10 Redeemed TV Characters Who Didn't Deserve It
3. Lynn McGill - 24
Throughout its run, 24 certainly loved redeeming easy-to-loathe stuffed shirts, with George Mason (Xander Berkeley) and Ryan Chappelle (Paul Schulze) both sacrificing themselves in meaningful ways which left fans with a favourable departing impression of them.
Season 5's Lynn McGill (Sean Astin), though? Not so much.
McGill was a high-ranking Division official who arrives at Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU) to oversee the Sentox nerve gas crisis, and beyond being a typical feckless bureaucrat who opposes Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland), he makes one major, unforgivable screw-up.
During the season, Lynn's CTU key card is stolen by his drug addict sister, whose boyfriend promptly sells it to terrorists, allowing them to gain entry to CTU and release one of the nerve gas canisters, causing the deaths of more than 50 employees, including fan favourite character Edgar Stiles (Louis Lombardi).
Lynn's failure to report the theft out of embarrassment cost a ton of lives, and the show subsequently attempts to redeem him by having him "heroically" enter a contaminated area in order to activate CTU's ventilation system, causing his death.
Except, this sacrifice felt considerably less redeeming than those of Mason and Chappelle, given that McGill's stupidity caused the deaths of so many in the first place. Laying down his life to save the rest of the building was basically the bare minimum he could've done in this situation.