24 Of 24's Most Memorable Characters - Ranked

Likewise with Ryan Chappelle, George Mason seemed to hinder matters and was a generally dislikeable character. But unlike Chappelle’s clean-cut bureaucracy, Mason was more sleazy opportunist. As exemplified in season one when Jack finds out he had been money laundering.

Whilst pursuing a lead in season two, Mason and his team encounter gunfire at a derelict building where radioactive materials were being stored. Mason shoots dead one of the terrorists but not before a stray bullet shatters the glass containing the extremely hazardous substances, which suddenly starts engulfing him. The tragic irony was that he was looking to get away from the potential nuclear blast radius.

Now in the knowledge he was dying after tests revealed he had inhaled silly amounts (technical term that) of plutonium, Mason went about making amends with his estranged son, yet funnily because the only way that heartfelt reunion took place was because Mason had him arrested and brought to CTU!

On the verge of death, Mason offers to fly the plane containing the nuclear bomb into the Mohave Desert instead of Jack. Bauer understandably rejects this due to his rapidly deteriorating health. Mason, however, finds a way to stow himself onboard the plane and eventually convinces Jack to parachute out, leaving Mason to go out in a heroic blaze of glory.