Most Shocking Deaths on '24' - Link's Top Five

By Season 6, death on “24″ has become just about as commonplace as the ticking clock prior to each commercial break. At this point, you can pretty much predict when (and if) newly introduced characters will meet their demise. “Gael Ortega? No chance he’s lasting a whole season. Lynn McGill? I’ll give him 7 episodes - max.” But, it wasn’t always like this. Over there years there have been some deaths of main characters that were both shocking, surprising, and in some cases, well-done. In honor of “24″ weekend (the show has traditionally premiered this weekend in past years, but not this year due to a certain writer’s strike) here’s a look at the top 5 deaths that were shockers.

#5 Curtis Manning - Season 6 - I didn’t see this one coming at all. I always assumed Jack needed a wing man and Curtis got that right from the sheer fact that all the others had been killed off (or had a hand chopped off). Nevertheless, he always got the job done despite his constant disbelief in Jack’s plans. “I Don’t Like It” was one of his most frequent utterances. Anyway, Curtis died when Jack shot him in the neck in the next in the explosive Season 6 premiere, taking with him any potential that the season had to be good. He didn’t have to go this way and he certainly didn’t deserve it. Perhaps he only got this treatment because one of the show’s casting agents owed Rick Schroder a favor (RS played Mike Doyle - effectively taking over for field ops from Curtis).

#4 George Mason - Season 2 - If I had to hand out a rebounded-from-hated-character award, it would definitely go to this guy. He went from jerk boss in Season 1 to Los Angeles hero in Season 2. While his death itself wasn’t particularly surprising, the manner in which he died was. Taking control of that Cessna with the nuclear bomb attached was pretty noble of this guy, even if he was already dying. His death was by the first nuke to go off on the show (even these have become commonplace) and I can still remember that awesome scene with President David Palmer looking at the mushroom cloud from his airplane. Amazing scene right there.

#3 Ryan Chappelle - Season 3 - The guy who played Mr. Chappelle (Paul Schulze) is certainly a good actor because I absolutely detested RC. In the first couple of seasons, he pretty much played the role of Brainy Smurf- ready to tattle on anything the mischievous Jack Bauer wanted to do. As a sidebar, I even hated Schulze’s Father Intintola character in The Sopranos. Anyway, Jack was forced to assassinate RC when terrorist Stephen Saunders demanded his death. 24 went somewhere really dark with this moment, which generated a well-deserved silent clock.

#2 Edgar Stiles - Season 5 - It has always amazed me how much new CTU characters are hated on the show when they first show up, only to become beloved fan favorites later on. Michelle Dessler, Chloe O’Brien, even Morris all found a special place in the heart of viewers. Edgar was no different (and he was played by Louis Lombardi, another actor who played a hated Sopranos character). His death is perhaps the saddest one in the show’s first 6 seasons. Terrorists released nerve gas in CTU and Edgar was trapped outside the only safe conference room. Cue silent clock and viewers’ tears.

#1 Teri Bauer - Season 1 - Teri Bauer’s death is by far one of the most memorable moments of all my “24″ viewing experiences. My eyes bleeding from watching consecutive episodes, I watched her demise, which came at the very end of the first season. This disturbing finish proved that this show wasn’t about happy endings. This was by far one of the most important and shocking of all main character deaths - turning Jack into one lost and ruthless mo’fo. While watching the first season in all of its greatness, I had always assumed that Teri and Kim would be returned to Jack at the end of the day and that they’d walk off into the sunset (or hit up Mickie D’s before taking a well needed shower and drifting off to bed). But no, the evil Nina Myers plugged TB center mass causing her to bleed out right before the end of the season. This generated the first (and best) silent clock treatment for a character death.

Honorable mention :
The times that Jack Bauer died and came back from the dead. (Seasons 2 and 4)
Nina Myers - I wasn’t surprised by her death per se, but she represented Megatron to Jack Bauer’s Optimus Prime for those first 3 seasons. I was slightly sad to see her go - because her menacing existence in the 24 world was something that always haunted Jack.

Well there you have it, while Season 6 wasn’t the greatest, I sure am going to miss the fact that Season 7 will not be premiering tonight.

NOTE: This article is from the Buzz Focus archives - Day 7 will premiere on Sunday January 11, 2009 at 8/7c on Fox.