Nerve Endings Firing Away

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As a NY Times article admits with a sigh that America is winning this war – on 24. This series, if you haven’t seen it yet, is one of the most compelling although tacky dramas on primetime TV. Lately I have almost given up watching TV except for occasional news blurbs (blogs are more reliable now) and reruns of Friends or Frasier. But I have followed 24 religiously for the past two seasons. Built around the concept that the United States faces a major terrorist strike on home soil and the machinations of the Counter-Terrorism Unit (CTU) in conjunction with other federal agencies to foil those plans – all within 24 hours, the storyline is mostly extremist but gripping. Every episode begins with a specified time duration – the following occurs between 9:00am and 10:00am and then it proceeds accordingly in real time.

If you loved Die Hard or Executive Decision type of movies, chances are that you will love 24 too. Of course, political logic or even morality aside, the show is a commentary on the American emergency management system. Mostly impressive, it shows human nature at its best and worst. Clashing egos even in times of times of national security risk is an inevitable factor in all government machinery. Jack Bauer, the series’ protagonist indulges in extreme measure often in total opposition to his bosses’ wishes, ultimately gets the job done – hook or by crook. Lately the blogs of otherwise serious bloggers like Kevin Drum, Mathew Yglesias, and  Jim Henley are abuzz with certain aspects of the show namely torture techniques used to extract information from suspects. In a previous episode from the current season, Jack shoots the suspect in the knees to make him confess an imminent terrorist strike occurring in less than ten minutes. The question immediately pops up especially in light of Abu Gharib and Guantanamo Bay incidents is that are any means justified for torture for national security? Watching any Deol or Devgan flick, we are all for the good guy bashing up several baddies to save this “matrubhoomi” but wince when that same guy is thrashed in a tire (or on ice) in a police lockup. The reality is wrought with human rights groups and everything is not necessarily black and white.

However getting back to the show, it also almost shows Middle-Eastern people in bad light (well, duh!) but Season 2 had an interesting twist when the Omar or Ali guy turned out to be the innocent one while his white dumb blonde fiancée was the brainwashed one. Whoa! So much for stereotypes. The current season too has a handsome Turkish family (mom and son from the House of Sand and Fog) being shown as a terrorist sleeper cell that FBI apparently missed. But knowing the history of the writers, this might just be a cover for hidden twists in the story. Another interesting aspect is the way they depict the overarching government ideology especially the President’s. The first three seasons had a unlikely black President who at best was an upright and honest man and who stuck to his principles as far as political survival allowed, and he was clearly depicted as a Democrat. This season however, the President and more so, the Secretary of Defense (who gets kidnapped) are clearly pro-war with anti-war children who according to them, indulge in “sixth grade Michael Moore logic” – clearly a not-so-subtle reference to Bush and Rumsfeld. 

Call me brain-dead but I love this show. The plotlines are as extreme as it can get – right from detonating a nuclear bomb on US soil (they actually detonate it, although in a desert – season two) to a full-scale bio-terrorism attack in 11 cities (season three). I just might start a weekly post series on updating ya’ll on 24 events (hmmm…not a bad idea). All that is missing is Jack’s awesomely hot daughter, Kim (Elisha Cuthbert of The Girl Next Door fame). But not everything can be perfect, can it?

PS. That reminds me to thank Fareed Zakaria who inspired me to write on the War on Terror. Coming up next week.

PPS. Too many parentheses in this post, nah? Weird.

by Patrix | on Wednesday, January 12th, 2005 at 11:05 pm | Television . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.