[Updates below.]

My opinions regarding the season so far are summed up in The '24' Embrace of Contemporary Politics. I think the show has been entertainingly good so far, despite a number of reservations. Tonight's episode, however, might have been the best so far.

We weren't pummeled to distraction with five different competing story lines. Instead of updates on what Marwan was doing, we were focused on a narrower scope: the absolute determination to find and stop the threat of a nuclear attack on American soil. It was time for the final showdown between Jack, Audrey, and Paul. And yes, China is involved.

The process and outcome of that showdown was something to behold. There are an infinite number of ways to express the fundamentals of what happened, but the method chosen worked very well.

***SPOILERS***

The situation begins in that classic 24 way: things are not good - by most measures - but they are looking up. Leads are improving and Jack is closing in on the Bad Guy. It's been a while since something really nasty happened to someone Jack knows. It's been at least that long since a major setback to the defense of the country.

Paul is in the operating room for an emergency procedure at CTU. Audrey is watching. She has just recently confessed to wanting to be with him (her husband) in order to help him recover from the gunshot he jumped in front of in order to push Jack out of harm's way after Jack violently interrogated him so CTU could pursue the terrorists. ...breathe... Jack doesn't know about Audrey's new plans.

Which is partly because Jack was called by former President Palmer (temporarily hired by newly-elevated, suddenly ex-Vice President, President Logan) to kidnap a Chinese citizen from the Chinese Embassy because waiting for their official approval would take too long. Jack - with his resignation from CTU still active - invades the Chinese embassy by himself, shoots two guards with darts, punches a diplomat and the citizen, and manages to escape as the Embassy guards open fire, killing the Chinese Ambassador and hitting the citizen, who knows where Marwan is and what he's doing with the nuke he stole.

Jack Bauer bursts into CTU with a very injured Chinese man who says he knows Marwan's next steps. He bursts into the very same room where Paul Rains is undergoing emergency surgery for a bleeding heart. I challenge any regular fan of the program to guess what happens next.

Jack, after demanding the doctors stop working on Paul and get to work on saving the Chinese man, pulls out his gun and coerces them into leaving Paul lying there on the table and just switching patients in mid-procedure. Audrey, I remind you, is watching from outside the entire time. She pleads with Jack to change his mind. Jack refuses, because he "has [his] orders." Paul dies minutes later, despite the best efforts of Jack and Curtis who jump to Paul's side as he flat lines. Audrey is beside herself and as she's led out of the room, she screams over and over that Jack killed Paul. "I hate you!!! Jack stops as he absorbs the event, slowly turns to the head surgeon, and asks him if the Chinese man will live.

As I said before, this may not be the ultimate manifestation of Jack Bauer's or 24's philosophy, but it is tearingly effective. For once, finally, someone from this season is immediately confronted with the bloody human consequences of the explicit choice to devalue the individual in order to help a collective.

UPDATED 5/17/2005 2:05pm
Quickie '24' Blog Items with an Emphasis on Richard Heller

UPDATED 9/22/2005 12:04am
I am a moron and didn't actually perform all the actions required for this entry to get published on the website. It is here now, finally. My apologies.

UPDATED 3/13/2006 9:45am
My Take on FOX's '24' Ethics