random "24" thoughts

Tonight's episode of "24" gives us an infected Jack Bauer. He gets a shirtless scene in front of Agent Renée Walker, possibly turning her on with all those scars of his (Jack's been infected with an engineered pathogen that apparently isn't contagious, so Walker can, conveniently, remain in the same room with him). Agent Walker gets to weep quietly at the thought of Jack in pain and possibly dying; she also gets a few moments alone with Agent Larry Moss that, yet again, strongly hint at their romantic involvement. This hasn't been confirmed by a kiss or even a simple touch, but the looks they trade and the tones they adopt toward each other seem to imply some sort of outside-the-office relationship. It's all very reminiscent of a Korean drama, where kissing is still a mushy, icky thing to show on TV.

Walker seems, at this point, firmly in Bauer's thrall, whatever her feelings for the hapless Moss may have been (Moss looks as though he'll be dead by the end of the next episode; if he doesn't get shot next week, I'm still counting on him dying sometime this season). Walker's character has been portrayed as tough but extremely empathetic, the empathy being the unfortunate cause of her many internal conflicts. Whatever connection she's established with Bauer is probably primal: she can be tough as nails when she has to be, and she's as pragmatic and ruthlessly logical as Bauer is, which makes them two of a kind, intellectually and professionally. Her empathy, though, is what makes her both Jack's feminine complement and his foil: in a weird sense, she seems to be acting as Jack's conscience. Would I be wrong to surmise that Walker's attitude toward Bauer includes a healthy dose of sexual attraction? Larry Moss, poor sap, is a drooling, feckless idiot in comparison.

And what guy wouldn't want to be Jack Bauer in such a situation-- alone in a room with the likes of Agent Walker? Pardon me, ladies, but Annie Wersching, the actress who plays Agent Walker, is both gorgeous and possessed of a smokin' bod. The costume design people played to her strengths by dressing her in those tight jeans, a strategy reminiscent of what the costume designers on all the Star Trek series would do: shamelessly exploit the hottest women in the cast by wrapping them in the most revealing outfits possible (Troi, Seven of Nine, T'Pol, etc.). True-- Walker's ensemble (which includes a leather jacket) isn't about cleavage, but her outfit manages the feat of being tasteful while leaving nothing to the male imagination.

I truly wish I had something more intelligent to say about "24," which is my other favorite show after BSG. But "24" has never touched much of a religious or philosophical nerve with me; the series is scripted like a Dan Brown novel, where each chapter is a cheap cliffhanger whose sole purpose is to move you to the next chapter, and the overall tone of "24" has always been retro-- it's a lot like watching an 80s-era action movie, but with more torture and collateral damage. The overall effect, then, is brain candy. Were I more of a political junkie, I'd be all over "24" for what it says about international relations and domestic policy. A long time ago, I was fascinated by the way the show constantly presented its characters with painful ethical dilemmas, but those dilemmas have all become familiar now, and at this point we viewers know how Jack will face them.

Maybe that's part of my attraction to the Agent Walker character-- she's about the only really new thing to appear in this, the seventh season of "24." She is, in many ways, the FBI's answer to Jack, but she's also a newbie to Jack's dark world, which allows us to see Jack-- and his hellish 24 hours-- through fresh eyes. And who knows? By the end of the day, she may be Jack's salvation in matters of the heart.


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