul at the end of last week’s episode would have made Oscar de la Hoya green with envy, sets out to determine whether or not Paul is involved with the terrorists. His method for discovering the truth-the gruesome torture of Paul in front of his maybe-not-so-soon-to-be-ex-wife Audrey is puzzling. Was Jack deliberately setting himself up to be hurt when good girl Audrey sees Jack inflicting pain (with some satisfaction) on Paul and starts to have second thoughts about their relationship? After all, he could have insisted that Audrey leave the room. Instead, by allowing Audrey to stay and see Jack’s dark side, he must have known that she would have blanched at his methods. We’ll see.

Thanks to Paul, Jack finds the first link in the chain that leads to Marwan, the leader of the Araz family cell. We learn from Dina (who supplies the next link courtesy of Tony’s exquisitely handled interrogation) that there are other cells who also report to Marwan. And Curtis, who easily escapes the clutches of Baldy and his American turncoats, supplies the final bit of information that allows CTU to close in on the override device.

Cornering Marwan in what appears to be just your typical American IT Department (pretty damn chilling, that) Curtis and Jack secure the override device while Marawan attempts his escape. Enter fat geek Edgar who proceeds to override the override and just in the nick of time save the day…for the moment anyway. We’ve got 13 hours to go folks.

Meanwhile, after more than 4 hours we finally learn the fate of Erin’s daughter Maya. Turns out she’s causing a lot of problems in the CTU infirmary due to her bi-polar disorder, leading to Erin’s frequent absences from the CTU floor.

My respect for Erin has grown tremendously over the past couple of episodes. Tonight, of course, she generated a lot of sympathy even prior to Maya’s suicide. Looking back, I think she handled the enormous pressures of both the job and being a single mother with about as much dignity and grace that someone in that position could. Maya’s suicide at what could only be described as the high point of her professional career was especially poignant.

One hint at what’s coming:

Marwan: The important thing is that one of them (nuke plants) has already melted down.

Despite stopping all the rest of the power plants from melting down, the plant that did meltdown is either a cover for something worse (hard to imagine what) or a signal for something else to begin.

Stay tuned.

BODY COUNT

Curtis takes out two American tunrcoats. Marwan accounts for two CTU agents. CTU takes out Marwan’s main contact at the IT office. We also learned the fate of the back-up CTU agents captured with Curtis last week. This brings us to the century mark for the show.

Jack: 18 dead.
Show: 100 dead.

What happened to Baldy?

LOOSE ENDS

Loyal reader Maryhunter points out that we have more clothing continuity problems. You’ll recall Secretary Heller’s magical change of clothing after escaping from the terrorists. Now Paul has an equally miraculous shirt change from the time he’s brutalized by Jack to the point where he, Jack, and Audrey are driving to the office building to get the override.

Do all rich people carry around spare clothing like this? What am I missing here? This from an email from Maryhunter:

“... that discontinuity of Paul’s shirt suddenly going from stripes to purplish isn’t horribly offensive, because the Jackmeister ripped his old shirt’s buttons all off pre-zappage. (sometime I want someone, perhaps Jack, to rip my shirt off like that…an old one, though…)”

Settle down girl!

Cross-posted at Blogger News Network

By: Rick Moran at 6:37 am
6 Responses to “JACK BAUER: PATRIOT OR THUG?”
  1. 1
    ceo Said:
    1:02 pm 

    Interesting POV on 24.

  2. 2
    The Mad Tech Said:
    10:56 pm 

    Fantastic comparison of Jack to Davy Crockett. Another great ‘24’ post Superhawk!

  3. 3
    Fence Said:
    7:26 am 

    I’ve given up on 24. It is far too black and white, we never see CTU/Jack torture anyone who turns out to be innocent do we?

  4. 4
    James Dente Said:
    10:23 pm 

    Umm, Paul was innocent. In my opinion.

    And I’ve figured out the reason why – in terms of plot – President Palmer isn’t in power any more and why the other guy is. I won’t say any more.

  5. 5
    Jay Said:
    5:52 pm 

    I still have not gotten to watch this show!

  6. 6
    Edna Said:
    1:06 pm 

    24 rules and so does Jack

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