Friday, December 19, 2003
Did he or Didn't he?
There seems to be a lot of debate as to whether Jack could have known the gun was loaded when Ramon told him to shoot Chase. Everyone from your average housewife to top gun experts are chiming in on the matter.
According to some people who have some extensive knowledge of guns (as we would think Jack Bauer does as well) it is possible to tell from the weight of a gun whether it's loaded or not. I can believe that. Well I'd have to really since I know jack about guns. Last time I fired a weapon it was a 12-gauge shotgun and it knocked me on my ass, much to the amusement of PotentialBoyfriend who wasn't Potential after that little trick (he failed to inform me on the proper way to hold the shotgun, so not only did I fall over, but I had a horrible bruise on my cheek and shoulder. Asshole.)
What I wonder though is, even if you are considered an expert on a multitude of weaponry, as Jack most likely is given his training, how can anyone, even Jack, know the proper weight ratios for every loaded and unloaded type of gun out there? What if a gun only has one or even two bullets left in a clip? Would you know that right away as well? What about imagining being in a similar, tense situation where you're asked to kill someone close to you in the same manner. Imagine you're a smackhead going through withdrawals. Imagine that only a few of hours before you fought your way out of a prison riot and inadvertently became responsible for a bystander's death in a pretty horrible manner.
No, I just can't buy into the theory that Jack went through with it knowing the gun was empty. I believe The Powers That Be deliberately left it ambiguous so geeks like me can debate and ponder it to death, but for my part I'm choosing to believe that Jack had no clue whether it was loaded or not. In keeping with Jack's underlying theme through each season, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one - even his own needs.
The repercussions of him killing Chase would have been enormous. Whatever relationship he had rebuilt with his beloved daughter would have been shattered, especially after all of the earlier betrayals of the day (lying to her about the prisoner transfer order, finding out he's a junkie). I don't think their relationship could have survived such a blow and that would do more damage to Jack emotionally than anything else he's been through.
Besides, it makes for better drama if he doesn't know the gun's empty :)
According to some people who have some extensive knowledge of guns (as we would think Jack Bauer does as well) it is possible to tell from the weight of a gun whether it's loaded or not. I can believe that. Well I'd have to really since I know jack about guns. Last time I fired a weapon it was a 12-gauge shotgun and it knocked me on my ass, much to the amusement of PotentialBoyfriend who wasn't Potential after that little trick (he failed to inform me on the proper way to hold the shotgun, so not only did I fall over, but I had a horrible bruise on my cheek and shoulder. Asshole.)
What I wonder though is, even if you are considered an expert on a multitude of weaponry, as Jack most likely is given his training, how can anyone, even Jack, know the proper weight ratios for every loaded and unloaded type of gun out there? What if a gun only has one or even two bullets left in a clip? Would you know that right away as well? What about imagining being in a similar, tense situation where you're asked to kill someone close to you in the same manner. Imagine you're a smackhead going through withdrawals. Imagine that only a few of hours before you fought your way out of a prison riot and inadvertently became responsible for a bystander's death in a pretty horrible manner.
No, I just can't buy into the theory that Jack went through with it knowing the gun was empty. I believe The Powers That Be deliberately left it ambiguous so geeks like me can debate and ponder it to death, but for my part I'm choosing to believe that Jack had no clue whether it was loaded or not. In keeping with Jack's underlying theme through each season, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one - even his own needs.
The repercussions of him killing Chase would have been enormous. Whatever relationship he had rebuilt with his beloved daughter would have been shattered, especially after all of the earlier betrayals of the day (lying to her about the prisoner transfer order, finding out he's a junkie). I don't think their relationship could have survived such a blow and that would do more damage to Jack emotionally than anything else he's been through.
Besides, it makes for better drama if he doesn't know the gun's empty :)
Digg this | 
de.licio.us 
Fark it
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home