For six seasons, I never minded that "24's" Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) completely demolished a person's civil rights, even if it meant torturing or killing a suspect.

Whether it was decapitating a murder suspect to infiltrate a terrorist group (he used the head as proof he was worthy to join the group), or killing a fellow federal agent to keep his cover, I believed the anti-terrorist agent had to do the unthinkable to save America.

Until now.

For some reason, this new seventh season, which has only been moderately entertaining as it involves an African general terrorizing America, has bothered me.

For years, liberal critics have thrashed the action thriller for its stance on torturing suspects. In the real world, I've never disagreed. Torture is the most anti-American policy that proves the end doesn't justify the means.

Yet at its best, the show has never been about ethical considerations or whether torture is necessary to thwart terrorism.

First and foremost, "24" is about blistering action, pacing, movement, unpredictable twists, about a man always running out of time. It never had the patience to find its moral compass. Jack just performed with speed and self-assurance, and that made it a heart-stopping experience.

His actions felt palatable in the show's earlier seasons because he usually tortured or killed a suspect we didn't like. In your heart, you knew what he did was wrong, but it was OK knowing he did it to a vile criminal.

In the story about the man he decapitated, producers made it a point that the suspect was a child molester and murderer. As far as I remember, Jack didn't touch the truly innocent.

But this season (which airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on KSTU Channel 13), Jack allowed innocent bodyguards to be killed because he didn't want his cover blown. He then shot, nearly suffocated and buried alive an FBI agent to prove his loyalty to the terrorists (she barely survived).

He deliberately poisoned an innocent prime minister and his wife in order to "smoke" them out of their secure room, nearly killing them. In last week's episode, he persuaded the same FBI agent to threaten a helpless mother and her baby at gunpoint to get information.

For the first time in the show's history, producers have made Jack Bauer nearly as evil and unconscionable as the terrorists he's fighting. And that has put a damper on this season, which in the eyes of a lot of television critics has so far been a success.

But in order to get caught up in "24's" well-oiled and blazing storytelling, I have to believe to some degree that what Jack is doing is right. When he doesn't even stop to consider how many innocent people he's going to kill this hour, I wonder if maybe he's become the bigger danger.

vince @sltrib .com