Season 1, Episode 1:
12:00 a.m. - 1:00 a.m.
Events occur in real time.
In Los Angeles, Richard Walsh, Director of the Counter Terrorist Unit, better known as CTU, receives word from an undercover agent that an assassination attempt will be made against Presidential candidate Senator David Palmer. Walsh summons his team, including Director of Field Operations Jack Bauer, who is forced to abandon a family crisis as his teenage daughter Kim has snuck out of the house. Kim, along with her friend Janet York, meets up with a pair of older boys named Dan and Rick to party at an empty furniture store where Rick works.
Walsh briefs the team before privately telling Jack that the assassins may have an agent or agents inside CTU, considering Jack the only person in the agency he can trust because he recently busted several corrupt agents. District Director George Mason arrives, and after he refuses to give Jack important information on the case, Jack tranquilizes him and tells his second-in-command Nina Myers to find evidence that Mason stole money that went missing in a drug case so they can blackmail him, a request to which Nina reluctantly complies, getting Tony Almeida to track down the evidence against him. Palmer's new photographer Martin flirts with Mandy, the woman sitting next to him on his plane to L.A.
Teri Bauer, Jack's wife, receives a call from Janet's father Alan asking her to keep in touch if she finds out where they are. Senator Palmer is interrupted in the middle of a private moment with his wife, Sherry, by a phone call from a journalist that clearly angers him, though he refuses to discuss it with Sherry. Kim and Janet begin to bond with Rick and Dan, although Kim lies to Rick, telling him her father is dead. Jack has CTU analyst Jamey Farrell hack into Kim's emails, allowing Teri to track her down, and she allows Alan to join her for the search.
Mason wakes up, and Jack presents him with the evidence of his corruption, convincing Mason to give up his source. After Mandy and Martin have sex in the plane bathroom, Mandy steals his credentials before blowing up the plane and parachuting out. Tony informs Jack of the plane's explosion, and they begin an investigation. Kim asks the boys to bring her home, but they refuse, taking her on a drive to an unknown location.
Tropes in this episode include:
- As You Know: The Bauer family discuss Jack and Teri's recent separation and the fact that Jack has only just moved back in.
- Bait-and-Switch: After Walsh states that they need to find Palmer's would-be assassin, there's a cut to a suspicious-looking man on board a plane to L.A. who is revealed to be a photographer with an appointment scheduled with Palmer, implying that he is the assassin. It turns out he is completely innocent, and the woman sitting next to him on the plane is working with the assassins, which she proves by stealing his credentials and blowing up the plane.
- Cowboy Cop: Jack responds to Mason's Obstructive Bureaucrat antics by tranquilizing and blackmailing him.
- Establishing Character Moment:
- Jack Bauer shows that he is a Nice Guy in his home life with his friendly conversations with his wife and daughter, before hinting at a darker side and showing off his Papa Wolf credentials by speaking in a threatening tone to Kim's ex-boyfriend over the phone after he discovers she has snuck out of the house. He then proves himself to be a Cowboy Cop by tranquilizing Mason so he can blackmail him.
- Teri Bauer gets brushed off by Kim and accuses Jack of letting her manipulate him, before having a laugh about the situation with her husband, showing her as the stricter parent but still a nice and friendly person.
- Kim Bauer is introduced talking sweetly with her father before giving her mother the cold shoulder and then sneaking out of the house through her bedroom window.
- Jamey Farrell is introduced complaining about having to come in to work and trading snark with Nina about her social life, establishing her as The Baby of the Bunch who doesn't take her job that seriously.
- Tony Almeida is shown questioning Jack's first very simple orders, establishing him as a Commander Contrarian with a strained relationship with his boss.
- Honey Trap: Mandy has sex with Martin so she can steal his credentials before killing him by blowing up the plane.
- Love Dodecahedron: Jack previously had a relationship with Nina, and is now back together with his wife Teri. Meanwhile Nina is now dating Tony.
- The Mole: Walsh tells Jack that Palmer's assassins have at least one inside man in CTU. This would become a recurring theme throughout the series.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: Mason refuses to give Jack important information on the Palmer case because he's "not authorised".
- Snark-to-Snark Combat: Between Jamey and Nina when the CTU team is called into the office:Jamey: How long is this going to take?
Nina: Why, are we interrupting your social life?
Jamey: At least I have one.
Nina: Funny.
