With a few strokes of the (real-life) president’s pen, Guantanamo Bay was ordered shut within a year, enhanced interrogation tactics were banished as relics of a dark past, and secret CIA prisons began dropping off the map in Eastern Europe. America’s going to play nice from now on. What’s a rogue former CTU agent to do?
As a relative newbie to the realm of “24” fandom (I’ve only seen season six and all five hours of the current season), it came as a disappointment when a number of right-leaning Jack Bauer fanatics I know expressed concerns that the show’s hero might be “going soft” this season. Could the days of gunshot-induced confessions be over? Might we never witness Jack chomp through a terrorist’s carotid artery again? I suppose the answers to these crucial questions remain to be seen. Thankfully, 19 hours and approximately 1,609 preposterous plot twists have yet to unfold.
Nonetheless, to my eye, Bauer hasn’t exhibited many signs of weak-kneed capitulation this season. The man buried an FBI agent alive just to earn his terrorist bona fides and maintain a cover as a government turncoat. Still, some concerned conservatives are wringing their hands over the show’s new emphasis on excessive due process and “human rights” for enemies of the state. “24” has traditionally offered segments of the population a welcome, albeit fictional, depiction of American agents treating dangerous terrorists as if they were, well, dangerous terrorists. Yes, Bauer has tended to cross the line once or twice per episode, but he always did so to extract critical information from nefarious characters in order to save innocent lives.
The high-octane drama served as a welcome retreat from frustrating realities. The show’s “do whatever it takes” mentality represented a stark departure from the prevailing “terrorists are people, too” attitude that has dominated editorial pages across the globe. How many times must we read that Gitmo is a “stain” on America’s deteriorating image? In some ways, “24” represented the political Right’s TV equivalent of the fictional utopia “The West Wing” offered liberals throughout the Bush years. Therefore, the notion that the writers of this show are getting squishy just as the Obama administration takes power is, understandably, a dismaying thought for many fans. Thankfully, I believe that any such dismay is misplaced. The show’s recent shifts may actually be intended to undermine liberal conventional wisdom vis-a-vis American security, and turn public opinion against haranguing our intelligence gathering community.
Assuming the creators of “24” did not shift ideologically during the writer’s strike that delayed season seven, it would appear that the show isn’t going soft, but going subtle. One of the very first scenes of the season took place on Capitol Hill, with Bauer being raked over the coals for his extreme tactics. Consider the portrayal of the senator who’s grilling Bauer just before he’s whisked away to serve an FBI subpoena. The lawmaker comes off as a sniveling know-it-all, eager to score political points by humiliating and demoralizing a man who’s repeatedly risked his life for his country. Bauer’s disdain for his inquisitor is palpable, and the audience isn’t far behind. Incidentally, inquiring minds must know: Was this character an homage to an actual sitting Senator? There are many who’d fit the bill, so let’s just call it a composite.
In a subsequent episode, budding protagonist and full-fledged cutie Renee Walker reluctantly abandons FBI protocol to coerce key intelligence from a smirking terrorist. Before she twisted her gun into his wound, the bed-ridden fiend seemed smugly convinced she was too by-the-book (the Army Field Manual, perhaps?) to actually obtain the nugget she needed. Her decision ultimately uncovers a plot to kidnap a high profile US ally, but reaps a whirlwind of legal trouble. The immediate opprobrium unleashed on her by the Department of Justice strikes viewers as misplaced and petty. The pathetic whining from the poor “victim’s” attorneys is downright revolting. Knowing that lives hang in the balance, viewers just want these suits out of the way and sparing their lectures, at least until the imminent threat has passed.
I believe that “24’s” increased attention to interrogation regulations and suspects’ rights does not translate into a newfound enthusiasm for counterproductive caution. If anything, it’s led to the emergence of an entire class of quasi-antagonists on the show: Grandstanding senators and process-obsessed bureaucrats. While this crowd’s motives aren’t nearly as malicious as the terrorists acting in conjunction with the genocidal Senegalese regime in Africa, their actions are still seen as self-serving and risky to the well being of Americans. They’re not viewed as evil, just annoying.
I suspect the sharp minds behind this show may be subtly injecting this meme into the public’s imagination. When the inevitable “Bush Revenge” hearings come to Washington–with all the obnoxious posturing we’ve come to expect from devotees of political expediency–more Americans may perceive the holier-than-thou questioners with increased skepticism, or even contempt. They may also become more open to giving our nation’s real covert agents the benefit of the doubt, especially since their supposed malfeasances pale in comparison to Bauer’s, shall we say, intense brand of “tough diplomacy.”
Indeed, the mere fact that this season is set in Washington is a major change for the show–perhaps an acknowledgement that America has a new leader with different priorities. For the first time, Bauer is accountable not just to a few superiors (they were running out of ways to demote him, anyway), but to the American people and their representatives. In a moment of self-reflection while under oath, Bauer tells that self-righteous senator that if the public believes he’s behaved unacceptably, he’s prepared to deal with the consequences. It invites the question of whether his outlandish means justify the ends he inarguably produces. Bauer is appealing to regular folks to judge him, and the show’s producers are nudging the regular folks in their audience toward certain conclusions. It will be interesting to see how far they push this underlying conflict, but the cross-current to the prevailing elite conventional wisdom they’re providing is a welcome and thought-provoking one.
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