She had it coming from the moment she scoffed at Jack offering “his word” in exchange for her cooperation. When Jack gives you his word, you better take it. Mockery will get you a 3-count and a gun to the temple.
I actually thought it was pretty funny how Dana survived all that waterboarding, and yet it only took Jack three seconds to get her to talk. The man has a way with words. If you’re wondering what his trick is, I’ll tell you: just YELL. It works on everyone and in every situation … you might need a loaded gun as well.
So Dana had at least one redeeming quality — she didn’t shoot Cole, which makes me half-believe that she really loved him. Unfortunately for her, she decided to leave him at the bank with little birdies flying in circles around his head. If Cole had been there when she handed over the evidence, I doubt Jack would have put those bullets in her chest. He would have restrained himself, if only to keep Cole working on his side for a while longer. But once he was standing there alone with her, the adrenaline pounding through him after she’d just led him on a merry, bullet-riddled chase through the streets of New York City, there was nothing to hold him back from taking revenge for Renee’s death.
Thus Dana died at last (to choruses of hallelujah from 99% of the audience). Farewell, you lying liar — no silent clock for you!
Meanwhile at CTU, Chloe was in the middle of doing a pretty good job of leading her team (generous praise, considering she completely failed in her top-priority mission), when Logan’s toady Jason Pillar showed up with one of those stereotypical plastic, blond “assistants” to take charge of the search for Bauer and sick the Russians on him. I’m disappointed in President Taylor for continuing to rely on Logan’s “solutions.” Although he does seem to be genuinely trying to get the peace agreement signed, he already demonstrated that he was willing to do shady things behind her back. She’s walking into this disaster with her eyes wide open.
During that opening scene, when Dalia Hassan was praising Taylor’s integrity and heroism, I could just imagine the President cringing internally. What will Dalia say when she finds out the truth?
A few final thoughts/questions about this episode:
Clacked by Ruby T.
on May 04, 2010 @ 09:00 EST5EDT
Wow, that was a pretty intense moment before Jack executed Dana. One thing you could say about Jack before (besides his ability to cheat death) was that when it came down to it, you could count on him to make the right decision (even if he took some fairly sketchy, ends-justify-the-means methods to get there). No more. He’s out for revenge now, not justice. Which means he’s not a hero anymore.
When Jack had Dana cornered my girlfriend, who is a complete hippie and is slightly annoyed I got her to watch this show all season, actually yelled, “Just shoot the bitch!” at the TV. That is all I have to say about the episode.
Jack is and always will be my white knight! He made the right decision last night in regards to Dana, (bye-bye you terrorist beeatch!), and now he does need to go after Logan, and President Taylor. They are now the ones who need to be “dealt” with – and quickly! I liked Taylor, but no more after she crawled into bed with Logan and the Russians! Time to pay for her stupidity and one track mind!
GO JACK GO!! I’ll miss our Monday evenings together!!!
Your white knight is wearing quite a bit of red.
I’m glad! What is that saying? Oh yeah: The end justifies the means! So if my white knight gets some red on him taking care of business, then it is what it is! Bye Dana!
I have watched this show from the beginning season, and I am sad to see it end…
Wow, justifying cold blood on Jack’s hands? I think Jack just crossed a line that I don’t know how the show will allow him to come back for.
Jack has always had the moral high ground, something he lost this week. Hate Dana all you want (and I didn’t, once she actually got interesting), but it was still cold blooded.
I know she was guilty of treason and murder and surely had it coming, but I’m a bit sad Jack shot Starbuck. Athlough, I must say Sackhoff’s acting in her death scene was quite nice.
I’ve never watched this show before this season so I’m not invested in Jack like many are, but I’m not really loving him. *puts up shield, and tucks head*
Your feelings are understandable if this season was your introduction to Jack – you must think he’s a nutcase. I encourage you to watch Season 1 and keep going. Once you see all the hell that Jack has survived, you will be manically rooting for him with the rest of us.
Ruby’s right. You have to see what the man has gone through to really understand him. This season he experienced things that were collectively the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.
Him killing Dana was a massive departure for him, despite what you may have heard about his actions in the past. Everything he’s done, skirting the law, torture, all of that … At least you can say he did those things with the right motivations, or say that he did questionable things for the right reason. This action? Not so much.
But to see what he’s lost, from his wife (murdered) GF (basically went crazy), to watching Renee murdered … Not even to mention years locked in a Chinese prison, or faking his death, or watching having three of his closest friends murdered in one morning. Yeah, the man’s had a rough go of it.
I was a bit confused. After all that Dana had done in the storyline, her screaming “Chloe, don’t let them do this, they are going to kill me!” when the private security firm was taking her away seemed odd. I couldn’t figure out why Dana would think she’d find a sympathetic ear in Chloe.
Similarly, given that Dana implicated/encouraged Cole in a murder and potentially cost him his job, not to mention the lies and betrayal, I was confused as to why he tried to rein Jack in after she said that Jack wanted to kill her, and why he let his guard down so much around her when he knew what the stakes were.
Sometimes these writers suck.
I was impressed at how the writers had Dana go through waterboarding and yet didn’t reveal that she really had the evidence.
Chloe and Cole both know that it’s illegal to just kill Dana or let her be killed when she is in their custody. So Dana wasn’t appealing to their sympathy – she was appealing to their responsibility as members of CTU to keep her alive while she is in their custody. They would be held accountable if she was murdered on their watch.
The only problem with that is that it was a presidential order… there would be no repercussions for actually obeying the president, only for actually listening to Dana and interfering. In addition, the punishment in the US for treason is death, so since the immunity deal was revoked, she was a “dead girl walking” anyway.
It sickens me to think that we’re supposed to believe that Cole might still love Dana. I’ve dumped lovers for way smaller violations than what she did to him..
I second Ruby. Chloe has a moral compass, and a commitment to her duty as a Law Enforcement Officer.
And Cole still loved her. May have hated her too, but still loved her.
Jennifer, you make an interesting point about there being no legal ramifications for following presidential orders, even if those orders are…unjust…broken laws in themselves, a conflict of responsibility.
I’ve only started watching this show very recently (though I intend to watch the previous seasons soon) but I wonder if Jack isn’t somehow pushing the boundaries in part because all of his loyalties have failed him, including and especially his loyalty to President Taylor. I’m curious about the opinions of those of you who’ve followed the show from the beginning.
The foundation for this peace treaty is being laid on false ground; the president is morally compromised. Aren’t there higher laws? Is it purely vengeance motivating Jack? Letting Dana live would have been safer and more morally sound on the surface, but wouldn’t Dana have used the extra breathing time to screw everyone over again?
Really, at this point, what does Jack have left to lose?
“Really, at this point, what does Jack have left to lose?”
The high ground.
(But like I mentioned, I’m new to the series, so maybe I don’t know.)
The high ground? Hmmm. In BSG regardless of all of the various conflicted loyalties for the cast, there always seemed to be a clear higher road–and there was always some kind of retribution or changing action for crossing that line. (There were of course times such as Apollo’s testimony in defense of Baltar, where the issue of justice and culpability was raised, but it seems to me overall there was always a dividing line and a clear right and wrong even amongst the Cylons.
Like you, I’ve not been watching 24 a long time (did you jump on board because of Katee Sackoff?) but I think that to do the kind of job these characters must, those lines have always been blurred, even from the beginning. Unlike you, I actually have already developed a fondness for Jack. He’s a character I personally feel like I can trust. I can trust him to tell the truth and I can trust him to size up a situation and take appropriate action, no matter the consequences.
I think his execution of Dana, though, signifies that he’s straying into newer territory even inside himself. So on this point you may be correct. He’s always had his own guiding compass and perhaps that “high ground” has been compromised. I don’t know either. I hope not. I hope his actions will ultimately restore some kind of balance–I don’t trust peace under such false pretenses, either.
How far is he willing to go, though, because at this point he has almost no allies.
I think you are right, Rena. When Jack commits to someone, he takes it very seriously (that’s why Dana should have accepted his word that he would not harm her if she cooperated with him). Jack is fiercely loyal when he really believes in someone or something. He believed in President Taylor, which is why he would do anything to help her. When I say he “believed in” Taylor, what I mean is that he believed that she was a good leader, committed to justice and always willing to do the right thing (even sending her own daughter to jail). That’s the kind of leader Jack could give his loyalty to – and when she admitted to Jack that she was not going to do the “just” thing and expose the Russians’ hand in Hassan’s and Renee’s murders, he no longer felt that loyalty to her because she no longer lived up to his ideals of justice. When we talk about Jack killing Dana, we question whether what he did amounts to revenge or justice. It’s hard to say. What is justice? If I kill someone, is it adequate payment for me to simply sit in jail? Is that fair? Or is it more just for me to pay with my life for the life that I murdered? That’s equitible (an eye for an eye), if barbaric by today’s merciful standards. Justice matters a lot to Jack, and he probably took this drastic step because he felt that the President was not going to give him justice for Renee’s death.
Thanks for the insightful reply, Ruby! (I’m sorry it’s taken me weeks of searching to find these great posts of yours!)
Loyalty truly is hard to come by, and I find it unfathomable that President Taylor would put her trust in the cooperation of the group responsible for sabotaging the peace efforts in the first place (not to mention her attachment to Logan in spite of her initial, instinctual distrust of the man.) If the only way to keep a dog from attacking is to muzzle him, then that dog can never be trusted to not attack if ever given the opportunity. This peace feels phony and fragile–how easily these shadow dealings can be manipulated. Blackmail is not a strong enough muzzle especially now that the President herself is culpable in the murder of President Hassan. (She’s “protecting” the Russians, is she not?)
I see your point about Jack’s actions. Killing Dana may (or may not) have been the just thing to do, but Jack’s motive is the hinge. Renee’s death seems intrinsically tied to the peace treaty, since in essence she was killed to keep her silent about the Russian’s role in the events of the day. It all goes back to that peace treaty anyway. The road of either vengeance or justice will lead Jack to exactly the same place.
Interesting analogy about sitting in jail for a crime versus a life for a life. Personally, I think motive plays a key role. If I kill a person, but I’m defending myself against an attack by this person, then should I suffer either jailtime or the loss of my life for protecting myself? If I steal from a grocery store because I have a starving child at home, then should my motives be factored into the consequences of the crime? Do I not have an obligation to save my child from starvation. Should I have even brought this child into the world since I’m clearly unable to provide for its wellbeing without committing crimes?
(My ethics and morality class in high school used to debate all sorts of similar issues. Justice and mercy can become complicated terms very quickly.)
(As an aside, how do you think Jack’s connection to Renee and his loss of her compares to other losses he’s suffered? He really seems to have loved her in spite of the lack of time they had together overall.)
I think Jack’s motive was both justice and revenge – they are almost the same thing in his case. Here’s a dictionary definition of revenge: “to exact punishment or expiation for a wrong on behalf of; esp. in a resentful or vindictive spirit.” Except for the last part (which has to do with attitude), this could describe what our justice system does. So Jack’s revenge can be thought of as justice done with a “resentful or vindictive” attitude. We prefer to have an impartial judge or jury determine the punishment for convicted criminals, but what if the judge said, “Yeah, I know this person is guilty but I’m not going to punish them because I need their vote.” That’s what President Taylor did. She knew the Russians – with Dana’s help – murdered Hassan and Renee, but she said, “I’m not going to do justice, because I need the Russians to support my project.” What to do in that case? 1) Expose the corrupt judge. Jack is going to do that, using the evidence he got from Dana. 2) Get justice through some other means. Ideally, you would want to bring in a new judge to give you justice – but if the “judge” in this case is actually the President, you can’t bring in a new one. So Jack took the other avenue, which is to become the judge himself. Not ideal. Jack may know that Dana is guilty, but the reason we have a public process is so that everyone else knows that she’s guilty. Otherwise, it just looks like Jack murdered her.
Regarding your question of how this compares to Jack’s other losses – I don’t want to give away too much if you are planning to watch the previous seasons. But I think he’s taken blow after blow and recovered from them all, and at this point, he probably thought it was all over. He could live a peaceful, retired life with Renee and with his daughter’s family. His hard-earned, richly deserved happily-ever-after was destroyed with Renee’s death. It was the last straw, as Ivey commented.