24 (season 2)
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The second season of 24 was first broadcast from October 28, 2002 to May 20, 2003.
The season's storyline starts and ends at 8:00 a.m..
Season overview
The second season (2002–2003) is set 18 months after the first season and is believed to take place in 2005.The season's main plot follows the work of now-President David Palmer and agent Jack Bauer to stop terrorists from detonating a nuclear bomb in Los Angeles. Introduced into the situation is Kate Warner, a woman who ends up getting vital information related to CTU's mission. Season 2 must take place after 2001, since it is set in September, and references are made to sending terrorists to Guantanamo Bay for interrogation, which was not done until 2002. Also, President Palmer's Cabinet includes the Department of Homeland Security.
Like the first season, this season can also be essentially broken into two acts:
- The first act involves CTU attempting to stop a Middle Eastern terrorist cell from detonating a nuclear bomb in Los Angeles.
- In the second act, Jack, Kate, and CTU try to prevent a misdirected retaliatory strike from the U.S. by exposing the real masterminds who let the terrorists acquire the bomb.
Major subplots
- Kim is on the run, having rescued a child from her abusive father
- Kate Warner suspects that her sister's Middle Eastern fiancé is a terrorist
- President Palmer faces traitors in his own cabinet, who attempt to remove him from power to advance their own agenda
- The personal relationship between President Palmer and Secret Service Agent Aaron Pierce begins to develop in the final hours of season two, even though both have met each other in season one.
- George Mason, Special Agent in Charge of CTU, is dying of radiation exposure
- Jack's personal anguish: worried about Kim; develops a heart condition after being tortured by terrorists
- CTU is blown up with C4 to divert resources away from the bomb and to cripple their ability to stop the bomb
Summary
The season starts and ends at: 8:00 a.m. (LA time); the action begins in Seoul, South Korea (midnight, Seoul time).The first fifteen hours deal with finding and disposing of the nuclear bomb. After the bomb is disposed of safely, the story focuses on the United States' retaliation against the people responsible for constructing it. A recorded conversation between a terrorist involved with the bomb and high-ranking officials of three Middle Eastern countries (which are never specified) is used to implicate those countries in the plot. However, Palmer is reluctant to order military action against them until he has absolute proof that the recording is genuine. Several members of his Cabinet then vote to relieve Palmer of his position under Section 4 of the Twenty-fifth Amendment, believing his hesitation to be a sign of indecision and weakness. The Vice President then orders military strikes against the three countries to continue.
Jack, Michelle and Tony race to find the evidence that the recording is a forgery, and they eventually discover that a group of American businessmen fabricated it in order to wage war with the Middle East so that they could benefit from rocketing oil prices that would result. The strikes are called off and Palmer is reinstated as President after the proof is produced, thanks largely to his ex-wife Sherry Palmer (who risks her life). The seven cabinet members and vice president tender their resignations (Palmer does not accept them), and Palmer then tells his staff that he believes that the strictest evidence of hostile intent is required before waging war. The President does relieve his Chief of Staff, Mike Novick, who did not support David until the eleventh hour. The entire storyline has thinly veiled references to President Bush's foreign policy in the Middle East following the September 11th attacks and the "three Middle Eastern countries" could be a reference to the Axis of Evil.
Like the first season, the second ends with a surprise twist. The nuclear bomb situation is resolved without massive loss of life, but President Palmer collapses after being attacked with a biological weapon, presumably in an assassination attempt. Viewers were forced to wait until the third season to see whether Palmer survived the attack. The sudden shift from a nuclear to biological threat also foreshadows the third season, which initially centers on the threat of an engineered virus being set loose on the general public.
Unresolved Plots
There were several large plot threads left unresolved from the second season into the third and fourth seasons, most notably the characters of "Max" and Trepkos, two men who seemed to be the driving force behind the day's events, as well as President Palmer's assassination attempt. How the assassination attempt ties into a war for oil is something that never quite fit together, and many have suspected that they may have had some larger and more sinister goal in mind. They were never seen again, and the only clue to their fate is a cryptic hint given by Wayne Palmer in the premiere of season 3. However, some of the events directly preceding season 3 were chronicled in the video game , [[24: The Game]], released in March 2006.Main cast
This is a list of the main cast for Season 2. See List of characters in 24 for a more thorough list.
Stars
- Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer (Seasons 1-6)
- Sarah Wynter as Kate Warner (Season 2, recurring Season 3)
- Elisha Cuthbert as Kim Bauer (Seasons 1-3, recurring Season 5)
- Carlos Bernard as Tony Almeida (Seasons 2,3 and 5, recurring Seasons 1,4)
- Xander Berkeley as George Mason (Season 2, recurring Season 1)
- Penny Johnson Jerald as Sherry Palmer (Season 2, recurring Seasons 1 and 3)
- Dennis Haysbert as President David Palmer (Seasons 1-3, recurring Season 4 and 5)
- Reiko Aylesworth as Michelle Dessler (Season 3, recurring Seasons 2,4, and 5)
- Paul Schulze as Ryan Chappelle (recurring Seasons 1-3)
- Lourdes Benedicto as Carrie Turner (recurring Season 2)
- Daniel Dae Kim as Tom Baker (recurring Seasons 2 and 3)
- Jude Ciccolella as Chief of Staff Mike Novick (recurring Seasons 1,2,4, and 5)
- Michelle Forbes as Lynne Kresge (recurring Season 2)
- Glenn Morshower as Agent Aaron Pierce (recurring Seasons 1-6)
- Phillip Rhys as Reza Naiyeer (recurring Season 2)
- Tobin Bell as Peter Kingsley (recurring Season 2)
- Sarah Clarke as Nina Myers (Season 1, recurring Seasons 2 and 3)
Conspiracy Theories About Max
In some circles of 24 fans on the Internet there are theories that all the terrorist plots of the seasons are connected in some way and that Max is behind it all. Some believe that Nina Myers may have been working for him, based on a deleted scene from season 2 in which Nina kisses Max. However, [[24: The Game]] revealed Max's ultimate motivations, as well as his final fate. Some fans came away disappointed, as Max turned out to not be the Blofeld-type figure they believed him to be based on his season 2 appearances. There still remains however a possibility of a Trepkos return, because his involvement has yet to be fully explained.List of episodes
| # | US Airdate | Prod. Code | Time | Written By | Directed By | Screen Shot |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | October 28, 2002 | 08:00 a.m. - 09:00 a.m. | Joel Surnow, Michael Loceff | Jon Cassar |
| |
| President David Palmer and government agencies receive word of a nuclear bomb possibly denoting in Los Angelos that day by terrorist group Second Wave and threatens a middle eastern country. NSA requests that inactive CTU agent, Jack Bauer comes in to help CTU find it. Kim is also in trouble with a child abuser. | ||||||
| 2 | November 5, 2002 | 09:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. | Joel Surnow, Michael Loceff | Jon Cassar |
| |
| 3 | November 12, 2002 | 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. | Howard Gordon | James Whitmore, Jr. |
| |
| 4 | November 19, 2002 | 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. | Remi Aubuchon | James Whitmore, Jr. |
| |
| 5 | November 26, 2002 | 12:00 p.m. - 01:00 p.m. | Gil Grant | Jon Cassar | --> | |
| 6 | December 3, 2002 | 01:00 p.m. - 02:00 p.m. | Elizabeth M. Cosin | Jon Cassar | --> | |
| 7 | December 10, 2002 | 02:00 p.m. - 03:00 p.m. | Virgil Williams | James Whitmore, Jr. | --> | |
| 8 | December 17, 2002 | 03:00 p.m. - 04:00 p.m. | Joel Surnow, Michael Loceff | James Whitmore, Jr. | --> | |
| 9 | January 7, 2003 | 04:00 p.m. - 05:00 p.m. | Howard Gordon | Rodney Charters | --> | |
| 10 | January 14, 2003 | 05:00 p.m. - 06:00 p.m. | David Ehrman | Rodney Charters | --> | |
| 11 | February 4, 2003 | 06:00 p.m. - 07:00 p.m. | Gil Grant | Frederick K. Keller | --> | |
| 12 | February 11, 2003 | 07:00 p.m. - 08:00 p.m. | Evan Katz | Frederick K. Keller | --> | |
| 13 | February 18, 2003 | 08:00 p.m. - 09:00 p.m. | Maurice Hurley | Jon Cassar | --> | |
| 14 | February 25, 2003 | 09:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. | Joel Surnow, Michael Loceff | Jon Cassar | --> | |
| 15 | March 4, 2003 | 10:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m. | Robert Cochran | Ian Toynton | --> | |
| 16 | March 25, 2003 | 11:00 p.m. - 12:00 a.m. | Howard Gordon, Evan Katz | Ian Toynton | --> | |
| 17 | April 1, 2003 | 12:00 a.m. - 01:00 a.m. | Evan Katz, Gil Grant | Jon Cassar | --> | |
| 18 | April 8, 2003 | 01:00 a.m. - 02:00 a.m. | Joel Surnow, Michael Loceff | Jon Cassar | --> | |
| 19 | April 15, 2003 | 02:00 a.m. - 03:00 a.m. | Howard Gordon | James Whitmore, Jr. | --> | |
| 20 | April 22, 2003 | 03:00 a.m. - 04:00 a.m. | Neil Cohen | James Whitmore, Jr. | --> | |
| 21 | April 29, 2003 | 04:00 a.m. - 05:00 a.m. | Robert Cochran, Howard Gordon | Ian Toynton | --> | |
| 22 | May 6, 2003 | 05:00 a.m. - 06:00 a.m. | Virgil Williams, Duppy Demetrius | Ian Toynton | --> | |
| 23 | May 13, 2003 | 06:00 a.m. - 07:00 a.m. | Gil Grant, Evan Katz | Jon Cassar | --> | |
| 24 | May 20, 2003 | 07:00 a.m. - 08:00 a.m. | Robert Cochran, Howard Gordon | Jon Cassar | --> | |
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