The second season is set 18 months after
season one. The season's main plot follows the work of now-
President of the United States of America David Palmer and Counter Terrorist Unit Agent
Jack Bauer to stop terrorists from detonating a
nuclear bomb in
Los Angeles. Introduced into the situation is
Kate Warner, a woman who ends up getting vital information related to CTU's mission. This season can essentially be broken into two acts: • The first act involves CTU attempting to stop a Middle Eastern
terrorist cell from detonating a nuclear bomb in Los Angeles. • In the second act, Jack and the CTU try to prevent a misdirected retaliatory strike from the U.S. by investigating a possibly forged piece of evidence.
Major subplots • Following the death of
his wife and his unborn baby at the end of Season 1, Jack Bauer retires from CTU. •
Kim is on the run, having rescued a young girl from her
abusive father. •
Kate Warner suspects that her sister's
Middle Eastern fiancé is a terrorist. • CTU is blown up with C4 to cripple its ability to find the bomb. •
George Mason, Director of CTU, is exposed to a lethal dose of
radiation. • Jack tries to repair his relationship with his daughter Kim and spends much of the day worrying about her safety. • Jack develops a
heart condition after being
tortured by terrorists. • President Palmer faces traitors in his own
cabinet, who attempt to remove him from power to advance their own agenda. • The personal relationship between
Tony Almeida and
Michelle Dessler begins to develop. • The relationship between Jack Bauer and Kate Warner also begins to develop.
Summary The season starts and ends at: 8:00 a.m. (L.A. time); the first scene of the season occurs in
Seoul,
South Korea (midnight, Seoul time). The first fifteen hours deal with finding and disposing of the nuclear bomb. After the bomb is detonated away from the city, the story focuses on the United States' response to the thwarted attack, and in particular the nation's retaliation against the people responsible for planning it. A recorded conversation between a terrorist involved with the bomb and high-ranking officials of three Middle Eastern countries (which are never specified) is used to implicate those countries in the plot. However, due to Jack Bauer's doubts, Palmer is reluctant to order military action against them until he has absolute proof that the recording is genuine. A majority of his Cabinet then vote to relieve Palmer of his position as president under Section 4 of the
Twenty-fifth Amendment, believing his hesitation to be a sign of indecision and weakness, and therefore indicative of his inability to lead the country effectively. The vice president, James Prescott, is elevated to the presidency and orders military strikes against the three countries to continue.
Jack,
Michelle and
Tony race to find the evidence that the recording is a forgery, resulting in the discovery that a group of European and American businessmen fabricated it in order to wage war with the Middle East, and planned to benefit from the resulting skyrocketing oil prices. Once the evidence is produced, the strikes are called off and Palmer is reinstated as president, thanks largely to his ex-wife
Sherry Palmer who is persuaded by Jack to risk her life to secure the evidence (she had been involved in the conspiracy). The eight cabinet members and
Vice President tender their resignations (Palmer does not accept them), and Palmer then tells his staff that he believes that the strictest evidence of hostile intent is required before waging war. The President does, however, relieve his Chief of Staff
Mike Novick, who did not support him until the eleventh hour, despite being his most trusted confidant. Like in Season One, Season Two ends with a surprise twist. The nuclear bomb situation is resolved without massive loss of life (besides George Mason, who had radiation poisoning and convinced Jack to let him fly the plane) but President Palmer collapses after giving a speech, having been attacked with a
biological weapon by
Mandy in an assassination attempt. Viewers were forced to wait until the third season to see whether Palmer survived the attack. The sudden shift from a nuclear to biological threat also foreshadows the third season, which initially centers on the threat of an engineered virus being set loose on the public.
24: The Game dealt with the time between Seasons Two and Three. President Palmer is incapacitated from the biological weapon inflicted by Mandy, and many of the duties are being handled by his vice president. ==Characters==