10 Silliest Things On 24 (And The Lessons To Be Learned From Them)

8. CTU Agent Kim Bauer (Day 3)

In the first season of 24, Kim Bauer was sixteen years old, still in high school, and had just gotten her driver's license. The character was immature, naïve, and impulsive, which quickly got her into trouble and later, put her in grave danger. Despite being kidnapped more than once, she ultimately survived the season. At the beginning of day two, set eighteen months later, she has moved into her own place, has a steady boyfriend, and is working as a nanny. Day three, however, looks to skip over a good decade of reasonable character development and introduces us to Kim Bauer, CTU Analyst. The writers try to hang a lantern on this implausible development by having Kim pull of a challenging technical feat and sarcastically quip that she only got the job because of her dad, but it's a hard pill to swallow. Kim wasn't a technical genius in days one or two, and is barely twenty-one in day three. The writers must have realized her character transformation was a bit hard to swallow. Rather than trying to force Kim Bauer into subsequent seasons, she only returned for a handful of guest appearances, and only when she actually had a believable role to play in the story. The Lesson: It's better to let characters go than it is to defy logic in order to hold onto them. Hopefully, the writers of 24 have learned their lesson, and won't be introducing Jack Bauer's six year old granddaughter, newly appointed as the head of CTU field operations, in 24: Live Another Day.