Soccer Dad

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This is the first season of 24 that I've been watching in its original broadcast. I watched the first 6 seasons on DVD. So finally I can comment on the current state of the show. Spoilers alert.

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Previously 155, 154, 153, 152, 151.

The Provocateur presents a provocative view of 24:

Long term fans of 24 know that not only Jack's life changed when his wife died at the end of season one, but frankly, the way he viewed the world and his job changed. Jack has become significantly more self destructive and he rarely views his own life with significantly less worth. He is in many ways trying desperately to join his wife and end the terrible pain that her death has caused him. It's for this reason that he always seems to take the path of most resistance. That's because it is a path for which he sees little to lose. He has become beholden mostly to the mission at hand and little else. Furthermore, he treats those that get in the way of his mission with as little care as he often treats his own life when executing a mission.

We have a DVD of season 1. One of the features is the alternate ending for the first season. That ending has it that Nina doesn't shoot Teri and we see a scene of Jack, Teri and Kim walking smiling through the halls of CTU enjoying the triumph.

And of course if the first season had ended like that, we wouldn't now be watching season 7. The self destructive nature of Jack's job wouldn't have taken hold of the narrative and the show wouldn't be as popular as it is now.

Whether the self destruction is as the Provocateur writes, a result of a death wish, or as I think, a cost of Jack's job that the writers have imposed upon him, doesn't matter. There something about what Jack does that brings death to those near to him. The show may have a premise that Jack is hero because he does whatever is necessary to save the country, but it has a secondary premise that doing that job has a cost.

This year, the show introduced FBI agent Renee Walker to illustrate the costs of Jack's job. She's been Jack's alter ego. And she understands what Jack does. But she's also seeing the cost. She didn't like it much two weeks ago as she discovered that her terrorizing a young woman and baby didn't just get the information that was necessary, but this week again with the death of Marika. (Interestingly, Marika, in the end died as a result of her own - heroic - actions.)

She wants Jack to acknowledge the loss. Jack has no time for such sentimentality. There was a job to do, and you do it well. Marika was the only shot they had to get at Dubaku.so he has no time for regrets. But Renee has a few. (Of course, in season 2, when it seemed that Jack was the best option to fly the nuke into the desert, Jack volunteered to be the sacrifice. He wouldn't ask anyone else to do it.)

It's becoming increasingly clear that either Walker or Moss will die at the end. Either Moss will and Renee will become an even closer approximation of Jack; or Renee will die and Jack will be forced to admit the pain he feels and wonder if the price was worth it.

More and more season 7 is shaping up like the first three seasons, where the first threat takes up the first half of the day and the second threat - the overarching threat - will occupy the second half of the day. Dubaku/Zuma is the Gaines of season 7. The second half of the day will be concerned with rolling up the rest of conspiracy in the government.

But that also means that there's one more betrayal. I'm starting to wonder if that's Tony. Or maybe it's Bill. He insists that the President return to the White House, but as the preview shows, the White House is the high value target, that Tony told Jack about. If the remaining betrayer is in the FBI, I"m guessing that it's Janis.

I didn't expect Sean to be found out so soon. I also figured that he'd be found out because of the stunt he pulled getting his wife's flight to the front of the queue. I guess there will be no fall out from that now.

It's pretty clear that Dubaku really loved Marika. Maybe he was a brutal thug, but he wanted her approval.

Jamie on the implausibility of Sean's story:

He then shot himself to make his story more believable. And it would have been more believable if not for two big factors.

1) Chloe created a more fictional, fictional method for retrieving the information that fingered Walsh.

2) The gunshot wound to the arm healed miraculously in about a minute. He even put on a shirt and a suit coat over that wing. Are you kidding me? My arm aches for three days after I get a damn flu shot and Walsh is throwing on a coat after getting a gunshot wound!??

Well that's 24. Make up some sort of geek speak to fake it through a difficult patch of narrative. Still it's funny to spot those moments.

Here are a couple more fun summaries of the latest 24. Hour 5 - 6, was one of the best of the show so far. And a lot of that came from the conflict between the main characters, not just from the violence.

jack bauer