How I got hooked

When 24 first came out when I was back at secondary school (seems ages ago now, must be getting old!) I wasn’t really interested in it, but a couple of my mates were raving about how good it was but I just ignored them.  And it wasn’t until last year that I started to watch it.  When one of me housemates lent me the first series I thought I will give it a go but wasn’t expecting to watch the whole lot.  But how wrong was I? I was gripped from start to end and there is no way you can just watch one hour without watching 2 or 3 on the DVD’s and since then I have not looked back.  After starting to watch the current series, 8 with the aid of a bit of help from one of my Uni mates (you know who you are!) I am still gripped and can’t wait to watch the next hour in the life of Jack Bauer. How did all of you get hooked by it? Was it like my school mates right from the beginning? or just like me in the recent years?

Question of the Day

Over the next couple of days I will be a posing a question for all you hardcore 24 fans to ponder over, and here is today’s:

Which 24 star is the only one to receive the silent clock at the end of an episode twice?

The answer to the question was Renee Walker, once in season 7 and again in season 8

Top 10 24 hotties 3-1

3. Renee Walker (Annie Wersching)

Annie Wersching

Renee first came into 24 in Season 7 as an FBI agent hand has gone into appear in the current series.

Her first action sees her go into a senate hearing to pull Jack Bauer out to try and help them in the catching of Tony Almeida, a former CTU agent, who Jack believes, is dead.

Jack goes undercover with Almeida and Emerson and Renee tries to track the pair, only it leads to her demise when caught as Jack is forced to shoot and bury her.

Jack leaves a trace to Bill Buchanan and Chloe O’Brian and she is resuscitated, before going dark and helping Jack, Bill, Chloe and Tony in the operation.

Whilst trying to capture Ike Debaku Jack and Renee are arrested, but once overturned Debaku’s car crashes and he is seriously injured.

Renee then investigates how Debaku was killed by an assassin sent for by General Juma and realises there is a planned attack on The White House.

She is deeply upset when her close companion and FBI agent Larry Moss is killed but after losing Almeida she follows leads with Jack before trying to save Jack’s daughter Kim who is being targeted.

She locates Jack and helps disarm a bomb attached to him by Tony and they are able to capture Tony just before he kills Alan Wilson, the man behind Michelle’s death.

She then interrogates Wilson but turns off all the recording equipment before putting down her badge and entering his holding room.

In Season 8 she has been recruited by CTU Los Angeles to track down the nuclear rods in the control of Russians, but she is too emotional and ends up killing Vladimir Letanin, stabbing him 17 times before stabbing Jack accidentally.

She is then framed by CTU for not capturing the rods and the killing of Letanin but Brian Hastings lets her off in the end after Jack agrees to help CTU.

CTU is taken out by an EMP bomb Chloe calls Renee to say Jack is missing, and she just steps in at the right time and kills a sniper that is just about to shoot Jack.

But they fail to rescue President Hasan and the two leave CTU and go back to Jack’s apartment where the two make love. But she is then shot by a sniper after she realises she recognised one of the medical team which killed Samir and after being rushed to hospital  she has suffers too much damage and dies.

2. Mandy (Mia Kirshner)

Mia Kirshner

As a terrorist and professional assassin Mandy has appeared in Seasons 1, 2 and 4

In  Season 1 she is part of a group that plan to assassinate presidential candidate David Palmer.

She steals a card of photographer Martin Belkin after having sex and escapes the plane after planting a bomb on it.

She is then taken to Ira Gaines, the leader of Andre Drazen’s hit squad where she demands money for the ID card she has stolen which would allow a lookalike of Belkin to enter a breakfast being held by David Palmer.

She has an accomplish and girlfriend  in Brigit who asks for double the agreed fee with Gaines who relents and takes them to the location of the card before killing Brigit and hiring Mandy for an unspecified job which she agrees to.

In Season 2, she had the briefest of appearances in the final episode as she shakes President Palmer’s hand with a toxin planed to kill Palmer.

She returns in season 4 for the last three episodes as she captures Tony Almeida, working alongside Habib Marwan.

She helps Marwan earlier in the series the kidnapping of Secretary of Defense James Heller and his daughter Audrey Raines.

Once she has caught Tony she phones Michelle Dessler at CTU, after reading a story on her laptop about Michelle and Tony and his dismissal from CTU, to try and use their relationship as leverage to get out but after she hires 2 decoys to act as herself and Tony, to make CTU think they are both dead, but Jack fails to fall for this and finds them in the car lot.

Just as she is about to kill Tony, Curtis Manning steps in and hits her over the head.

Their is a reluctance from the government to offer her immunity in exchange for details on Marwan due to her past attempts to kill President Palmer but her wish is granted and that is the last we see of her.

She is still alive and her actions after series 4 are not known so could she be involved in season 8? Who knows?

Elisha Cuthbert

1. Kim Bauer (Elisha Cuthbert)

Kim has appeared in six out of the eight seasons, being a main character in the first three before guest appearances in 5, 7 and 8 and is the daughter of Jack and Teri Bauer.

Season 1 sees her at risk after being kidnapped by two men, Dan and Rick, but after escaping she is then re-captured by Ira Gaines, who also captures her mother Teri.

They then flee a safe house before being split up but after being arrested, Kim is then released but whilst on her way back to CTU the car she is in is hit and she is captured again.

Taken to where Jack is being held by the Drazen’s he agrees a trade before they are re-united at CTU only to find out Teri has died

In season 2 she is an au-pair for a family in LA before Jack asks her to leave due to a nuclear bomb threat.

She finds out the child , Megan is being abused by her father Gary Matheson and tries to flee LA with her, and her boyfriend Miguel  but does not get very far when he escape is foiled when the mother of Megan is found in the boot dead, with Kim and Miguel arrested for her murder.

They escape arrest after learning they are going to be sent back to CTU at Los Angeles where the threat is and after Gary re-appears, she kills him with Jack on the other end of a phone.

Jack then plans to detonate the bomb over the Mojave Desert but that would only work with him in the plane with  no way of getting away before the bomb goes off, and Kim breaks down at the news.

But an already dying George Mason takes over the mission allowing Jack to live and the season ends with her in the arms of Jack.

Season 3 sees Kim working at CTU and behind her dad’s back, she is seeing his assistant Chase Edmunds, much to his dislike.

Chase and Kim’s relationship is put into doubt after she finds out he has a baby, but later in the day she is put in the field as a double for Jane Saunders, the daughter of the season’s bad guy Stephen.

Chase ends the day in surgery after losing his hand to stop the threat and she chooses a life with him and his daughter.

Season 5 sees her re-united with her dad after she learns his “death” is fake.   She has since split up with Chase because of the faked death.

Jack takes a dislike to her new partner, a much older psychologist named Barry Landes.

She survives the attack on CTU, but reveals that although she loves her father very much, she cannot be around him as something bad always happens when he is around.

Season 7 sees her re-appear after the news that her father only has a short time to live and could help with some new surgery which could save him, but Jack refuses her help and she plans to fly back to her daughter, Teri, and husband Steven.

But she is taken hostage at the airport and pursues one of them down the stairs after the other one is killed.  She manages to stop him escaping and gains his laptop which helps CTU locate Tony Almeida.

As Jack falls into an induced coma she insists that she helps her dying father.

In season 8 Jack plans to start a new life with Kim, Teri and Steven in Los Angeles but after the day’s events start to happen Kim insists he stays there and helps out CTU, after all, if something bad happened he could have stopped he would never have lived with himself.

What are your views on the Top 10 hotties? Comment below

Top 10 24 hotties 6-4

 

 

 

Aisha Tyler

6. Marianne Taylor (Aisha Tyler)          

In season 4 of 24 she became a CTU analyst and infiltrates the Los Angeles base in order to work for Henry Powell.

Taylor forced her way in against Curtis Manning’s will and she quickly learnt about Chloe O’Brian and Edgar Styles helping Jack in a covert operation.

Chloe was soon caught and detained and Marianne used this to manipulate Edgar into doing what she said.

She then framed Sarah by planting a voice recorder on her system.

Edgar soon took control of Taylor’s computer and realised it was her that planted the device on Sarah’s computer.

As she tried to escape her car was blown up, killing an agent, but she went on to help CTU by going to Powell’s office but as soon as they got into the office she was killed by Powell’s men.

5.Nadia Yassir (Marisol Nichols)

Marisol Nichols

Nadia became head of CTU for a small period of time after Bill Buchanan was fired.

She fought hard in her time in CTU as she often had restricted access due to her Muslim routes and is suspected of leaking information by CTU agent Mike Doyle but is later cleared.

She won the affection of Mylo Pressman’s heart and the pair share a kiss and to prove Mylo loved her he gave up his life when the Chinese invaded CTU and instead of Nadia standing up as head of CTU he does and ultimately gets shot.

 

 

 

 

4. Olivia Taylor (Sprague Grayden)

Olivia came into 24 in season 7 as the daughter of President Allison Taylor.

She is distant with her parents at the start but grows to work with her as Chief of Staff after she leaked some vital information she forced Ethan Kanin into stepping down.

She was used as leverage when General Benjamin Juma invaded the White House after originally escaping capture with Agent Aaron Pierce.

After leaking some information to the TV company CNB reporter Ken Dallao and after a meeting about Starkwood he again rang her up and asked for any information but she refused only to find out he already knew about the weapon of mass destruction.

She met up with him in a hotel and after he basically demanded a night with her to not leak the information. But she secretly recorded all what he said and used it against him.

Agent Pierce thought something suspicious was happening after she arranged a meeting with Martin Collier, a former colleague to help her kill Starkwood head Jonas Hodges.

They arranged to hire a hit man to kill Hodges but the gilt she was going to live with became too much and she did not transfer the necessary funds to the hit man but he carried out the act anyway, meaning she had to transfer the funds otherwise it would fall on her.

Kanin was called by Pierce and managed to get some information about her dealings before and after the confront her she admits it.

This leaves her mother with a tough decision as to whether to let her be arrested or not, and in the end she puts her own daughter behind bars.

Top 10 24 hotties: 10-7

10. Michelle Dessler (Reiko Aylesworth)

Reiko Aylesworth

Michelle appeared in four series of the show before being killed off in a dramatic first episode in season 5.

She first appeared in season 2, working with Chief of Staff Tony Almeida at Counter Terrorist Unit Los Angeles (CTU) who later marry, which we find out in season 3.

Michelle does not appear at first in season 4 but comes in later as director of CTU after she has split from Tony, but the stresses and strains of the day pull the pair back together.

But their future looks bleak when Tony is held hostage after Mandy demands to let her escape, otherwise Tony dies.

But Jack figures out Mandy’s ploy and manages to save Tony.

9. Audrey Raines (Kim Raver)

Kim Raver

Audrey is the daughter of Secretary of State James Heller and first appears in season 4 as his Senior Policy Analyst.

She becomes romantically involved with Jack, in what becomes a love triangle with her husband Paul.

But after Jack’s faked death, which she takes hard, she feels guilty about finishing the relationship.

Season 5 reignites her feelings for Jack after she finds out he is still alive.

At the end of the day the pair share a passionate kiss, but Jack has ‘received’ a call from his daughter Kim but Chinese officials carry him away.

In season 6 Jack is told by Marilyn Bauer that she had died in a car accident in China trying to find him, but later in the day a phone comes in and it is Audrey, before Cheng Zhi takes the phone off of her and tells Jack if he doesn’t get a component Audrey dies!

Jack gets the component and launches a special mission to keep the component and get Audrey back but Cheng ends up with the component although Audrey is with CTU.

Her father takes her home before Jack tracks them down and insists on taking her with him but once he saw her he decided they can no longer be together.

8. Samantha Roth (Carly Pope)

Carly Pope

Plays the girlfriend of Roger Taylor in 24: Redemption and season 7 before he is killed.

Roger’s father Henry feels she is hiding something from her about his death but after telling Henry documents had been forged to say Roger had committed suicide she is killed in her apartment by Agent Brian Gedge with Henry trying to warn her despite being paralyzed by Gedge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

7. Marilyn Bauer (Rena Sofer)

Rena Sofer

Marilyn is the wife of Graem Bauer and appears in season 6.

She is shocked to find out about his involvement in the nuclear explosion that happened earlier in the day.

She was then threatened by Jack’s dad Phillip and ordered to take Jack to a false address where they was an explosion.

Just as she feels it is over her son Josh is captured by the Chinese who have infiltrated CTU with Phillip Bauer still involved.

Phillip had taken Josh now as an ultimatum between her son and a circuit board would ultimately lead to a war between the US and Russia.

CTU track down where Phillip has taken Josh and the government order an air strike to prevent the war.

And just in the nick of time Bill Buchanan and Jack saved Josh much to Marilyn’s relief.

Find out nummbers 3-6 later today!

Season 7

Cast of Season 7

Season 7 sees Jack staring the day being questioned for his actions of torture to stop the terrorist attacks. With CTU disbanded, the FBI become the focus of the series as they firstly attempt to locate Tony Almeida, who is thought to be one of the terrorists.

But it turns out Tony is working undercover with Bill Buchanan and Chloe O’Brian to expose a government conspiracy involving the CIP device.

Tony and Jack now work together with David Emerson and are given the task of kidnapping Sangala Prime Minister Motobo, whilst elsewhere the President’s husband Henry Taylor finds out from that his son, Roger was actually killed after meeting with his girlfriend Samantha Roth, but it killed by Agent Brian Gedge before she reveals anything, whilst Henry has been paralysed by Gedge, before he manages to kill Gedge.

Renee is then captured by Emerson’s team, before Emerson pulls a gun on Bauer, forcing Tony to kill Emerson. Jack then manages to rescue the Matobos and damage the CIP device as well as killing all of Ike Debaku’s men.

Henry Taylor

But Debaku captures Henry Taylor and before being able to rescue him he is shot by one of Debaku’s men.

The president now calls for her daughter and Renee learns about the planned attack on The White House with General Juma. President Taylor is then escorted to the safe room in the White House with Bill diverting Juma’s men given them enough time to get to the room. Juma forces President Taylor to come out with the threat on Olivia’s life.

Buchanan sacrifices his own life for the cause and Juma is soon killed after the explosion by Bauer.

Then in Jack’s hopes of tracking down the real people behind the attack he is framed for the murder of Senator Blaine Mayer and Ryan Burnett.

Olivia forced Ethan Kanin to resign and she becomes temporary Chief of Staff before leaking information to the press who force Olivia to divulge more than she wants to , forcing her to protect herself after having sex with a news reporter only in it for his own gain.

Whilst trying to find the bio weapon Jack is exposed before Starkwood gain control of it, pretending to help Tony with Jonas Hodges’ assistant Greg Seaton giving him a location of the bio weapon, which turns out to be false and diverts CTU’s attention.

They end up finding the bio weapon and President Taylor orders an air strike on Starkwood but Hodges bribes his way into a meeting with Taylor after threatening to release them on his own country.

Larry Moss

Hodges and Seaton are arrested after Tony manages to destroy the missiles and pathogen, but we find out Tony is again bad after he allows Galvez to leave the area with one remaining canister of the pathogen , and ultimately kills Larry Moss.

Kim Bauer comes back into the series after learning about her dad’s exposure to the pathogen and offers to help but he refuses.

Tony uses the country’s weakness to offer the people behind the attack the opportunity to release it today whilst the country is struggling.

Hodges is then killed, after his failed attempt to commit suicide and his witness protection turns into a disaster when he is killed ultimately by Olivia Taylor who wants revenge for the death of her brother.

Jack and Renee then learn of Tony’s connections with a Muslim who he has coerced into taking the blame for the proposed attack. They are able to stop the attack but after arresting Tony Jack is forced to help release Tony otherwise Kim will be killed. But Kim manages to survive the attack and gains information to locate the conspirators. Jack is recaptured by Tony and forced to wear a bomb when Almeida meets up Alan Wilson, the man behind the attack today, and behind his wife Michelle Dessler’s death, and his unborn son.

At the White House Olivia is forced to admit all to her mother after Ethan Kanin and Aaron Pierce find information about her connections with killing Hodges. Jack then deteriorates and is induced into a coma, before Kim comes into the hospital and decides she cannot allow him to die and volunteers to undergo a stem cell procedure that could save her father’s life.

Season 6 as it happened

Main cast of Season 6 of 24

Season 6 deals with terrorist Abu Fayed, and his intention to detonate a series of nuclear bombs across the United States.

Jack has been under Chinese arrest since the end of season 5 but he is released after now President, Wayne Palmer, former President David’s brother agrees with Fayed to exchange Bauer for Hamri-Al-Assad who CTU believe to be the main person behind these threats.

But Jack finds out Al-Assad is actually trying to stop the attacks and after escaping he rescues Assad before stopping a subway bombing.

CTU then realise that these previous attacks before are just there to distract them from his main objective of the nuclear bombs.

Manning feels Assad still has something to do with the attacks, and Jack ends up killing him otherwise they will lose their only real chance of catching Fayed.

But one bomb is detonated, killing an initial 12,000 in Valencia, north of Los Angeles.

Phillip Bauer

Former President, Charles Logan is then brought into the day’s events after Bauer realised his dad and brother Phillip and Graem are behind the attacks.

Logan insists his links with the Russians can lead them to Dmitri Gredenko, a name given by Al-Assad.

Many are not pleased by President Palmer’s reaction after asking Assad to make a speech to his people, and his deputy Chief Head of Staff plans to assassinate the President and frame Al-Assad.

But Chief of Staff Tom Lennox tries to stop the attempt but fails and President Palmer is left in a bad state, with Assad dead as well.

Vice President Noah Daniels steps in with Palmer unable to continue.

Logan’s contact fails to give him Gredenko so Jack resorts to breaking into the Russian Consulate and forces Anatoly Markov to reveal Gredenko’s whereabouts

However Jack is then arrested as he tries to tell CTU, but when he does tell them he is too late and a drone is released, but fortunately a breach in CTU enables them to locate the drone and Jack crash lands it.

Jack then learns the shocking truth about Audrey Raines and Palmer’s sister Sandra gives her consent to bring President Palmer out of his coma.

Gredenko then dies after originally planning to help CTU, but warns Fayed about their involvement, although he is killed by Bauer who then finds two of the remaining nukes.

The Chinese then call with news that Audrey is alive and Jack is forced to nick a Russian circuit board, but is soon captured.  Bauer asks for assistance from President Palmer who agrees but then collapses, allowing Daniels charge again, and reversing Palmer’s decision forcing Jack to go dark.

The exchange of the circuit board and Audrey does not go to plan as although Audrey is handed off to CTU, Cheng Zhi makes off with the circuit board.

Nadia watches over Milo after he has just been shot

CTU is then infiltrated by the Chinese who kill Milo after he sticks up for Nadir and Josh is taken hostage by them.

Phillip Bauer has a deal to trade in the circuit board for Josh but Jack manages to kill all the Chinese and save the kid.

But Phillip then decides to offer the same deal to the White House which they agree to.

Jack finds out about the deal and realises his dad will never give up the board for Josh and persuades Karen Hayes for help, from her husband Bill Buchanan.

Phillip passes a bomb off as a decoy and manages to get Josh, whilst a strike is ordered on the oil rig he and Josh are on.

Jack and Bill get to the oil rig and manage to save Josh after he has shot Phillip, as well as capturing Cheng.

Jack does not go back to CTU as he talks to Audrey, resting at home with her dad James and tries to persuade himself and her father he is able to look after her, but after some thinking time he realise he is unable to offer her stability and kisses her goodbye for one last time.

Season 2 trailer

It seems ages ago I was watching this, here is the trailer for day 2 in the life of Jack Bauer

All in a day for Frank Flynn: 24 Season 5

David Palmer

Bang! You hardly get yourselves going in season five, and two of the characters you have watched on screen are dead.  Former President David Palmer is dead, as well as Michelle Dessler.  This forces Jack back into action, after taking up the name of Frank Flynn working as a day-to-day labourer.

The day starts off with President Charles Logan set to sign anti-terrorism alliance treaty with Russian President Yuri Suvarov. The motive for the days events seem to hang on this as Russian rebels feel this will increase the suffering of their people.

Bauer is framed for these murders but also the attempted murders of close pal Tony Almeida and his trustworthy CTU analyst Chloe O’Brian.

Whilst under the alias of Frank Flynn he boards with a mother and her son, Derek, who gets involved in the days events at the Ontario Airport as he and 39 other are held hostage.

But this plot is only a diversion for the terrorists lead by Vladimir Bierko to steal 20 canisters of Sentox Nerve gas with it being deployed in several locations, namely killing 40% of CTU including the death of a loveable old chap called Edgar Styles, how could they kill off Edgar? Oh and CTU director Lynn McGill (not loved as much!).  The other targets included Sunrises Hill Shopping Centre, Tyler Memorial Hospital and the Wilshire Gas Company, but deaths are kept to a low by CTU and the efforts of Curtis Manning with Bierko captures in the end.

The nerve gas is traced back to a company called Omicron International to a former ally of Jack’s and CTU agent Christopher Henderson and Bauer managed to capture him.

But whilst CTU is still struggling in the aftermath of the Sentox gas attack Henderson is able to escape and ‘kill’ Tony Almeida.

Jack now goes on the rampage to try and find out who is responsible and after help from Wayne Palmer, President David’s brother and First Lady Martha Logan’s special assistant it leads to President Logan, who has a private group following his every move and led by a person known as “Graem” , who later turn out to be Bauer’s brother.

Bauer finds a recording that will nail Logan but it gets into the wrong hands and a Homeland Security member of staff, who have taken over CTU due to the attack, uses it for his own personal gain and hands it back to President Logan.

Bierko escapes CTU and uses a last remaining nerve gas cylinder on a submarine with 12 missiles capable of destroying seven blocks.

Henderson works with Bauer to capture the vessel and manages to kill Bierko and his men on board the submarine, and in the end kills Henderson.

Jack now sets his sights on Logan and after kidnapping the president he tries to force the truth out of him, little does Logan know that Bauer had placed a recording device on his pen and he later confesses to his wife Martha and is then arrested.

But this is not all!  The Chinese have learnt Jack is still alive after the killing of the consul in season four and they capture him in the hope he reveals U.S Government and military tactics to the Chinese. Will he? Wont he? You’ll soon find out!

Jack who? : Day 4 as it happened

Season 4 is set 18 months after Season 3 and sees Jack no longer working for CTU after he was fired for his heroin addiction.

Jack's new love: Audrey Raines

At the start of the series Bauer is working for Secretary of Defence James Heller, alongside Heller’s daughter Audrey Raines with doubles up as Jack’s lover and her father’s chief policy assistant.

The first action sees Heller abducted by terrorists when he attempts to visit his son Richard.  It later turns out that his phone was tampered with which allowed the terrorists to learn his father’s every move.  Their execution was planned to be shown live on the internet but CTU are able to rescue them before it takes place.

Jack enlists the help of former colleague Tony Almeida who his split from wife Michelle Dessler.  Almeida helps Jack find the Araz’s, who form part of a splinter cell and feature heavily in the days events.  Once captured Tony takes charge of Dina and Behrooz Araz.

Erin Driscoll is the head of CTU, but her personal life gets in the way of the job as her terminally-ill daughter takes a turn for the worse whilst the operation to stop the terrorists is continuing, and after her daughter dies, Secretary Heller calls for  Michelle Dessler to take charge, much to Tony’s anger.

Unusually the series only deals with one villain, Habib Marwan, who has used an alias to work at a defence contractor McLennan-Forester, and before Jack and Audrey’s husband Paul Raines can get to the cause of it employees for the contractor activate an EMP which completely losses vital data they need on Marwan.

This allows Marwan to steal a stealth fighter which shoots down Air Force One which is carrying President Keeler, who is too badly injured to continue in office, with Vice President Charles Logan elevated.

Marwan is able to get hold off the nuclear football which is normally secured on Air Force One.  The football is usually used by the President to authorise a nuclear attack but now Marwan has these details he will be able to use it against America.

Bauer then decides to leave CTU to pursue a witness but whilst he gets the details he needs he is then ordered to be arrested after President Logan is outraged at Jack for taking it into his own hands.

Jack again risks everything by going to the Chinese consulate and although he gets his informant he is injured in the process, as well as the Chinese consul being killed in friendly fire. He faces a difficult choice to keep him alive, but it is at the expense of Paul Raines much to Audrey’s anger.

The Chinese grow every more suspicious about the raid on their consul and launch an investigation which in the end leads back to Jack.

A villain from series 1 and 2 Mandy appears to be working with Marwan and takes Tony hostage as they try to capture her, but Jack ends up catching her, before being promised immunity if she divulges Marwan’s location.

Jack chases after Marwan, but rather than be captured he decides to commit suicide.  But CTU are able to locate a missile on course for Los Angeles via Marwan’s PDA.

To escape arrest from the Chinese Jack is helped by his old faithful, Tony, Michelle, Chloe to fake his own death before assuming a new identity and beginning a new life.

Bauer leaves for a new life