  Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer. |
You can’t handle the truth.
Everyone remembers that line from the 1992 film A Few Good Men. It’s what Jack Nicholson’s character, Col. Nathan Jessep, said to Tom Cruise’s character, Lt. Daniel Kaffee.
Kiefer Sutherland was in that movie, too, playing Lt. Jonathan Kendrick. It was a minor role compared to Nicholson, Cruise, Demi Moore and even Kevin Bacon and Kevin Pollak. Obviously, Sutherland hadn’t yet become the biggest TV star in the world.
Coincidentally, “you can’t handle the truth” could end up being the main theme in the seventh season of Sutherland’s popular TV show 24. Kicking things off with its usual bravado, 24 will have two hours tonight and two hours tomorrow (Global, Fox).
Since the writers strike in the U.S. scuttled the entire season of 24 last winter, hungry fans surely can’t wait to sink their teeth into 24 again.
If you saw the prequel to the seventh season, titled 24: Redemption (it aired in November), then you know Sutherland’s character Jack Bauer was forced to surrender to a U.S. government subpoena.
Apparently, Jack will have to answer for the things he did — including the alleged torturing of prisoners — while working for the now-disbanded Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU). An early scene tonight has Jack testifying before a U.S. Senate committee, squaring off with a senator played by the always glowering Kurtwood Smith (best known as Red on That ’70s Show).
The moral confrontation hearkens back to the Jessep-Kaffee showdown. Jessep scolded Kaffee as someone who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the freedom men like Jessep provide and then questions the manner in which it is provided.
Of course, in A Few Good Men, Jessep was the bad guy. He never allowed that he might have gone too far.
In 24, Jack is the hero, so he is granted the clarity to see both sides.
Later in tonight’s episode, someone tells Jack that what he’s going through at the Senate hearings is wrong, given everything Jack has done for his country. Jack politely disagrees, opining that it’s better for everything to come out in the open.
We’ve done so many things over the years in the name of protecting this country, we’ve created two worlds: Ours, and the people we promise to protect, Jack says. They deserve to know the truth. Then they can decide how far they want to let us go.
Rest assured, 24 has not become exclusively a courtroom drama. Jack quickly gets yanked — temporarily, we presume — from the Senate hearings when the FBI comes calling. The FBI asks Jack for his help with a terrorist threat headed by somebody Jack knows very well, as will fans who have followed 24 from the beginning.
Still, you can’t handle the truth might summarize the main story arc in the new season of 24. Given what has happened in the world in recent years, it’s a quandary that may be even more relevant today than it was in 1992.
bill.harris@sunmedia.caw
