The fifth season is set 18 months after season four. Former Counter Terrorist Unit agent
Jack Bauer begins the season, working as a day-to-day laborer at an oil refinery under the alias "Frank Flynn" in
Mojave, California. On a monumental day in
Charles Logan's presidency, an anti-terrorism treaty with Russian president
Yuri Suvarov is about to be signed when events take a tragic turn. Season 5 is one of the
24 seasons that can be divided into three main acts: • In the first act, two murders force Jack to reveal himself. He attempts to save innocent people from a plot involving Russian separatists that is rapidly unfolding. • In the second act, the terrorists gain control of
nerve gas canisters with help from corrupt officials. • In the final act, Jack discovers how deep the conspiracy goes and fights against numerous threats to get hold of a recording that implicates President Logan.
Major subplots • Jack is distraught by the loss of David Palmer and Michelle Dessler. This motivates his crusade throughout the day, with him stating "this is personal" several times. • Jack comes into contact with people who thought he was dead, including his daughter
Kim Bauer and his former girlfriend
Audrey Raines. • The First Lady attempts to correct the President's perceived mistakes. • The Vice President convinces the President to impose
martial law in Los Angeles without approval from the U.S. Congress. • Chloe loses two men in her life when one of them dies and the other is apprehended for his involvement in a murder. • Bill Buchanan's authority at CTU is undermined first by
Lynn McGill and then by
Karen Hayes, though both eventually come around to his way of thinking.
Summary Former U.S. president
David Palmer is assassinated in
Los Angeles,
California and Jack Bauer is framed for his murder. The assassins also plan to frame Jack for the murders of
Tony Almeida,
Michelle Dessler and
Chloe O'Brian, all of whom helped Jack fake his death. Michelle is killed when her car explodes and Tony is critically injured in a secondary explosion but Jack manages to save Chloe. After investigating David Palmer's death, Jack goes looking for further information at
LA/Ontario International Airport, which is subsequently attacked by terrorists. The terrorists are Russian separatists being coordinated by a former
CIA officer named
James Nathanson. They take 40 people hostage in an attempt to dissuade President Logan from signing a landmark anti-terrorism treaty with Russian president Yuri Suvarov. Terrorists, led by
Vladimir Bierko, use the plot as a diversion to steal 20 canisters of
VX nerve gas. While searching for the nerve gas, Jack discovers the involvement of James Nathanson and White House Chief of Staff
Walt Cummings. They plan to release
nerve gas on Russian soil and use that as an excuse for invoking the military clauses of the treaty, allowing Logan to secure American
petroleum interests in
Central Asia. David Palmer was killed because he was beginning to find out about their plan. The terrorists weren't aware of this plot, believing they were being assisted by the American conspirators to smuggle the gas to Moscow, through their base in Asia and use it to attack Moscow in retaliation for Russia not giving the country the terrorists come from their independence and freedom from Russian rule. The nerve gas is deployed at Sunrise Hills Shopping Mall (resulting in 10–20 fatalities out of eight-nine hundred shoppers) and Tyler Memorial Hospital (unsuccessfully due to the actions of CTU and
Curtis Manning). Jack questions a former co-worker of his, Christopher Henderson, who he believes is willing to help. Instead, Henderson locks Jack in a room with a bomb, nearly killing him. Jack has Henderson brought to CTU and tortured; however, he refuses to reveal additional knowledge about the conspiracy. When terrorists break into CTU and release nerve gas there, Christopher Henderson, Tony Almeida, Jack Bauer, Kim Bauer, Chloe O'Brian, Audrey Raines and others are spared in sealed safe-rooms. About 40% of the personnel – including
Edgar Stiles and
Lynn McGill – are killed. When CTU is decontaminated, Jack rushes to the medical room and sees that Henderson apparently killed Tony and escaped. The fallout from this attack convinces the Vice President to absorb CTU into
Homeland Security (DHS). CTU and Homeland Security agents race to find the location of the remaining nerve gas canisters. This turns out to be Wilshire Gas Co. By incinerating the pipelines, Jack stops the nerve gas from being released and captures Vladimir Bierko. Through the assistance of
Wayne Palmer (David Palmer's brother) and
Evelyn Martin (Special Assistant to the First Lady), Jack discovers that President Logan is responsible for the attacks. He is at the center of a conspiracy involving Cummings, Henderson, Nathanson, a mysterious man known as
Graem and a group of men who monitor and influence the actions of Logan from an undisclosed location. Jack and Wayne retrieve a recording that implicates Logan from a bank vault and attempt to turn it over to
U.S. Secretary of Defense James Heller. However, Heller's plan to get Logan to quietly resign backfires when Christopher Henderson uses Audrey as leverage to get the recording from Jack. Jack and Audrey recapture Henderson but they find that he has passed the recording on to a co-conspirator aboard a diplomatic flight. Jack boards the plane and reclaims the recording by taking the co-pilot hostage. This triggers a response from Charles Logan who tries to have the plane shot down, citing that it could be used to attack civilian targets on the ground. This causes others in Logan's inner circle to become suspicious of his motives. Jack Bauer lands the plane and delivers the recording to CTU. Logan decides to commit suicide to avoid the spectacle of a public trial, but before he can do so, a Homeland Security employee intervenes and destroys the recording, and is rewarded with a promotion by Logan. Meanwhile, Bierko escapes CTU custody, and uses his last nerve gas container to take over a Russian submarine and gain control of twelve multiple-warhead non-nuclear
land-attack missiles, each one capable of wiping out several city blocks. After cutting a deal with Christopher Henderson, Jack and Henderson together stop the attack from the submarine, and kill Bierko and his men. During a final standoff, Jack kills Henderson, who tried to shoot Jack with an unloaded pistol. With the help of the First Lady,
Mike Novick,
Aaron Pierce, and
Chloe, Jack is able to hijack
Marine One and attempts to force Logan to confess. Though this venture proves unsuccessful, Jack manages to place a
listening device on Logan. Martha then fakes a breakdown and tricks Logan into admitting his crimes, all of which is recorded on the device Jack planted on him. Chloe then forwards the recording to the
U.S. Attorney General. At a memorial service for David Palmer, Logan delivers a eulogy while
Secret Service agents are informed of his actions, and soon is taken away by
U.S. Marshals, under orders from the Attorney General and relieved of the presidency. Jack reunites with Audrey, however, Jack is kidnapped by Chinese agents, who had somehow discovered he was still alive. The season ends with a bound and beaten Jack on a cargo ship headed for
China. ==Characters==