24 - Season 6

[Spicy McHaggis 0]

Rip, this is also the third "Muslim terrorists with nukes" overarching storyline.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Theres still the possibility of Russian bad guys though, although I doubt it. Dmitri Gredenko supposedly shows up at some point in the season and he was involved with the nuclear weapons.

[Youth N Asia 0]

The main badguy at the end of the season usually doesn't show up anywhere near the beginning, so this could take a hundred different turns and anyone could be the big bad by season's end

[Ripper 0]

Rip, this is also the third "Muslim terrorists with nukes" overarching storyline.

 

 

Oh come on one of those seasons had the Muslim terrorist for all of 5 hours. With a good ol blonde american helping the most. I can see if you want to compare this one and the Marwan(however you spell it) one.

[Mik 0]

The main badguy at the end of the season usually doesn't show up anywhere near the beginning, so this could take a hundred different turns and anyone could be the big bad by season's end

 

Habib Marwan lasted all season.

[Youth N Asia 0]

Is he the only one who's name you got at the beginning of the season?

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

I think so. He certainly was the earliest start.

 

Day 1: Gaines & co. --> Drazens --> Victor Drazen

Day 2: Syed Ali/Marie Warner --> Sneaky-azz government dudes --> Peter Kingsley (and Max)

Day 3: Salazars --> Michael Amador --> Stephen Saunders

Day 4: It's pretty much Marwan all the way. We don't know who's in charge, obviously, but the Evil Terrorfamily and co. are clearly working for someone from the outset.

Day 5: Bierko --> Henderson --> Logan & sneaky-azz bluetooth phone guys, with an unusual number of quickly dispatched underlings (Yellow Tie, Cummings, Nathanson)

Day 6: Abu Fayed --> ? Looks like dad Bauer at this point, though it'll probably be Jack's sister, thought long dead in a rowboat accident many moons ago.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

FOX NY is running a news story tonight after the race about how the Government is blaming 24 for trouble their having in Iraq.

 

WHAT?

[KingPK 0]

It's not the government, it's one of those "human rights" groups that love to bitch about whatever problem they can drum up.

 

NEW YORK - Demanding information, Jack Bauer faces a terrified man tied to a chair in front of him. Through a window over Bauer's shoulder, the man sees his two children bound and gagged.

 

Tell me where the bomb is, Bauer orders, or we'll kill your family. Silence. The prisoner watches as a thug kicks down the chair his son is tied to and fires a gun at point-blank range. He screams but still doesn't relent _ until the gun is pointed at his second son. Having gotten what he needed, Bauer whispers that the execution was staged.

 

The scene from Fox's "24" is haunting, but hardly unusual. The advocacy group Human Rights First says there's been a startling increase in the number of torture scenes depicted on prime-time television in the post-2001 world.

 

Even more chilling, there are indications that real-life American interrogators in Iraq are taking cues from what they see on television, said Jill Savitt, the group's director of public programs.

 

Human Rights First recently brought a West Point commander and retired military interrogators to Hollywood for meetings with producers of "24" and ABC's "Lost" to talk about their concerns about life imitating art.

 

One man in the meeting was Tony Lagouranis, a former U.S. Army specialist who questioned prisoners in Baghdad's infamous Abu Ghraib prison and several other facilities around Iraq. He said he saw instances of mock executions like that in "24." Once, some fellow interrogators asked an Iraqi translator to pretend he was being tortured to strike fear in a prisoner, after they had just watched a similar scene on a DVD.

 

Television is hardly the only factor at play; Lagouranis said many American interrogators are young, receive little training and are pressured by commanders to extract information from prisoners as quickly as they can.

 

But it's enough of a concern that one professor at a military academy told Savitt that Jack Bauer represented one of his biggest training challenges.

 

Retired U.S. Army Col. Stu Herrington, who learned interrogation techniques in Vietnam and is an expert asked by the Army to consult on conditions at Guantanimo Bay, said that if Bauer worked for him, he'd be headed for a court-martial.

 

"I am distressed by the fact that the good guys are depicted as successfully employing what I consider are illegal, immoral and stupid tactics, and they're succeeding," Herrington said. "When the good guys are doing something evil and win, that bothers me."

 

Prior to 2001, the few torture scenes on prime-time TV usually had the shows' villains as the instigators, Savitt said. In both 1996 and 1997, there were no prime-time TV scenes containing torture, according to the Parents Television Council, which keeps a programming database. In 2003, there were 228 such scenes, the PTC said. The count was over 100 in both 2004 and 2005.

 

They found examples on "Alias," "The Wire," "Law & Order," "The Shield" _ even "Star Trek: Voyager."

 

In one "Lost" scene, Sayid Jarrah was depicted holding a knife to the face of one adversary, suggesting that "perhaps losing an eye will loosen your tongue."

 

Howard Gordon, an executive producer of "24," suggested that a helpless feeling in the nation because of terrorism and the Iraq war may be what creators are reflecting in their shows. There's been a surge in general in the level of violence tolerated in prime time.

 

"Perhaps at some level it's an expression of our anger and our helplessness," he said.

 

On "24," which a week ago depicted Bauer torturing his own brother by sticking a bag over his head and injecting him with a fictional drug that causes intense pain, producers say they try not to glamorize such scenes. Gordon said they try to show the acts take a toll on Bauer, too.

 

But Herrington said he's concerned that much of what's on TV is misleading.

 

Television interrogation frequently works to a ticking clock: someone needs to find out the location of a bomb from a prisoner within the hour or it will explode. That's so rare in real life that it's essentially mythology, he said.

 

Herrington called prisoners his "guests." When taken into custody, the "guest" would get medical treatment, a shower, a good meal. Herrington would tell him he'd be treated with respect. If it's a military officer, Herrington would salute. It built a relationship far more likely to yield solid information, as opposed to lies told simply to stop torture.

 

One German officer in World War II was so meticulous that he found out the birthdays of his prisoners, and wished them happy ones, as happy as they could get in prison. The officer was brought to the United States after the war and honored by a veterans group, even as many acknowledged they had spilled their guts to him.

 

"It seems to me dramatically much more powerful to actually use psychological approaches when you are interrogating," Lagouranis said. "It's really a test of wills. He has information and he doesn't want to give it to you. To me that's much more interesting than an electricity sensor."

 

Not necessarily to a television producer, though.

 

Television has a limited time and a need to keep viewers from changing the channel. As much as he learned from the interrogators and respects their point of view, "24's" Gordon said their desires and his are going to naturally be at odds sometimes.

 

"We're not a documentary or a manual on interrogation," he said. "We're not a primer on the war on terror. We're a television show."

 

Savitt said she understands. The goal is to educate people who are writing interrogation scenes without ever speaking to a real interrogator. She's seeking Hollywood's help in spreading that message, perhaps inviting Kiefer Sutherland to West Point to drive home the point that Jack Bauer is fiction.

 

Human Rights First's ultimate desire is to drive home the idea that torture by Americans should never be tolerated.

 

"We would never try to censor anybody," Savitt said. "We would never tell Hollywood what to do, but we are trying to tell them what legal interrogation looks like. If it makes them pause, that's a bonus."

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Jack finally getting busted for something he didn't do would be something..

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

So I guess all CTU techies are trained to blow shit up savagely, not just Chloe.

 

Decent two episodes, feel like we're getting things back on track. Nice to see Raje Szebridjwhatever. The fact that Assad's return consisted of him sitting in an office was kind of disappointing, though, and I wish we could have avoided the inevitable "gotta take the president out of power..." storyline.

[Ripper 0]

I think its kinda obvious that Dr. Janosz isn't actually going along with the kill Wayne Palmer plot and is just trying to find out more info.

 

This show is well aware of what it did before, takes you on a path where it will make you think they are rehashing and then go a different direction. I think that is what is going on here.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Lennox dies before he can warn Palmer about the plot against him. Bet on that shit.

[starvenger 0]

So I guess all CTU techies are trained to blow shit up savagely, not just Chloe.

 

Decent two episodes, feel like we're getting things back on track. Nice to see Raje Szebridjwhatever. The fact that Assad's return consisted of him sitting in an office was kind of disappointing, though, and I wish we could have avoided the inevitable "gotta take the president out of power..." storyline.

You know, the Presidents in the 24-verse have to stop hiring people who would jump at the chance of kicking them out of office to take power...

[Stephen Joseph 0]

Where's Agent Pierce

 

and okay, seriously

 

NUCLEAR WEAPONS AROUND and you'll SAVE YOUR KID? Reality broken right there

[chirs3 0]

So I guess all CTU techies are trained to blow shit up savagely, not just Chloe.

 

Decent two episodes, feel like we're getting things back on track. Nice to see Raje Szebridjwhatever. The fact that Assad's return consisted of him sitting in an office was kind of disappointing, though, and I wish we could have avoided the inevitable "gotta take the president out of power..." storyline.

 

My hope is that they'll combine the two - Assad will be on TV giving his address with the President nearby, then THE COSPIRATOR'S~ set off a bomb or somesuch - try to make it look like Assad was playing everyone so he could blow up the President on TV. Like someone said a few posts ago, 24 likes to take us down roads we've travelled before, but then tweak the ending into something different - this is mirroring the 25th Amendment storyline so far, but I seriously doubt it will remain that diplomatic.

 

At first I wasn't too sure on this season's plot, but I'm digging it now. 4 episodes into the season, Fayed has already become the most successful villain in the show's history (runner up to Marwan for shooting down Airforce One), and the fact that there are still 3 bombs in play makes things interesting - rather than one big event that we know Jack will foil, we've still got three potential disasters, and I'm hoping the writers have the stones to let at least one more bomb go off.

[BlackFlagg 0]

Where's Agent Pierce

 

Probably retired and off banging Martha Logan

[In Credible 0]

The only thing I dont like about the writing is that nobody acts really out of line with the story. For example Morris could have easily just knocked out the chick driving the car. Sure it would have crashed, but if he takes her out the bombs can't be armed. I don't like how the writers assume everyone is selfish and would let lots of people die just because they're so worried about their own safety or that of a family member.

 

No sense of something that's bigger than them, even though they are in the middle of the nuke situation they talk about it as if it's just the days news story.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

interesting story on 24 from the New Yorker

[2GOLD 0]

Where's Agent Pierce

 

and okay, seriously

 

NUCLEAR WEAPONS AROUND and you'll SAVE YOUR KID? Reality broken right there

 

What can you say really?

Women, go fig.

[Mik 0]

This season... I don't know.

 

On Monday I ended up watching a few episodes of Season 4 of The Wire that just went On Demand over this. I mean, I recorded it and watched it later but I can't exactly say I was looking forward to it.

 

It was a pretty decent two hour block but they need to really get things in gear. It didn't help that the house blowing up/Jack yelling bomb and jumping out the window bit was in the season trailer and I recognized it ahead of time.

 

First time I've ever been down on this show.

[Ripper 0]

Lets be real here. Not everyone is Jack Bauer. Most people will choose personal saftey over anything else. What pissed me off is the fact that Morris didn't just make something that would stop working later. Morris did piss me off because anyone with common sense knows they are going to kill you when they are done, but I understand the lady and her kid. She isn't even really sure where the house actually was. All she knows is that crazy ass father in law might kill her son. Noone would realistically take a chance at maybe finding a house that they saw this one time this one night that maybe lead to someone that may know something about some nukes over protecting their child.

[In Credible 0]

Lets be real here. Not everyone is Jack Bauer. Most people will choose personal saftey over anything else. What pissed me off is the fact that Morris didn't just make something that would stop working later. Morris did piss me off because anyone with common sense knows they are going to kill you when they are done, but I understand the lady and her kid. She isn't even really sure where the house actually was. All she knows is that crazy ass father in law might kill her son. Noone would realistically take a chance at maybe finding a house that they saw this one time this one night that maybe lead to someone that may know something about some nukes over protecting their child.

 

 

Yeah but she's with Jack! He can handle situations like this, if she just gives him all the info they can figure it out. Everyone in this show takes it upon themselves to do everything.

[Ripper 0]

Lets be real here. Not everyone is Jack Bauer. Most people will choose personal saftey over anything else. What pissed me off is the fact that Morris didn't just make something that would stop working later. Morris did piss me off because anyone with common sense knows they are going to kill you when they are done, but I understand the lady and her kid. She isn't even really sure where the house actually was. All she knows is that crazy ass father in law might kill her son. Noone would realistically take a chance at maybe finding a house that they saw this one time this one night that maybe lead to someone that may know something about some nukes over protecting their child.

 

 

Yeah but she's with Jack! He can handle situations like this, if she just gives him all the info they can figure it out. Everyone in this show takes it upon themselves to do everything.

 

 

Yeah, she is with jack. The guy with the fucked up hand that the family has heard from 2 times in the last, what, 5 years? I know he is Mista Bowa and everything, but its her son.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

Fuckin' 24. They serve up what I think is one of the lamer episodes in recent history in probably the least interesting season so far, and end it on that! I love you, 24.

[chirs3 0]

Of all the wacky personal crisis at CTU storylines this show has had, Morris's is (so far) one of the best, if only because it actually has something to do with what's going on. It's not "Gotta find the virus but someone brought a baby to CTU", or "Gotta stop the reactors, but my caraaaaazy daughter is acting up", or "I slept with someone eight years ago and OH NOES, DIVISION SENT THEM HERE~" - it's directly tied to the nukes, and the part he's played in arming them. Now I really hope at least one more nuke goes off - I want to see Morris implode.

 

Anyone hoping/praying that the person Reed is waiting for turns out to be Mandy? I know that's an impossible longshot, but still...

[LaParkaMarka 0]

I'm hoping Morris shoots that douchebag Milo in the face. Why would Milo get a commendation? For being shot and having his ass saved by Jack?? Fucking tourist Milo.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Like Edwin said.......that ending. Hoo-boy. Grimy bearded Logan should be a treat next week.

 

And I am very much anticipating the arrival of Reeds inside man. I'm trying to think of evil Gov't figures in the past few seasons that have been off the radar but I'm drawing a blank.

[BigPoppaKev 0]

I was thinkin the same thing Curry. Who in the past few seasons was an ally of Jack that has fallen off that could be the inside man trying to kill President Palmer. The only thing I could think of is Chase.....but he has one hand. I'm lost as to who it could be.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

It better not be that smarmy bitch Miles from season five.