...and the season premiere will transcend that superficial narrative about torture being useful (Keep in mind that Jack is pissed because he just got blackmailed into returning to the US---and he will be testifying about the use of torture, but a preview clips suggest he may tell them a little more than they want to know).

I must say (I've been talking about writing my "24 article" for a long time now) that 24 is one of my all time favorite shows, and is far more complex than some of its lefty critics give it credit for. I think it often has very radical critiques of the US govt's police state and how transnational military industrial complex corporations have subverted democracy, and purposefully used "fear of terrorism" to further their sinister power grab.... The real bad guys are almost always "white guys in suits," with Jack usually having to disobey orders and become a fugitive to go after the powerful people that are being protected.

For example, in winter 2003 Jack Bauer was trying to stop the Iraq war (in the show it was going to be an attack on three un-named middle eastern countries) and then last season (two years ago) the show was extremely critical of how Muslims, and folks from the Middle East are scapegoated in this post-911 "terrordome"....

I could give more background, but I'll save it for my future article.

Suffice to say, I agree that it is misleading to say torture is useful for getting reliable intelligence, and the show basically perpetuates that narrative. However, I don't think its glorified (Jack and his friends have been tortured), rather, I see it as more of a "see how ugly this is", but its a "necessary evil"---and like I just said, I don't agree with this part of the show.

In previous seasons 24 had the first two black presidents (the Palmer brothers) and this season kicks off with the first woman president, who seems like a very strong character, based on the 2 hour movie released a few weeks ago.