I'm a big fan of 24. Season 7 is a particularly poignant day for the protagonist, Jack Bauer. But first, a proper introduction.
In season 4 Jack has gotten free from a world of death, chaos and constant demands. He has a woman he loves, is on good terms with his daughter and is happy. He is pulled back into his world, and by the end of the day he has to fake his death, leaving his love and his daughter distraught behind him.
Season 5 draws Jack back in when won 2 his long-term friends is brutally assassinated. Another seems to die. That day his daughter finds out he fakes his death and, confused by hurtling emotion, swears him off. At the end of the day he is kidnapped by the Chinese, to be tortured for 18 months.
Season 6 sees Jack returned to the States. Day 6 is perhaps Jack's most harrowing day. He is forced to kill one his closest allies, his father and brother die, he loses the woman he loves. A personal hero to Jack pronounces over him the words 'You're cursed Jack, everything you touch, one way or another, ends up dead.'
The last episode sees Jack distraught, broken and lost. The episode finishes with a silent clock and Jack saying 'I want my life back, and I want it now.'
Jack is a strong man, but a man with humanity. His life, despite his best efforts, is ripped from him again and again and our hero is left again and again broken, lost and distraught. He wants his life back, and he wants it now.
Jack's day of redemption
Day 7 is what 24 fans gladly call the day of salvation. Jack is reunited with his daughter, he is given back his respect and position, he finds a new ally who will stand by him to the end. Jack finds a way to make peace with his life, with the things he has done, and the things he has gone through.
Lying on his death bed for a seemingly incurable disease he looks up at an Islamic priest, seeking to find peace in his final moments,
Jack: 'I've made so many mistakes and I'd always thought that I'd have the time to correct them.'
The priest, 'You have the time, right now.'
Jack: 'You don't know what I've done.'
The priest: 'We live in complex times, Mr Bauer. Nothing is black and white. But I do know this, I see before me a man with all his flaws and all his goodness, simply a man.' [he takes Jack's hand in prayer] 'Let us both forgive ourselves for all the wrongs that we have done.'
He finds his peace, and gets his redemption. He gets his life back.
To those of us who would say with Jack, 'I want my life back, and I want it now', may we have our day 7, may we find redemption, may we get our life back.
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