* AcceptableTargets: Private security firms i.e., mercenaries.
* AlasPoorScrappy
** Ryan Chappelle, when Jack is forced to execute him on Stephen Saunders' demands.
** Lynn [=McGill=]. While [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom his incompetence]] led to the terrorists getting his ID card and launching a gas attack on CTU, he [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifices his own life]] to save CTU from the gas.
* AssPull: The reveal about [[spoiler: Nina Myers]] at the end of season one; according to some, the BigBad of season five; and almost ''definitely'' the retconning of [[spoiler: Tony Almeida's]] death in season 5.
** WordOfGod claims they ''set up'' that {{Retcon}} by not giving [[spoiler: Tony]] the Silent Clock, the traditional response to the deaths of really important characters.
** [[spoiler: The reveal of Alan Wilson being the mastermind behind numerous terrorist plots within the series, including the deaths of David Palmer and Michelle, has had mixed reactions. many were unhappy that what they felt was a completely generic, dull character had been set up as the series BigBad and [[HijackedByGanon stole Day 7's plot away from a highly praised villain in Jonas Hodges, who was built up as the Big Bad of Day 7 since Redemption.]]]]
*** [[spoiler: The reason the writers tacked Wilson on the ''ultimate'' Day 5 mastermind was that they needed a foil for Tony to be an AntiVillain. The problem became that, in seasons 5 and 6, every mastermind was either an established major political figure (Chief of Staff Walt Cummings, President Charles Logan) or someone personally important to Jack (mentor Christopher Henderson, brother Graem, or daddy Phillip). Then, it all turned to be the work of... some guy. Bo-ring.]]
** [[spoiler:It seems that Day 8 has one that rivals the above, with he reveal that Yuri Suvarov, a previous respectable character that wasn't bad at all, was revealed right before the series finale to be the final BigBad of the series. It's even more bizarre since you would think it would be more appropriate to have Charles Logan as the BigBad, especially with him being more of a MagnificentBastard than before. It seems the writers love making [[ShockingSwerve twists for the sake of twists]]]]
*** [[spoiler: Then again, President Taylor was a good president once upon a time too...]]
** Possibly also [[spoiler:Graem being established as Jack's brother in season 6. In season 5, all of his conversations with President Logan have ''both'' participants referring to Jack only as "Bauer", no first name, which suggests that Logan doesn't even realize that the person he's talking to also has the surname Bauer.]]
** And then there was [[spoiler: Stephen Saunders' death]] in Season 3. To go into detail, [[spoiler: Gael's wife found a ''loaded gun with the safety off'' in Gael's office and, so upset over his death, calmly walked over to Saunders, quickly pulled out the gun, [[DroppedABridgeOnHim and shot him]].]] And she did all of this only after taking a brief glance at [[spoiler: Saunders']] profile on a monitor.
** Easily [[spoiler: the revelation of Tony's unborn son, something that isn't even hinted at until the season 7 finale. As stated by the below trope, the fans who hated his final FaceHeelTurn didn't exactly take that out-of-nowhere excuse for it well.]]
* BadassDecay: In response to criticisms that the show promoted the use of torture, the writers of the show drastically toned down the number of times Jack tortures bad guys in the later seasons. Many fans felt that the kinder and gentler Jack Bauer made the show less entertaining to watch, as much of the show's appeal came in watching Jack interrogate [[KickTheSonOfABitch antagonists who are completely unsympathetic.]]
* BaseBreaker: In season 7, [[spoiler: the decision to make Tony an ambiguous baddie splintered the opinions of fans. Some thought it was a nice change of pace, and allowed the writers to contrast Jack and Tony's experiences (despite their similarities) even further. Others thought it was an absolute betrayal of Tony's character, and even the most sensical motivations for his actions would be unconvincing if it meant backstabbing Jack.]] Similarly, in season 8, [[spoiler: killing off Renee in an unceremonious fashion brought either admiration or ire to the fans. Some fans thought it was tyoical 24 nature and shrugged it off, while others thought the death was cheap and just plain cruel to Bauer's already messed up psyche.]]
* CompleteMonster: [[Monster/TwentyFour Has its own page]]
* CreatorsPet: Dana Walsh garnered quite a bit of hate for her subplot involving her past, and yet continued to remain relevant to the season's plot.
* DamselScrappy. Kate Warner, however, did not get better. In one episode, she manages to survive a gunfight involving at least ten heavily-armed mercenaries ''without a scratch''. About two episodes later, she gets captured by three random racists who have ''NOTHING'' to do with the plot. The only reason why fans tolerated Kate was because unlike Kim, her subplot in Season 2 eventually became relevant to the main plot.
* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: This may have set in for some viewers during or after season 5 when all but two major characters from season 1 had been killed off. Similarly, many newer characters added in seasons 2-4 had also been killed, written off or just forgotten about. Thanks to this and AnyoneCanDie it became almost impossible to worry or even care about the possibility of new characters dying since by this point the show had become fairly predictable as far as character deaths go.
** Renee Walker interestingly manages to escape this apathy. Fans took to her early on when she was added in ''season 7'' and many were just as angry as Jack when she was murdered in the show's final season.
* DoubleStandard: In Season 8, [[spoiler: Jack is nearly willing to start a war between the US and Russia in the name of avenging Renee's murder. Just one season earlier, he prevented Tony from executing the killer of his wife and unborn child, with much less at stake than Jack's situation.]]
* EnsembleDarkHorse: Several over the course of the series:
** By nothing more than sheer force of popularity, bit character Aaron Pierce has managed to be the only character aside from Jack Bauer to appear in all of the first seven seasons.
** Chloe also went from very unpopular to one of the show's most beloved characters.
** Renee's [[spoiler: thumb-chopping gambit]] confirmed her Darkhorse status.
** Tony was quite disliked during the first half of season one, thanks to his rivalry with Jack, and many believed him to be the CTU mole. Then he saved Teri's life, won Jack's trust and the eternal love of the fans. [[spoiler:Even after his FaceHeelTurn in season seven, a whole lot of fans still love him and refuse to see him as evil.]]
** For a while, Curtis Manning was the second-biggest badass on the show (after Jack Bauer, of course) and became very popular among fans. [[spoiler:Said fans were heartbroken when he was suddenly killed off near the start of Season 6.]]
** Mandy. She's only appeared in 7 episodes for the whole series, but the fanbase absolutely ''loves'' her.
* EpilepticTrees: Alan Wilson, the [[spoiler: BigBad of Season 7 and TheManBehindTheMan extraordinaire, was also supporting behind Marwan in Season 4 so Charles Logan would take over.]]
** Charles Logan [[spoiler: in some way manipulated Tony(likely through someone else) into believing Wilson was involved in his wife's death so that Tony would target Wilson instead of him. Logan was merely placed under house arrest and later [[KarmaHoudini pardoned of his crimes]], and Tony would have probably tried to target him(this was even stated as a possible reason for Tony's FaceHeelTurn early in season seven), so he decided to pin the blame on someone else so that he would not be killed. This is supported by numerous plotholes that prevent Wilson's involvement from being believable(allowing Tony into his organization despite Tony being a target for assassination by Logan's conspirators and Michelle being killed in the same attempt, the fact the killings were organized to frame Jack Bauer, who Wilson had no connection with while others in Logan's conspiracy did, for David Palmer's assassination, which was a result of Palmer finding out about what Logan was up to, Logan's plan strongly differing from Wilson's to the point of strong contradiction, and overall the fact that other than Tony's word, in which we still don't know how he found out, there isn't any link between Logan and Wilson, etc.). Logan's manipulations in season 8 also support this, such as finding out about the Russians' involvement with the terrorists(he could have found out about Wilson's group the same way) and he even tries to make Jack believe it was Mikhail Novakovich who had Renee killed by himself in order to keep suspicion away from Suvarov so Suvarov would sign the treaty to complete Logan's plan to improve his damaged image, but Jack managed to bug Logan and found out the truth. Hey, it's better than lazily trying to link everything to an OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness.]]
* EvilIsSexy: Nina, Mandy, Cara, [[spoiler:Tony]]...
** [[BitchInSheepsClothing Olivia Taylor]]
* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop: Torture always works. Use it. They were eventually asked to tone this down.
* FanDumb: For a fanbase that usually averts this trope, it struck with a vengeance following the [[Series/TwentyFour 24]] series finale. A VocalMinority of fans became very upset that [[Series/TwentyFour 24]] didnt receive near the amount of attention or respect the {{Lost}} Finale received a day earlier. Instead of turning their frustrations on a reasonable target (like Fox, whose marketing department mishandled season 8), they attacked {{Lost}}, and by extension, media outlets that supported {{Lost}}. Entertainment Weekly and IGN were especially hit hard, since both websites had a tepid reaction to [[Series/TwentyFour 24]]'s final year compared to their glowing responses with {{Lost}}. Whether you agree with the 24 fans is debatable, but it doesn't excuse their immature bashing of EW and IGN, or ripping apart {{Lost}}'s flaws, its storytelling devices, and its own [[GainaxEnding series finale]]. Considering that these [[Series/TwentyFour 24]] fans probably never watched {{Lost}} and only heard passing remarks about it, their [[ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontWatch grossly inaccurate assumptions about Lost and its finale was no surprise]]. For viewers who enjoyed ''both'' shows, the sudden animosity got annoying very quick.
* FanNickname: Curtis is affectionately called "Black Bauer" and "Black Jack" because he measures up to Jack's level of badassery... and is black. Renee, meanwhile, has been dubbed "Jill Bauer" or [[DistaffCounterpart "Rack Bauer"]] for much the same reason.
** TelevisionWithoutPity had a cottage industry of these for ''24'', at least in the first few seasons worth of recaps. Some of the more notable ones include "Bitchelle" for Michelle Dessler, "Soul Patch" for Tony Almeida, "Spawn of Kiefer" for Kim Bauer, and "Im-ho-Terror" for Marwan...
** "Sparky" for Paul Raines, after Jack used electricity to torture him. There's also the far-from-creative "Agent Hobbit" for the season five character played by Sean Astin...
** "Darth Bauer" for Jack during his RoaringRampageOfRevenge in Season 8. He sported a full battle gear that made him resemble [[StarWars Darth Vader]].
** You can find a bunch of nicknames [[http://shoryuken.com/forum/index.php?threads/official-24-season-8-thread-00-00-00.85663/page-19#post-3670581 here]] and [[http://shoryuken.com/forum/index.php?threads/official-24-season-8-thread-00-00-00.85663/page-19#post-3670583 here]] (just open up the spoiler tags to see them). The people in this forum ''loved'' to make up nicknames for characters and situations, and I was happy to be a part of that group. -King9999
* FanPreferredCouple: People were rooting for Jack/Renee almost the moment she showed up. [[spoiler: Which led to the fanbase [[BrokenBase nearly rioting]] after she was [[DroppedABridgeOnHer bridge dropped]] in Season 8.]]
* FoeYay: Jack and Nina
* FunnyAneurysmMoment: Tony saying how good Nina was in coming up with BS. Boy, [[TheMole he was right]].
* HamAndCheese: Jon Voight as Jonas Hodges. Is it any wonder that fans felt he should have stayed the main antagonist of the season?
* HarsherInHindsight: In Season 3, after Michelle has become trapped in the hotel with the virus, Chappelle tells Tony, "I need you to focus and the best way to do that is to assume the worst and make it about getting revenge." [[spoiler: Guess what Tony's main motivation was during Day 7?]]
** Similarly, the cover of The Game shows him and Michelle dodging an explosion. [[spoiler:Michelle doesn't avoid the explosion at the start of Day 5]].
** Season 3 BigBad Saunders told Jack, in the middle of his MotiveRant, that his employers from the United States betrayed him. He then turns to Jack and says "And one day, they'll betray you as well." [[spoiler: Events from future seasons slowly prove Saunders's point, with the latter half of Day 8 taking the cake.]]
** Jack's received some NotSoDifferent speeches before, but his one from [[spoiler: Tony]] in Day 7 hits especially hard [[spoiler: after knowing what he eventually pulls in Day 8.]]
* HilariousInHindsight: George Mason's son is named John. [[Film/TheRock John Mason]]?
* IdiotPlot: United States Presidents and their Staff are incredibly trigger happy- and by "trigger" we mean Nuclear War. The resident PresidentEvil is one of the few who ''does'nt'' consider starting WorldWarThree a perfectly acceptable response to a terrorist attack, or realize that the mere ''threat'' of nuclear weapons constitutes a war crime. Its a symptom of a wider problem with the politics of the show- since its all set in one day, nobody seems to think that any of the problems can be dealt with ''tomorrow''. Or with thorough investigations and diplomacy to make sure that the people you are accusing are actually guilty before you send them back to the stone age (or to find out that you are allowed to do that).
** Not to mention the numerous times [=CTU=] or some other agency screws up by not listening to one of their most trusted agents, lets personal problems get in the way of their work (not that Presidents or their staff don't fall into this trap too, mind), fails to follow up on an obvious lead, is caught off-guard by attacks on itself, etc. etc. Jack himself makes many silly decisions as well, of course.
** There is also the fact that almost every season alludes to what is either a single grand government conspiracy, or numerous unconnected conspiracies running simultaneously, involving associates or members of the government being involved in terrorist attacks or assassination attempts, if not both, none of which are ever investigated very thoroughly, or if they are said investigation is not mention- for example, is ''anyone'' investigating who masterminded the plot kill Wayne Palmer yet? Or is everyone just happy framing the terrorist-cum-Freedom Fighter who ''saved his life'' and leaving it at that?.
** In the season 6 premier, everyone had a piece of the IdiotBall. Fayed could have easily continued his plot and let CTU think Assad was actually behind it. He wouldn't have even had to worry about Jack since he was in chinese prison, suffering [[FateWorseThanDeath much worse than anything Fayed could have done to him.]] Instead, he demands Jack Bauer so he can personally kill him. He then lets him escape right after telling him that he was really behind the attacks.
*** CTU trusted the words of a known terrorist (Fayed), believing he would give up Assad in exchange for Jack. They didn't even check the intel and just sent helicopters to blow up the supposed location of Assad. So many things could have gone wrong, but fortunately for them, [[VillainBall they weren't the only ones being stupid.]] That was just the first couple of episodes.
* ItsTheSameNowItSucks: Complaints started somewhere around Season 3.
* ItWasHisSled: Nina Myers and Charles Logan are bad.
* LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt: They almost always would.
* MagnificentBastard: Take your pick.
* MemeticBadass: "Jack Bauer is the leading cause of death among Muslim men." "TELL ME WHERE MARWAN IS!"
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-iDguioxV8&NR=1 THAT'S JACK BAUER!!!!!!!!!]]
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7u0TBUEu_w#t=0m55s DAMMIT!]]
** You can even buy t-shirts with the slogan "Jack Bauer wouldn't stand for this shit."
** Jack Bauer is the only man alive who can shrug off a Manga/DeathNote.
* MoralEventHorizon: Many, but the worst offender is [[spoiler: Nina Myers, who murders Terri Bauer and (consequently) her unborn child]].
** [[spoiler: The implied offscreen murder of a child at the hands of Christopher Henderson]] was probably worse.
** [[spoiler: Jack Bauer shooting Dana Walsh in cold blood after she had surrendered and handed over the evidence Jack wanted. In my personal opinion, [[ATimeToKill yes she deserved to die and I hope she burns in hell]], but it was certainly out of character for Jack to to that. I realize he has a personal vendetta going with Renee's death, but Dana's connection to her assassination was very thin and she had nothing to do with it. It definitely feels like the writers are building to a point of no return to end the final season.]]
*** And, in the following episode, [[spoiler: Jack's heinous torturing of Renee's murderer]]. Point of no return, indeed.
**** Followed by what he did to [[spoiler: Mikhail Novakovich and all of his guards]]
***** Worth noting that the previous three examples [[spoiler: have been noted in show by Cole. He has told Chloe that he no longer regards Jack as a "good guy" and lets her know he's willing to kill Jack if Bauer doesn't unconditionally surrender.]]
*** While pretty bad and not something he would usually do, consider a few things. [[spoiler: First, Pavel was the man who pulled the trigger on Renee, and made the call to commit the murder, making him most directly responsible for her death. Second, he was withholding key information that Jack needed and needed quickly to try and clear his name. Third, given the situation he didn't have access to a full array of interrogation tools and had to make do with whatever was around in that warehouse. The torture was pretty brutal, but I didn't think this scene was too far out from what normal Jack would have done. There were some redeeming qualities to Dana and she had given Jack everything she could to help him, and he executed her. There was nothing redeeming about Pavel, and him getting killed was really a side effect of him swallowing evidence. I didn't find the Pavel torture sequence nearly as bad as Dana's execution in terms of a MEH.]]
**** [[spoiler:Dana was also quite untrustworthy and purely motivated by self-preservation. Both her escape attempts also resulted in the deaths of innocent bystanders and law enforcement officials, so letting her live might not be a good idea]].
***** Though it's worth pointing out that [[spoiler: Dana's second escape attempt was a direct cause of Jack's erratic behavior. As for Pavel, despite him counting as one of the biggest examples of an AssholeVictim, the FridgeHorror stuff goes into better detail why it can count as a major one for Jack.]]
**** And if [[spoiler: killing Dana, or his brutal torture-murder of Pavel]] didn't cross the line, then [[spoiler: Jack's attack on Logan's motorcade definitely did. Mind you, it's ''not'' for attacking Logan - he's still as much a scumbag as before. No what crosses it is the fact that Jack was ''shooting at innocent people''. Although he was not directly trying to kill anyone (the shots were mainly to disable the cars directly behind and in front of Logan's limo) all the panic he was intentionally creating from his attack could have easily led to anyone being killed in the crossfire and he clearly didn't give a damn. Even Chloe and Cole, who were mostly trying to achieve the same goals as Jack originally was by that point sans the more lethal means, couldn't help but think "[[WhatTheHellHero What was he he thinking?!]]" to themselves after that, so much that it's what caused Chloe to, very reluctantly, give Cole the go-ahead to have Jack killed if they couldn't find any other way to drive him off the warpath.]]
*** President Allison Taylor [[spoiler:has exhausted several fans' goodwill by bending over and taking policy tips from Charles Logan, a man she and close advisor Ethan Kanin reviled for his deeds as President and his getting away relatively scot-free - all for the sake of a treaty that will supposedly (read magically) bring peace of a nondescript group of Eastern countries. Whatever goodwill remained is exhausted when Taylor flat out threatens Dalia Hassan to finish the treaty. Fortunately, she does get some personal redemption when she refuses to go through with the signing and orders Jack to GTFO before he's caught.]]
** Sherry Palmer elevated herself to a new level of villain [[BadAss BadAssery]] in Season 3, (when she was formerly a behind-the-scenes [[ManipulativeBastard manipulator]]) when she [[spoiler: talked Alan Milliken to death and prevented his wife from administering life-saving medicine.]]
** [[spoiler:Suvarov ordering the killings of Omar Hassan and Renee Walker.]]
* MostWonderfulSound: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryIqLgAoAPE Best. Ringtone.]] ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryIqLgAoAPE EVER.]]''
** Also, the most epic [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko89hiGLUS8 digital clock]] in the universe. This sound means you need to sit back down in front of your [=TV=] right the fuck NOW.
* NightmareFuel: LOTS. [[NightmareFuel/TwentyFour It has its own page now.]]
* OlderThanTheyThink: The JackBauerInterrogationTechnique in season one? [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Buffy Summers]] did it first, only she used a cross.
* RealWomenNeverWearDresses: Allison Taylor.
* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: Dana Walsh halfway through Season 8. After being the center of [[TrappedByMountainLions an annoying, worthless subplot]], Dana pulls an abrupt CrowningMomentOfAwesome and [[spoiler: garrotes a parole officer to death ''inside CTU'']]. Afterwards, we learn that [[spoiler: Dana was TheMole all along, and she spends the rest of the season being a [[ManipulativeBastard Manipulative Bitch]] and SmugSnake]]. She's still hated, but for a justifiably good reason.
** Before that, Chloe O'Brian, who went from the annoying, obstructive [[TheScrappy scrappy]] of Season 3, to Jack's most consistent ally and full-on EnsembleDarkHorse in subsequent seasons. That [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome bit with the M-16]] helped too.
** Arlo Glass. He spent the first half of Season 8 sticking his nose into Dana's business while repeatedly [[AllMenArePerverts flirting with her, even though he knew she planned on marrying Cole]]. But after [[spoiler:Dana turned out to be TheMole]], Arlo dropped his perverted act, focused more on his job, and even became Chloe's most trustworthy agent within CTU, alongside Cole. At one point Arlo blatantly said that he shouldn't have spent so much time eye-humping Dana, indicating that ''he knew'' he was becoming annoying and needed to change.
** Kim Bauer in Season 7. Yes, she's still a damsel in distress, but she quickly shows everyone that she can get out of a sticky situation using nothing but a ''pen''.
** Tony was widely hated in the first half of season one. After receiving CharacterDevelopment and becoming a JerkWithAHeartOfGold he eventually started growing more likable and had all the fans won over by the time he [[BigDamnHeroes saved]] Jack's wife late in the season.
* ReverseFunnyAneurysm: Remember all those Jack Bauer facts that was about him doing completely over-the-top badassery? The final hours of season 8 with things like [[spoiler: storming a car tunnel full civilians to get to Charles Logan's limousine, in full body armor and a[[strike:n]] '''selection of''' assault rifle'''s''']] and the aftermath of [[spoiler: his massacre of Novakovitch and his men, including Novakovich being impaled to the floor with a poker and with a bullet to his head. As well as the gory, bloody bodies of his henchmen]] shows Jack Bauer could very well perform all of that. Most Jack Bauer facts now pale in comparison to all the crazy shit he's ''actually doing in the show.''
* RonTheDeathEater: Oboy. In the final season when Chloe initially refused to help Jack out of worry that he wasn't thinking straight and even tried to get him captured, several fans immediately proceeded to demonize her and paint her as a heartless monster. This is in spite of the fact that one, her fears turned out to be valid, and two, [[spoiler: within the show's narrative, Jack actually was the one being the bad guy.]]
* RootingForTheEmpire: Kind of. Jack is always the protagonist and the character that most of the fans of the show root for. This includes the final six episodes[[spoiler: even when it's obvious that he ''isn't'' the hero this time around and his RoaringRampageOfRevenge ''isn't'' the right thing.]] But with [[spoiler: Logan and Suvarov]] clearly being even worse, [[spoiler: Allison Taylor also doing the wrong thing by protecting the two,]] and them finding the CTU staff rather forgettable [[spoiler: it meant they were still with Jack even though he was closer to VillainProtagonist status at the moment than anything else. Some of them even wish he'd succeeded in killing Suvarov, in spite of the fact that doing so would have led to a war between Russia and the U.S.A.]]
* TheScrappy:
** Behrooz Araz from Season 4, due to his whiny personality and the fact that his subplot took up huge chunks of the season, yet ultimately went nowhere.
** Kim's season 5 obnoxious therapist ./ boyfriend Dr. Barry Landes, who appeared in only 2 episodes.
* SeasonalRot: Seasons 4 and 8 are [[BaseBreaker base breakers]], though season 6 is unanimously hated by the fans, thanks to the show's colossal drop in quality after the critically acclaimed season 5. Even the writers don't look back at season 6 with much optimism, and blamed the lack of a central plan or theme as a reason for the narrative shortcomings. Season 7, for better or worse, turned things back around.
* ShockingSwerve: [[Series/TwentyFour 24]] is known for its [[HolyShitQuotient HSQ]] inducing twists and [[TrappedByMountainLions occasionally out-of-field subplots]], but during season six, when it revealed that season five villain dubbed [[FanNickname Bluetooth]] was suddenly [[spoiler: Jack's brother, Graem Bauer]], it threw off the fanbase to such baffling proportions that was never seen again. Even with the show's crazy logistics and fast paced events, this was a twist too far. And this is coming one season after [[spoiler: an ex-President got gunned down by a sniper and another President was involved in the terrorist plot]]...
** The series finale revealing that TheManBehindTheMan behind the Russian terrorists was actually [[spoiler: Yuri Suvarov]], a character that showed no previous connections to any terrorist group. In fact, despite his political connections to [[spoiler: Charles Logan]], he came off as an overall decent guy who opposed the Russian terrorists in both seasons [[spoiler: ''five'' AND ''six''. Suvarov]] suddenly switching sides so close to the show's end felt like an extraordinary AssPull.
* StrawmanHasAPoint: Gen. David Bruckner and Rob Weiss go behind the president's back and turn president Hassan over to the terrorists in order to stop them from setting off a nuclear bomb in New York. Their justification, of course, is that they did what they had to in order to protect the United States. Accusations that it wasn't their call to make and that they betrayed both their president and their country fall flat when their actions kept a nuclear bomb that was ''7 seconds away from detonating'' from going off. Also notable in that this is the very same reasoning- the defence of innocent Americans trumping moral principles and established authority- that Jack Bauer has used to justify defying orders countless times in the past.
** However, this may be due to a bit of hindsight: There was no indication the terrorist would really stick to his word and stop the bomb. Such villains on this show are rare.
*** The only thing that matters here is what actually happened. President Taylor's decision would have gotten New York City ''nuked'' had the conspirators not intervened.
** The JackBauerInterrogationTechnique: anyone who has ever came out against this in any context is either a [[TyrantTakesTheHelm tyrannical]], [[BadBoss authority figure]] with no [[TakeAThirdOption third option]] to bring the terrorists down sans torture or an unwitting pawn of those same terrorists. Senator Mayer was the most reasonable objector but was still portrayed as naive about what it takes to get the job done. It doesn't help that 24 justifies the use of torture as an absolute necessity via the "Ticking clock scenario" that some who support enhanced interrogations in RealLife think is just as much of an everyday occurrence as in ''24''.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot:
** The early episodes of season 1 make it perfectly clear that CTU is behind the Palmer assassination, and that Jack is being targeted because he busted several of his corrupt fellow agents. After episode 7, though, that whole angle is dropped[[note]]probably because of solidarity after 9/11 [[/note]] and the villains are revealed to actually be Serbian warlords.
** In the season 1 finale, it was revealed Nina Myers was working for....someone. Even though she reappeared twice, it's never explained why she was a mole or who she was working with. A foreign government? Terrorists?[[note]]A non-canon deleted scene from season 2 reveals she's working with the villain. [[/note]] Some kind of rent-a-mole dispatch office?
** Season 2 ended on an incredible cliffhanger and the reveal of TheManBehindTheMan...season 3 revealed that it had been resolved off-screen (later revealed to be the video game, but even that was arguably a little lackluster), and another one of the Season 2 masterminds (Alexander Trepkos) was never heard of again.
** In season 3, Nina Myers comes back, working for some vague, unspecified group. Not only is it never revealed who they are, what they want, or whether it's the same group as in season 1, but Jack blithely doesn't ask her anything at all about it.
** In season 4, the "corrupt defense contractor selling weapons to terrorists" plotline is abruptly dropped after episode 13, right as the show was getting into full-on conspiracy mode. Seems like someone at FOX didn't like where it was heading....
** Season 5 ends with Jack being abducted and shipped away by the Chinese government. Come Season 6 and...Jack is returned to the US in the first ten minutes, and the story moves on to an unrelated terrorist threat. Although the Chinese do reappear later on, most fans agree that that storyline is a weak shadow of what could have been.
** The fourth episode of Season 6 concludes with the detonation of a nuclear weapon in Los Angeles as Jack severs his ties with CTU in the midst of a severe HeroicBSOD, displaying a drastic shift in the status quo. Within ten minutes of the next episode Jack snaps back into his usual mode and within the space of a couple hours the entire population of LA has seemingly forgotten about a nuclear attack that happened just miles away while the Bauer family PlotTumor takes over the season.
** Season 7 revealed that the ultimate ManBehindTheMan was some guy named Alan Wilson and TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness, though said Council may or may not be a KarmaHoudini as they, too, are not heard from again, while Wilson only gets a brief mention in season 8. Most seasons prior to that had various cases of government corruption and internal conspiracies (such as attempts to kill the President) that alluded to masterminds who went unpunished, and Graem Bauer alluded to involvement in previous stories (saying that he ordered the hit on David Palmer and Jack in season 5, and that his hit on Jack was not the first). Wilson is presumably meant to be the ultimate villain behind all of this, but while the conspiracy itself wasn't exactly an AssPull and a fair amount of groundwork (possibly unintentional, but still), the identity of the villain certainly was.
*** And Season 8 forgets all about this plot that interconnected the previous seasons and instead goes for a brand new storyline that ends up with Middle Eastern terrorists....with nuclear weapons...again.
* [[TookTheBadFilmSeriously Took The Bad Season Seriously]]: In lesser seasons, one could argue that Kiefer Sutherland is this trope. ''Entertainment Weekly'' critic Ken Tucker, [[http://watching-tv.ew.com/2010/05/25/24-finale-season-8/ in a review for the series finale]], praised Sutherland's acting in the series as a whole, saying that even when the show got ridiculous and absurd, Sutherland's acting remained engaging and believable.
** CherryJones (Allison Taylor) got similar praise from fans; while rage about Allison's storyline ranged far and wide, most fans agreed that Cherry did the best she could with what she was given, and her best is fairly awesome.
* TearJerker: The last quarter of the Season 7 finale is one long cryfest (along with many other scenes).
** Not to mention Tony's monologue to Alan Wilson. That is the sound of a man's heart being broken.
** Jack [[spoiler: failing to save Hassan]] in season 8
** Tony's [[spoiler: last words to Jack in season 5]]
** George Mason leaving CTU for the final time.
*** And saying goodbye to his estranged son. So, so much.
** Jack's [[ManlyTears reaction]] to the news about David Palmer being assassinated.
** The [[spoiler: death of Renee in Season 8 after it finally looked like her and Jack could get together, and they would be happy]]
** The death of [[spoiler: Ryan Chapelle in season 3]]. It doesn't matter how many times I watch it, it elicits this response from me with 100% consistency.
** The fate of [[spoiler: Jack Bauer]] at the end of Day 8.
*** Even after numerous rewatches, [[spoiler: the final conversation between Jack and Chloe]] almost never fails to break a longtime series fan up.
** Harry Swinton calling his child for the last time as [[spoiler:Lynn [=McGill=] prepares to perform a HeroicSacrifice during the gas attack that has the side-effect of also exposing Swinton to the gas]].
** [[spoiler: Edgar's]] death.
* ViewerStockPhrases: Some things you'll hear a typical fan of the show say (or say yourself) while watching
** "Holy Shit!": The shows {{HSQ}} is ridiculously high.
** "You CAN'T end it '''there'''": The CliffHanger is the show's stock in trade.
** "Just do what he says!": You would think that after 7 seasons of saving the country more times than everyone in the JusticeLeague combined, people would ''listen'' to Jack Bauer. Alas, some folks are TooDumbToLive.
*** There used to be a Jack Bauer Fact that said "If everyone on 24 actually did what Jack said, the name of the show would be 12."
** "But wait, a minute. That's not the way... ah, forget it.": This show '''lives''' by the RuleOfCool and the RuleOfDrama.
** * Scoff* "Yeah, right. Go ahead and believe that...." - Characters say things that are obvious B.S. like, "We will catch Bauer", or "Everything is going according to plan", or "Jack will talk". The audience knows no such damn thing will happen.
** "But there're still 6 episodes left." - Characters always say, "thank GOD it's over..." in the middle of the season. It almost makes you wonder to yourself who's smoking what.
* WhatAnIdiot: When David Palmer's campaign goes south in season 3, he trusts [[spoiler: his wife to help him despite her trying to sabotage him in the last two seasons.]]
** [[spoiler: Suvarov]] ordering [[spoiler: Renee's assassination]] in Season 8. A quick check should have shown how well being on the receiving end of a Jack Bauer RoaringRampageOfRevenge works out.
** Cole threatening to "put Jack down" if he doesn't surrender after going rogue.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: [[spoiler: Tony]] in season 7 is hellbent on killing everyone involved in the Season 5 conspiracy, and accepts the deaths of pretty much everyone else as an acceptable loss.
** [[spoiler: Jack himself]] in season 8 mostly counts toward this, with the exception that unlike a typical WDOW he ''doesn't'' see innocent lives as an acceptable loss. [[spoiler: Him [[HeelRealization realizing]] that his actions have been putting them in danger more frequently by the minute and will ultimately cause thousands if not millions of deaths if he carries out his assassination is what causes him to change his mind literally at the last second.]]
* WTHCastingAgency: Dennis Hopper as Serbian warlord Victor Drazen.
** Freddie Prinze Jr.'s announcement as a regular for Season 8 was met with similar confusion and jokes alike.
*** As Season 8 went on, his casting was viewed in a more favorable light though.
*** Similarly, Katee Sackhoff being cast as an office drone seemed strange, with some viewers suggesting that maybe she and Prinze (who was playing a {{badass}} field agent) should switch jobs. [[spoiler:Once she was revealed as a double agent the casting seemed to make more sense.]]