24: Solitary Clip – Tony Almeida is back!

Its not that they are acting in opposite ways– they make very similar moves to one another.

I think the real key to understanding the dynamic is to know that the acts are similar but their motivations are polar opposites.

Tony is motivated by selfish desires– almost every move starts and ends from a place that is self-interested and even the ones that are not are still about fulfilling something inside him. For example, saving Jack and Audrey in S4 was because he owed Jack and Palmer for getting him out of prision and now they are even so he did it to settle the score so he wouldn’t have to owe Jack anymore.

Jack is always motivated by selflessness– he will hurt the ones he loves if on the balance the action will be for the greater good. He almost never takes action based on pure self interest. To the point where actually you don’t much like him — maybe you admire his resolve but think he is an idiot– best example is S2 with flying the plane to the desert and talking to Kim when piloting the plan– even Tony calls him on it– there has to be someone else Jack, someone without a family. And so the fact that he is able to push aside his own emotional connections to be hyper task oriented is a flaw that Tony doesn’t have.

To be honest I am not sure which is better– I almost would rather have Tony in my corner except that at any given point i time he could betray you if there was something else that provided a better upside for him or his loved ones and then he would push aside fulfilling a mission to pursue the more self-interested action, With Jack, you at least know what you will get– start to finish soup to nuts his moves are predictable and therefore reliable and therefore as long as you do not find yourself in the crosshairs you want him to be in charge because the moves are more expected as opposed to Tony who can be a wildcard– but if he is your wildcard you are better off.

That voice always cracks me up reminds me of Frau Farbassina in Austin Powers….

I would give Logan more credit than that esp if he could entice Tony by promising to deliver the real person responsible I could see him smarm his way out of getting killed by Tony