Jack Bauer

		Life Story
		Jack Bauer
		24 TV series
		24 The Game
		Awards & Nominations

Jack Bauer, played by Kiefer Sutherland, is the protagonist in the American television series 24.

Biography: Bauer graduated with a bachelor's degree in English literature from UCLA and a master's degree in Criminology and Law from UC Berkeley.

After completing his schooling, he worked as a Los Angeles Police Department SWAT team member, and in the U.S. Army's elite Delta Force. Apparently, Bauer also did fieldwork for the Central Intelligence Agency before being seconded to the Counter Terrorist Unit. While at CTU, he was the Team Leader for an action known as Operation Proteus and the Section Captain for the Hotel Los Angeles attack. He later uncovered evidence that three CTU agents, including his mentor Christopher Henderson, were taking bribes. Jack gained a reputation as a whistleblower, and lost favor with CTU hierarchy.

Bauer was Director/Special Agent in Charge of the CTU Los Angeles Domestic Unit during the attempted assassination of Senator David Palmer. During that day, Bauer's wife Teri and his daughter Kim were kidnapped by Victor Drazen, a man Bauer thought he had killed in a covert mission called Operation Nightfall in Kosovo two years earlier. Bauer's colleague/former love interest Nina Myers (who turned out to be a traitor) killed Teri Bauer before being arrested. Jack was so distraught over Teri's death that he resigned and joined the inactive roster.

Eighteen months later, Bauer was called back to duty by President Palmer to help CTU stop a terrorist group known as Second Wave from detonating a nuclear bomb in Los Angeles. After the incidents depicted in Season 2, Jack was appointed Director of Field Operations by new CTU Los Angeles Special Agent in Charge Tony Almeida.

Six months after Season 2 (24: The Game), Jack leads a raid on a ship in the LA harbor containing a deadly cargo of Ricin toxin. But he then learns about an assassination attempt on the Vice President with info from undercover CTU Washington D.C. agent Chase Edmunds. Then he must stop an invasion of CTU by Peter Madsen, a former colleague who he fired 8 years earlier, and his attempt to detonate bombs, causing a massive earthquake in LA. And he also must stop Max, the man behind season 2's and The Game's events, from stealing nuclear weapons from an abandoned military bunker.

Three years after Season 2, Jack returns from an undercover sting operations of Ramon Salazar, a Mexican drug lord. However, Jack is now trying to fight a heroin addiction by going "cold turkey" on that day. He learns about a threat, that if Ramon is not released from prison, the Cordila virus (a fast acting killer virus) will be released in LA. He eventually learns that the man responsible for it is Stephen Saunders, one of Jack's team members from Operation: Nightfall in Kosovo who was thought to have been killed. Jack must stop this threat with his new partner Chase Edmunds. During the events of this day Jack re-encounters, and ultimately kills, his nemesis Nina Myers.

Eighteen months later, Jack was forced to leave CTU due to his heroin addiction acquired prior to Season 3. He found employment with the Department of Defense. Bauer became involved in a serious relationship with the daughter of the Secretary of Defense, Audrey Raines. However, after Jack was called back to CTU in Season 4 to help them stop a terrorist mastermind named Habib Marwan, Audrey witnessed Jack's "dark side" and decided she could not be with him, due to his ruthlessness and brutality. As of early Season 5, remarks by Audrey suggest that she may be willing to resume the relationship.

Eighteen months later, as a result of events at the end of Season 4, Jack needed to fake his own death in order to avoid prosecution from the Chinese authorities for the accidental killing of a Chinese diplomat (see below). Jack had to use the false identity of Frank Flynn, a worker at an oil yard. When the only people who knew he was still alive were targeted, Jack had to reappear at CTU and drop his fake identity. 

As a new threat terrorist threat arises, he supports President Charles Logan in handling the crisis. When terrorist try to stop President Charles Logan and the Russian President from signing a peace treaty, they use government connections to steal 20 canisters of Sentox nerve gas, and are now threatening to use it on American soil.

Character: Jack Bauer is a firm believer that "the ends justify the means;" obtaining a desired result is more important than how he obtains it, and he frequently performs controversial actions if he thinks they will achieve an important goal. His philosophy was perhaps best expressed after he shot and killed a restrained criminal in front of George Mason, then-CTU Special Agent in Charge. George expressed dismay at Jack's extreme action, but Jack replied, "That's the problem with people like you, George. You want results, but you never want to get your hands dirty, i'd start rolling up your sleeves"

Jack Bauer is capable of unbreakable concentration and impressive improvisational thinking under times of extreme pressure, a talent that facilitates his ability to get out of very difficult situations. During the first seven hours of Season 1, he stages two violent altercations with an imprisoned criminal named Penticoff, in order to contact him by phone and break him out of jail. Not two hours later he "accidentally" spills food all over a CTU technician's keyboard, allowing him to swap a data disk during the two-second distraction. Finally, threatened with the death of his wife and daughter and monitored via camera surveillance, he is forced to take fellow agent Nina Myers hostage, march her out of the office (using a jacket to hide the gun) and then execute her, which fails, because the garment he gave her was a flak jacket.

Jack Bauer routinely puts his own life on the line, as well as the lives of those close to him (or even simply near him at the time), in his pursuit of justice. Notably, during Season 3, he was faced with terrorists threatening to release a devastating biological weapon if Jack did not execute one of his superiors, Regional Director Ryan Chappelle. Efforts to foil the terrorists before the deadline were ultimately unsuccessful, so Bauer killed Chappelle. This was also shown in Season 4, when Jack was forced to make a choice; his new girlfriend's husband Paul Raines was shot and needed surgery. But Jack also has a shot Chinese informant who has information on Habib Marwan. Jack was forced to pull the doctor off of Paul and work on the informant. As a result, Paul dies moments later, all of this right in front of Audrey's eyes.

Bauer is rarely seen showing remorse for such actions. This is largely due to the emotional suppression necessary to get through the day. His heroin use, though part of a deep cover assignment, can also be seen as self-medication for his stress and guilt. He has on occasion revealed his more vulnerable side, including a notable scene at the end of Season 3 when he breaks down crying after the traumatic events of the day. 

In addition, Jack also gave off hints of sadness and realization for the negative repercussions that his decisions reap on innocent people in Season 4. After he orders that Paul Raines have doctors taken off of him and put onto a dying suspect, he seems genuinely sad when Paul dies, and does not see him as a mere casualty of war as he has seen previous deaths he was partially responsible for.

Following the death of his wife at the end of Season 1, Bauer seems to have very little personal life. There is no separation of his personal life and his duty. As he said to Chase Edmunds, his partner during Season 3, "You cannot keep this job and lead a normal life at the same time."

Through the years of his service, Jack befriends the President of the United States, David Palmer, largely due to Jack's role in saving Palmer's life twice. A trademark of their friendship is that the President refers to him as Jack, while Jack addresses the President solely and professionally as "Mr. President" and "sir". The extent to which Palmer trusts Bauer is apparent in Season 3, when Bauer becomes one of the first people to learn that Palmer will not seek re-election.

Jack Bauer is also a master of interrogation. He often uses extreme physical force or psychological stress to retrieve the information he needs. The first has been shown by Jack's ability to shoot them in the leg, break their wrist, cutting the palm of their hand or by shooting bullets very close to their head. The second is shown by withholding pain medication until he gets the info, showing horrible footage of innocent victims, by putting suspect's daughter into a virus infected zone or by killing the terrorist's family members until he gets the information. Jack himself is also adept at handling being interrograted, as shown in Season 2. Jack withstood knife carvings, electrocutions & injections without confessing. During one particularly brutal torture-session he was accidentally put into cardiac arrest, but revived with emergency medications, his captors telling him: "You're not getting off that easy." Several minutes after his revival, Jack was able to both free himself from his restraints and dispatch the two men guarding him.

The death of Jack Bauer: At the conclusion of Day Four, Jack Bauer was scheduled to be handed over to the Chinese authorities due to his involvement in a secret raid on the Los Angeles Chinese Consulate that resulted in the friendly fire death of the Chinese Consul. Presidential Adviser Walt Cummings ordered Secret Service Agent Dale Spaulding to kill Bauer once he was in custody in order to prevent the Chinese from extracting any harmful information from Bauer. Mike Novick, chief of staff to President Charles Logan, overheard the conversation and informed his friend, former President David Palmer. Palmer called Bauer and urged him to flee CTU.

Bauer, along with Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler, and Chloe O'Brian, planned an escape in which Bauer faked his own death to avoid being taken into custody. Once Secret Service Agent Spaulding and CTU personnel left the scene, Bauer was administered epinephrine and revived (to date, this is the second time Bauer has been brought back from clinical death). Almeida and Dessler smuggled Bauer out of CTU and dropped him off on a secluded road. He thanked them for all that they had done for him, then called President Palmer, thanking him as well for the advanced warning. Palmer acknowledges the country's enormous debt to Jack Bauer, him having saved it many times: "This is probably the last time we'll ever speak...Jack, you do understand when you hang up, for all intents and purposes, Jack Bauer is dead." Bauer replies, "I understand that, sir...Mr. President, it's been an honor." Bauer hung up the phone and walked off.

Through the Season 5 prequel on the Season 4 DVD Set, it is revealed that twelve months after staging his own death, Jack met up with Chloe in Chicago, Illinois, where he is informed that not even Jack's daughter Kim learned the truth about his death. Furthermore, the files of Jack's whereabouts have somehow been released before Chloe had the chance to erase everything. After meeting with Chloe, Jack was pursued by an unknown assailant, wanting him dead. Though Jack managed to escape from harm, he is seen by another unknown motorcyclist. The truth is out: Jack Bauer is still alive...

Jack's return: As Season 5 begins, Bauer has taken the identity of Frank Flynn, struggling for work at an oil yard in California. As news hits that President David Palmer has been assassinated, Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler are also targeted at their home, resulting in Michelle's death and critically injuring Tony. Completing the circle of those who know Jack is alive, Chloe O'Brien is also targeted, but gets away. Chloe calls Jack for assistance as she evades the assassins.

Returning to Los Angeles to assist her, Jack briefly interrogates Palmer's wounded assassin, who reveals that Jack is to be set up for Palmer's death. Jack then kills him in retribution for killing Palmer (Previously promising to take him to a hospital if he talked). After regaining the trust of CTU management by assisting in the rescue of hostages at a terrorist controlled airport, Jack returned to CTU for the first time since his "death" and has been cleared of Palmer's murder by CTU District Director Lynn McGill, who affirms Jack's request to remain on the team until the current crisis is over.

Soon after his arrival at CTU, Jack encounters former lover Audrey Raines, on-site as a liaison from the Defense Department. He is soon forced to reconsider whether he still has feelings for Audrey after 18 months away, and six months of bonding with the woman who rents a room for Frank Flynn. He decides that he is still in love with Audrey.

Jack is lured to Tony Almeida's bedside by a hired killer who gained access to CTU through Spenser Wolff, a subordinate and love interest of Chloe O'Brian. Wolff is thought to be yet another mole in CTU, but then reveals he was recruited by White House Chief Of Staff Walt Cummings and used as a patsy to get rid of Jack. Jack kills the hitman with a pair of surgical scissors.

After trying to meet presidential advisor and David Palmer loyalist Mike Novick to warn him about Cummings, Jack and Mike are arrested and detained with no charges. Jack appeals to the sense of duty in Aaron Pierce, the President's security chief who has served in the same capacity for Palmer, and gains access to the President, where he informs him of Cummings' actions, and threatens Cumming's life until he cracks and gives up what he knows about the terrorist plot. It appeared that Cummings is not a traitor in the truest sense, in that he hatched this plot to ensure oil futures for the U.S., but his ruthlessness and willingness to kill anyone who gets in the way of his plot disgusts President Logan who orders the Secret Service to remove Cummings from his sight. (Cummings then kills himself.) It is during this exchange that Jack earns Logan's respect and admiration, though he does promise the President to serve him until the current crisis is over, and then return to his life of shadowy anonymity. His promise to disappear again casts a pall over his possible future plans to reunite with Audrey Raines.

After an undercover operation to find the Sentox nerve gas canisters, Logan was forced to allow the terrorists to release the gas in shopping mall to keep Jack's cover. However, Jack intentionally told them the wrong code and almost prevented the release (only 20 were killed, not hundreds) Under the President's pressure, Lynn McGill forced CTU to arrest Jack for what he did. Jack escaped to attend a meeting with Nathenson, Walt Cummings' partner in the theft of the gas. When Nathenson is shot, Jack gets a thumb drive that leads to Christopher Henderson, a former CTU agent that Jack busted with treason before season 1. Now he must try to get information from Henderson before it is too late. Jack risks his life to try to reprogram the ventilation system by holding his breath while moving through a nerve gas contaminated area

On a separate note, although Jack seemed to have lived a life devoid of personal purpose, his new identity has given him a sense of family, once again, as evidenced by his unwillingness to sacrifice Derek, the son of the woman who Jack rents a room from. It has become clear that Derek and his mother represent the ideal of family that Jack has come to aspire for- an idea too impossible for life in CTU.

Sutherland signed a contract to play the role of Bauer for three more seasons for 40 million USD. Reactions by critics to his performance have been very positive. This is due to his great critical acclaim as Jack Bauer, leading also to five Emmy nominations which finally lead to a win in 2006 for his work in Season 5. He also is credited for winning the Golden Globe in 2002.

 

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors, This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Jack Bauer".

All original content , Copyright ©2004-2006 WestLord.com , All Rights Reserved