Best Character on 24 - Jack Bauer

On the television show 24, Jack Bauer is and sometimes was a counter terrorist agent working with CTU (Counter Terrorist Unit). Jack Bauer is one of the best characters because no matter what, the other characters on 24 always need him. Each season of 24 is supposed to be 24 hours, hence the name 24.

Jack Bauer is hated by terrorists and loved by audience viewers. The ratings of 24 continue to grow each season and people simply cannot get enough this gritty action drama. Jack Bauer is played by Keifer Sutherland and he is a tortured soul. Jack Bauer takes viewers behind the scenes as he works to stop evil terrorists as he fights a battle with his soul.

In almost every episode we see Jack Bauer do things that are against the law and reprehensible not because he can but because he feels that he has no other option. The torture of suspects is a high factor in 24 and in real life, human rights groups has blasted 24 and its creators because these groups feel that 24 is glamorizing torture and saying that it is ok. Regardless of the criticism 24 has moved forward and continues to be a ratings booster for FOX.

Looking at the very first episode of 24 and looking at more recent episodes you see that while he continues to survive, Jack Bauer might be dying inside very slowly. Jack Bauer's face continues to get more weathered and wrinkled as he pushing himself and everyone else to stop the newest terrorist threats to his country.

Over the years Jack Bauer has experienced more loss than anyone on a television show ever has. At the end of the first season 24 started the formula that it would later perfect. In that formula no one is safe. Beyond Jack Bauer every other character is expendable and that point was proven when Jack Bauer's pregnant wife Teri was shot and killed in the season finale of season 1. This first twist was made even more painful for Jack and shocking for television viewers because Teri was killed by Nina Myers, Jack Bauer's ex-lover and friend. Nina Myers spent the entire season 1 helping Jack get out of one scrape after another. Her betrayal was another huge and surprising moment in such a new television drama.

Since that time Jack Bauer has seen other friends killed off one by one. The most notable deaths include his friends Tony Almeida, Michelle Dessler, Curtis Manning. The most shocking deaths that upset fans for weeks were the deaths of two of the most loveable characters Edgar Stiles, President David Palmer and Curtis Manning who was shot by Jack himself when it looked like Curtis was about to kill Assad.

With his own recent experiences Jack Bauer who would quickly, efficiently and without feeling, torture a suspect for information is now finding himself hesitating before he tortures someone. At the end of season 5, Jack Bauer was kidnapped by Chinese officials who wanted him to pay for a death of one of their own. When season 6 began 24 viewers learned that Jack Bauer had been in a Chinese prison for 18 months in which he was tortured daily. Jack Bauer is stubborn however and not only did he resist their torture and did not divulge any information, he also did not speak for the year and a half that he was held prisoner.

Unlike some of the other characters on 24 who have come back for revenge, Jack Bauer did not want revenge after the US finally rescued him. Even after he found out that he was rescued simply to be turned over to a man named Fayed who would torture and kill him. The character Jack Bauer is strong and with him around you feel safe knowing that he will do anything and put his life on the line to do everything he can to save the country.