Day 3: 8:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Characters Introduced:

• Michael Amador (Greg Ellis): The man brokering the deal for the Cordela virus. Wears a suit and never seems to be worried. Jack will take care of that.

Returning Characters:

Soon

Key Moments:

• In order to explain the situation to the Palmers, Tony plays a hidden file Jack recorded some time in the past. Jack says that all of the day’s events were a ruse to get him back under with the Salazars. The Cordela virus is real but he needed the Salazars to be the buyers so they could remove it from the market.
• Then we get to see how the Salazars see the situation, Hector tells Ramon that Jack proposed the virus deal along with breaking Ramon out of jail. Jack is the only one the seller will deal with and he will be paid 15 million dollars for his services. Ramon responds to this deal by taking his gun and shooting at Jack; Hector knocks his aim off at the last second.
• Kim tells Tony that Chase is on his way to Mexico.
• Claudia interrupts Jack’s heroin withdrawal to yell at him for not keeping his word from when he was undercover with the Salazars the first time. I think their relationship went past business.
• Tony passes out in his office. He gets up, dusts himself off, and gets back to work. No harm done.
• Anne meets with her ex-husband. They talk forever. The ex-husband kills himself in front of Anne.
• Hector is finally able to convince Ramon to go with the plan by saying they will kill Jack after the deal is done.
• Tony gets in contact with a Mexican agent who will meet Chase and inform him of the situation. Chase’s plane lands but he is not in it. Chase sneaks up on the agent but before Tony can speak to Chase a sniper takes out the Mexican agent. Chase tries to drive off but Salazar’s men run him off the road.
• In the first of the many pointless Palmer plotlines, Anne delivers the evidence to David then breaks up with him. Let us never speak of this relationship again … mainly because 24 won’t.
• Jack calls Amador to initiate the deal. Amador will call back with a location. In the meantime Salazar’s men drag Chase into the house. Phenomenal scene takes place with Ramon flipping out, Jack pleading, Chase pissed off, Jack and Chase fight, Ramon demanding that Jack kill Chase, Jack putting Ramon’s gun to Chase’s head and pulling the trigger, the gun going click, Ramon laughing and sending Chase off to be interrogated.
• Jack’s watch got busted during the scuffle.

Ridiculousness:

Solid hour

Running Totals:

Damnit!: 1 (7)

• Jack is not happy is watch is busted.

Day 3: 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Characters Introduced:

• Gerry Whitehorn (Jamie McShane): David’s press secretary who pops up throughout the day to tell him that the media is all over his secrets.

Returning Characters:

Where are you past favorites?

Key Moments:

• Gael does the world a favor and duct tapes Kim’s mouth shut and locks her in the tech room. Michelle is heading to the hospital to see Tony now that he is out of surgery and wants to give her authority over to Gael.
• Gael’s plan is spoiled when Adam goes looking for Kim. Michelle opens the tech room door and Gael runs. He gets past a bunch of guards, but after all these years CTU has finally beefed up security and Gael is soon surrounded.
• Chappelle heads up Gael’s interrogation. After Gael refuses to explain his actions, we are introduced to the CTU agent with the job description of administrator of pain.
• Ramon is not happy partying with the whores on the plane knowing that Jack is still drawing air.
• Speaking of Jack; first he tries to talk to the guard watching him but when that doesn’t work he resorts to faking a seizure and breaks the guard's neck with his legs.
• Anne’s ex-husband calls and tells her that he has evidence that will exonerate her.
• Chase ignores Chappelle’s order to get back to CTU and goes after the Salazar’s accountant.
• When Ramon can’t take it anymore, he heads to the back of the plane to take care of his problem. Instead, Jack springs on Ramon and takes him hostage.
• Hector calls Gael while he is being tortured but Adam is unable to trace the call.
• After getting the update from Michelle, Tony flips out and rises from his hospital bed and demands to be signed out so he can head back to CTU.
• Chase gets an address in Las Nieves, Mexico and also takes the accountant’s personal plane on a little trip.
• Ramon’s plane lands in Mexico and all the passengers and crew run out. Hector gets twitchy and Jack bringing Ramon out at gunpoint does not help this feeling. Ramon immediately calls for Jack to be shot, but Jack and Hector have a conversation. Hector tells his men to put their guns down and moves in for the hug with Jack.
• Tony has arrived back at CTU and demands to speak to Gael alone, but Chappelle will have not of it. When Jack touches his watch, Gael’s PDA beeps and he tells Tony that Jack is back under with the Salazars.

Ridiculousness:

• Did Tony Almeida really need to be shot in the neck so Carlos Bernard could talk in a hoarse whisper?
• When Chase calls Kim to tell her that he is heading to Mexico, Kim tells him about Gael. Chase makes the logical leap to going dark because no one can be trusted. If all CTU agents thought like Chase, no information would ever be shared.

Running Totals:

Mole: 1 (8)

• Gael is captured and outed as a mole for Hector.

Torture doesn’t mean you can’t be creative: 1 (11)

• I don’t know what is in the liquid pain that CTU hooks to Gael’s veins but I want none of it.

Jack’s body count: 1 (45)

• Jack snapped necks with just his legs years before Sayid.

Day 3: 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM

Characters Introduced:

• Tomas (Miguel Najera): The man Hector left in charge to bring Ramon and Jack back to him safely.

Returning Characters:

• Ryan Chappelle (Final episode of season 2)

Key Moments:

• Jack and Ramon are flying around and everyone is trying to figure out what to do about it. Chappelle starts from the point of Jack and Ramon are expendable.
• Chase recognizes how to get to Chappelle, so he warns Chappelle against killing Jack without the President’s authority. Wayne takes the call and halts any action until he can speak to his brother. Since David is still in mid-debate, Wayne talks in his ear and explains the situation. David pauses and calls off the debate and walks off stage.
• While David dicks around for a couple minutes, Wayne argues that Jack knew the risks and convinces David to give the okay.
• Although they have been locked on for minutes, when the pilots go to fire on them Jack does “something” and they can’t get a lock before he enters the city.
• Jack lands the chopper and flees into the city with Ramon before Chase gains access to communicate with him. Jack and Ramon stay ahead of Chase and eventually snatch a car to improve their mobility.
• There is a great moment after Jack contacts Hector’s plane where Ramon is amused at seeing Jack in action. He then asks Jack why he felt the need to addict himself to heroin because it was unnecessary.
• Duncan finishes running Kyle through all the necessary tests and is shocked to find that he has not been infected with the Cordela virus.
• Ramon thanks Jack for delivering him to the plane by having him jumped and moves in to shoot Jack. Tomas calls him off and says Hector wants Jack alive.
• Since Kim is barely interested in doing her job, she looks at the computer screen that Gael was working on in the tech room. He sees images of Jack at the airport. Before she can raise the alarm, Gael enters the room holding a gun.

Ridiculousness:

• Although Wayne told him that Jack would be out of range in minutes, David slowly walks into the conference room gets comfortable and takes his time swallowing the magical pills that keeps Mandy’s poison away. Who are you slow rolling?
• So does Jack have a force field that repels incoming missile fire? Because they never explained what Jack did to get the helicopter out of missile lock.
• So if you ever need car, just walk into a valet lot and take a set of keys with an alarm attached. Then just drive off, 24 wouldn’t lie to me. This will work.
• Although Chloe is the champion of human interaction, Chappelle challenges her by going in for the awkward hug when Michelle tells him that Tony survived his surgery.

Running Totals:

Too much ridiculousness this hour

Day 3: 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Characters Introduced:

• Peel (Lobo Sebastian): The prisoner leading the riot. Decides to have fun instead of trying to escape.

Returning Characters:

Nosiree

Key Moments:

• The debate between Palmer and Keeler begins and continues through the rest of the hour.
• Within 5 minutes of opening the cells, the prison is now on fire. Jack and Ramon try to sneak around the madness. They eventually take out 2 guards and don their outfits.
• Jack’s foolproof plan is fooled almost instantly when the prisoner mob beats the hell out of Jack and Ramon. They are dragged as hostages right past Chase.
• Adam and Kim work together to identify the truck that Kyle was kidnapped in.
• Peel rounds up all the captured prison guards and convinces the prisoners that they can’t escape so why don’t they play a little game of Russian roulette. Jack is up first against a random guard. When they guard is too chicken to play, Jack convinces him that he is dead anyway so go ahead … bam!
• Michelle sends Chloe to sift through Jack’s stuff to find out why he is doing what he is doing. Chloe demurs for 5 seconds but really who wouldn’t want to root around the brain of Jack Bauer?
• Jack moves on to the second round and his opponent will be Ramon Salazar. Even when he explains who he is, Peel puts Ramon in the chair. Jack grabs the gun and without hesitation pulls the trigger. And he dies, ending the series. Ramon is handed the gun next and after making not so veiled threats pulls the trigger and hears the click. Chase and his team are in the walls watching and waiting for a moment to strike. Jack spots Chase and makes eye contact with Ramon and looks at Peel and gets the nod from Ramon. Jack turns the gun on Peel and Ramon dives at another prisoner. Chase blows through the wall at the same point causing a distraction that allows Jack and Ramon to escape everyone.
• Chloe finds Jack’s discarded needles. She has the drugs tested and they come back positive for heroin.
• Adam tracks down the truck that Kyle was kidnapped in.
• When they reach the exit, Jack needs to improvise to get Ramon past the swarm of CTU agents outside the prison. Screw it; Jack just takes Ramon hostage and walks out the door. We get a fantastic sequence where Jack and Chase just yell at each other as Jack walks Ramon to the helicopter.
• CTU locates and secures Kyle and Linda.
• Michelle relays this to Chase who begins yelling and waving at Jack but a helicopter is really loud so Jack takes off.

Ridiculousness:

• We get the first real Chloe cannot interact with humans scene. Kim walks in before she can get out of Jack’s office and being Kim does not allow Chloe to do her job in peace. Chloe responds by saying “it is unfair that she is being put in this position.” When she is done berating Kim, Chloe tells her that dad’s on heroin.

Running Totals:

Jack’s million dollar dream: 1 (3)

• 2 weeks in row! Jack uses the choke to take out the prison guard.

Jack loves America not Americans: 1 (6)

• Poor prisoner guard; Jack just needed some clothes.

Jack’s body count: 1 (44)

• Jack cheats at Russian roulette and kills Peel instead of himself.

Chloe drives a sane man crazy: 1 (2)

• Chloe’s confrontation counts even if Kim wasn’t sane to begin with.

Day 3: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Characters Introduced:

• Sergio (Julian Rodriguez): Claudia’s younger brother who idolizes Hector. Aim higher young man.
• Warden Mitchell (Kevin Chapman): You’re basic run of the mill prison warden.

Returning Characters:

Move along

Key Moments:

• Linda picks Kyle up at the mall, while Gomez continues to follow.
• Chase says screw it and heads out to the prison to question Ramon with his free time.
• Gomez eventually tires of hanging back and moves forwards and kidnaps Kyle and Linda.
• After David refuses to release Ramon, Jack offers him another way. He will break Ramon out of prison so it won’t look like David gave in to terrorist demands. Jack tells David that this will be his last mission and he uses David’s silence as an okay to go forward with his plan. This was a fine piece of business by Sutherland and Haysbert.
• When Anne finds out about the bribe, she yells at Wayne and convinces David to call it off.
• Jack initiates his plan by tricking Kim into getting him a transfer order for Ramon, but he also finds out that Chase is at the prison against his orders.
• Chase convinces the warden to let him “talk” to Ramon without those pesky cameras looking. By “talk”, I mean Chase punches Ramon in the neck.
• Jack interrupts Chase’s session and acts creepy as he walks down the prison corridor. When Chase thinks Jack is here to help, he turns around and Jack moves in for the choke. Ramon is bemused but that doesn’t stop him from helping Jack move the unconscious Chase.
• Jack convinces Ramon to listen to him as they attempt to sneak out of the prison. Eventually the warden finds the tied and gagged Chase and releases him. The alarm is triggered and Jack needs to improvise. His plan? Open up all the cells to bring a little chaos to his predicament.

Ridiculousness:

• Within minutes of Tony being shot, Jack tells Michelle that she either runs CTU or heads to Tony’s side. She can’t do both. Then when she chooses Tony, Adam blatantly guilts her into staying. This is a government agency; we do not have any contingency plans.

Running Totals:

Kim does something stupid: 1 (23)

• Kim believes her father when he asks her to break a bunch of regulations in order to get a transfer order for Ramon Salazar. I know it’s your father and you only have this job because he broke someone’s thumb for you, well maybe you shouldn’t question him.

Damnit: 1 (6)

• Jack’s expletive of choice is used when Chase refuses to head back to CTU.

Torture doesn’t mean you can’t be creative: 1 (10)

• We only get to see Chase punch Ramon in the neck but the commercial break means Chase went to town. I’m ringing it up.

Jack’s million dollar dream: 1 (2)

• Finally! Jack breaks out the choke out for the first time since the first hour of day 1.

Jack loves America not Americans: 1 (5)

• Chase counts.

Day 3: 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM

Characters Introduced:

• Dr. Nicole Duncan (Andrea Thompson): The other doctor that pops up from time to time to say how badly bad the Cordela Virus is. Has history with Jack but who doesn’t?
• Sam Singer (Ted Marcoux): Kyle’s dad who is incapable of finding work forcing his poor son to mule drugs from Mexico.
• Gomez (David Labiosa): The man Gael has tailing Kyle.

Returning Characters:

Don't look at me!

Key Moments:

• Jack has had enough and frantically tries to get his fix sitting in his SUV. Dr. Duncan pulls up before Jack can complete his very important personal mission and eventually spots the heroin vial that Jack didn’t properly hide.
• Kyle gets in an argument with his father over where he got the money to pay the rent. When Kyle tries to leave, Sam grabs his bag and finds the magic white powder. There is a struggle and the bag is ripped in front of a fan. I knew they had a fan somewhere!
• After stonewalling Annicon for the last couple hours, Ramon agrees to talk to him.
• Keeler’s dirt on Anne is that she perjured herself when her ex-husband was on trial.
• When Annicon reaches Ramon’s cell, Ramon insults him then signals the guard to kill Annicon. After the deed is done, Ramon tells the guard that his son will be returned to him.
• While the Singers stand around discussing their disappointment of a son, CTU arrives by chainsaw. They cut through the door and Helen flips out and runs to the bathroom to flush the powder. Jack grabs her and calls Tony to tell him that the virus is in the water and may be airborne.
• Anne denies the accusation and tells David that her ex-husband is lying.
• Duncan finds out that the white powder Kyle was transporting is not the virus. After puking from withdrawal, Jack thinks that Kyle was infected as a carrier.
• Wayne puts in motion a plan to pay off Anne’s ex-husband to drop the accusation.
• CTU is able to trace Kyle’s location by having his parents make a call to him. He is at the mall and Tony is closer to Jack so he heads out. Jack continues to bench Chase.
• Duncan confronts Jack on his heroin use and Jack responds with a very loud voice. Duncan trusts the addict.
• Tony spots Kyle at the mall and approaches him alone. While in the middle of calming him down, Gomez goes against Gael’s orders and shoots Tony in the neck. Kyle runs and Jack arrives to hold the bleeding Tony as the hour ends.

Ridiculousness:

Clean hour

Running Totals:

Kim does something stupid: 1 (22)

• This is more about Kim’s plain stupidity; she just doesn’t understand what Chase is mad about. So Jack benches him and Kim responds by yelling at Chase.

Day 3: 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM

Characters Introduced:

• John Keeler (Geoff Pierson): David’s Republican rival who is nothing more than the other politician.

Returning Characters:

What the hell else can I fill this space with?

Key Moments:

• Jack decides to throw away his heroin gear. Good for you … wait! Not in the company trash Bauer! As an addict, he does pocket the bottle with a bit of heroin left.
• Chase is disappointed that Jack didn’t shoot up, now that is a real partner. Jack does not want his addiction on the record.
• Kim bulldogs her way past Chase’s opinion and tells Jack about their relationship. Jack’s reaction is a non-reaction, which appropriately makes Kim nervous.
• Jack and Chase head to the last known address of the dead body and Jack is hilariously pissed off at Chase.
• While on the road to cracktown, Jack tells Chase that you can’t do the job and his daughter at the same time. You can only handle one life-threatening job at a time, fieldwork or Kim Bauer.
• Wayne tells David that he has the ability to buy a copy of Keeler’s playbook for tonight’s debate. David is too honorable for such Sherry-level nonsense.
• We finally get to see Jack and Chase in action and they prove to be a well oiled machine of badassery. Eventually Jack shoots a dealer in the leg and the questioning begins. When he stonewalls, Jack just says “Chase” and the man steps on the dealer’s bulletwound. He quickly gives up the name Kyle Singer.
• When Kyle leaves the apartment to pay his parent’s overdue rent, his mother finds his bag of white powder.
• Jack benches Chase by sending him back to CTU with the dealer. No fieldwork for you sir.
• Wayne tells David that there is some badness about Anne in Keeler’s playbook.
• Gael is revealed to be a CTU agent. Awww shit it’s mole time.

Ridiculousness:

• Kim's belief that the best time to tell Jack about her relationship with Chase is during work hours. Seriously? You couldn't go out for an In-N-Out burger to break this nonsense?

Running Totals:

Chloe drives a sane man crazy: 1 (1)

• Chloe tells Tony that Jack and Chase will not be wearing wires. She then goes on and on about the minutia of comms until Tony screams at her.

Torture doesn’t mean you can’t be creative: 1 (9)

• Chase stepping on the dealer’s bullet wounded leg counts because of the ease that Jack and Chase interrogate.

Mole: 1 (7)

• Gael is working for CTU and Hector! Oh noes!

Day 3: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM

Characters Introduced:

• Chase Edmunds (James Badge Dale): Jack Jr. My favorite of the Jack Bauer wingmen so count the hours until he is no longer physically able to perform his job.
• Ramon Salazar (Joaquim de Almeida): Mexican gangster put behind bars by an undercover Jack. Not too happy with Jack. It was never denied that the actor was related to Tony Almeida.
• Luis Annicon (Carlos Gomez): The prosecutor working with Jack to get Ramon to reveal all his evil business partners.
• Dr. Sunny Macer (Christina Chang): The first of two doctors that will show up during the day to keep telling us the badness of the Cordela virus.
• Adam Kaufman (Zachary Quinto): After 3 years they finally replaced Paula with some one competent. The one drawback is that he hates women all women. Don’t touch Spock’s stuff.
• Chloe O’Brian (Mary Lynn Rajskub): My hero. Jack’s personal analyst, assistant, and only real friend he will have in this life or the next. Contains no social skills whatsoever.
• Wayne Palmer (D.B. Woodside): Brother to the president who will take part in many of the more ridiculous political tomfoolery on 24.
• Hector Salazar (Vincent Laresca): Ramon’s younger brother who is running the family business in his absence.
• Claudia (Vanessa Ferlito): Ramon’s significant other. Doesn’t like the shadier side of his business and will spend most of her screen time complaining about something.
• Gael Ortega (Jesse Borrego): He was a bit of 24 trickery where they made it seem like he was the mole but in fact was working undercover for Jack and Tony.
• Kyle Singer (Riley Smith): Some jackass kid who decided to become a drug mule to make some money for his family.
• Helen Singer (Lucinda Jenney): Kyle's sick and pathetic mother.
• Dr. Anne Packard (Wendy Crewson): David Palmer’s doctor with benefits.
• Oriol (Josh Cruze): Claudia’s father who is ordered around by Hector to Claudia’s dismay.
• Linda (Agnes Bruckner): Kyle’s girlfriend who should probably reevaluate her choice in men.

Returning Characters:

• Jack Bauer (Final episode of season 2)
• Tony Almeida (Final episode of season 2)
• Michelle Dessler (Final episode of season 2)
• David Palmer (Final episode of season 2)
• Kim Bauer (Final episode of season 2)
• Aaron Pierce (5am – 6am of season 2)

Key Moments:

• Instead of a “Previously on…” Day 3 begins by replaying Mandy’s attempt on Palmer’s life. Then the words “Three Years Later” flash across the screen.
• Shady guys are playing around in the back of a van. They pull up to the National Health Services building, drop off a body, and in a slight bit of overkill blow up the back door so people come a running.
• We are introduced to a quite dapper Jack Bauer walking through a prison. Trailing behind him is his partner Chase Edmunds. They meet up with Annicon to discuss the deal that is being proposed to Ramon. We get the first hints of what Jack did while undercover with the Salazars. Ramon is brought in to sign the deal but he takes the time to make cryptic comments then stabs his lawyer in the throat with the pen. That is not legally binding.
• Look at the pretty new CTU version 2. The floor is expanded with more analysts doing stuff in the background. Plus there is an expanded balcony with actual room to walk around. Later on, more rooms will be showcased in the back.
• Tony is running the house nowadays. We get a conspicuous shot of his and Michelle’s hand so we spot the rings they are now sporting. Adam pops up to complain about Chloe, which will be a running theme. Macer calls Tony to tell him about the body that was dumped at her doorstep.
• David Palmer arrives at the site where he will be debating Senator Keeler later in the day. His brother Wayne is now at his side taking over the role that Mike Novick once held.
• Jack and Chase head back to CTU and we get Chase’s first attempt to talk to Jack about what happened in Mexico. They are interrupted by a call from Kate Warner. She and Jack were together prior to his Mexican adventure but now not so much. Nice cameo.
• We find out that Hector Salazar is behind the dumping of the body at Health Services and Gael is the man updating him.
• When Jack arrives at CTU, he goes into his office and starts tweeking.
• Chase sneaks up on Kim in a darkened serving room and instead of snapping her neck and ending our nation’s suffering, they start making out. Damnit. To make a bad situation worse, Kim wants to tell her father about her and Chase. Chase smartly wants no part of this probably because he doesn’t want to be killed on sight.
• After all the talk of who is in control of the virus, we are introduced to Kyle Singer while is staring at a bag of white powder. He seems to sweat a lot but that could just be that his family’s financial problems prevent them from having air conditioning or even a fan.
• After an outstanding scene where Jack fires Chloe for not filing the way he wants (who knew he was so anal retentive), Chase plays peacemaker and Jack apologizes. A ransom call interrupts the heart to heart Jack and Chase were having. Ramon must be released in 6 hours or America will feel the wrath of the super virus. Jack points to Hector and Michelle identifies the dead body as a snitch dealer.
• Kyle is revealed to be a part of Hector’s plan.
• David and Anne share a forbidden love in the eyes of Wayne.
• Chase walks in to find Jack banging at his keyboard like a monkey and takes another swing at talking to Jack about what happened in Mexico. Lots of hints but he never says it outright, Chase does tell him to get it together by any means necessary before leaving the office. And by any means we are talking the white horse. Jack breaks out his gear and preps his arm, but Kim ruins the day by calling him. Jack can’t enjoy the sweet release of heroin now, so he flips out and rips apart his desk and tosses the paraphernalia at the wall.

Ridiculousness:

• Kim Bauer is qualified to work as an analyst at CTU? Did her sterling work as a live-in nanny put her resume to the top of the pile? Or how much pull does Jack really have? Can he get his favorite coffee table a job?
• Lucky for us this Cordela Virus kills in less than 24 hours. If it took too long, we wouldn’t have been able to see the victims die horribly within the timeline of this season.
• Jack is addicted to heroin. HA!

Running Totals:

Kim Does Something Stupid: 1 (21)

• Kim hacks Adam’s computer to prove she deserves her job. If I wanted to watch sci-fi/fantasy I would watch sci-fi/fantasy.

The Best and Worst of the Second Season of 24

Best Moments

5. Jack and his hacksaw

This was just an iconic moment. And I see how disturbing that statement looks but this just brought Jack Bauer to a completely new level. He was now going to places no other television character had gone before.

4. Jack's interrogation of Nina

The return of Nina was key to closing any lose ends from the twist at the end of the first season. Turning her was done for shock bringing her back allowed Clarke and Sutherland to work the new dynamic. The tension between these two is incredible. And when Jack shot those bullets above her head, it doesn't get much better than that.

3. Irradiated George Mason

This is amazing that I get to rank this here. 24 will be known for its ridiculous plot twists and this should have been one of the laughable ones. Instead Berkeley made every second believable. From going through decontamination, reuniting with his son, all the way to taking Jack's seat on the plane, all of it worked.

2. Nina holding Jack at gun point

Jack, Nina, David, and Mike get to annihilate some screen time. It's all here; Nina smugly setting Jack up, Jack's realization that Nina tricked him, David sending Nina to Mike first, David and Mike's initial confusion over Nina's demand, Nina requesting a pardon for the future killing of Jack Bauer, Jack telling David to accept the deal, David's pain over agreeing to the deal, Jack asking David to look after Kim, David wiping away a tear, Nina's gloating to Jack, Jack no selling the gloat, Nina flipping out, and Jack just getting up and walking away. I love when 24 gets it right.

1. Jack interrogates Syed Ali

So where do you go when Jack has already cut a man's head off and took shots at Nina just to frighten her, you kill Ali's kid. Syed was a man willing to die for his cause and Jack needed to break him immediately. He tries the normal stuff, conversation, threats, screaming, mild beatings, sending in the Imam, no dice. Jack needed to step his game up and what we get is a bunch of video cameras wheeled into the room. And when Jack turns them on there is Ali's family being held hostage. After he does the deed and breaks Ali with the supposed death of his son, the capper is his reveal to Kate that he should not be questioned by having the video show that it was all an editing trick.

Worst Moments

5. Kung-fu Miguel

It may have only been 30 seconds of screen time but are you freaking kidding me? When Miguel jumps into the stance, I laughed my ass off. I don't think that was the intended response.

4. Michelle and Carrie

Did we really need a nemesis for Michelle? CTU can't just function as a government agency there needs to be a soap opera element. And this time around we have Carrie bitching and whining all the time. It became completely unbearable.

3. Yusuf's death

For such a weak start just wandering around CTU giving Tony dirty looks, Yusuf didn't deserve to die that way. Did he really have to be beaten to death by a gang of racists roaming LA after the bomb went off? Thanks for that.

2. Mike betrays David

I know I should get over this, but this has bothered me from the minute this episode aired 7 years ago. Mike was David's most trust advisor. He was who Palmer turned to when things got difficult. Yet who helped Prescott pull off his palace coup? Damn you Mike. This should never have happened.

1. Cougar

Duh.

The Second Season of 24

Day 2 of 24 ends and what’s changed? How about money and sanity? Everything became bigger for season 2. The threats, the action, the consequences, all were ramped up in the first attempt to play can you top this. Since Day 2 will contain many firsts, it does not suffer from the repetitiveness that will come later on. There are 2 main problems with Day 2; just like the first season the second half of the day does not feel as tight as the first half and we were still stuck with a separate and solo Kim storyline. Even with those faults, the second day is one of the strongest in 24’s history.

I made a bunch of comments during season 1 that Jack Bauer did not resemble the Jack Bauer that I remember. That is no longer an issue once his second day from hell begins. Jack the Super Soldier came into full effect this time around. He survives a plane crash without a scratch, he is tortured until he flatlines, and then kills half a dozen of Kingsley’s men while having a string of heart attacks. We also get to see the screaming, threatening, terrifying Jack in action. The standards were created here. Jack kills a man in cold blood to get to Wald. He steps up his interrogation game with Nina and later Ali. And there is the body count. He nearly doubles the amount of bodies he drops this time around. Now that is the Jack Bauer I wholeheartedly support.

Day 2 also decided that it was time to up the ante well past political assassination. You would think they would have moved slower than nuclear bomb. They could have eased into that over a few seasons but they let the nuclear weapon out of the box and then proceeded to use it over and over again. But beyond that they blew up CTU, crashed a plane with Jack it in, got Jack into multiple gun fights in public, killed and resurrected Jack, and of course detonated a nuclear bomb on American soil. Sadly going bigger wasn’t better on the political side. The Palmer plot in the first season was a family story. He just happened to be a politician. That was not the case this time around. Palmer is President and he needs bigger shit to happen to him. How about half the American government turns on him and removes him from office? And that is the grounds for how all political plotlines for the rest of the series will be built. Being a President in the 24 universe sucks. Everyone around you is trying to undermine you and someone is always about to succeed in destroying a section of the United States. Then after you get past all of that, there is a near 100% chance that you will be physically harmed and or killed. Where do I sign up?

In the end, the only significant character introduced during the second day was Michelle Dessler. No one else would come back for more than a cameo in future seasons. Michelle was brought in as the new CTU analyst to replace the evil evil Nina. By the end of the day we learned 2 things about Michelle, she loves Tony and she hates Carrie. That is about it. Well Nina did leave some big shoes to fill. The other new characters worth mentioning were the Warners, Lynne, Ali, Yusuf, and Kingsley. The Warner plotline became the trend of introducing something outside of CTU and the government that would eventually tie into the main threat. It was still jarring and very annoying in the early hours. The Marie twist worked for shock value and Laura Harris’ dead eyed performance. Kate took the first swing as the new female in Jack’s life and Bob Warner will always be Christian Shepard to me. I can’t see him as anyone else. Michelle Forbes is always solid when she pops up but she had little more to do than look annoyed then be seriously injured. The build up to Syed Ali was fantastic and it made Jack’s interrogation scene work but it would have been nice if Ali had more time on screen when he was in control. And then there is Yusuf, poor poor Yusuf. He gets the bump that everyone gets as the play wingman to Mr. Bauer. The trade off is that you only get the job for so long before you have to die or get maimed. Yusuf was beaten to death by racists. He should never have come to America.

The returning people not named Jack that I want to highlight are George Mason, David Palmer, Mike Novick, and Nina Myers. To reiterate what I wrote after the first season, the loss of Xander Berkeley was never fully replaced. He had the ability to be supportive of Jack and an asshole at the same time. No one else brought that after he was gone. Plus once Mason became irradiated, Berkeley just went to town as the man trying to do something important with his last hours on earth. Bring back George for the movie! They could be doing some wacky cloning shit in Europe. Dennis Haysbert always stepped up the plate when the material was right. The second day gave him all the little moments of indecisiveness over going to war, the sanctioning of Jack’s death, and the final dressing down of the Vice President and the cabinet. The flip side to that was Jude Ciccolella who is always great as Mike Novick. The heel turn is completely unacceptable and I hope it burns in hell, but Jude worked his ass off in those scenes. And in the end he made it work by the devastation he feels over betraying David. And there is Nina, evil Nina. Sarah Clarke came back and flipped the switch to a whole new persona. If Nina was going to be evil enough to betray everyone and everything, Sarah made sure it was believable. And it was always great when Jack wiped the smirk off her face.

And that leaves Kim Bauer. Her plot was so atrocious this season that they removed this part of 24 going forward. Starting her off as a babysitter seems reasonable for her skill level but from there it just went out of control. I love that her plan never got past kidnapping Megan. She never made an attempt to stop Gary just take his daughter and run and hope that works. Then you get the whole cougar moment which will always be mentioned in any epitaph of 24. No words can truly describe the audacity of that idea. But they must have saw that as a challenge because it was immediately followed up by all the nonsense in the cabin. And that is only the halfway point of the day. There is still the liquor store and the killing of Gary. Half of the Kim problem was solved by the awfulness of this season. The other half will be fixed after next season.

The second day definitely medals when all things 24 are done. Even with the jarring change after the bomb went off, this was some of the best Jack moments that you will get in one season. In the end, that is all the matters. This is Jack's show and if I start ranking seasons based on Kim or the political bullshit it would be pointless since I would have stopped watching years ago. Day 3, you're up.

Day 2: 7:00 AM - 8:00 AM

Characters Introduced:

Finale time

Returning Characters:

• Mandy (Season 1 episode 2am – 3am)

Key Moments:

• Jack wakes from his heart attack and tries to restart the SUV. When he struggles with that and can’t undo his seatbelt, Sherry makes a break for it. Jack is able to convince her to go through with the sting of Kingsley.
• Brian hands Mike the data on Kingsley.
• Mike big dogs Chappelle into supporting Jack.
• Chappelle turns to Tony and Michelle for help. Tony smelling weakness says they will help if all charges are dropped. Sadly he won’t get this same deal next season.
• Jack carjacks a nice man who was offering to help him! He does say thank you before driving off, which was nice of him.
• Kim and Kate arrive back at CTU. Kate is told that Bob and Marie are in the house. She meets her father and joins him while he stares into the abyss that is Marie Warner’s eyes. I love the set up of the glass room and solitary chair for the chained Marie to sit in.
• Jack wires up Sherry and gets Tony to connect their operation to the President.
• Jack and Sherry discuss the very real possibility that she is going to die her. She asks him to tell David that she is doing this for him. She moves into the coliseum, while Jack continues to clutch his chest.
• Mike brings David into the conference room to listen to the feed with Prescott. David is not happy that Sherry is involved.
• Sherry walks into the stadium, Kingsley arrives with his thugs and sniper, and finally Jack sets up in the stadium.
• With very little effort, Sherry gets Kingsley to hand over the recordings and admit that the Cypress recording was a fake. Jack asks for permission to move in. Kingsley signals the sniper, but Jack got to him first. Then Jack takes out the man guarding Kingsley. Kingsley bolts and in an awesome moment Jack scream of “RUN SHERRY!” echoes throughout the empty stadium. He takes 3 more out from his perch before running to catch up with Sherry. On their way out, a thug jumps him and we get the first great Jack Bauer hand-to-hand fight. Jack breaks his neck by wall crawling with him in a headlock. Jack has another heart attack and slides to the ground. Kingsley slowly walks up on him, Jack has no more bullets, Kingsley raises his gun, but the CTU chopper sweeps in and takes out Kingsley and saves Jack. Jack passes out.
• Prescott calls off the bombing.
• Max is notified of Kingsley’s failure and says he is moving on to Plan B.
• Because this is how the American government works, Palmer is immediately reinstated as President. Prescott and the cabinet tender their resignations but David is better than them and doesn’t allow them to quit. He says they won’t make the same mistake again. David tells Jenny to setup a press conference immediately. Then we get the scene that nearly makes up for this shitty plotline. David thanks Mike for coming through at the end but then fires him for not supporting him in the first place. You can see how much this hurts David and you can see the devastation Mike feels for failing David.
• Tony gives Chappelle shit for sitting in his chair. But since Chappelle is Chappelle, he takes his sweet time walking out of the office.
• Kate and Kim arrive at the coliseum. Kim and Jack hug and have a nice moment of father daughter love. Jack is in too much pain and is too happy to even cry. That’s disappointing.
• David delivers his speech to the people.
• Plan B is revealed to be the return of Mandy. She shakes Palmer’s hand and seconds later David looks at his diseased hand before passing out in front of his limo. The final clock is David’s failing heartbeat.

Ridiculousness:

• Brian researched Kingsley for all of a half hour and was able to convince Mike that there was merit to Jack’s allegations. So if one of these jackasses had spent a half-hour this morning maybe we wouldn’t be in this situation?

Running Totals:

Jack’s Body Count: 6 (43)

• Jack the one-man army goes to town in the LA Coliseum.

Mandy the Super Terrorist: 1(4)

• Mandy is able to get David Palmer to shake her hand in order to infect him with some sort of flesh eating disease. She gets away without anyone noticing.

Day 2: 6:00 AM - 7:00 AM

Characters Introduced:

• Max (Thomas Kretschmann): Underutilized uber-rich shady white man that seems to be behind everything evil in the world.
• Brian Jacobs (Scott Paulin): David’s legal counsel.

Returning Characters:

Move along

Key Moments:

• Jack chases Hewitt through some sort of apocalyptic hallway before ending up on the roof. We get a cool breaking dawn shot of Jack looking for him on the roof.
• When Jack corners Hewitt on the roof, the brain surgeon that Hewitt is pulls a gun on Jack. Jack shoots him in the leg but, of course, Hewitt stumbles off a ledge. Jack races to treat his leg wound only to find that Hewitt’s head slammed into an exposed pipe.
• Jack calls Tony for a chopper to treat Hewitt, Tony tells him to call Michelle from now on because he is in deep shit.
• Brian guilts Mike into giving him access to data allowing him to look into Peter Kingsley for Palmer.
• Carrie finds the knocked out Chappelle.
• Hewitt dies from his injuries.
• Jack’s new plan is to use Hewitt’s software to convince Kingsley that Hewitt is still alive. Then Sherry will force him out into the open to make a trade.
• Tony is arrested before he can escape out of CTU.
• After helping Jack with Hewitt’s software, Michelle is arrested.
• David talks to the Prime Minister of Turkey so the American planes can fly over without incident.
• Kate shows up to pick up Kim. A lot of awkward conversation takes place and will continue to take place between these 2 for the next couple of hours.
• Sherry makes the call to Kingsley. Eventually Kingsley buys that she has Hewitt and agrees to trade her all the recordings of her involvement for him. They agree to meet at the LA Coliseum. Can you do that? Just show up at sports stadium for your illegal meetings?
• On their way to the meeting, Jack’s day catches up to him and he has a full on heart attack while behind the wheel. They crash into one of the many dry waterways that are always there in television and movies.

Ridiculousness:

• Although the chopper is 5 feet from landing on the roof and picking up Jack and the dying Hewitt, Chappelle orders it back because they can’t waste any more resources on Jack’s nonsense. How is that saving resources?
• So Michelle left CTU to setup shop in one of their tech vans, that’s a good idea. But how about drive away from CTU so when they inevitably come looking for you they don’t find you in the parking lot?
• In order to prove that Kingsley is evil, he randomly stabs the woman who has been in his office during all his phone calls. I'm sure the bitch had it coming.

Running Totals:

I guess I could chalk Hewitt up as a kill for Jack but I'm feeling charitable today.

Day 2: 5:00 AM - 6:00 AM

Characters Introduced:

• Alex Hewitt (Rick Wasserman): The hacker behind the Cypress recording who may or may not be insane. He is at least twitchy and paranoid.

Returning Characters:

Ignore

Key Moments:

• Jack takes out Sherry’s bodyguard. This moment has been coming for a long time. Sherry now has to deal with a man that she has no ability to manipulate. Sherry claims to be helping David. Then she moves into how dare you mode so Jack just shoots at her. She immediately starts talking non-stop about her sources. Jack notices that there is a hidden room. He fires a couple more shots to get Alex Hewitt to come out of the room. Sherry immediately starts telling Alex to keep his mouth shut.
• When Hewitt says he will only talk to Sherry, Jack locks him in the closet. Sherry admits to working with Kingsley in order to take down David’s presidency. She wants immunity for help and Jack lets her talk to Hewitt.
• Palmer and Pierce have another heart to heart with Pierce agreeing to get David a phone.
• With Prescott now in power, Chappelle reassigns Tony when Carrie rats on him … again.
• David calls Tony and gets connected to Jack. Jack gives him the update on Hewitt and Kingsley but also tells him about Sherry. David awesomely tells Jack not to trust her. He also tells Sherry to stay out of Jack’s way. Tony and Michelle try to figure out how to get a chopper to Jack.
• That cocksucker Mike Novick arrests Pierce for providing David with a phone.
• Throughout the hour Sherry has been manipulating Alex and when Jack is distracted by his idiotic daughter she goes in for the kill on Hewitt. But since he is slightly mad and Sherry deserves it, he stabs her and runs away. This is made even better by Sherry begging for help and Jack leaving her to chase down Hewitt.

Ridiculousness:

• In one of the weakest Jack Bauer can’t be trusted moments in 24 history, after Chappelle informs CTU about Prescott’s ascension Tony asks about Jack and Chappelle tells him that Bauer is rogue and no resources should be spent on his efforts. NONE!
• Michelle and Tony’s big plan is to call Chappelle into a interrogation room and chloroform him. That is the best you could come up with?
• Gary kills the officer outside his house, and then proceeds to hunt Kim down. After Kim knocks him out by hiding in the attic and kicking him off the stairs, she calls Jack for help and Jack tells her to shoot him! Then after shooting him, Jack tells her to shoot him again. Best dad ever!

Running Totals:

Kim Does Something Stupid: 1 (20)

• Although it is not even 6 in the morning, Kim goes back to the Matheson’s house to get her stuff. Couldn’t you have waited a couple of days till, at least, Gary was apprehended?

Day 2: 4:00 AM - 5:00 AM

Characters Introduced:

Racing to the conclusion

Returning Characters:

See above

Key Moments:

• Thankfully the hostage crisis is resolved immediately, the remaining 2 rednecks argue with each other and Jack kicks in the door and arrests them.
• That snake Mike Novick tries to coax David into Prescott’s cabinet conference call but Palmer smells what’s going on and makes Mike work for it. When he gets to the conference, Prescott says the cabinet is invoking the 25^th amendment. Basically they are saying Palmer is disabled and needs to be replaced. Yes they actually claimed that.
• The rest of the hour will have Ron Weiland and Roger Stanton showing up to be witnesses to David’s insanity. All of his choices throughout the day will also be questioned.
• The chip has been damaged and the recordings cannot be retrieved.
• In one of the only highlights of Prescott’s coup, Palmer asks Mike how long he has known about this and when Mike calls him David, Palmer responds by saying, “I’m the President, don’t call me by my first name.”
• Michelle was able to find the name of the hacker who created the recordings and sends that info to Jack.
• David is updated about Jack’s setback but believes Jack when he says he is certain that the Cypress recording is a fake.
• Palmer loses by 1 vote and Prescott is now President.
• Jack reaches the hacker’s apartment and while searching in the shadows, Sherry Palmer walks through the door.

Ridiculousness:

• The whole 25^th amendment bullshit, which sadly will not be the only time this is used on 24, was such thin reasoning to remove Palmer from office.
• Palmer loses the 25^th amendment vote by 1 and is immediately removed by an armed guard. Is this really how our government works? And if so, I want a monarchy.

Running Totals:

A boring hour with no cliches

Day 2: 3:00 AM - 4:00 AM

Characters Introduced:

Finally switching up things

Returning Characters:

• Aaron Pierce (Season 1 episode 4pm – 5pm)
• Ryan Chappelle (Season 1 episode 8pm - 9pm)

Key Moments:

• The clinic doctor is kidnapped in order to revive Jack. When Jack is back in the land of the living, O’Hara kills Ronnie and takes over the interrogation.
• The dying Yusuf is mugged of the memory chip with the recording. Kate bleeds for it and agrees to take the jackasses to her house to pay them for it.
• O’Hara switches the torture to a drug that simulates a collapsed lung. Jack pleads with the doctor before getting injected.
• Chappelle shows up at CTU just to big dog Tony and make sure that they are supporting the bombing and cutting off Jack.
• Lynne starts a fire to escape the closet but ends up falling down 4 flights of stairs.
• David confers with Pierce about what the hell Prescott may be doing.
• When O’Hara loses his patience with Jack and leans in too close, the doctor stabs him the back with a needle. Jack takes his gun and kills the other 2 thugs when they rush in. He promises a quick death to O’Hara if he gives him a name, so Jack hears the name Kingsley for the first time and O’Hara gets a fatal bullet.
• Jack finally gets to the meeting point to find a near dead Yusuf. Yusuf is able to tell him about the rednecks and the chip before immediately dying. Jack apologizes to another dead person.
• In the only redeeming scene of the entire Carrier Turner plot, she attempts to blackmail Tony into giving her Michelle’s job. Badass motherfucking Tony Almeida says okay and calls Chappelle over and tells Carrie to snitch on his actions in front of him. Tony tells Chappelle that he is helping Jack whether Chappelle wants him to or not.
• Since they have 1 murder on their belts, the 3 rednecks move to kill Kate when she can’t produce any American cash. Jack bursts in and kills 1 of them before the other 2 lock themselves in the bathroom. Now we have a hostage situation involving a jackass holding a chip.
• Prescott’s palace coup begins.

Ridiculousness:

• While trying to escape the empty floor of death, Lynne is accidentally pushed over the stairway railing 4 floors up. Yes, that happened.
• When David and Mike check on the near comatose Lynne, she attempts to point at Mike and that sonuvabitch grabs her hand and comforts her. I HATE THIS!
• Rednecks don’t understand Euros.

Running Totals:

Torture Doesn’t Mean You Can’t be Creative: 1 (8)

• The lung-collapsing drug doesn’t seem fair.

Jack’s Body Count: 4 (35)

• Jack takes out 3 of his torturers.
• Jack takes out a redneck.