24 Clock Runs Out, But Drama Leaves Memorable Moments

'24' clock runs out, but drama leaves memorable moments

May 20. 2010 1:00AMMekeisha Madden Toby

Jack Bauer and company have made clock-watching an edge-of-your-seat adventure for eight exciting seasons on Fox's popular espionage drama "24."

But all good things come to an end, and Monday, Jack (Emmy-winner Kiefer Sutherland) will save the day in a two-hour finale guaranteed to be explosive, fun and open-ended enough to leave room for future specials.

Fans have come to expect action-packed fury from this show, with its implausible plots, fights, CTU moles and villains. For all its wild ways, "24" also has proven to be as topical as it is groundbreaking in both its real-time delivery and its inspirationally diverse casting, particularly when it came to its commanders-in-chief.

To celebrate this iconic series in all its glory, we've compiled a list of 24 of the most memorable moments and characters. Enjoy.

Devastating deaths

1. Jack's wife, Teri Bauer (season one): This poor woman (played by Leslie Hope) suffered a great deal before being killed, including a bout with amnesia. Teri's death, at the hands of Nina Myers (Sarah Clarke), affected Jack and Kim (Elisha Cuthbert) for life.

2. President David Palmer (season five): Few deaths shocked fans more than watching the assassination of TV's most notable African-American president (Dennis Haysbert).

3. Tony Almeida (season five): We watched him die in Jack's arms. How on earth did he (Carlos Bernard) live? More on that later.

4. Curtis Manning (season six): It's hard to decide what is worse -- that Curtis (Roger R. Cross), one of CTU's best agents, died or that Jack killed him.

5. Lynn McGill (season five): Lynn's (Sean Astin) death was necessary so others could live. Sadly, the nerve gas attack could've been prevented if he had admitted his key card was stolen.

6. Ryan Chappelle (season three): He started out as a bureaucratic nemesis within CTU but Chappelle (Paul Schulze) died with dignity.

Outrageous storylines

7. Kim and the mountain lion (season two): In the course of one day, Kim, Jack's daughter, fled from her boss' homicidal husband, got stuck in a bear trap, fought off mountain lions, escaped a kidnapper and became a hostage.

8. Tony isn't dead (season seven): Although we watched him die, apparently we missed the part where some bad guys injected him with a serum that brought him back to life.

9. President Wayne Palmer's coma (season six): Wayne Palmer (D.B. Woodside) was not as strong as his big brother but when he suffered injuries that left him in a coma, it became clear the show's writers had no idea what to do with this character.

10. Jack kicks his heroin addiction (season three): Google the words "Jack," "24"and "heroin" and a joke appears that reads "Jack was never addicted to heroin. Heroin was addicted to Jack." As laughable as this is, it seemed true when Jack kicked smack and took down the bad guys in just 24 hours one season.

11. Jack is a grandfather (season eight): The season opened with an adorable little sprite calling Jack grandpa. Yeah right. While biologically it is possible, we have to note that Sutherland is 43 in real life and Cuthbert is 27.

12. President Allison Taylor makes her daughter chief of staff (season seven): Hmm. Is it less believable that President Taylor (Emmy-winner Cherry Jones) would make her daughter chief of staff overnight or that she would turn her in to the authorities for plotting Jonas Hodges' (Jon Voight) murder?

Malicious moles

13. Nina Myers (season one): Nina (Sarah Clarke) had an affair with Jack and killed his wife. Oh yeah, and she was secretly working for the bad guys.

14. Roger Stanton (season two): The director of the NSA conspired against the president to stop him from sharing intelligence with the Middle East.

15. Marianne Taylor (season four): Henry Powell (Robertson Dean) hired Marianne (Aisha Tyler) to be a CTU spy ... before she was killed.

16. Spencer Wolff (season five): Spencer (Jonah Lotan), an analyst, hooked up with Chloe (Trenton native Mary Lynn Rajskub) while secretly working with presidential mole Walt Cummings (John Allen Nelson).

17. Sean Hillinger (season seven): Sean (Rhys Coiro, "Entourage") was an FBI mole working with senatorial chief of staff Ryan Burnett (Eyal Podell).

18. Dana Walsh (season eight): Further proof CTU needed to do a better job at screening its employees. Dana, aka Jenny Scott (Katee Sackoff, "Battlestar Galactica"), secretly worked with the Russians until Jack killed her.

Vicious villains

19. President Charles Logan (season five): No president (Gregory Itzin) on "24" has been more diabolical.

20. Victor Drazen (season one): Was a vengeful Balkan warlord (Dennis Hopper)

21. Syed Ali (season two): (Francesco Quinn) was a religious extremist

22. Ramon Salazar (season three): This drug lord (Joaquin de Almeida) helped Jack stop a virus.

23. Stephen Saunders (season three): Was a bio-terrorist (played by Paul Blackthorne) with a grudge.

24. Habib Marwan (season four): This Turkish terrorist (Arnold Vosloo) was behind a number of attacks.

Television mmadden@detnews.com

Source: detnews