Deconstructing Jack Bauer

I've been watching the premiere of 24, that TV show starring Kiefer Sutherland. The new season is great. At an chat group, somebody asked who Jack's best girlfriend was. Here was my reply:

Jack Bauer pretends to be a simple character, but is actually quite complex. As an undercover operative, he has to be good at maintaining a secret life. Jack's dirty little secret is that he's an addict, but not just a heroin addict. He's addicted to adrenaline.

Did you see that reaction shot after he helped catch the terrorist at the drycleaners? He had this look that every addict has, when they finally fall off the wagon. His thrill to be back in the game was palpable, he needed a second to catch his breath.

As an adrenaline junkie, Jack maintains a public persona that is above reproach, but the power of his character comes from his unrestrained ability to instantly do the unthinkable - cut off a guy's head, execute his boss, chop off his partner's hand. Characters have "depth" only if they are tormented, and their inner character is set at an exact 180 degrees from their outer persona. It's that dichotomy that makes characters seem more three dimensional.

In Jack's case, he's an absolute hero to the world, but deep inside, he's a junkie, a serial killer, an armed robber, a butcher... absolutely willing to break any law and commit whatever evil or sin it takes to achieve the goal. It is precisely the evil buried deep within Jack Bauer that makes him the ultimate protagonist, so compelling to modern America.

Who was Jack's best girlfriend? This question intrinsically assumes monogamy. My belief is that Jack Bauer's character will have a nice wife at home, but NEEDS to secretly have an affair with someone hot and dangerous on the side. And when his wife catches him in bed , he'll say, "Honey, I can explain! I'm doing this for us! I'm doing this for our country!"

Thus, the dichotomy of Jack Bauer's love life is that he tries to be a good husband with Teri, but he can't help fooling around with Nina. He's in an incredibly dangerous undercover situation with a drug cartel, but he just can't stop himself from nailing Claudia, the drug lord's woman.

And that's why he's my hero!