The problem with 24

Yes, I know, most of you are saying "What? There's a problem with 24, but Julie, we thought you loved 24, and most importantly, that Jack Bauer was the man you were meant for..." While I don't deny that that's true, there are several glitches in the show.

First off, the reason why I've written about 24 twice in the span of a week if of course because the excitedly awaited season 6 is starting in just 5 hours!! Yes, you heard correctly, 5 hours!!! Jack will once again have the worst and longest day of his life and will end up saving the entire world many times over in just a short 24 hours.

But really, the problem with 24, is that it is so ambivalent. On the one hand, it is so nauseatingly patriotic, I feel I'm tuned in to CNN at times. What with the very liberal use of torture to make terrorists spill their secrets and the blind belief in a system that is rigidly conservative, this show boasts an all-American patriotism that has been rarely seen since JAG.

On the other hand, Jack Bauer's character is always torn between doing what's best for the rest of the world, and doing what's best for him. He rarely chooses himself. He makes difficult choices (to say the least--think of that famous scene in season 4 involving Audrey Raines' ex-husband...ouch, that must have been a hard one). But he always suffers the consequences of his actions, to the point of enduring emprisonment and torture. So while he never makes selfish choices, his decisions are often morally reprehensible.

Coult this mean that Jack represents an ambivalence in American patriotic sentiment? Could it be that his character is actually a subtle way for the creators of 24 to question the Bush administration and its morally reprehensible (to say the least) actions and the majority's blind belief in their leader?

Okay, maybe I'm getting carried away. Maybe I just need to justify the reasons why I like the show so much despite its many flaws...