21. The Adventures Of Kim Bauer (The Entirety Of Season 2)
Kim Bauer is one of the most ridiculed characters in the history of 24: in season one, she spent most of her time as a helpless hostage, and in season two, she was again forced back into the storyline, seemingly for not any more reason than the fact that Elisha Cuthbert was Jack Bauer's hot young daughter. Her tenure in season two consists of a number of increasingly ridiculous storylines, including playing house nanny for a psychopathic, murderous father, hanging out with a lonely, creepy survivalist (played by Kevin Dillon), being hunted by a cougar, and getting caught in the middle of a convenience store robbery. This is pretty much 24's writing at its worst and hokiest: to think that the writers couldn't come up with more interesting things for Kim to do, or better yet just write her out for the time being, is ridiculous. She's hot, of course, but the season would have been mostly better off without her. But what do they then do with her in season 3? That's right, they make her a laughably improbable employee of CTU.
20. George Mason Sacrifices Himself (Season 2, Episode 15)
George Mason was one of the more maligned good guys in the first season of 24, a pencil-pusher who just got in Jack Bauer's way. This seemed to be the trend for season two as well, until episode three, when Mason follows a lead and discovers a chamber of radioactive material inside a warehouse. He ends up being exposed to a lethal dose of it, giving him between 1 and 7 days to live, and Mason ends up getting the second silent clock in the show's history as he departs from CTU mid-way through the season. However, when the nuclear bomb is finally discovered and cannot be disarmed, Jack volunteers to fly it over the Mojave Desert, sacrificing himself to detonate the nuke away from civilisation. Mason, who had offered earlier to fly the plane himself, ends up stowing away on-board, eventually convincing Jack that he's capable of detonating the bomb, and hands Jack a parachute. Jack bails out, and in the most iconic moment of character redemption of the entire show's run, Mason goes out like a red, white and blue hero. God speed.
Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes).
General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.
