11:00 p.m.-12:00 a.m. (21 May 2002)

Jack Bauer heads to the docks for a final climactic showdown with Victor Drazen.

Director:

Stephen Hopkins

Writers:

Joel Surnow (creator), Robert Cochran (creator),

Stars:

Kiefer Sutherland, Leslie Hope, Sarah Clarke

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Kiefer Sutherland	...	Jack Bauer
Leslie Hope	...	Teri Bauer
Sarah Clarke	...	Nina Myers
Elisha Cuthbert	...	Kim Bauer
Dennis Haysbert	...	Senator David Palmer
Zeljko Ivanek	...	Andre Drazen
Xander Berkeley	...	George Mason
Jude Ciccolella	...	Mike Novick
Karina Arroyave	...	Jamey Farrell
Kevin Chapman	...	Coast Guard Officer
Terrell Tilford	...	Paul Wilson
Penny Johnson	...	Sherry Palmer (as Penny Johnson Jerald)
Carlos Bernard	...	Tony Almeida
Dennis Hopper	...	Victor Drazen
Reynaldo Gallegos	...	Sergeant Devlin (as Rey Gallegos)

Storyline

On the day of the California Presidential Primary, between 11:00 PM and 12:00 PM, Jack Bauer drives to the docks to trade himself for Kim. However, Nina leaks to Victor and Andre that Kim is safe and sound, and Victor orders her to tell Jack that they have killed Kim. Instead of being dazzled and confused, Jack is driven by his anger, breaks in the hideout and after a long shootout, he kills Andre, Victor and their men. David Palmer breaks definitely his relationship with the arrogant Sherry. Nina tries to escape from CTU destroying all the evidences, and Teri sees her speaking in German. Nina executes Teri and is captured alive by Jack.

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Plot Keywords:

punctuation in title | pregnant woman shot | main characters killed off | title ends with period | pregnant woman murdered | 

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 May 2002 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

20th Century Fox Television, Imagine Television, Real Time Productions

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The BBC broadcast was over a minute longer, featuring six segments that didn't appear in the FOX/FX broadcasts (and were presumably cut for time constraints). The most notable additional scene is one between Nina and Teri, where Teri tells Nina that she and Jack are going to have a baby and Nina tells Teri that she plans to ask for a transfer out of CTU.

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Goofs

Jack and Nina have a shootout while driving head-on with their cars. When Nina swerves and smashes into the parked car, you can see a set of two stationary cameras with a protection blanket over them.

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Quotes

Andre Drazen: What if Bauer doesn't come? He may be too crushed by the thought of his daughter's death.
Victor Drazen: That is exactly why he will come. Believe me, I know.

User Reviews

The longest day comes to an end

There are two kinds of season finales: the ones that are good but not particularly edgy, used prominently in sitcoms (see most seasons of Friends and Seinfeld), and the really shocking ones that prove how audacious the show is willing to get and leaves the audience overwhelmed as they eagerly wait for the following batch of episodes. The epilogue of 24: Day 1 belongs to the second category.

Everything is at stake now: with the mole's identity (Nina Myers) exposed and Kim's fate uncertain, Jack is headed to the Port of Los Angeles for the final showdown with Victor Drazen, while David Palmer makes a tough but necessary decision regarding his marriage. As for Teri, she has no idea of what is happening to her husband and daughter and shares the news of her unexpected pregnancy with Nina. That can't end well...

Like few other programs (Desperate Housewives among them), 24 is able to surprise viewers until the very last moment of the season. Exactly how it ends is not up to me to tell (although few people are unaware of how things turned out in the first series' climax), but it's fairly safe to say the outcome is so bleak three different endings had to be filmed (the most optimistic one is included on the DVD).

As a matter of fact, the whole episode is quite violent, possibly the most violent of the entire season, with the final confrontation between Jack and Drazen (Dennis Hopper, still magisterial) particularly bathed in primal brutality: it's a brief but very intense moment that perfectly sets the mood for what will come next, and it allows Sutherland to appear at his most vulnerable and desperate, making Hour 24 one of the best in terms of performances. The same goes for Dennis Haysbert, who started the day worried about his life and ends it fully in control, after a last devastating conversation with his unreliable wife (Penny Johnson, the best female manipulator the small screen has ever had).

All in all, a great ending: aside from a little misstep in the day's second half (that stupid amnesia subplot), the first run of 24 was a practically perfect mix of entertainment, suspense and real emotion, a fact that makes the last minutes of the series more harrowing than the usual TV thriller. If there were any skeptics in the beginning, chances are they will have changed their mind by now: 24 is great television. Be warned, though: it's also very addictive.