If you are a fan of the Fox TV hit “24,” you know that after all Curtis Manning has done for Jack Bauer, Jack killed him to save an ex-terrorist (Assad) on the mend.  It turns out that Curtis had “beef” with Assad who was now trying to help Jack and the U.S. government catch another terrorist who has nuclear capabilities and is using them on U.S. soil.  Curtis was bitter about this alliance – the U.S. government negotiating with terrorists (no matter that he’s an ex or not)?  It turns out that this Assad was once Curtis’ bitter enemy - Assad killed two of Curtis’ military buddies when they were fighting in some war.  So Curtis pulled a gun on him and pointed it in his head at super-close range.  Jack shouts at Curtis to “drop your weapon!” (one of his favorite lines in the show), but Curtis is raging and won’t draw back his gun and won’t let Assad go.  Jack shoots Curtis and kills him, thinking he’s doing what’s right for the sake of the U.S. and ensure they protect Assad to pump him for information he has about this ”nuclear” terrorist.

Why do I have a problem with this?  (My husband is very upset right now.)  In previous episodes, Curtis was Jack’s right-hand man (sort of).  He did whatever Jack wanted him to do.  He always had an incredibly level head.  Whenever Jack was in a tight spot, Curtis was there with his men to back him up.  Okay, so Curtis pulled a gun on Assad.  Assad almost killed Curtis in a previous meeting.  Assad killed Curtis’ friends.  Jack knew why Curtis was so bitter.  So did Jack have to mortally wound him?  Couldn’t he have shot him in the leg or something?  Was he that daggone expendible?  Is that how we treat our friends?

Am I going overboard with this?  Maybe.  First, it’s a TV show.  Secondly, it’s not like Jack and Curtis hung out together (but he did save his life a few times).  Thirdly, it’s a TV show.

But, as my husband said, we throw away things that seem to be expendible.  Curtis wasn’t meeting Jack’s needs at that particular time.  Jack felt Curtis was a threat to his mission.  So I can imagine Jack thinking, “He’s causing me a problem.  I’ve got to eliminate the problem.”  If something seems to be of greater value, throw away that thing which gets in its way.   

This happens in relationships all the time (yes, somehow I correlated this episode of “24″ with relationships.  Go figure).  We see it in Hollywood frequently.  But lack of commitment in relationships exists everywhere, not just in Hollywood.  When there is another person involved, the thought is, “The grass is greener over there.  I want to play in that playground.”  And off they go.  But as my husband recently said,

“The grass may appear greener on the other side until you take a closer look and see there is crap in it.”

Curtis didn’t have to die…Goodbye, Curtis.