For the first time in the current season of Fox’s “24,” the show finally became interesting again (at least for me) because it returned to the kind of ethical and moral drama that had made it great for its first five seasons.
Through most of this season the main plot device has been the attempt to find and stop a terrorist group in possession of nuclear bombs on American soil. To be honest, it felt largely like an elongated miniseries, with Jack playing a one-dimensional savior character willing to ask, gently urge, strongly persuade, and forcefully threaten even his friends to accomplish his mission his way.
But just one week after the season’s major plot device was concluded (the bombs were recovered and the terrorists caught or killed), several of this year’s main characters found themselves wound up into the kind of mind-numbing and heart-wrenching choices that brought power to the first several seasons. I believe this brought “24″ back to its most poignant and authentic dramatic core–where the choices of many characters are challenged by the beliefs and convictions they’ve been trained in versus the awful choices they must make in situations they never could have imagined.
In this one episode:
Even in this dramatic context these events are fantastic and over-the-top, but they help remind each of us that what we’ve been trained in (and what we think we believe) can always be challenged by unforeseen circumstances. This leaves us at that risky crossing between the convictions and ethics that got us this far and the situation we’re facing at the time. To that degree, ’24′ regained some of its inspiring quality this week, and I’m genuinely interested to see the consequences that come from the choices these characters are making.
posted April 19, 2007 at 1:30 am
I also see lots of faith issues in the show. Do you trust a leader just because he’s in charge? Do the ends of triumph justify the means of betrayal, deception etc? And of course the “savior” issue that you mentioned in your post. All those Facebook “Superman wears Jack Bauer pajamas” and “Jack Bauer is God” groups can’t be wrong.