Shane Returns From The Frontier As Jack Bauer Returns To TV In 24 Hours.

Fox's great TV spy show 24 starts a fifth season Sunday and Monday. (Here.) Fans of the show know that Keifer Sutherland's Jack Bauer is a counter-terrorism agent who will go to whatever lengths are necessary to protect the United States from a terrorist attack. In 4 seasons we've seen him break just about every law governing law enforcement and the rest of us including the cold-blooded killing of a prisoner to give himself "street cred" with a terrorist group.

Last season the rule of law was starting to catch up with Bauer and the season ended Shane-like, with Bauer walking off into the sun away from civilization. (See Mister Americano's take here.)

In the real war on terror, the political environment has started to close in on counter-terrorists. Four years without another terrorist attack in the homeland and 3 years of revanchist attacks by terrorists in Iraq against American liberators has emboldened civil libertarians to push back and to threaten our ability to fight the terror war.

It will be interesting to see how the writers of 24 portray the changed political mood as Agent Bauer returns to the fight to keep his fictional America safe from terrorist attack.

-tdr