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Jack Bauer's our terrorist-fighting Superman
Faster than a speeding nuke, ‘24’ character single-handedly protects U.S.
 Kelsey Mcneal / Fox Look! Up in the air! It's a nuke, it's a plot, it's Super Jack Bauer! |
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(Warning: Spoilers for Sunday and Monday's two-part "24" premiere follow.)
If the world inhabited by Jack Bauer and the rest of the Counter-Terrorism Unit on Fox’s “24” was real, there’s no way that Kiefer Sutherland would have been nominated for an award at Monday’s presentation of the Golden Globes, nor would the awards show have been held anywhere near Hollywood. Both his character and the location would have been far too dangerous for comfort.
Even before “24’s” new season began on Sunday, Bauer’s Los Angeles had been the victim of a biological attack, and narrowly escaped a couple of nuclear devices. The organizations charged with fighting the threat were mostly good only at invading civil liberties. The army, government, and even CTU itself have always been loaded with moles and traitors. It’s a wonder anyone on the show still lives in California at all.
The sixth season may be even worse. Just four hours into his day, Bauer has already seen a nuclear device detonate in an L.A. suburb. He’s escaped from captivity, rescued a terrorist leader-turned-CTU-collaborator, and then killed a series regular, Curtis Manning, to keep him from executing that former terrorist.
He’s also told CTU leader Bill Buchanan that he’s quitting, although since he hasn’t told President Wayne Palmer — yes, the brother of legendary President David Palmer. Since the nuke has actually gone off, and since star Kiefer Sutherland is still under contract, odds are fair that Bauer will be back on the job next Monday night. The negativity is probably just the result of the two years of silence he spent in a Chinese prison.
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A modern superhero
Other producers have tried to create serial dramas to challenge “24,” but focusing solely on the serial format ignores two factors that have helped the show maintain its audience. In Bauer, the show has created a superhero for modern times, and it’s put Bauer in what amounts to a prime-time soap opera. It has all the plotting, intrigue, and classic plot maneuverings of any daytime program, with violence taking the place of sex as the primary way of keeping score.
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As this season begins, Jack Bauer comes right off the plane straight from years of torture in a Chinese prison and is his old self again in a matter of minutes. Of course, the man who has done so much for the United States is handed right off to another group of villains, this time an Arabic organization that is hell-bent on destroying America. And of course, the leader of said villains immediately tells Bauer valuable secrets of his master plan, then leaves him alone with a single guard so he can escape.
Normal human beings would require months of rest and rehabilitation before they could even dream of rejoining an elite fighting force like CTU. Almost everyone would at least require a sandwich and cold beverage. Not Jack. Stab him, beat him, pour toxic chemicals on his open wounds — that won’t stop him. It’ll just make him mad. Mad enough to kill someone with his bare teeth, in perhaps the goriest scene in the show’s six-year history.
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