First, however, a couple of plot elements I found hard to believe: (1) How did Juma and his cadre get into the United States? (2) How did they so easily overpower all the levels of Secret Service at the White House?
But thoroughly believable was the President giving herself up to save her daughter. Jack told her he would have done that too, but pleaded with the President not to, because she was President and he was not - but I think any parent, President or not, would have done the same as President Taylor.
Torture was also very much in the air and in keen intellectual dispute tonight. In another superb scene, Bill tells Jack he (Bill) can't bring himself to torture the Senator's aide, Ryan, a traitor who clearly knows that the White House will be attacked. The President has sent Jack on his way to prison, because he was torturing Ryan, who was about to break. Jack's shipment out to prison is interrupted by the terrorist attack on the White House, which he is now defending.
So is torture right or wrong, on behalf of stopping an imminent terrorist attack? First, I think it's important to point out that this was nothing like what was going on in Gitmo and Abu Ghraib, where the torture was not designed to stop a terrorist attack only minutes away. My response to whether Jack or the President or Bill were most right in their three different takes on torture is that I'm not sure. I like to think that, at very least, I'm most like Bill, and couldn't bring myself to torture anyone myself. But if innocent lives were literally at risk, in a terrorist attack about to happen, would I have stopped Jack if I were President?
A difficult question - well served neither by apologists for the Bush administration, nor by Keith Olbermann's frequent attacks on 24 as glorifying torture. At very least, 24 presents this issue in the wrenching complexity it deserves - and 24 deserves credit not criticism for this.
Back to the story ... Next hour promises even more deadly surprises, and I'm worried that Bill or Aaron, or maybe both of them, may not come through it...
See also: Hours 1 and 2 ... Hours 3 and 4 ... Hour 5 ... Hour 6 ... Hour 7 ... Hour 8 ... Hour 9 ... Hour 10
The Plot to Save Socrates
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7 comments:
Paul,
I never thought to comment before on one of your reviews but yesterday's episode of '24' moved me in the same way that it did you.
Torture is never as clear cut as people want to present. There is a lot of gray in it. Do I condone torture? NO. However, do I applaud Jack Bauer when he gets results and saves people? YES. The thing that needs to be explored then is where does this dichotomy come from?
Personally, as you have said, if I found myself in those positions (Bill Buchanan OR the President) I would not have allowed torture to continue and would not have condoned it. My personal morals would simply not allow it.
On the other hand, a very powerful argument can be made that when needed it can work.... A real dilemma then.
Keep up the great work with the books and the blog. I hope to finish reading more of your fiction soon. Take care.
Thank you, M.P. - on all accounts.
Did you like the part where the Senator called Jack reprehensible and Jack shot back immediately with "And you sir are weak!!!". Great timing and delivered with conviction.
Yes, and I also like the part where the Senator later criticized Jack for not doing enough to protect the President!
He's an excellent despicable character.
You know what they say: "The road to hell is paved with good intentions".
The senator might have the most high and moral intentions in the world, but his means to that end are not the best.
Curiously, I wonder what his outcome will be also. And, I am not completely sold on the innocence of Janis... but that's left for another episode, and another night.
This is the best show on television, no doubt.
MP: I don't like Janis much either - conceivably she could be working for Jon Voight.
hj: nothing has the adrenalin and the punch-in-the-face pace of 24 ... I'd also put it the Top 10 of all-time best shows ever on television... (Lost and the new Battlestar Galactica are also there, too)
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