24 Obituaries (Part 2)

Part 2 of 2

(Click here for Part 1)

In honour of the sixth season of 24 having started in America over the past couple of nights (they got to see the first four hours in two nights, the lucky devils!), I thought it was about time I completed this two-part post on the first five seasons of the show.

I trust you will read Part 1 (if you haven't already) before reading what follows. Part 1 looked at a list of names and faces of those who've died on the show over the years (excluding most of the 'bad guys', because we don't care about their deaths). Now, Part 2 will highlight those who've suffered in some other major way. I will also list those characters whose whereabouts are either unknown or unclear, and those I'd like to see return to the show in seasons six, seven or beyond.

(The 24 movie they're writing at the moment is going to be produced between seasons six and seven of the show - and released between seasons seven and eight - so that's why I'm confident about there even being a seventh season when I make the above statement. And no, it won't be a 24-hour-long movie! It'll be a two-hour representation of a 24-hour day, just like most movies are.)

Attention: If you haven't seen (but intend to see) the first five seasons of 24, I advise you to read no further. What follows is a run-down of the deaths, maimings, disappearances and survivals over the first five seasons of the show, and (as such) probably spoils every possible twist the show has contained up to this point.

Note: The 'we' in the following post refers to Wifey and myself. We are both massive fans of 24.

Another Note: When talking about certain 'Days' (with a capital D), that's the show's way of referring to each consecutive season. For the most part, I have continued with this convention below.

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Characters we're GLAD were killed off: (not including all the regular terrorists and other ‘bad guys’, because that’s a given)


1. Sherry Palmer


Sherry was the nastiest, most manipulative wife to Senator (later President) David Palmer you could ever imagine one man being lumbered with. She was right off the pages of a script for Dynasty, Dallas or Melrose Place. She was the uber-bitch of the first few seasons, and probably the show’s biggest impracticality (due to being so ridiculously bitchy, she surpassed all realism). Okay, so there were other big impracticalities to the show as well – such as how quickly characters can travel around LA, how easily everyone can stay awake for the full 24 hours (often after already having been awake for up to 20 hours before the Day started), and how expertly Jack can shoot a bad guy as compared to how badly they can shoot at him, but let’s not let that derail my point. Sherry was a mega-manipulative cow, and she always worked for her own gain. Never trusting anyone, always using everyone, and lying through her teeth at every opportunity. True, she probably did it all out of some sort of twisted love for her husband, but she was bad news. How David had ever fallen in love with her in the beginning is beyond me. But she managed to lie, cheat, steal and ultimately double-cross her way into the White House, becoming the first African-American First Lady to her husband’s first African-American President. Although she was a ‘great’ character for drama, and was portrayed exceptionally well by Penny Johnson Jerald, she was still the character we all “loved to loathe”, and it was with some sense of satisfaction that she eventually met her doom by receiving two bullets to the chest courtesy of Julia Milliken, whom she had betrayed.



2. Maya Driscoll


Maya was just the most annoying (and unnecessary) character who’s ever graced the screen on 24, IMHO. Schizophrenic daughter to then-CTU boss Erin Driscoll, Maya caused internal troubles for Erin during Day 4. Just what her involvement was meant to prove was never made clear. That female bosses can never expect to function in high-level jobs as effectively as their male counterparts? So far that’s the message 24 has preached, intentionally or no. In any event, after slowing the story down by complicating matters for Erin back at CTU, Maya eventually slit her wrists and died, opening the door for Erin to be written out of the series and be replaced by Michelle Dessler (a complication we were all delighted to see, considering Tony Almeida was already working at CTU and his relationship with Michelle had dissolved sometime since Day 3 – by the end of the Day, the pair had reunited and determined to leave CTU so they could live the rest of their lives together ... which they did).



3. Marianne Taylor


Marianne was another psychopathic ice queen who lied to, lied about, and lied with Curtis Manning, one of the few good guys at CTU. She was a double agent and eventually got what she deserved. The silly woman thought she was going to live through her encounter with her ‘contacts’ at the Rockland Building, but of course they had her killed to help protect their own ghastly secrets. She was a poor-man’s answer to the brilliant Nina Myers from the earlier seasons, and we were glad to see her take a bullet and stop wasting our time.



4. Walt Cummings


Walt started out as just the unfriendly sidekick to Vice President-turned-President Charles Logan in Day 4. Whereas Logan’s other sidekick, Mick Novick, was someone we knew and trusted (and who brought former President David Palmer back into the mix for assistance), Walt was the guy we didn’t appreciate getting in Logan’s ear and steering him astray. He took it upon himself to secretly order Jack Bauer killed after the Chinese Consulate fiasco went sour. Returning in Day 5 as the impossibly well-connected White House mole to the terrorist organisation, Walt was revealed to be the man on the inside who was assisting the bad guys at the airport during the earlier part of the Day. He was unmasked to President Logan by Jack Bauer, and – disgusted – Logan demanded that Walt be arrested and taken from his site. Walt was later discovered hanging from the light fixture in his guarded room, obviously disgraced and ashamed of his actions. HOWEVER! Towards the end of the Day, Logan was revealed to be the real mastermind behind the whole thing, and it was implied that Logan also had Walt killed and had the body set up to look like a suicide. Walt had apparently had no idea just how deep the White House’s involvement had run, and his discovery and subsequent death meant Walt became a convenient patsy for Logan at the time (or perhaps Logan, Christopher Henderson and the mysterious Graham had always planned for Walt to take the fall).



5. Jacob Rossler


Rossler was a child sex offender in Day 5, who was keeping a young Russian girl prisoner in his room. I don’t need to explain any further why it was so satisfying (although caused troubles for Jack and his crew) when the girl got hold of a gun and killed Rossler with a single shot to the chest.



6. Christopher Henderson


Henderson’s history with Jack Bauer and CTU apparently stretched back into the dark recesses of time (otherwise known as “previous to Day 1”). It is implied that one of the crooked CTU agents Jack had uncovered immediately preceding Day 1 beginning – and part of the reason he was initially being ostracised by Tony and other CTU staff members – was Christopher Henderson. Although not named or revealed until Day 5, various statements made during Day 5 referred to Jack’s undercover mission to locate the CTU agents who were ‘on the take’. As Henderson caused – either personally or through orders given to his men – the deaths of President David Palmer, Michelle Dessler, Tony Almeida and Senator James Heller (or so it was thought at the time; Heller was later reported to have survived his suicidal plunge into the ocean), as well as trying to kill Jack and Audrey at various points throughout the Day, it was overwhelming delightful to see Jack finally shoot him dead at the end of the penultimate episode. (Note: I’m not normally this bloodthirsty; especially when we’re talking about the supposed good guy killing his former mentor in cold blood, but this is television and having the bad guys led away in police custody is not accepted as a ‘happy ending’ in TV land. Just go with it.)







Characters whose whereabouts are unknown and/or who were left in a critical condition:


1. Behrooz Araz


Behrooz appears to be an innocent young lad growing up with some evil, evil parents. Navi and Dina (his father and mother, respectively) are involved in big bad terrorist Habib Marwan’s plot in Day 5 to rain down havoc upon the world (as is a terrorist’s job). When Behrooz’s American girlfriend, Debbie, shows up to spoil things, Navi tells him to kill her, and Dina even gives him a gun. Instead, Behrooz urges Debbie to leave, but she drops down dead anyway, because Behrooz’s charming mother had already poisoned the girl with some tea. She then has the nerve to tell her son she knew he wouldn’t be able to go through with it, and shoots Debbie’s body so her husband will believe that her son did the ‘honourable thing’. Frightened for his life, Behrooz escapes from an assassin’s capture (who was purportedly helping Behrooz dump Debbie’s body but had a gun and revealed that Navi had ordered a ‘hit’ be placed on Behrooz), contacted his mother (who he knew loved him despite everything), and the pair of them tried to escape. Unfortunately, Navi and his men had followed Dina’s car, and began shooting at them (hitting Dina in the arm). Through a long and convoluted storyline, Behrooz kills his father and is taken into CTU custody with his mother. After Dina is taken away on a mission with Jack and killed by a suspicious Marwan, Behrooz is the final piece of bait for CTU to use to get the upper hand on the terrorist. It’s a bait-and-switch operation, but the boy is taken away by the bad guys – and shortly afterwards, both of his tracking devices (one of which was implanted in his skull) were successfully deactivated. Although not shown on camera, this was being achieved in the back of a van with the use of a knife, so it doesn’t look good for the boy. And that’s the last we officially saw of him. However, two scenes were cut from the episode that appeared in the DVD special features, showing Behrooz being rescued by CTU Agent Curtis Manning and arriving back at CTU where he was presumably safe.



2. President John Keeler


Keeler was the nasty President wanna-be who got information from Sherry Palmer about David lying to the police to protect her after Alan Milliken’s death. When Keeler informed Palmer that he had the evidence he had, he used it to force the President to step down from running for re-election, effectively ensuring his own victory. This all happened in Day 3, and by Day 4 we see that Keeler’s plan was successful, because he is the current President at that time. However, he is riding on Air Force One when it was shot down by a ‘bad guy’ in a stolen stealth fighter jet. He survived the crash, but was apparently in a critical condition (presumably crippled and possibly also in a coma), so Vice President Charles Logan was sworn in as Acting President under the 25th Amendment. By the time Day 5 rocked around, Logan was officially the President and Hal Gardner was his Vice, indicating that Keeler had either resigned from office or passed away.



3. Lynne Kresge


Lynne was the appointed counselor to President David Palmer during Day 2, and was staunchly loyal to him. One of the ‘good guys’, Lynne risked life and limb (literally) to inform the President that Mike Novick and others were trying to unseat him. Although Mike had her confined to a room and guarded to prevent her doing this, she managed to escape from the room and flee to a stairwell, where the pursuit led to her falling through the stairwell and sustaining neurological damage. After being discovered and led away by paramedics, she again tried to inform the President about Mike’s plan by pointing to Mike from her stretcher. However, Mike cupped her hand in an act of support, hiding her accusing gesture, so David did not have a chance to learn what she was trying to tell him before she was taken away. Apparently the writers intended for Lynne to die as a result of her injuries, but this was never actually established on the show.



4. Milo Pressman


Milo was a fan favourite during Day 1. He was initially called in by Nina Myers to help decode a key card containing important information CTU needed. He was an external contractor, so it was felt that he could be trusted where existing CTU employees could not (at that point, it was known that a mole was working inside CTU but their identity had not yet been determined). He was not present at the end of the Day (but only due to scheduling conflicts for the actor), and is rumoured to be a regular cast member in Day 6.



5. Sarah Gavin


Sarah was another nasty female character (aren’t they all?) who clearly argued regularly with Chloe (who thought Sarah was a hack). When Marianne Taylor planted evidence to suggest that Sarah was the mole instead of herself, Sarah was taken into custody and tortured for information. After Edgar discovered that the real mole was Marianne, Sarah was released and blackmailed Erin Driscoll into giving her a two-level raise as compensation. Erin agreed, although shortly thereafter Erin’s daughter Maya committed suicide and Erin left CTU (possibly forever, as we never saw her again). When Erin’s replacement Michelle Dessler arrived, Sarah demanded the same deal be struck. Despite Michelle agreeing, Sarah refused to begin work until the deal was written up and signed, which made Michelle so angry she had Sarah fired and escorted off the grounds instead. If I were Sarah, I’d have been suing for wrongful dismissal and some pretty hefty compensation for the torture I was forced to endure, so whether Sarah ended up getting the last laugh or not is unknown.



6. Adam Kaufman


Adam was a hard-working CTU staff member during the events of Day 3 (although, as the above photos show, he somehow had time to sneak out for a haircut sometime during the Day). He initially comes into conflict with new CTU staff member, Kim Bauer, whom he (correctly) claims only got her job because of her father. However, he softens to her throughout the course of the Day and uncovers that Chloe is not the mother of the baby she is hiding under her desk. His sister dies of the released Cordilla virus and he is understandably upset by this news, but he pulls himself together and continues to work at CTU until the full crisis is averted. The only episode he didn’t appear in throughout the Day was roughly in the middle, the 5am – 6am shift, which must be when we popped out for his haircut. (What kind of hairdresser or barbershop is open at 5am? Maybe one located right next door to CTU headquarters, because it appears that quite a few CTU staff members get a haircut at odd times throughout any given Day.)



7. Howard Bern


Howard certainly lived up to his surname. He assisted Jack on the secret mission into the Chinese Consulate to capture a witness they desperately needed, and because his mask was briefly lifted (and his face captured on the Chinese Consultate’s security cameras), he was tracked down, held hostage, and threatened with a trip to a prison in Outer Mongolia or somewhere extremely remote for the rest of his life if he didn’t tell them who ordered the break-in. Naturally, he gave up Jack Bauer by name ("Burn!"), and the Chinese government turned their attention to capturing Jack and sending him to the cruel and violent prison in Outer Mongolia instead. Whether or not they were true to their word in letting Howard go after he gave them Jack’s name was never established.



8. Miguel


Miguel was Kim Bauer’s boyfriend in Day 2, and helped her escape with Megan Matheson. While driving off in Megan’s abusive father’s stolen car, they were captured by the police. A search of the car revealed the body of Megan’s mother Carla in the boot (or ‘trunk’). After being arrested, Kim and Miguel (who knew about the bomb in LA and wanted to get Megan to safety) worked together to run the police car they were traveling in off the road. The accident gave Kim a chance to escape, but Miguel suffered serious injuries, which eventually resulted in the loss of his right leg. Angry and bitter, he broke up with Kim over the phone without telling her what had happened. It is unknown whether she ever found out (although it’s unlikely that she never spoke to him again or heard through someone else that he was an amputee), and Miguel’s whereabouts are unknown.



9. Spenser Wolff


Spenser was a patsy’s patsy. President Logan used Walt as a fall guy in Day 5, and Walt was using Spenser for similar reasons (although Walt probably never intended for Spenser to die for his involvement – after all, Spenser knew Walt’s name, whereas Walt didn’t know he was doing his underhanded work for Logan). Walt told Spenser he’d be working on a secret mission for the White House by assisting Walt to gain access to CTU and keeping quiet about it. Spenser didn’t know he was actually assisting the terrorists keep tabs on what CTU was doing, but when it all became common knowledge, the disgraced young lad was taken into custody. After briefly returning to help Jack Bauer gain access to Jacob Rossler’s building, Chloe (who had slept with Spenser just the night before) fired him.



10. Vice President James 'Jim' Prescott


Prescott was a good VP. He stood up to the plate when convinced by Mike Novick in Day 2 that he had to usurp the Presidency … and when Palmer was proven to be making the right decisions, he relinquished the role and offered his resignation. Luckily for him, his offer was rejected; Palmer instead praising him for doing what he thought was in the best interests of the country. Accordingly to 24.wikia.com, Prescott has held the office of President twice – within minutes of each other. Once, as described above, when he and the other members of Cabinet invoked the 25th Amendment, and then a second time when Palmer was poisoned by Mandy with a killer handshake just minutes after Prescott returned the Presidency to Palmer. 24: The Game chronicles what happened between Days 2 and 3, and Prescott is seen as Acting President during Palmer’s recovery. (How’s that for a lot of information you didn’t care about or really need to know?!!)



11. Speaker of the House Don Ashton


Ashton took a vested interest in new President Charles Logan during Day 4, when President Keeler was seriously wounded and a very green (by which I do not mean environmentally-minded) Logan found himself running the country. This was because, with Keeler unfit to run the country, and with the Vice President / new President making poor decisions, it would be his job, as Speaker of the House, to step up and take control. Ashton didn’t like Logan's reliance on former President David Palmer, whom Logan had turned to (at Mike Novick’s suggestion) for advice. To prove to Ashton that Logan was really in charge, Logan and Palmer faked an argument so that Logan could appear to take command (and Ashton's side) over Palmer.



12. Tom Baker


Not to be confused with the Dr Who actor, this Tom Baker was a regular stalwart in all CTU operations throughout Days 2 and 3. Effectively playing Jack Bauer’s 2IC (second in command) whenever Jack (and later Chase Edmunds) wanted to storm a building where a terrorist was hiding, Baker was the one with the earpiece, the gun, the ammo, and the lines. Once tricked by Tony Almeida so Tony could assist terrorist Stephen Saunders to escape moments before an ambush (because Saunders was holding Tony’s wife, Michelle Dessler, hostage at an unknown location), Baker was nevertheless an exemplary agent. He basically filled the role that would later be filled by Lee Castle, Chase Edmunds, Howard Bern and Curtis Manning. Although no word has been given as to his current whereabouts, it is presumed that he boarded the ill-fated Oceanic flight 815 from Sydney to Los Angeles.



13. Rick Allen


Against all the odds, Rick managed to survive Day 1 with nary a scratch. Initially bringing Kim Bauer (and, by extention, her mother Teri) into trouble, he eventually helped save them from the terrorist compound where they were being held. When he learned that he’d still probably go to jail, he ran off. Later, we see that he caught a bus home (which is pretty stupid), where a drug raid led to his arrest, along with that of his jealous girlfriend Melanie and innocent bystander Kim (who had tracked Rick down for help). We assume he went to jail after all, although we don’t know if the Bauers put in a good word for him or not (which is unlikely, considering Teri’s eventual fate).



14. Darren / Eric Richards


Actually referred to by two different first names in different seasons, Agent Richards was the silent but deadly interrogation expert at CTU in Days 3 and 4. He was the lucky duck who got to torture Nina Myers in Day 3, and was about to torture snivelling Richard Heller before Curtis Manning stopped him. However, he got to torture an innocent Sarah Gavin later, so at least he accomplished something that Day. He hasn’t been seen since.



15. Ed Miller


Presumably replacing Darren / Eric Richards as CTU's resident interrogation expert, Agent Miller was prepared to torture anyone Jack wished him to. He was seen earlier as a bodyguard, so may have been promoted or an odd-job man around the place. When in custody, Nina Myers greeted him by name, so presumably he was a CTU agent back while she was operative. Of course, perhaps he and Agent Richards simply worked on different days to each other but were both used frequently for torturing suspects. Miller was assigned as a guard for Nina Myers to prevent Jack Bauer from killing her during Day 2. He was drugged by Jack as part of a plan to frighten Nina, and was not seen for the rest of the season. He returned on Day 3 as a part of Michelle Dessler's Field Team sent into the Chandler Plaza Hotel. He was seen without a HAZMAT suit after the release of the Cordilla Virus, so it is probable that he died as a result, but his ultimate fate was not shown.



16. Diane Huxley


Diane Huxley rented a room to Jack Bauer at the start of Day 5. Jack was posing as ‘Frank Flynn’ because he’d faked his own death at the end of Day 4. Jack and Diane had started to develop a relationship, much to her son Derek’s frustration. Derek suspected that Jack was hiding something from them, simply so he could take advantage of his mother. When Jack was forced to reveal his true identity to help protect Chloe and solve the assassination of President Palmer, he and the Huxleys made amends – but Jack and Diane’s relationship fizzled when Audrey Raines learned that Jack was still alive. Diane did the honourable (weak?) thing of leaving so Jack and Audrey could get back together.



17. Derek Huxley


Derek followed Jack to a rendezvous location where he met Chloe O'Brian. Jack took Derek in a helicopter and told him the truth about his background. Jack called Diane and asked her to come to Los Angeles and pick up Derek, but didn't tell her why Derek was even in LA. Just as Diane and Derek reunited, the airport was attacked by terrorists. Derek ran inside to warn Jack of the strange men he saw jumping out of the back of a van, but he got caught by the men in question and turned into a hostage. Derek was meant to be the second hostage executed when President Logan refused to give in to the terrorist's demands, but the terrorist spared Derek’s life when Jack revealed himself. Another replacement hostage was executed before Curtis Manning and his team could take back the terminal.



18. Miriam Henderson


Miriam was Christopher Henderson’s wife. After Henderson tried to kill Jack Bauer, Jack was led to the Henderson household by Chloe O'Brian, but discovered that only Miriam was home. Jack forced Miriam to sit on the couch as he attempted to access Henderson's computer files. She refused to tell Jack the password and doubted that her husband was guilty. When he arrived home, Christopher was handcuffed and put next to her on the couch, Miriam still refused to believe her husband was guilty of Jack's wild and crazy accusations until Jack emptied her husband’s briefcase to reveal a large amount of cash and a gun. Miriam was confused, but her husband claimed that everything he had done was for her. Jack placed his gun on Christopher's kneecap and threatened to shoot him, which would result in him never being able to walk again. He refused to talk, so Jack shot Miriam above the knee. Threatening to shoot her again, Jack was amazed that Christopher still refused to talk. (And for her part, Miriam was heartbroken.) Jack called for medical attention for Miriam, and took Christopher to CTU Los Angeles for further questioning. The good news for Miriam is that her wound would not prevent her from being able to walk, and she at least got to see her husband’s guilt – and how he put the secrecy of ‘the cause’ above her own life – for herself, because if she hadn’t, she would have continued to believe that ‘crooked agent’ Jack Bauer had killed her innocent husband when Christopher turned up dead at the end of the Day.



19. Theo Stoller


Theo was a German Intelligence agent working undercover in the US. He was posing as the lover of information broker Collette Stenger, in order that he could track her dealings with terrorist organisations throughout the world. CTU discovered that Stenger was involved in the dealings of Day 5, but when they arrived at her hotel room, she had already left. Theo confronted Curtis Manning and Jack Bauer, revealing himself to be a member of German Intelligence. At first Theo refuseed to tell Jack how to find Stenger. Privately, Jack promised Theo a copy of the NSA's list of known terrorists worldwide (known as the WET List). Jack got a copy of the WET List from Chloe O'Brian and downloaded it to a memory card. He showed the list to Theo and promised to hand it over once Stenger was in custody. Theo led CTU to the Van Nuys airport, where he was to meet Stenger. She arrived and was captured by CTU. Theo left with the memory card containing the WET List, only to have it self-destruct, destroying the List. Jack called him, offering to rebuild his investigation, but Theo told him where to stick it and hung up the phone.



20. Evelyn Martin


Evelyn was a personal aide to First Lady Martha Logan during Day 5. She had an eight-year-old daughter, Amy. She tried to assist Mrs Logan obtain information relating to former President David Palmer's assassination and seemed to be generally concerned for the First Lady's well being, but was pressured by Walt Cummings to help him move Mrs Logan to a mental health centre. Because she had obtained evidence of Day 5’s attacks in advance (and forwarded them to former President David Palmer), she and her daughter Amy became targets for the bad guys. Evelyn told Wayne Palmer and Jack Bauer that she’d hand over a recording implicating someone in Logan's administration with David Palmer's death only after they had saved Amy. Wayne and Jack attacked the bad guys when Evelyn met with them, purportedly to trade her evidence for Amy. Amy was rescued, but Evelyn was injured. Jack left Evelyn and Amy in a hotel room to keep them safe. However, Evelyn fainted while in the room, causing Amy to call 911. One of the bad guys heard the 911 call. While the paramedics worked on Evelyn, Christopher Henderson entered the hotel room and shot the medics. He demanded to know where Jack was, and that’s the last we saw of her. Because he was killing everyone else who knew anything about the Day’s events as he went along, it is 99% likely that Evelyn was killed after she revealed Jack’s whereabouts to him. But she was a good character and a strong woman (although – again – her child-rearing-ness caused problems for her at work). We liked her and wanted her to survive. Amy too.







Characters who had BETTER NOT be killed off:


1. Jack Bauer (not again, anyway)


Actor Kiefer Sutherland has long hinted that Jack Bauer will probably be written out at some point so the show can continue without him, but I for one don’t buy it. The show would die a quick death if it didn’t have Jack. Plus, with the movie coming out soon, Kiefer’s sure to hang around for at least another two seasons; possibly three.



2. Bill Buchanan


We were initially nonplussed by Bill Buchanan, but he grew on us pretty quickly. Romantically linked to Michelle Dessler at first, that plotline was all-but-forgotten almost as soon as it was mentioned (probably so the writers could concentrate on Tony and Michelle getting back together without any further obstacles, like Michelle’s boyfriend, getting in the way). At the very least, he held onto the relationship fairly loosely, because he never seemed to harbour any resentment towards either Tony or Michelle for hooking up. Not that he saw much of them after that. But anyway. Bill’s loyalty to Jack, Chloe and the rest of the CTU staff is without question, although he also likes to do ‘the right thing’ in the eyes of his superiors. That being said, it was the addition of Lynn McGill in Day 5 who helped us see that Bill does, in fact, bend the rules on occasion. He may only have one ‘face’ – grimly determined – but we like him a lot.



3. Chloe O'Brian


What can you say about Chloe that hasn’t been said before? Perhaps that she’s pretty. But that’s not my point. She’s odd, she’s amusing, she’s blunt and she’s geeky. But she’s also incredibly smart. She’s the comic relief and Jack’s oldest surviving friend / companion left in the show. She’s a good character for the writers to keep around, because within seconds she can do any technical miracle the plot requires of her, and she provides the laughs in the tense moments. But she’d also be a ‘good’ character to die, because the viewing public obviously likes her … so if the writers want to create controversy, killing Chloe would be the way to do it.



4. Audrey Raines


Audrey has had two of the worst Days of her life (Days 4 and 5). They really were shockers. So I wouldn’t be surprised if she died of a heart attack in Day 6. After all, a woman can only take so much. But as Jack’s strongest love interest since the death of his wife Teri, Audrey gives Jack something to live for. Actress Kim Raver portrays her brilliantly, too – but she’s tied to another show, so if she appears in Day 6 at all, it’ll probably only be very fleeting. Hopefully not to be killed.



5. Curtis Manning


Curtis is just lovely. Tough, smart, street-wise, clever, hard-working, sacrificial and a great team player, Curtis is a fantastic CTU agent and would be a massive loss if he were to take a bullet in the neck. I hope we see him back in Day 6, because he’s been a faithful member of CTU heroics for quite a while now, showing that his skill and commitment level are beyond reproach.



6. Kim Bauer


Although pesky and annoying (not to mention highly dumb on occasion), Kim had a purpose. And if Jack has anything he’d give up his life for (apart from his country, the world, liberty, freedom, ‘goodness’, a bottle of milk, magical fairy dust, a rusty old bucket, and free speech), it’s his daughter Kim. You may be surprised that I’ve put her on this list, but she was okay. Apart from the mountain lion thing. And getting a job at CTU with no skills. And filling up our time with a wife-bashing husband storyline. And getting kidnapped three times in one Day. Her surprise return in Day 5 was good closure for a character who obviously thought her Dad was dead, but now that she probably thinks it again, does that mean we’ll see her again in Day 6? If so, I hope it’s not just so they can kill her. We’ve been through too much, ‘willing’ her to survive, for her to be killed now.



7. Mike Novick


Mike’s a fan favourite. Initially he was a bit of a villain, forming a coup to take David Palmer’s presidency in Day 2 (and covering up Lynne Kresge’s accident to save his own skin / keep the impending coup a secret from Palmer). But a gentle character at heart, we soon found ourselves cheering him on and enjoying all his scenes. And we weren’t the only ones. Huge fan support exists amongst 24 viewers for both Mike and Aaron Pierce. Mike helped Jack Bauer and Martha Logan capture President Logan in his own lies, and he helped get Aaron to safety when the secret service agent was targeted for murder by Logan’s henchmen. Truly saddened by the news that David Palmer had been assassinated, he seemed the only one in the White House staff to be truly concerned. He and Martha had that much in common. He’s one of our favourite recurring characters, and we don’t want him written out.



8. Aaron Pierce


Aaron’s our other favourite recurring character. His gentle but firm approach to doing his job so efficiently comes across as both sweet and deadly serious. He is loyal to his charges, and held a particular affection for President Palmer (who treated him like a friend - the actors are close friends in real life, apparently). We got to see him ‘go all heroic’ when he defended the car convoy that contained the Russian President and his wife, as well as Martha Logan, in Day 5 … and when he discovered the truth about President Logan’s involvement in the Day’s events, his disgusted reference to the President as ‘Charles’ was a beautiful insight into the lack of respect usually stony-faced Aaron now had in his Commander in Chief (as well as indicating so clearly how much Aaron felt Logan was no longer worthy of his title and job). He was meant to be killed off in Day 5, but actor Glenn Morshower managed to convince the writers to keep him alive – not simply so he could keep his acting gig, but because it worked better for storytelling purposes (and it’s true – Pierce surviving meant that the revelations provided to him by Logan would be admissible in court, rather than leaving the government with a lesser picture of Logan’s delusion).



9. Wayne Palmer


Brother to President David Palmer, Wayne is another character we as an audience were initially meant to dislike when he was introduced to us in Day 3. In addition to frowning upon David’s relationship with his doctor, Anne Packard, he caused problems for his brother when, as White House Chief of Staff, he was embroiled in a long-past love affair with a married woman (married to one of the President’s financial backers, what’s more), and was then present when his lover killed his brother’s ex-wife before turning the gun on herself. But when he returned in Day 5 to help solve the assassination for which Jack Bauer had been framed, we got to witness his gradual transformation from grieving brother to potential agent, risking his life and chalking up his first ‘kill’ to help Jack rescue Evelyn and Amy Martin. Rumour has it he’s been promoted for Day 6 …



10. Rick Burke


Burke is the most recent of the three interrogation experts (read: torturers) at CTU. Working at CTU during Day 5, he 'interrogated' Christopher Henderson before Tony Almeida knocked him unconscious so he could exact his own revenge on Henderson for ordering the murder of Michelle (Tony was unable to do it, and Henderson woke up in time to turn the needle Tony was holding back onto Tony, killing him instead). Burke later 'interrogated' Audrey Raines when she was falsely accused (by an unreliable witness) of being involved in a government conspiracy alleged to be behind the Day's attacks. Burke had to ‘tazer’ Jack when Jack tried to prevent him from 'interrogating' Audrey. Despite not seeing eye-to-eye with Jack in these later episodes, it's clear that he's a good agent and was getting along well with Jack earlier in the day. I'd like to see him return.

INTERESTING FACT: Actor Martin Papazian portrays CTU Agent Rick Burke, and it surely can't be a complete coincidence that a character who appeared partway through the fifth season, Miles Papazian, has such a similar name. It is this intrepid blogger's opinion (similar to the INTERESTING FACT listed in Part 1 of this two-part post about the origin of the Sarah Berkeley alias for Nina Myers) that although not officially recognised in anything I've read about the show, this must be an intentional in-joke of sorts on someone's behalf.



11. Morris O'Brian


Morris was a surprise guest star late in Day 5, and it was clear (to me, at least) that his arrival was a sort of 'introduction' to a character the writers obviously intended to play a bigger role in Day 6. The most surprising thing about the character was the revelation that he's Chloe’s ex-husband! Quick-witted and acid-tongued, he nevertheless had a caring side, and clearly still had feelings for Chloe. He was also a good technical expert, so one has to wonder if this potential love interest (angst-ridden as the two of them are) is not perhaps a replacement for Chloe’s character … or at least meant to make us wonder if he is. Think about it. He’s smart, funny, and an expert in technical stuff … just like Chloe. The audience is bound to love him, just as they do Chloe. And he’s expendable. Just as – now – Chloe is. Either of them may die before Day 6 is out, because the other could continue to provide the audience with the same type of character. And maybe the writers are sick of us expecting Chloe to survive all the time?



12. Cubby


Yes, seriously.







Characters we'd like to see return:


1. Chase Edmunds


Chase was a great character, and for a while appeared to be in training to take over Kiefer’s role and become Jack – The Next Generation ™, but it was not to be. Weighed down with a silly love interest (that’d be Kim Bauer) and a frustrating baby subplot, he was doomed to lose his hand at the end of Day 3 and never be seen again. In Day 4, we heard that he and Kim had moved to Italy with the baby, and were living happily ever after. By Day 5, this had all changed for the worse.



2. Kate Warner


Kate was a good enough love interest (I suppose – who really cares about that stuff, though? This is an action show! … Chicks care, I guess), but the main reason I’d like to see her return is that actress Sarah Wynter is an Aussie.



3. Mandy


Mandy was simply the best villain the show has ever produced, with the possible exception of Nina Myers. Mandy’s so good, we still don’t know her surname! I thought for sure she was going to kill Tony Almeida at the end of Day 4, but instead she killed Lee Castle, took an amnesty deal, and walked away scott-free. I hope this means she’ll surprise us with a return visit someday. She was ace and I love the threat of her always being out there somewhere, up to no good …



4. President Charles Logan


Yes, I hate the character, too - but you've just gotta love the actor -- doesn't he do "pathetic, greedy, infuriatingly cowardly, and selfishly corrupt" brilliantly?! Logan was an idiot when we first met him in Day 4, but by Day 5 he’d grown a pair and was (almost) calling the shots on an international terrorist ring. He was taken down in the end (good thing, too), but for most of the Day it was tough to work out who was behind it all, and then (once he was revealed as the ‘big bad’) how he was going to get caught. I hope we see a disgraced Logan in jail or something in Day 6. That’d be very satisfying!



5. Martha Logan


I had my doubts about Martha at the start of Day 5. Another female with personal problems? Nothing more than a wimpy cry-baby whose entire role on the show is to bitch and moan about everything everyone else does around her? But she came good in the end, perhaps unrealistically turning the tables on her husband and suddenly proving herself to be the cleverest person in the world. I don’t know how she’d fit in to Day 6’s storyline, but if we could see where she was now and what she was doing, we’d enjoy that.



6. Vice President Hal Gardner


Gardner probably won’t return in Day 6 (I know for a fact that he’s not the current President), so his return is probably the most unlikely one on this list. Again, the writers performed a ‘mislead’ with Gardner. We were led to believe for a while that he had an eye on Logan’s job, which fed neatly into the suspicion that he was the White House connection behind Day 5’s terrorist attacks. I’m not sure about anyone else, but for a while I was buying it, so a chance for us to redeem ourselves to this fictional character whose reputation was blemished would be lovely. But by no means essential.



7. Secretary of Defense James Heller


James Heller is Audrey Raines' father and although a regular cast member for Day 4, he disappeared after the first half of the season, reappearing for two episodes at the end of the Day. The actor was filming another TV show at the time and had to be written out of the series until the very end, when certain plot elements required his attendance to be properly wound up. He returned for a few episodes of Day 5, but was again written out – this time by sacrificing his life (or so we all thought) by driving off a cliff into the ocean, rather than be taken out by Christopher Henderson’s men, who had him in their sights. When the action of the season was drawing to a close, Jack and Audrey were informed that Secretary Heller had been found alive, and that he was expected to make a full recovery. How convenient. That rang warning bells for me that they were going to have the character pop up again in Day 6, but I may prove to be wrong about that. Who can say. There’s no other reason to lessen Audrey’s pain at that point – she was suffering nicely without hearing some good news to spoil things like that!



8. Karen Hayes


Karen was another one of those characters who started off as a pain we couldn’t stand, and grew into someone we empathised with and cheered for. Once evidence of some traitorous tampering was uncovered by Jack and Chloe, Karen was brought in on things and helped delay the authorities (even giving Bill and Chloe a heads-up that troops were closing in on Bill’s house to arrest Chloe), and gave her 2IC, Miles, the run-around to get him off the scent. Unfortunately it failed, but not without some level of success. Karen won us over, and – if the last scenes of Day 5 are to be believed – she definitely won Bill over, as well!







Characters we'd like to see return so they can take a bullet*:

* ... or at least be locked up, sorted out, committed to an asylum, or fired


1. Erin Driscoll


Erin was so incredibly annoying and by-the-book, it was painful. Why she couldn’t just trust that one of her agents, who frequently turned rogue and went against all the rules, was telling the truth even though he and she hated each other and her butt was on the line for anything he did wrong, I don’t know. In truth, we couldn’t stand her, so it was great to see her written out of the show halfway through Day 4 when her daughter Maya committed suicide.



2. Carrie Turner


Carrie was one of two mega-biii-atches who worked in CTU for the sole reason (or so it would seem) of spoiling everyone else’s fun and putting lives at risk. She was hanging around making Tony and Michelle’s lives difficult during Day 2.



3. Alberta Green


Alberta is the second such mega-biii-atch from CTU, but she was working there during Day 1, as the assistant to Ryan Chappelle. She interrogated Tony and Nina (who at this stage appeared to be on ‘our’ side), trying to find out where Jack had gone.



4. Roger Stanton


Stanton was the Director of the National Security Agency (NSA) during Day 2. He conspired with terrorists to allow a nuclear bomb to enter the country in an attempt to hijack David Palmer's presidency and "give it some balls". Palmer had Stanton tortured to find out the information Stanton would not otherwise reveal, and Palmer told Stanton that if anyone died as a result of the bomb entering the country, he would be executed. As George Mason died disposing of the bomb (and the resulting riots in Middle Eastern neighbourhoods caused many deaths, including that of Yusef Auda and a young boy), it's quite possible that Palmer was true to his word and had Stanton executed following Day 2.



5. Richard Heller


Richard Heller was the brother of Audrey Raines and the son of Secretary of Defense Heller. He was gay (or experimenting/curious) when we saw him in Day 4. Due to his own embarrassment at 'coming out' to his family, his secrecy caused major problems for his father and CTU, because they thought he was keeping terrorist information from them - so they tortured him, ultimately worsening the divide between father and son.



6. Miles Papazian


Miles was the off-sider to Karen Hayes in Day 5. A sniveling little dibber-dobber, Miles betrayed everyone at CTU by siding with the corrupt President (after his evil doings had been revealed, meaning Miles had no good reason to side with the President apart from personal gain) and destroying the evidence that had on him at the time. He traded his soul – and the lives of many civilians – for a cushy job in Washington. It’s unlikely he received it, however, because Logan was arrested just hours later.



7. Valerie Harris


Although I have nothing against Valerie per se, this was the list to which she was most suited. I can't point out any flaws in her or her work, but anyone who gets called in to replace Chloe O'Brian simply has to go!



8. Shari Rothenberg


Shari seemed like a good girl to start off with. Sensitive when she realised Chloe was a friend of the late Edgar's, clever when coming up with a way to identify which gas plant the terrorists were using to poison over 200,000 residents, and a sexual harassment victim of that Miles Papazian jerk we already wanted to loathe anyway. But when she said Bill Buchanan had touched her shoulder inappropriately, it cast those earlier claims into a bad light. Was she justified in her accusations of Miles? Has her entirely legitimate experience of sexual harassment with Miles resulted in her being ultra-sensitive and (to be frank) paranoid and delusional about all her male superiors since? Or has she just always been a complete and utter loony? I think it was a combination of them all.



9. Graham


Graham was the real mastermind behind the activities of Day 5 (and possibly Day 4 as well – that part is unclear), and because President Logan was the only one left alive at the end of the Day (and promised he’d keep Graham’s existence a secret), we can assume Graham got away with it. But I foresee an excellent way to bring the Logans back into Day 6: Jack needs to find out who was behind Day 5’s events, so he goes to the only person left who has any idea who orchestrated things … disgraced President Charles Logan. Bring in Martha as a way of pleading with him to talk from his jail cell, and you’ve got a few good episodes with some favourites from last season. Then Graham can take his bullet.



10. Cheng Zhi


Cheng is the nasty guy who arranged for Jack to be carted off to China for crimes he didn’t commit (well, he kinda did, but it was still unfair punishment). I don’t know how Day 6 starts, but hopefully it’s by Jack overpowering his Chinese captors, putting a bullet in Cheng Zhi’s head, and escaping to freedom.







Characters we couldn't care less about:


1. C. Thomas Howell With A Bad Goatee


C. Thomas Howell With A Bad Goatee was supposedly the therapist/perhaps-boyfriend of Kim Bauer in Day 5, ... but with facial hair like that, I wouldn't trust him. Known in the show as Barry Landes (yeah, whatever!), he escorted Kim out of CTU at the end of her three-episode guest stint, and Jack instructed him to take Kim out of the city without making any stops, so presumably they are both safe and won't need to return in Day 6 (but with 24, you never can tell).


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