What we learned: '24: Live another Day' offers up nuggets of wisdom

08 August 2014 - 02:00 By Eugene Yiga
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Kiefer Sutherland
Kiefer Sutherland

Ahead of the season finale next week, here is a round-up of the life lessons learnt from the hit TV series starring Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer.

  • Good guys can be bad. It would be nice to live in a world where saying "you have my word" guarantees 100% trust. But that world doesn't exist. Even before Desperate Housewives showed us that everyone has a secret, and Lost showed us that not everything is as it seems, 24 made it clear that even the people on your team can have hidden agendas.
  • Bad guys can be good. Just because they're the enemy doesn't mean they are the moustached villains of yesteryear. Sometimes they have information that could save the world.
  • Bureaucracy sucks. Nobody likes dealing with chains of command that often lose sight of the bigger picture. 24 shows that sometimes you have to break the rules and work outside the system.
  • Delegation rules. Things work much better with the right people in the right places at the right times. But coming together as a team doesn't mean everyone has to be a hero. Jack couldn't do jack without Chloe and the other analysts working behind the scenes.
  • Nothing is sacred. TV shows of today - think Game of Thrones and Boardwalk Empire -- have no qualms about violently killing off key characters. As Kurt Vonnegut said: "One of the few good things about modern times: If you die horribly on television, you will not have died in vain. You will have entertained us."
  • The truth will out. You can run from your secrets, but you can't hide. We've seen it with Don Draper in Mad Men and Mike Ross in Suits. Just like Phil in The Amazing Race knows every wrong turn a team took by the time they get to the mat, Jack has a way of finding the facts.
  • '24: Live Another Day' concludes on M-Net on August 14
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