"My Name Is Bauer"

The newest season of 24 promises so far to be a doozy, and it also might well be the most controversial to date.

The previous seasons have witnessed a variety of horrors and attempted atrocities.

Season One featured a plot to assassinate a presidential candidate, headed by a Serbian terrorist leader

Season Two featured a plot by Islamic militants to unleash a nuclear holocaust on US soil

Season Three revolved around a plan by a turncoat former British intelligence agent, out for revenge for having been earlier abandoned to his fate by his superiors, to unleash a catastrophic biological agent inside the country.

Season Four reintroduced the Islamic militant plot in a series of assaults involving the takeover of various nuclear facilities by means of computer sabotage and releasing radioactive materials into the atmosphere, among many other horrors.

Season Five involved the most surprising element thus far, when a plot that involved the assassination of a former President and an attack on Russian soil by presumably Chechen terrorists (though they were never called this by name) went awry when the terrorists felt betrayed by their enablers and turned their attack on the US. The major conspirator and villain in all this turned out to be none other than the President of The United States himself.

Season Five also ended with an even bigger surprise. Jack Bauer was lured off and taken into custody by agents of The People’s Republic of China, who had a bone to pick with him due to a mishap involving their embassy in season four.

Now we are at Season Six, which takes up twenty months later. Current President Wayne Palmer (brother of former President David Palmer, assassinated at the beginning of Season Five in another shocker) has negotiated for Jack’s release from a Chinese gulag, for which he has paid the Chinese an unspecified “high price”.

Jack has had it rough, having undergone endless months of constant torture and interrogation, though revealing nothing, in fact, refusing even to speak. So this would seem to be a lucky break. But no, actually, the President has agreed to hand Jack over to an Islamic militant (yeah, them again) in return for information pertaining to the whereabouts of what is presumed to be the mastermind behind a recent spate of terrorist attacks on US soil.

Jack is happy to die for something worthwhile, as he is made to understand that this guy wants him in order to kill him for the death of his brother, who died in Jacks custody while undergoing interrogation.

Oh, the guy also wants twenty million dollars.

Well, come to find out, the guy is himself the terrorist mastermind, the guy the government is after is actually innocent, more importantly, is actually wanting to negotiate a peace deal. The real terrorist leader wants him dead, as he considers him a traitor to the cause.

Okay, the first of some big plot holes are revealed here. One being, if the terrorist leader wanted this guy dead that bad, why waste time on Jack Bauer, who is being slowly tortured to death anyway in a Chinese gulag? Why not just be satisfied with the twenty million dollars? For that matter, why not just tell the government where he is and sit back and wait for him to be killed?

Well, obviously because this gives Jack an opportunity to not only escape the Chinese, but from the grips of the terrorists he has been handed over to, which he does by biting into the throat of one of his captors, grabbing the keys to his chains, then spitting out the gore and taking off after freeing himself.

When neither CTU nor the President calls off the coming air strike against Assad, the villainous former terrorist leader turned anti-hero, Jack takes it upon himself to rescue the guy, arriving in the nick of time to save him and to help uncover the identity of the traitor in Assad's midst.

Jack starts doing what Jack does best, he tortures the guy for information. Only Jack ain’t so good at it anymore, in fact, he has lost his taste for the unofficially sanctioned interrogation methods that served him so well in the past. He gives up way too easily, whereupon a bemused Assad takes up the slack, and quickly leans what he needs to know by jamming a long thin blade between the folds of the traitors thighs and his groin, and twisting it.

In the meantime, the real villain has another demand. He wants all enemy combatants released from a military detainment facility. In reality, there is only one of these men that he is concerned with, and he manages to secure his release with the aid of a traitorous American soldier, even after President Palmer has called off the deal at the urgings of Jack, whom Palmer finally ascertains knows what he is talking about more often than not.

Which brings me to what is undoubtedly the second, and in fact, the biggest plot hole of the entire series thus far. And that is, why the hell didn’t the terrorist mastermind demand the release of the detainees from the very beginning in return for giving away Assad's location? Of course, by the time he made this demand the President was well aware that he was the true terrorist leader, granted, and granted that if he demanded their release earlier he might have tipped his hand in this regard. But remember, he was only truly interested in one of the prisoners. He could have simply insisted this one man was innocent, and that he was a relative, or even if he wasn’t innocent, he deserved a second chance in life, and Assad's whereabouts would certainly have been worth the release of this one man in any event.

Of course, I will concede that the specific reason for his incarceration was never revealed, but the reason for the interest in his release became all to clear. He was an expert in Soviet nuclear technology, in the form of suitcase nukes, one of which went off at the end of the last episode, just outside of Los Angeles, resulting in an ominous mushroom cloud rising up over the distant horizon, where Jack had just insisted he just didn’t have what it takes any longer.

In fact, he has just had to kill a colleaque, a CTU agent by the name of Curtis Manning, who has been a series regular now for the past two seasons, a man of impeccable qualifications, steely resolve, and integrity. A man who has been instrumental in protecting the nation from various dastardly plots over the last few seasons. A man to whom Jack Bauer owes his life a number of times over, and vice versa. A man who has dedicated almost the entirety of his life to the service of his country, from his stint in the Marine Corps, when he was gravely wounded when his squad was attacked, many of them taken hostage, only to later be tortured, made to beg for their lives, and then beheaded.

The man responsible for these atrocities? Assad, the man Jack has now sworn to protect, the man to whom Jack had just brokered a deal for pardon of all crimes previously committed, which were many and considerable, in return for his part in helping to put an end to the current on-going terrorist attacks, and with the further agreement to continue working to formulate a peace treaty amongst all the various terrorist factions.

Jack found out from another colleaque, Cloy O’Brien, just what the history of Curtis was in regards to Assad, just when Curtis was ready to put a bullet in the man, whom he by now held at gunpoint. The only way Jack could save Assad from Curtis, who refused to back down, was with a bullet directly to the neck.

As Curtis breathed his last, Jack sunk to the ground, sobbing in anguish, intent that he was through, he just didn’t have it in him. He just can’t do this anymore. Then, he saw the mushroom cloud in the horizon. And he knew he had to pull himself together, one more time.

Like I said, this promises to be the most controversial season of the entire series thus far, for a variety of reasons.

For one thing, not only is there four more suitcase nukes out there somewhere, but there is an ongoing series of terrorist attacks in this country that involve suicide bombers on buses and trains. These attacks have happened in various different cities in the country, and they are all the work of Islamic militant fanatics. That in itself will raise the ire of many here, who might decry the season as contributing unduly to fear mongering on the part of the Fox broadcast network. After all, these kinds of attacks occurring on US soil, in our cities, is something that has been the subject of concern for some time now, especially since the 9/11 attacks.

It might particularly raise the ire of such Islamic groups such as CAIR (Council for American Islamic Relations) a group which is presented in this season in the form of a fictional counterpart under a different though similar name, and whose legal representative is none other than the sister of President Palmer.

Some might also find objectionable the implied belief that terrorist groups such as formerly lead by Assad could be reasoned or negotiated with.

It might also raise the ire of the right, when Ms. Palmer, among others on the show, utter some of the more obvious platitudes warning about the need to insure the protection of civil liberties, while others insist that while freedom has it’s price, in such desperate times it is best to err on the side of security.

Interestingly, the leader of the Islamic group is arrested, and while engaged in a brief consoling episode with another incarcerated man, inadverdantly learns some vaque phrase that is code for a bomb, to the effect that there are “five visitors”. The President's sister, with whom he has an ongoing romantic relationship, is adverse to relaying this utterance on the grounds of repeating private conversations, at which the loyal Muslim American leader becomes incensed and shouts, “stop being a lawyer for once”. She reluctantly relays the message, whereupon the President realized that there are four more suitcase nukes in the country, similar to the one that has just exploded prematurely in a warehouse just outside Los Angeles.

Palmer all but begs for Jacks help, but does Jack have it in him anymore? It seems that twenty months of torture in a Chinese gulag has given him a different perspective on torture, and as I have pointed out, he just doesn’t seem to have the heart for it any longer. I guess some might say that he is feeling the effects of karma.

Well, it worked for Earl Hickey, who is no longer a low life and thief, but has devoted his life, alongside sidekick and brother Randy, to making up for all his past misdeeds, with nothing but a list to guide him as he does so.

In real life, of course, this wouldn’t last very long, in the majority of such cases, it might go on for a month or two, maybe in some extreme cases six months to a year, but after all, a person is who and what they are. In real life, Earl Hickey would go back to stealing and would end up eventually in prison. Poor Randy would probably end up in a psychiatric facility. That of course is the best case scenario, the worse case being that one of their past victims would miscontrue their well meaning approaches and fill them full of lead.

That’s why I think there is no true cause for concern as to Jacks recent reluctance to get the job done. Yeah, karma is a bitch. But once it works it’s way out, it seldom really changes anything. If it did, it would actually be so seldom used in any given persons life, it would be an all but unknown commodity.

No, Jack will get the job done, after all, there are at least two more seasons of twenty four that are planned out to follow this one, providing the ratings hold, and providing that Kiefer Sutherland keeps to his contractual obligations. Hopefully, we will move past the Islamic terrorist angle by then. Though they have proven good villains, and this season promises to be no exception, it is going to get old.

How about some far right militia types who are outraged over the continually growing threat of Chinese expansion. That would give Jack a chance to undergo some degree of conflict. Should he vengefully allow them to have it handed to them, or should he protect them for the greater good? And would it even be for the greater good?

How about some nice far leftist eco-terrorists? They could create some dastardly new biological agent which would eliminate the worlds excess population in a misguided effort to bring the eco-system back in balance, while they hold the worlds only known antidote for use as a bargaining chip.

And when the hell is Kim, Jacks daughter, coming back into the picture? What if the last season were to turn out to include an ongoing plot to kill past CTU agents, and in the process of trying to protect her, Jack discovers that she herself is in on the plot.

Not that I have any inside knowledge, mind you. Hell, I don’t even know that much about karma.

So, for the time being, I will just say that, insofar as I know, former President Logan, who was taken into custody at the end of last season, will almost definitely make an appearance this season, as will wife Martha, though I am not sure in precisely what context. Also, one of Logan's co-conspirators is involved, according to the ads (he is the nerdy guy in the ads who objects to Jack that he is hurting him, whereupon Jack tells him “trust me, I’m not”). In fact, he is supposed to be in the next episode.

As for surprises, without a doubt there will turn out to be a mole in CTU (there almost always is one every season) and I am almost positive this will not turn out to be the Arab woman, who is a new character, nor will it be Chloe O’Brien's ex, who has now resumed his career after a brief stint as a shoe salesman at an upscale LA department store (and who is an arrogant dick). And it almost certainly will not be Chloe (although I wouldn’t entirely rule that out either). Bill Buchanan is also unlikely.

That leaves Milo Pressman, a nerdy though shadowy character who has had a recurring though relatively minor role in past seasons. He seems to be a dedicated computer geek and patriot, but appearances are deceiving, especially on 24. I vote for him.

It might also conceivably turn out that Assad is a villain after all. Wouldn’t that be a bitch? Jack kills Curtis to save Assad, who turns out to be the main villain after all, unbeknownst to the other terrorist leader, who may have been unaware of Assad's double role, or who just might have been a rival jockeying for authority in the organization.

It could be anybody, though, really, except for Jack Bauer. And who knows, maybe that betrayal will come in the last season. After all, he was in a Chinese gulag for twenty months, undergoing who knows what kind of brainwashing techniques. Maybe the Chinese were all too happy to release Jack. And what is this “high price”? Will that be revealed in a future season? In this one?

The "Manchurian Agent"? Who knows, on 24, after all, nothing is sacred. Not even karma.