In the latest season of 24, much of what I’ve seen, heard, and read leading up to the premiere of the latest season has been in reference to the current state of Jack Bauer and the repurcussions he’s likely to face due to his past deeds like say..torturing whoever he wants to get what he wants. If nothing else, trailers have shown Jack to be unapologetic in his interview with a congressional panel, which to me invokes scenes of Jack Nicholson screaming “You can’t handle the truth!” except you know..we’re actually rooting for him.

Getting grilled verbally by said panel doesn’t really do much to shake his resolve, but we’re starting to see chinks in the armor. Previously we were lead to believe that jack Bauer was a bit of an unstoppable killing machine, bent on finding the truth and tearing out the cancer of terrorism. With the latest season, we’re starting to see that Mr. Bauer may have “emotions” or “feelings” about the steps he takes to get his information. I wouldn’t say that he regrets crossing the line previously, but somewhere deep down in his terror-destroying body it looks like he wonders if it’s still necessary: “We’ve created two worlds,” he says, in the episodes’ money quote. “Ours and the people we promised to protect. They deserve to know the truth. Then they can decide how far they want us to go.”

So how far do we want him to go, anyway? Certainly the show has had some rather ridiculous moments, but it’s all in the name of entertainment and heart-pounding fun, so chances are we want Bauer to go as far as he needs to.