Breaking Down Bauer: Tackling the New Season of 24
Written by: Rob Van Winkle, CC2K Staff Writer
3-28-07
By now, 24 has firmly established itself as a show that revels in keeping its audience off-balance by breaking all the traditional rules. Perhaps for that reason, it’s especially jarring when they become handcuffed by them.
The show’s iconoclastic nature was solidified at the end of Season 1, when after a full 23 hours and 55 minutes of Jack Bauer saving the world and his family, he finally reached the end of his ordeal…only to discover that his wife had been murdered! (The Season 1 DVD showed the alternate ending the cast had filmed, where Terri Bauer was rescued safe and sound; even the cast didn’t know what the “reality” was, until it aired.) What kind of show kills off the damsel in distress, JUST before her rescue, JUST before the credits roll? As audiences, we were stunned.
The next step in the show’s evolution was in the plots themselves. Season one centered around an assassination attempt that ultimately failed, and season two centered around a bomb that was successfully removed from a populated area. As though recognizing that this was not enough, subsequent seasons have seen a biological weapon released into a crowded hotel, Air Force One successfully shot down, and most recently a nuclear bomb detonated in Southern California. All at once, the definition of “saving the day” had changed as well.
From there, 24 has become the show where the cliché has seemingly become literal, and “the only rule is that there are no rules.” Well-established characters are revealed to be evil, beloved characters drop dead without any provocation or warning, and quirky, cantankerous computer analysts can become sex symbols. In a perfect world, these facts create a show where ANYTHING can happen, and fans are forced to watch each minute with breathless anticipation. However, 24 exists in OUR world, and as such, the sense that they will do anything is nothing more than a cleverly constructed façade. If you look closely enough, you can predict a lot of things.
The most obvious truth that can be gleaned is that, no matter what happens, Jack Bauer is going to survive, for several more seasons at least. You can throw any facts you want about how much punishment his body has taken, how many bullets are shot in his direction, and how killing him off would be the single bravest thing the writers and producers could do. All this is true, and yet there is also THIS.
This information comes from OUR world, not the world of the show, and as such, it pollutes the sense of danger that they are trying to cultivate.
The second most obvious truth is that a character is not dead until you see a bullet enter their head, or a doctor covers it with a sheet. This is pretty standard Hollywood fare, actually, but we tend to believe these little ruses more on 24 because of what they’ve done in the past. But they love to have characters appear in surprising ways (Nina Meyers, Seasons Two and Three, Sheri Palmer, Way Too Many Seasons, Charles Logan, This Season, etc.), and coming back from the assumed dead is one great way to do that. Case in point, recently, Jack was informed that his love of the past two seasons, Audrey Raines, was killed searching for him. He even saw the file! Well then, she MUST be dead, right? RIGHT?
But what struck me most clearly after watching this past episode is that, in certain cases, even small characters are as safe as Jack Bauer, due entirely to OUR world, and not at all to theirs. The first such character is new CTU analyst Nadia. Nadia, we learn earlier this season, is a Muslim, a fact that is revealed when government protocol restricts her access during this most recent crisis. New CTU agent Gheorge Muresan (sorry, Milo) goes out on a limb for her, and gives her his access codes. However, in recent weeks, a leak was established, and it was determined that it had come from Nadia’s computer station. She was forcibly removed from the floor, taken into holding, and tortured adorably by Ricky. The question lingered over several episodes…was Nadia a traitor? Had she allowed the terrorists to gain crucial information for their abominable plot?
The answer…OF COURSE NOT! There is NO WAY that she could have been evil, and it has NOTHING to do with how pure of heart she is. It has EVERYTHING to do with the Anti-Defamation League. Nadia is a Muslim, the first Muslim character on the show ever who wasn’t either a terrorist, a former terrorist, or the family of a terrorist. If she turns out to be innocent, then the message the show would be sending is “See? Not all Muslim people are bad. Here in fact was one who had access to vital information, and yet she STILL remained loyal through and through to her country.” And if she really was guilty? Then, the message would change somewhat to be this: “All Muslim people are connected like Kevin Bacon to terrorism.” On a show that can’t even risk naming the country they intend to bomb for fear of international incident, it was clear to me instantly that Nadia was going to pull through this thing with flying colors.
The second such character was a bit player who showed up in this latest episode, and yet we’ll never see again: some mildly evil dude’s autistic brother Brady. In the show, this mildly evil guy had been hired by Gredenko to get him the “security protocols” for a nuclear power plant. (Obviously a very smart mildly bad guy. “Hey, a Russian general who spent most of his professional career plotting my country’s demise wants to pay me to get him unfettered access to a nuclear plant near where I work…what harm could that do?”) He coerces his autistic brother to get this information for him, as he prepares dinner. CTU finds them, breaks in, and seriously wounds the mildly bad man. Jack sizes up the situation, and realizes that the only solution to this situation is to use Brady to lure General Gredenko out into the open, where he can be captured. Now…did anyone doubt that THIS plan would succeed? Let’s look at the scenarios again. If it works, and Brady accomplishes this task despite his handicap, the message is “Autistic people are just as competent as you or me. Discount what they’re capable of at your own peril.” Now, let’s pretend he fails, is killed, and/or Gredenko escapes with the information. In that case, the message becomes “Handicapped people are worthless, and can’t do anything for themselves.” There was not a CHANCE that Brady wouldn’t save the day.
Since I have taken my own sweetass time making this point, it appears my “Picking a Running Mate 101” course will have to wait until next week. God speed to all 24 presidents until then.