Tag: CTU

B. Lorenzo Buckinchere

Jun 29, 2025

It is the end of the month, and time once again for our monthly review series. Our muse for the month of June is David Palmer, the fictional president appearing on the hit action thriller “24.” But before we begin, here’s a disclaimer: The following review contains spoilers, so I strongly recommend that you watch at least the first five seasons of “24” before reading this, or any reviews on the topic. Without further ado, let’s begin.

“24” is an American television action series that was created by Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran in 2001. It starred Kiefer Sutherland as field agent Jack Bauer of the Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU), and Mary Lynn Rajskub as Chloe O’Brian, his intel officer.

It also starred Dennis Haysbert as David Palmer, the first African-American President of the United States within the 24 universe. Haysbert’s portrayal of Palmer on 24 inspired Barack Obama to run for President in real life. 24 lasted for 8 seasons and over 200 episodes between 2001 and 2010. It was revived as a 12 episode miniseries in 2014, shot on location in London, and featured William Devane in the role of President James Heller.

24 was a highly popular series, and very unique for its time, particularly due to its real-time format. Each season of the show followed its protagonist, Jack Bauer over a 24 hour period, hence the name of the show.

Background:

David Palmer (Dennis Haysbert) was a United States democratic senator from Maryland. He first appeared during the pilot episode of 24 (Midnight and 1:00 AM), on the day of the California Presidential primary. Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU) soon uncovered a plot to assassinate Senator Palmer and called in their ace field agent Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) to investigate.

CTU assumed that the threat level around Palmer had escalated due to him being a Black presidential candidate, and as such they doubled down on their security measures.

Palmer was made aware of the threat on his life, and casually laughed it off, literally saying, “I thought it was something serious.” Meanwhile, Palmer had other problems within his own camp. He was worried that a scandal might erupt after news reporter Maureen Kingsley (Devika Parikh) threatened to reveal that Palmer’s son Keith (Vicellous Shannon) was involved in the murder of his sister, Nicole’s (Megalyn Echikunwoke) rapist some years prior. The fact that Nicole’s rapist, Lyle Gibson, was white didn’t help matters much.

Throughout the course of the night into the following day, Palmer’s wife, Sherry (Penny Johnson Jerald) was gradually revealed to be a power mad sociopath who used underhanded tactics to try and get Keith to lie and cover up his involvement in the death of his sister’s rapist.

Palmer being the moral compass, decided against it, even though he knew that the scandal involving his son could cost him the presidency. Not only does this put a strain on Palmer’s relationship with his wife, but also his son who revealed that Palmer often prioritized his career over his family. Keith further revealed at some point that he had to seek counseling for the situation involving his sister and her rapist.

The threat on Palmer’s life escalated as Bauer was framed for an attempt on his life at a press conference that took place between 7:00 AM and 8:00 AM, all while dealing with his own missing wife and daughter (Leslie Hope and Elisha Cuthbert respectively).

Jack Bauer and David Palmer finally met face to face between 2:00 PM and 3:00 PM, and had a man to man talk where Palmer accused Bauer of wanting revenge for the men he lost during a US led covert mission in Kosovo that took place two years prior during the Yugoslavian civil war of 1999.

Bauer explained that he was trying to save Palmer, and they soon realized that Andre and Alexis Drazen (Željko Ivanek and Misha Collins respectively), the sons of Victor Drazen (Dennis Hopper) wanted revenge for their father’s murder that took place during the mission.

In that moment an alliance was formed as both Palmer and Bauer would go on to help each other in many of their future missions.

President David Palmer:

Day 2:

Season 2 of 24 took place 18 months after the California Presidential Primary. David Palmer had since been elected president despite all the madness that was allowed to take place around him on that day. The scene opened to Palmer spending some rare yet quality time with his son Keith on a fishing boat, in a lake near Los Angeles.

Their leisurely activities soon came to an abrupt end as duty called. This time, it was a nuclear bomb threat that was being carried out by “Second Wave,” a terrorist sleeper cell led by Islamic extremist Syed Ali (Francesco Quinn).

CTU field agent Jack Bauer who had been inactive since the events of season one that led to the death of his wife Teri (Leslie Hope) at the hands of CTU mole Nina Myers (Sarah Clarke) was called into CTU to help track the bomb. Jack was initially hesitant until he received a call from the president.

Throughout the course of the day, Jack was able to thwart the bomb threat, and apprehend Ali with the help of Kate Warner (Sarah Wynter), whose sister Marie Warner (Laura Harris) was involved with one of the members of Second Wave.

As the day progressed into night, Palmer’s chief of staff, Mike Novick (Jude Ciccolella) was revealed to be part of a conspiracy to remove Palmer from office due to his hesitance in retaliating against three countries based on a tape recording of a conversation that took place between Second Wave and high ranking officials from those countries.

Novick was very instrumental in helping Palmer win the presidency over a year ago. But now he has joined Vice-President Jim Prescott (Alan Dale), and eight other cabinet members in attempting to remove Palmer from office through a clause in the 25th amendment.

Eventually, with the help of Jack Bauer and CTU, they were able to prove that the tape recording was a forgery, thus proving that Palmer’s leadership is effective. Palmer resumes his presidential duties and immediately fires Novick as his chief of staff.

Day 3:

Season 3 of 24 took place three years after the events of season 2. Palmer is now up for re-election, while recovering from a virus that he was exposed to through a handshake at a press conference at the very end of season 2.

He also has a new chief of staff, his brother Wayne Palmer (DB Woodside). This was also the first time that we got to meet Chloe O’Brian (Mary Lynn Rajskub), who would later go on to become the secondary protagonist of the series.

Wayne disapproved of Palmer’s affair with his doctor, Anne Packard (Wendy Crewson), saying that she is not like Sherry. Even though Sherry kind of went overboard, at least she knew how to play the game. The virus that Palmer was introduced to was just a demonstration of the biological terror threat that CTU along with President Palmer would be faced with throughout the course of the day’s events.

As the day progressed, Palmer’s re-election was constantly threatened. First by the suicide of Dr. Packard’s ex-husband, that caused her to end her affair with Palmer to save his chances for re-election. Then Wayne’s affair with Julia Milliken (Gina Torres), the wife of Palmer’s top campaign funder Alan Milliken (Albert Hall) who demanded that Palmer fires his brother after he discovered Wayne and Julia’s treacherous affair behind his back.

But no scandal threatened Palmer’s presidency quite like his deranged ex-wife Sherry’s involvement in several deaths throughout the course of the day. First, she prevented Julia from giving Alan his medication after she caused his heart attack.

Then Julia murders Sherry before turning the gun on herself right in front of Wayne who was unable to stop her in time. This last devastating blow was enough for Palmer to forfeit his chances for re-election, giving his competitor, senator John Keeler (Geoff Pierson) a clear shot at the presidency.

Post Presidency:

Palmer was still very much active as an ex-president. On Day 4, he was asked to assist acting president Charles Logan (Gregory Itzin), after power was suddenly thrust upon him during a national crisis that saw Air Force One being shot down by Habib Marwan (Arnold Vosloo) while President John Keeler was on board.

Palmer made almost all the tough judgement calls on behalf of an indecisive President Logan whose leadership was not brought into question like Palmer’s was during season 2.

The Chinese requested the extradition of Jack Bauer after they held him responsible for the death of one of their officials who was killed when he came under friendly fire during a botched mission at their embassy in Los Angeles.

Palmer decided to help out his friend by helping him fake his death. He was one of only four people who knew that Jack was still alive. The other three people were Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard), Michelle Dessler (Reiko Aylesworth), and Chloe O’Brian (Mary Lynn Rajskub). Unbeknownst to Jack, his phone call to Palmer during the season 4 finale was the last time he would ever speak to his friend.

Assassination:

Day 5 took place about 18 months later, and began at 7:00 AM in Los Angeles on the day of an official visit from the Russian president, Yuri Suvarov (Nick Jameson). Palmer was visiting his brother Wayne at his condominium when Wayne noticed that he seemed preoccupied over something.

He told Wayne that he was feeling a bit melancholy over a conspiracy he was able to uncover. But before he could explain what it was he uncovered, he was shot by a sniper only two minutes into the episode.

The assassin then targeted the other three people who knew Jack was alive, forcing Jack out of hiding. Jack was able to save Chloe while taking out the shooter, but Tony and Michelle weren’t so lucky. Jack then spent the rest of the day hunting the person behind the assassination, only to uncover a vast, complex web of corruption and cover-ups going all the way up to the oval office.

Charles Logan, the weak, indecisive president whom Palmer helped during a national crisis was now complicit in Palmer’s assassination, and it was up to Jack Bauer to help expose him and remove him from office.

With the help of Mike Novick, Palmer’s former chief of staff who betrayed him during the events of Day 2, along with Logan’s own wife, Martha (Jean Smart), Jack was able to expose Logan at Palmer’s funeral during the season finale. As Palmer’s casket was being air-lifted to Washington by military convoy to be buried at Arlington cemetery, Jack was captured by the Chinese and taken to a Chinese prison camp to be tortured for the next two years.

Legacy:

Palmer’s legacy is polarizing, mixed with admiration and caution. Though he displayed strength and faith in his leadership during some of the most challenging times on that show, he was too willing to answer the call of those who wouldn’t hesitate to throw him under the bus.

Understandably, as the first Black president, he felt the need to be overly good almost to a fault. Similar to Obama, he wouldn’t have won if his public image wasn’t spotless beyond question. Both men were right in that regard, but Palmer’s fatal flaw is that it attracted others towards him who felt the need to use him, then discard him when they realize he cannot be used. This fatal flaw ultimately cost him his life.

Personal Takeaway:

The issue at hand is not a racial one in the strictest sense, because they do the same thing to Jack Bauer. They call him out of retirement to help fight their battles when they don’t know what else to do. Then they want to punish him when he uses strategies that actually work, such as torturing his suspects during some of his interrogations. And all along, I’m over here on my couch yelling at the screen like, “You want their help, or don’t you?”

As a man, you’ve got to think twice before fighting everyone’s battles for them, especially when you know they don’t appreciate you. As a Black man, it’s even twice as bad for you than it is for the next guy. It is imperative for me to state that people’s perceptions of you won’t change by you trying to remain spotless.

You will go from being invisible to being a target, and people will think they can just use you to help further their agendas. I have experienced the same while dealing with racist hypocrites at work, but I have lived to tell the tale, because who feels it, knows it.

As a man, the only thing that you should worry about being spotless are your boundaries. Other people’s madness must not be allowed to thrive around you, especially when you’re trying to build a lasting legacy. You are going to become the villain of their story. But they already see you as either the villain or a minstrel show, so what the heck does it matter? Here’s to entering your villain arc. At least you know it’s for a cause as noble as self-preservation.

Despite all of that, both Jack Bauer and David Palmer are patriots who answer the call of duty, and are deserving of the respect of a grateful nation. Be that as it may, only some people are cut out for the kind of sacrifices that both men have made during the series run, and one of my biggest takeaways from watching 24 is that the job of a president and a field operative are certainly not for everyone. I give this cautionary tale of power and sacrifice a five out of five Purple Hearts, and I’ll see you on the next one.

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