Agent Bauer Saving L.A. Sans Patriot Act
When it comes to espionage thrillers, I prefer George Smiley over James Bond, but I'm still a fan of the FOX 24 hit series which kicked off its fifth season this week. And Kiefer Sutherland is back as Jack Bauer, a crack but controversial US federal agent working for something called CTU (Counter-Terrorism Unit) which for some reason is based in L.A. Over the last four years — one day at a time, Agent Bauer has saved humanity (located mostly on the West Coast) from Serbian and Middle Eastern terrorists as well as drug dealers and nasty guys who usually speak in bad British or German accents. I know. I know. He also beats confessions out of suspects, shooting them in their kneecaps, shocking them, breaking fingers, one by one, without institing on getting in advance the legal protection from the government, emphasizing that he is willing to be punished if and when his bosses conclude that there wasn't any compelling reason for Bauer's brutality, say, a nuclear bomb ticking...