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BOOM! Just like the old days 24 is back with a torture filled episode! The main plot did not really move forward, instead this episode focused on developing on-going storylines. Onto the Count!

Torture Count

Official Torture: Terrorist Torture: Attempt 3 / success 3 / accurate 2

Terrorist Torture: Attempt 0 / success 0 / accurate 0

Bauer Torture: Attempt 0 / success 0 / accurate 0

Vignette Torture: Attempt 1 / success 1 / accurate 1

Torture Summery

Analysis

Unlike last week, when we saw a new category of torture emerge, we have not really seen how that is going to play out. This week there were three acts of torture committed by terrorists (or potential terrorists in the case of Wade). They do not really add much to my on-going analysis of torture. However, they do reinforce my standing arguments.

Charts

Watching this week's episode of 24 one might almost think we are back in one of the early seasons. Action Jack totally killed a guy by snapping his neck with his thighs. When was the last time that happened? Fawning over the badassness of Jack Bauer is not the point of this torture discourse series. Thus, The Torture Count!

Torture Count

Official Torture: Attempt 0 / success 0 / accurate 0

Terrorist Torture: Attempt 1 / success 0 / accurate 0

Bauer Torture: Attempt 0 / success 0 / accurate 0

Vignette Torture: Attempt 0 / success 0 / accurate 0

In Episode 8 we had one use of torture and boy was it a big one. At the end of last week's episode, Bauer was captured by members of Red Square, a Russina/Ukrainian syndicate. Bauer tells them that he is a German arms broker. But they are do not believe this story. The think that he might be an undercover law enforcement officer. Red Square boss Sergei Bazhaev orders his enforcer Dimitri to torture Bauer until he gives up his boss. Dimitri takes Bauer to a storage room where he binds his legs and arms and suspends him from a water pipe. Dimitri uses a generator and jumper cables to electrocute Bauer into talking. When that does not work, he uses one of the electrical leads into Bauer's stab wound. Bauer pretends to black out from the pain. When Dimitri turns his back on Bauer, Jack kicks him, then uses his feet to drive the electrical leads into Dimitri, knocking him unconscious. Bauer is able to break free, then disarm and kill Dimitri with his legs and arms bound.

Analysis

Right off the top one ought to note that Bauer is able to take 20 minutes of sustained torture without losing unconsciousness. It only takes Dimitri a single shock to pass out. Of course Bauer can take the torture like a man and be unfazed, even with a stab wound in his abdomen. The pain is just part of the job. It is Bauer's job to stand up for the safety of America. Dimitri, on the other hand, is just a stooge trying to make a buck. Bauer is able to push through the pain because he needs recover the nuclear material before it can be used for evil.

Other things to note. Despite what she has gone through in the last few episodes, Walker has seems to be making a surprisingly fast recovery. She has become to come out of her shock. It seems like the producers are not done with her quite yet.

I think it can be said that Jack Bauer kicked a hell of a lot of ass this week. Bauer dropped a level of kick-ass we have not seen in him for a few seasons. Exhibit A: Renee Walker stabs him in the abdomen in a fit of rage. He collapses behind a couch. Moments later one of, Vladimir Laitanan's henchmen enters the room and draws a gun. Bauer hops up and is able to backhand-throw a knife into the henchmen's neck! But marveling in Jack Bauer's Jack-Bauerness is not what we are here for. To the Torture Counter!

Torture Count

Official Torture: Attempt 0 / success 0 / accurate 0

Terrorist Torture: Attempt 0 / success 0 / accurate 0

Bauer Torture: Attempt 0 / success 0 / accurate 0

Vignette Torture: Attempt 0 / success 0 / accurate 0

Analysis

Okay, so there was no torture this week. We did, however, see how the on-going psychological torture of Renee Walker played out.

At the beginning of the episode, Bauer is brought to Laitanan's body shop to talk about the deal. While Bauer is en route, Laitanan begins to work his network of contacts. But by the time that Bauer gets there, Laitanan has not been able to get any leads. During this time Walker's mood shifts dramatically. At some points she seems like she is shock. She moves slowly, stares off into the distance but acts subservient to Laitanan's orders. At other times she seems in full control. When Laitanan is unable to get any leads about the location of the nuclear rods, Renee uses her feminine-wiles to pressure him to work harder.

However, Laitanan is unable to get a lead of the nuclear rods and gives up. Walker becomes frustrated with his unwillingness to work harder. She does not think that $5 million is enough. At this point the trauma of the last few hours takes over. When he refuses to continues his search tempers rise and Walker stabs him in the eye. After he falls to the floor she continues to stab him until she is interrupted by Bauer. In her fit of rage she stabs Bauer.

After she realizes what she has done, she collapses to the floor. Over the next few scenes she is hardely able to look Bauer in the eye. While the wait for the CTU team to arrive, she tells Bauer that she had no idea what she was doing. Just like we saw in last week's episode, we are getting to see the long term results of torture and the psychological impact. One of the hallmarks of Battlestar Galactica is that we are given a chance to see long term trauma play out. This has never really been a part of 24. The fact that each season takes place over twenty-four hour period, and a large majority of the cast changes from season to season limits the space for this sort of long term character development. Even when we do see characters traumatized by torture it never seems to last. At the beginning of season 6 Bauer is released from a Chinese prison after more than a year of captivity. While in prison he was brutally beaten. After being released, he would not make eye contract with anyone. Like Walker, he had resigned himself to die. But as soon as he saw a way to escape, he snapped back into his old ways. It does not look like Walker will make such a fast recovery-- mostly because she is a supporting character in a conservative male narrative. Her recovery, if allowed to happen, cannot equal Bauer's, as this would break his solo hero status. If 24 follows its typical protocol, Walker will either be dead or have suffered a complete, irreparable, exhaustive psychological break that will remove her from the overall narrative. If the show's producers decide to break formula, and make Walker a torture victim equal to Bauer, it would bring the show into new and welcomed territory.

On this week's episode of 24 we a lot of torture talk (Jack Bauer threatens to use torture) and several continuations of torture sequences from the last episode. There is only one instance of torture in this episode.

Torture Count

Official Torture: Attempt 0 / success 0 / accurate 0

Terrorist Torture: Attempt 1 / success 1 / accurate 0

Bauer Torture: Attempt 0 / success 0 / accurate 0

Vignette Torture: Attempt 0 / success 0 / accurate 0

Summary

There are a number of things to talk about from this week's episode. However, all but one are continuations from last week's episode. The only major update is that the doctor assisting Josef Bazheav and his brother is killed by another member of the Red Square Russian crime syndicate. The doctor continued to help Josef (albeit under duress) until he was killed.

I think of primary interests this week, however, is the continuation of the Renee Walker storyline. At the end of the last week's episode, Vladimir Laitanan attempted to verify whether Walker's cover was valid by pretending to execute her. That story was picked up again this week after she and Laitanan had returned to his warehouse. Laitanan sees no value in getting involved in nuclear arms trade. He thinks the risks are too high. Instead, he plans on taking $5 million of 'up front' money by killing Bauer (who is acting as Walker's buyer).

Part of this plan is to bring Walker back into his fold. After returning to the hideout, Laitanan pressures Walker to sleep with him and to begin working for him. He says that he misses her and that he can give her something to live for. At first she refuses. He throws her agast a couch and chokes her. He tells her that he is to be respected, and that she is not to cross him. Laitanan then lets Walker take a shower. When he returns later he tells Walker of his plan to kill Bauer and take the money. He given no other options, and she chooses to keep her cover and have sex with Laitanan.

Analysis

As the Walker/Laitanan scenes go on, the level of trauma which Walker had previously been exposed to becomes more clear. Throughout the scenes, Walker appears visibly nervous and begins to act irrationally. She breaks contact with Bauer and CTU at a critical moment and does nothing to warn Bauer about the trap that Laitanan has set.

When one reads accounts of torture one common denominator is the presence of a sexual component. Sometimes this can be subtle, but just as often it can be quite overt. For instance, during the Argentine "dirty war" there were stories about stories about inteligence officers of the secret police having contests to see how many women they could arrest, torture, and rape in one day^[1]. When I was writing my Master's thesis on 24 and Battlestar Galactica, I noted how sexual undertones had been completely stripped from 24. I believe this is because the producers of the show want to portray torture as either a normal part of the criminal interrogation processes (as when Bauer tortures someone) or as an act of selfish revenge. Adding a sexual component to torture makes the deliberate delineation of torture messy. How would fans of the program react if Bauer threatened to castrate someone he was interrogating? How would viewers have reacted if Davros had raped the police officer's wife in the second episode of the season? I would be willing to bet neither would have gone over well. Instead, the producers and the networks they work for remove this key bit of realism in order to please audiences. However, a side effect of this is that viewers are no longer being exposed to the reality of torture.

It will be interesting to see how this relationship develops next week. It is very exciting to see the producers of 24 break the formula in so many ways.

Torture Charts