Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Without A Trace
An ambitious FBI bureaucrat brought in to run the New York missing persons unit, & keep demoted unit head Special Agent Jack Malone under tight control. Jack's become a loose cannon, obsessed, depressed, estranged from family, inclined to methods that violate rights to say the least, seeing a psychiatrist following a near death experience last season. Two missing females are minutes from likely death, one a child abducted by a serial murderer, the new boss & Jack are working on that one & following all the rules. Rattled, losing ground on both cases, the boss lets Jack off the leash. Jack drives directly to the suspect's brother's house, kicks open the door with gun drawn, wraps a wire coat hanger around the guy's neck, tells him he'll die in 30 seconds, & strangles him until the wretch gives up a key piece of information, & the child is rescued unharmed in the New Jersey Pine Barrens.
The new boss no longer wants the job, too much pressure, but he still thinks Jack is playing some game to advance himself. Jack's shrink knows better.
Jack Bauer's methods against terrorists on 24 have influenced cop shows. Lt. Caine in CSI: Miami, who began as a follow-the-evidence cop, went to Brazil for an unsanctioned revenge killing, & since then has engaged in offscreen torture & often threatens to kill suspects while they're in custody. Even the detectives on Cold Case, supposedly the clean team in the Philly PD, are getting reckless. I haven't seen Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in awhile, but Det. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) is an interesting character as personally haunted as Jack Malone - all her cases are sex crimes, & she's erred on occasion by not acting forcefully enough. I wonder how she's doing now? Ah, the Bush/Cheney years.
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson
The new boss no longer wants the job, too much pressure, but he still thinks Jack is playing some game to advance himself. Jack's shrink knows better.
Jack Bauer's methods against terrorists on 24 have influenced cop shows. Lt. Caine in CSI: Miami, who began as a follow-the-evidence cop, went to Brazil for an unsanctioned revenge killing, & since then has engaged in offscreen torture & often threatens to kill suspects while they're in custody. Even the detectives on Cold Case, supposedly the clean team in the Philly PD, are getting reckless. I haven't seen Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in awhile, but Det. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) is an interesting character as personally haunted as Jack Malone - all her cases are sex crimes, & she's erred on occasion by not acting forcefully enough. I wonder how she's doing now? Ah, the Bush/Cheney years.
Labels: TV
