Jack Bauer is back!

I think i am watching too much TV... This blog is becoming like TV guide. :) Anyway, Jack Bauer is back in the critically acclaimed TV series 24 (Season 7).

24 and Lost are my most favorite drama series not only because of the quality of writing and cast but it is the genre of the shows which intrigues me most. 24 is an espionage-counter terrorist thriller drama shown in real time. real time story telling is something that separates this show from all of the other shows, past and present. Each episode of the show corresponds to an hour of the life of the characters and '24' represents the day (24 hours) wherein all the events takes place. jack Bauer is played by Kiefer Sutherland. The quality of the show can be judged by the fact that it has been nominated 5 times for best drama category award (emmys) and one once in 2006 (for awesome season 5) . Also as a testimony to Sutherland's performance he has been nominated for all six seasons and won once in 2006. At least in my memory, handful of actors have been nominated for all the seasons and with such critical acclaim.

Another thing that really like about the show is that it has done many firsts and has taken bold steps which many shows never took. Season 1 stated with an African American contesting for US Presidency (this was way back in 2001) and is a serious contender for the office. Season 7 showcases a female president in charge. The show also dealt with depiction of the Muslim community as of moderates and extremists. There were storyline on severe corruption up to the rank of the president. Also the show doesn' shy from jack and others using torture as an interrogation instrument but many will disagree with that aspect. The show also has been very dynamic with change in the cast. kiefer is the only cast member who has appeared in all 7 seasons (haven't seen the character Aaron yet...). Some characters like David palmer (i loved this character) were killed/died or some have left the CTU (Counter Terrorist Unit).

Plot synopsis

Season 1

Season 1 begins and ends at 12:00 AM, and occurs on the day of the California presidential primary. Jack Bauer must protect Senator David Palmer from an assassination plot, and rescue his own family from those responsible for the plot, who seek retribution for Jack's and David Palmer's involvement with a covert U.S. mission in the Balkans.

Season 2

Set 18 months after season 1, season 2 begins and ends at 8:00 AM. Jack must stop a nuclear bomb from detonating in Los Angeles, then assist President David Palmer in proving who is responsible for the threat.

Season 3

Set 3 years after season 2, season 3 begins and ends at 1:00 PM. While struggling with a heroin addiction, Jack must re-infiltrate a Mexican drug cartel in order to acquire a deadly virus being marketed underground. Jack must then stop the mastermind behind the virus from releasing it.

Season 4

Set 18 months after season 3, season 4 begins and ends at 7:00 AM. Jack must save the lives of Secretary Heller (his new boss) and Heller's daughter Audrey Raines (with whom Jack is romantically involved) when they are kidnapped by terrorists. The same terrorists then launch further attacks against America, and Jack is forced to use unorthodox methods to stop them, methods which will have long-term consequences for both Jack and the U.S.

Season 5

Set 18 months after season 4, season 5 begins and ends at 7:00 AM. Jack is believed to be dead by everyone except a few of his closest friends. Terrorists with connections to the U.S. government attempt to steal nerve gas in order to protect U.S. oil interests in Asia, and Jack must resurface to stop them as well as dismantle the government conspiracy.

Season 6

Set 20 months after season 5, season 6 begins and ends at 6:00 AM. Jack is released after being detained in a Chinese prison for twenty months. Terrorists plot to set off suitcase nuclear devices in the United States and Jack must stop them; later, Jack has to prevent sensitive circuitry from falling into the hands of the Chinese to prevent war between the U.S. and Russia.

24: Redemption

Redemption‎ is a television movie, aired on November 23, 2008, bridging the gap between the sixth and seventh seasons of 24. Set partially in Southern Africa, Jack finds himself caught up in a military coup while trying to find somewhere he can rest. Meanwhile, in the United States, it is Inauguration Day, where Allison Taylor is being sworn in to office.

Season 7

Set approximately three and a half years after season 6, season 7 begins and ends at 8:00 AM. A major national security incident occurs when the firewall responsible for protecting America's government computer infrastructure is breached. The season features the show's first female president, Allison Taylor, and this is the first season not to feature CTU.

24 frequently uses split-screen action to follow multiple plots, phone conversations, and shots leading into and out of commercial breaks, and emotional conversations, allowing the depiction of both participants' faces without breaking tension by cutting back and forth between camera angles. A real time clock is shown through out the run time and the ad breaks generally sows the time where nothing new happens like the characters are traveling etc.

Considering that the episode are hour long and are 24 in number, the writers have done okay job in terms of logical and sensible writing. (except season 6 i should say). Even considering many inherent flaws and how how Jack is always lucky, the show is too good to be just hated. If you love espionage, politics and thrillers this show is a must watch!

Israel and Palestine

Read an article on Times of India by MJ Akbar (he is a good writer for ToI) :

Saladin, the greatest of Muslim warriors, died of fever and old age on the morning of March 4, 1124. He was the iconic believer. Malcolm Lyons and D E P Jackson write in Saladin: The Politics of the Holy War, ''The imam Abu Jafar and al-Fadil were with him on the morning of March 4. The imam was reciting from the Quran. 'It is said that when he reached the words — There is no god but God and in Him I put my trust — Saladin smiled; his face cleared and he surrendered his soul to God'.''

On his last visit to Jerusalem, the holy city he had restored to Arab rule, in September 1123, he gave his fourth son, Abu Mansur al-Zahir, some immortal advice. As his son was about to leave, on October 6, Saladin kissed him, rubbed his hair fondly and said: be chary of shedding blood, ''for blood does not sleep''. He added, addressing his attendant emirs, ''I have only reached my present position by conciliation''.

Nine centuries later, blood has still not slept in that land. It keeps awake as a nightmare. No region in modern times has refused conciliation and invested as heavily in a nightmare.

Blood neither sleeps nor ceases; most cruelly, it does not discriminate between child and man. There is nothing new about war. But there is something new about the war raging on the sands of Israel and Palestine. Once, blood was lost on a battlefield, with honour. Blood is now spilt on the street. Civilians are no longer exempt from the havoc of war. Both sides target them, relentlessly. The difference is this: the Qassam rockets fired by Palestinians are crackers, pinpricks, compared to the overwhelming, bellicose firepower of Israel. Of all the images shivering into our consciousness from Gaza, none is more searing than the faces of children who have lost their laughter. Israel is building the foundations for war in 2025: children who are five today will be adults then. Blood will not sleep.

Israel has every right to protect its citizens, but there are grave dangers in a disproportionate action that punishes a population for the actions of a government. It is only the insecure who over-react, but why would Israel, with its overwhelming military superiority, feel vulnerable? Perhaps, after throwing a chain around Gaza and delivering maximum punishment, time after time, it is unable to deal with the persistence of defiance.

Defiance is courage, and courage is admirable, but courage is not victory. Victory too needs a definition, and it cannot be imposition. It must be justice, and equity demands that Palestine and Israel accept that neither will disappear. Both are nations. Facts demand peace, but fear engineers an essentially unequal war, its story told in cold statistics of dead, dying and destruction.

There is more than one reason why Palestinians are still in refugee camps and Israel is a regional superpower.

Gaza is imprisoned in two concentric circles. Only one is the blockade by Israel. The larger circle is a noose placed by cynical Arab ruling cliques who feed off Palestine's despair to perpetuate their own survival, using the alibi of conflict. When there is rage on the Arab street, as now, there is silence and wordplay in the Arab secretariat. Organisations like Hamas and Hezbollah have filled a vacuum created by military incompetence and pathetic governance. That is their appeal to Muslims beyond their borders.

Poor governance has created a knowledge deficit; and knowledge is the key to strength. An Arab friend sent me some startling statistics; the email was captioned 'A time for introspection'. Here are just a few: there are only 500 odd universities in the Muslim world. The United States has 5,758 and India has nearly 8,500. Literacy in the developed world is 90% against 40% in the Muslim world. If you removed Turkey from the list, the comparison would look grimmer. High tech goods and services constitute only 0.9% of the exports from Pakistan, and 0.3% from Algeria. They add up to 68% of Singapore's exports.

Men die for two diametrically opposed reasons: when they value what they seek to defend, and when there is nothing worth living for. Israel has created a state worth defending. The Palestinians must be given something to live for.