24 - Season 8

Season Eight, also known as Day 8, is the final season of the American serial television series 24. Filming for the season began on May 27, 2009, and it premiered on January 17, 2010 with a four-hour two-day premiere. The two-hour series finale aired May 24, 2010. The season's storyline begins and ends at 4:00 p.m.

Season overview

Set 18 months after season 7, the story arc involves Jack Bauer contending with assassination threats made during a peace conference between President of the United States Allison Taylor and President Omar Hassan of the fictional Islamic Republic of Kamistan (IRK). The season is set in New York City, with CTU's New York City Office having been re-activated, but while there were originally no plans for filming in New York due to budget constraints, some scenes were shot on-location.

The three main acts of season eight are:

CTU pursues Hassan's brother who is working with the Russian mafia to have nuclear rods transported to his home country.

Multiple government agencies pursue Kamistani terrorists who kill Farhad Hassan and attempt to strike at America directly.

Jack wages a one man war against the members of the Russian government who are responsible for the conspiracy after Allison Taylor refuses to do anything that could jeopardize the treaty.

Jack worries that Renee Walker has become a danger to herself and others.

A relatively inexperienced CTU team is limited in its ability to help Jack.

Dana Walsh fears that she will lose her job when a stalker threatens to reveal that she has a criminal record.

A mole at CTU helps the terrorists evade authorities.

Extremists in the Taylor administration believe that the safest option is to give in to the terrorist demands.

Charles Logan makes a return and wishes to exact revenge on Jack Bauer.

The signing of an important treaty between the US and the IRK is about to take place at the UN.[10] Kamistani terrorists, resentful of America and disappointed at Hassan's willingness to concede their attempts at developing nuclear weapons, choose this day to attempt to assassinate the Kamistani president, Omar Hassan. The assassination attempt is initially led by Hassan's brother Farhad.

CTU learns from the rescue of Hassan that terrorists have a plan to acquire nuclear rods from the Russian mob. With the help of Renee Walker, Jack forces the cooperation of Sergei Bazhaev's mob family. The nuclear rods are given to Samir Mehran, who plans to make a dirty bomb on American soil. Hassan's head of security, Tarin Faroush is revealed to be a part of Mehran's group and they present an ultimatum to Taylor's government - she must hand over Hassan for execution or the bomb will be detonated.

When Taylor orders that Hassan still be protected at all costs, a black-ops team attempts to kidnap him. Jack Bauer and the rest of Hassan's protective detail kill all but one member of the team but upon learning of the ultimatum, Hassan turns himself in to Mehran. With the nuclear crisis averted, CTU agents attempt to save Hassan and close in on Mehran. However, they arrive to see that Hassan has already been killed. Taylor is able to resurrect the treaty by convincing Hassan's wife Dalia to sign the treaty on her country's behalf.

Considering his duties to be over, Jack returns to his apartment where he has a romantic encounter with Renee. However, a Russian assassin follows him there and fires into the window to tie up loose ends. Renee bleeds to death on her way to the hospital and Jack vows to avenge her death. Allison Taylor fears that Jack will interfere enough to have the treaty called off and tries to have him detained. Jack frees himself and at the cost of a third world war, begins to hunt down and kill every member of the conspiracy that killed Walker and Hassan. This leads to a cat and mouse game when Charles Logan approaches Allison Taylor and offers to use the unique resources at his disposal to eliminate Bauer.

Jack kills Dana Walsh (the mole at CTU), Mikhail Novakovich (the Russian UN representative) and Pavel Tokarev (the assassin who killed Renee). He also aims a sniper rifle at Charles Logan's window and demands that Logan invite Russian President Yuri Suvarov to the hotel room. Logan agrees and Jack prepares to pull the trigger but Chloe talks him out of it at the last second. When President Taylor has free rein to sign the treaty and have Jack permanently silenced she has a change of heart and turns herself in to the Attorney General. Wanted by Russian and American forces Jack says goodbye to Chloe who is watching him through the camera feed of a predator drone. She orders that the feed be turned off and sees Jack disappear from the screen as he disappears from her life.

Episodes

"Day 8: 4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m."

Victor Aruz (Benito Martinez) returns home to find that he is being targeted for assassination by a Russian operative named Davros (Doug Hutchison). He seeks help from Jack Bauer, interrupting Jack's decision to fly back to L.A. to live out a quiet life with Kim, her husband Stephen (Paul Wesley) and daughter Teri (Claire Geare). Aruz claims that President Hassan (Anil Kapoor) of the Islamic Republic of Kamistan, who is currently at the UN Building working on an arms treaty with President Taylor, is going to be assassinated soon; he and his confederates helped smuggle Davros into the country and are now being killed for that reason. Jack, despite support from CTU director Brian Hastings and Field Ops director Cole Ortiz (Freddie Prinze, Jr.), is unable to transport Aruz to custody before Davros kills him. Aruz tells Jack that the assassin has a mole close to Hassan, but can reveal nothing more before he dies. This mole is implied to be reporter Meredith Reed (Jennifer Westfeldt), who is having an affair with Hassan and causing tension between him and his brother and chief of staff, Farhad (Akbar Kurtha). 

"Day 8: 5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m."

Jack agrees against his better judgment to be debriefed at CTU. Meanwhile, Dana discovers that Meredith Reed's computer was used to hack into the UN database and download incriminating files. Reed is apprehended and brought to CTU for questioning, but Chloe finds this discovery too easy, maintaining that Reed might be the victim of a frame; she further discovers video footage of an unknown man (Davros) entering and leaving Reed's apartment around the time of the hack. Hastings dismisses her claims, so Chloe turns to Jack, who agrees to get involved after Kim goes to CTU and gives him her blessing. He then tracks Davros to the home of NYPD policeman Jim Koernig (Joe Nieves), who knows Davros as "Mike Farmer", a fellow cop. Davros, in the meantime, gets in contact with the actual mole: Hassan's brother Farhad. Davros arrives at Koernig's home well before Jack and asks if he can trade for Jim's shift on U.N. Security detail. He attacks Koernig's wife (Sandra Purpuro) upon being denied his request. 

"Day 8: 6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m."

Jack Bauer arrives at the Koernigs' home and discovers both Jim and Maggie murdered by Davros; he is then apprehended by two NYPD officers, Mazoni and Lu (Domenick Lombardozzi and Johnny Wu). Mazoni knocks Jack unconscious and then proceeds to bind, gag, and beat him, revenging himself against this supposed "cop killer." Meanwhile Dana is confronted by a mysterious figure from her past, Kevin Wade (Clayne Crawford), who forces himself back into her life by threatening to expose a secret she is hiding from CTU. President Hassan confirms the rumors that he is having an affair with Reed, and provides a personal assurance that she is not involved in the plot against him. The UN treaty meeting is then broken up by intelligence found on Reed's computer, indicating the presence of a bomb; Presidents Hassan and Taylor are evacuated to McGuire Air Force Base via different routes. Jack, freed from his imprisonment by Lu, receives confirmation that "Mike Farmer," the actual murderer, is now on the UN security detail ready to assassinate President Hassan along his evacuation route. Jack calls CTU at once, explaining that the intelligence on Reed's computer was planted precisely to cause this evacuation, and Ortiz risks his life to cut off Hassan's motorcade just before Davros triggers an explosive. 

"Day 8: 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m."

Ortiz survives and chases Davros into a nearby building; though Davros is killed, tattoos on his body link him to "Red Square," a faction of the Russian mob, who now become the main suspects of the hit on Hassan. CTU realizes that Renee Walker worked undercover to infiltrate Red Square, and she is brought in to help with the case. Jack finds himself concerned for Renee's safety and state of mind, since she had suffered a major breakdown after the events of their previous collaboration; he decides to go undercover with her. Autopsy on Davros' body reveals that he was exposed to weapons-grade uranium, and President Hassan reveals that Farhad was approached by shadowy individuals who offered to sell some to their country. Farhad, his cover blown, stabs a CTU agent and makes his escape, linking up with a Russian mob figure named Bazhaev (Jürgen Prochnow), who indeed has uranium for sale; the proof is his younger son, Oleg (Gene Farber), who is dying of radiation poisoning after poor safety measures in transporting the rods. Renee offers to track down one of her old contacts, Vladimir Laitanin (Callum Keith Rennie), by meeting with Ziya Dakhilov (Jon Sklaroff), a paroled criminal with connections to Vladimir. Ziya explains that he cannot help Renee as long as he is wearing his parole bracelet, so she solves the problem by removing Ziya's left thumb with a power saw. 

"Day 8: 8:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m."

Chloe and Dana finalize Jack's cover identity, German arms dealer "Ernst Meier," as Ziya transports Renee to Laitanin's hideout, his injured hand soothed by the promise of money. Jack remains nervous of Renee's condition, believing she is using this operation as a chance to act out a death wish. Despite Renee giving all the right answers to Vladimir's interrogation, he takes her and Ziya to the side of a river where he kills Ziya and gives Renee her last chance to tell the truth. Renee dares him to do it, claiming she has nothing else to live for besides this deal; as this is the truth, Vladimir agrees to work with her. President Hassan, returned safely to the UN Building, has essentially invoked martial law in his home country to prosecute those who were part of the plot to kill him; he emphasizes to President Taylor that this is necessary to retain his leadership. President Taylor, however, sees these human-rights violations as a serious enough reason to call off the peace talks with Hassan, and his wife, Dalia (Necar Zadegan), leaves him, despite his pleas to stay. Finally, Bazhaev allows his son Josef (David Anders) to transport Oleg to a secluded location to die in relative comfort, but Josef has other ideas and takes Oleg to a clinic in Mount Vernon, where he obtains treatment from a doctor (Eli Goodman) at gunpoint. 

"Day 8: 9:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m."

Dana Walsh, under pressure by Kevin Wade who threatens to reveal that she has served a jail sentence as an accessory to murder, agrees to help him break into a police warehouse and steal cash impounded in a drug bust. President Hassan becomes ruthless in his pursuit of security, even arresting Jamot (Navid Negahban), a member of his delegation who is related to one of the troublemakers back home–who, at the time, was actively working to pacify the British ambassador's disquiet with Hassan's policies. Tarin Faroush (TJ Ramini), the member of Hassan's security detail assigned to arrest Jamot, expresses concern with his president's actions, requesting a private meeting with Hassan's daughter Kayla (Nazneen Contractor). Bazhaev tracks down his sons, kills the staff members at the clinic, and then kills Oleg, all in the name of preserving his family's secrecy; Josef takes his brother's gold crucifix as a memento. Finally, Jack decides to pull Renee out of the operation as soon as possible, mobilizing Ortiz and two CTU TAC teams. While Renee refuses to back down, even forcing herself to sleep with Vladimir to buy time, the armed back-up proves invaluable: Vladimir decides to kill "Mr. Meier" and settle for the $5M down payment rather than risk playing with nuclear materials. Thanks to quick action by Ortiz, who was surveilling the situation with a sniper rifle, Jack survives and is taken to Vladimir. 

"Day 8: 10:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m."

Guided by Dana, Kevin and his friend Nick Coughlin (Michael Filipowich) bust into the NYPD evidence locker; though Nick spends enough time window-shopping that a patrol officer almost catches them, Nick beats the officer with a baseball bat and the two escape. Dana is rattled by the incident, and both Arlo and Hastings notice her preoccupation. Omar Hassan continues to round up people who may be complicit in his brother's plot. When Tarin tries to reason with him, Hassan thanks him for taking on the moderating role his wife once played, but then has him arrested. Kayla, who is romantically involved with Tarin, decides to confront her father herself. Vladimir attempts to contact Bazhaev about the nuclear rods, so Bazhaev sends men to kill Vladimir's group, intent on keeping the deal secret. When Renee nags Vladimir to continue calling, Vladimir gets angry and attacks Renee; she stabs him 18 times, and Jack once when he attempts to intervene. After some bandages and a heart-to-heart, Jack convinces Renee to ignore her doubts and take the position that she acted in self-defense. Jack and Renee turn Laitanin's files over to CTU for investigation, as every phone call Laitanin made is a potential lead, but Bazhaev's hit squad gets there first. While Renee hides, "Mr. Meier" allows himself to be captured with the intention of leading CTU to Bazhaev; but by simple expedient of evacuating Jack through an underground tunnel, his captors get away unnoticed. 

"Day 8: 11:00 p.m. – 12:00 a.m."

Bazhaev, upon meeting Jack, has him tortured on suspicions of being a cop and knowing about the nuclear rods. Renee is brought to CTU; she is debriefed by Chloe, who agrees that she acted in self-defense in killing Laitanan. Hastings, knowing of her previous suicide attempt, orders Renee to be held at medical pending a psychological evaluation. Meanwhile, Dana tells Cole she has things about her life that she hasn't told him, but fails to go into any detail; she later heads to a strip club being patronized by Kevin and Nick, planning to kill them. Jack kills his torturer and escapes. He causes a power outage and is ultimately able to capture Bazhaev. Meanwhile, at the U.N., Kayla tries to confront her father about Tarin, but he only becomes overprotective upon learning Tarin is courting her. Jack puts Bazhaev on the phone with Hastings and President Taylor, arranging an immunity deal for himself and his son in exchange for the rods' location. Based on Bazhaev's information, Cole leads a team to the truck holding the rods, only to find the guards at the truck are dead, and the rods missing. The perpetrator left a clear signal: Oleg's crucifix. Josef has the rods and is planning to give them to Farhad, this time at an apartment complex. 

"Day 8: 12:00 a.m. – 1:00 a.m."

Bazhaev contacts Josef and convinces him to stand down. Unfortunately, Farhad's men arrive, shoot Josef and take possession of the rods. When Rob Weiss, President Taylor's Chief of Staff, becomes aware of this, he contacts Hastings and orders him to finger Renee as a scapegoat for the operation's failure, particularly the death of Laitanan. She is interviewed by Kristen Smith (Merle Dandridge) from the Justice Department for this purpose, despite misgivings from both Hastings and Chloe. With Arlo's help, Cole tracks down Dana, who has staked out Kevin's van (he and Nick are associating with two women from the strip club) and is in possession of a suppressed pistol. After Dana confesses the entire mess, Cole threatens her associates himself. Kevin agrees to back off, but Nick stabs him and then fires at Cole with a revolver; only a dying Kevin's panicked shout allows him to defend himself. Farhad and his associate Samir Mehran (Mido Hamada) link up with some confederates. Farhad wants to get the rods to Kamistan, but Samir hatches an alternate plan to use them in a "dirty" radioactive bomb for an immediate attack on Manhattan Island. Farhad, seemingly in agreement, feels pangs of conscience, escaping to contact CTU for help. Jack, whose romantic chemistry with Renee has finally come to fruition, agrees to extract Farhad in exchange for Hastings canceling the criminal investigation into her conduct. 

"Day 8: 1:00 a.m. – 2:00 a.m."

With the help of one of his men, Bashir, Tarin escapes custody and makes plans to seek political asylum in the United States. Kayla comes with him, leading President Hassan to fear for her safety: she is somewhere in New York City and could possibly fall victim to Samir's dirty-bomb plot. He pleads with his wife Dalia to help him locate their daughter. Dana and Cole hide the bodies of Kevin and Nick and return to CTU, their impending nuptials now in question. Hastings tells Rob Weiss in no uncertain terms that he has no intention of continuing the criminal investigation into Renee's conduct, and Jack invites her to stay at his apartment. One of Samir's henchmen, Ali (Ethan Rains), kills Farhad just before CTU can arrive on-site, but Jack hatches a plan to announce to the media that he is alive and being transported to a local hospital, in the hopes of luring the terrorists into attacking. Samir falls for the bait, sending young half-American Marcos Al-Zacar (Rami Malek) to the hospital in a suicide vest. Complicating the issue is the fact that Jack's CTU TAC team is relatively inexperienced, and Marcos picks its leader, Agent Owen (Julian Morris), to escort him to Farhad's room. Though Owen almost cracks under the strain, he is able to help Chloe disarm the explosives remotely. Marcos, weaponless and pursued by CTU, barricades himself in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber and contacts Samir for help in detonating the vest manually. 

"Day 8: 2:00 a.m. – 3:00 a.m."

Dalia returns to the UN Building to assist President Hassan in tracking down Kayla, leaving her daughter several voice mails. Cole and Dana return to CTU and are chewed out by Hastings. Cole admits that he still loves Dana, but would rather focus on the crisis at hand; this is complicated by a call from probation officer Bill Prady (Stephen Root), who is trying to locate Kevin Wade and arranges a meeting with Dana. Meanwhile, Marcos continues to manually re-arm his explosives, while Samir installs Ali at the hospital to guarantee success. Chloe uncovers Marcos' biography, including the fact that his mother Elaine (Mare Winningham) is in Manhattan. Cole escorts her to the hospital, where she tries to reason with her son, but it takes Jack's cold-eyed threats to her safety to change Marcos's mind. Unfortunately, Ali is able to activate a fail-safe code, and the vest begins to tick down from sixty seconds as Jack struggles to disarm it. He is unsuccessful, but Marcos gives up a name, begging Jack to "Tell my mother I'm sorry" before dashing into the hyperbaric chamber; Jack barely closes the door enough to contain the blast. Jack contacts President Hassan with the information that his chief of security, Tarin Faroush, is going to help Samir get the rods into Manhattan. Dalia finally gets her daughter to answer her phone, and Kayla, although disbelieving of her lover's involvement in the plot, confesses their location. 

"Day 8: 3:00 a.m. – 4:00 a.m."

Despite (or perhaps due to) the presence of headstrong NYPD SWAT, Tarin escapes with Kayla and brings her to Samir's hideout, an abandoned bank vault. Samir contacts President Hassan and offers to trade her life for "File 33," which turns out to be a detailed how-to document on circumventing America's radiological defenses. Jack urges Hassan to stall while CTU track down the terrorists. Dana meets with Officer Prady, who has clearance to obtain CTU's records of the security-camera footage of Nick and Kevin's robbery; deciding to come clean, she calls Cole to wish him a teary good-bye. Kayla convinces Tarin to help her escape, but Tarin is shot as they flee; Kayla takes his car and calls CTU on Tarin's cell phone. Jack and Cole arrive at the bank vault to find Samir and his confederates gone; Arlo's drones monitor them on the street, and facial recognition identifies one of them as Tarin, very much alive, the entire "escape" having been faked. Jack realizes that Kayla's car, currently arriving at CTU, must be armed with a weapon that can take out the entire office. This weapon is revealed to be an EMP bomb. Kayla is evacuated from the car before the bomb detonates, but CTU, the linchpin of NYC's radiological detection grid, has been incapacitated, giving Samir freedom to launch his attack. 

"Day 8: 4:00 a.m. – 5:00 a.m."

Jack calls the National Security Agency, gets them up to speed and has them close all bridges in and out of Manhattan; he, Cole and CTU Agents Owen and King (Matt Yang King) take the riverfront. They find Samir and Tarin loading the bomb into a Zodiac raft, but are pinned down by sniper fire and cellphone jamming from Samir's rearguard. NSA sends IT support, led by Frank Haynum (Chris McGarry), to CTU to help them restore functionality; he immediately butts heads with Chloe. Concerned for Jack's safety, Chloe proposes a risky shortcut that will either restore telecom in half the time or electrocute her. After pulling a gun on Haynum and almost being arrested, she obtains Hastings' support, tries her method, and succeeds. Jack orders his squad to make for a land-line phone, but his undisciplined troops panic; both King and Owen are killed. Jack then sacrifices himself as a distraction, killing several assailants but taking several rounds to the vest while Cole runs to the phone; only the intervention of Renee Walker, whom Chloe had mobilized to search for him, saves him from death at the terrorists' hands. Finally, Dana turns Officer Prady away with news that the EMP wiped out the security-camera footage he had come to her for. Prady then makes good on his threat to contact Hastings, so Dana strangles him and hides his corpse in a ventilation duct. She then calls Samir and tells him to hurry, as she doubts she can retain her cover for much longer. 

"Day 8: 5:00 a.m. – 6:00 a.m."

President Taylor asks Jack to escort President Hassan and his family to McGuire AFB; he and Renee reinforce a Secret Service detail headed by Molly O'Connor (Christina Cox). Moments later, Taylor is contacted by Samir, who offers not to detonate the dirty bomb in exchange for Hassan. Taylor refuses to negotiate, even though Rob Weiss points out that Hassan might even consent to the trade; afterward, Weiss is approached by Gen. David Brucker (Michael Gaston), who offers to capture Hassan using a wet works team and then surrender him to Samir. Ethan Kanin blunders into the middle of this plan and suffers a heart attack, but sneaks a covert call to Jack on his cell phone; even this completely silent call arouses Jack's suspicions, and he is able to retreat and counter-ambush, defeating the mercenaries with help from Renee (FBI, ret'd) and Omar Hassan (General, IRK Army, ret'd). They capture Adrion Bishop (Michael Irby), the team's CO, and from him learn of the terrorists' offer. Samir, realizing that Hassan will not be handed over, instructs Tarin to deploy the radiological weapon in the Upper West Side and activate its 15-minute timer. 

"Day 8: 6:00 a.m. – 7:00 a.m."

As Jack marches his team towards the surface, President Hassan overpowers him and joins forces with Bishop, agreeing to sacrifice his life to save thousands of innocents. Tarin is ordered to deactivate the bomb, which has 7 seconds to spare; he thereafter takes custody of Hassan and releases the bomb to Bishop. While Renee takes Dalia and Kayla to McGuire AFB, and CTU dismantles the bomb, Jack informs Taylor of Weiss' complicity; she has him and Brucker arrested, and Kanin given medical attention. CTU sets up an ambush for Tarin, which Dana is only barely able to warn him of; Tarin takes refuge in a parking structure, and eventually resorts to driving his car off the top floor. "No one could survive that," Chloe gasps, and indeed Tarin didn't... But Omar is not in the car, having been passed off to confederates at some previous time. He is delivered into Samir's hands, while Tarin's ability to avoid an ambush that was planned just moments before makes Jack suspect a mole inside CTU. 

"Day 8: 7:00 a.m. – 8:00 a.m."

Jack sends Renee to CTU to brief Chloe on his mole theory; using the contents of Tarin's smartphone, she identifies Dana as Samir's inside agent. Dana, once captured, refuses to negotiate with anyone but Jack: she knows that her immunity deal will be contingent on CTU recovering Omar Hassan, and that Jack is the only agent who could possibly do so. Her intel is sufficient to launch a rescue, and Jack, Renee and Cole take the field to recover him. President Taylor consults with a recovering Ethan Kanin on contingency plans in case Hassan should be killed. Ethan's opinion is that the peace accords will flounder without him, an attitude reinforced by the clear hostility of Russian Foreign Minister Mikhail Novakovich (Graham McTavish) to the entire process. Samir plans to broadcast live over the Internet his torture of Hassan, Hassan's confession of his "crimes," and his eventual execution; this plays out as Jack and his team infiltrate the apartment building. After a tense ascent, Jack defeats Samir and his henchmen only to discover that Samir's "live" broadcast was actually of a pre-recorded video playing on a laptop. Hassan's corpse is still in the room. A tearful President Taylor breaks the news to Kayla and Dalia while President Omar Hassan receives a silent clock. 

"Day 8: 8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m."

After apologizing to President Taylor for his failure, Jack officially withdraws from involvement with CTU, having reached the end of his mission to protect Omar Hassan. At his apartment, he and Renee finally have the chance to kindle their romance. Jamot comes to Taylor with a plan for salvaging the peace accords: they ask Dalia Hassan to step into her husband's office, which she agrees to do despite Kayla's concerns for her safety. Novakovich is preparing to abandon the treaty, so Ethan calls in support from an unexpected quarter: impeached President and Season 5 archvillain Charles Logan (Gregory Itzin), who is willing to use his contacts in Moscow to keep Russia at the table. Despite her misgivings, Taylor accepts his assistance. Tim Woods demotes Brian Hastings; Chloe is surprised to learn that she will be his interim replacement. Her first crisis occurs when Samir, shot by Jack but expected to survive for interrogation, dies of sudden cardiac arrest in CTU's medical wing. After Cole admits that he cannot account for everyone who was near Samir during his captivity, she orders his body screened for poisons. Her instincts are accurate: a Russian agent, Pavel Tokarev (Joel Bissonnette), reports Samir's assassination to Novakovich, and mentions that he recognized Jack's assistant, "Renee Zadan," from their mutual association with Vladimir Laitanan. To prevent Renee from revealing Russian complicity in the Kamistani plot, Pavel prepares to kill her and Jack, observing their lovemaking with sniper rifle in hand. Renee, on the phone with Chloe, mentions in turn that she might have recognized Pavel when she saw him in his EMT disguise, but Pavel shoots her before she can make a positive identification. Jack exfiltrates her under fire and rushes her to the hospital, but within moments the doctors emerge defeated. Renee receives a silent clock as Jack weeps over her body. 

"Day 8: 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m."

Logan blackmails Novakovich into returning to treaty negotiations by threatening to reveal Russia's complicity in Samir's attacks. Jack's investigations lead him back to CTU to interrogate Dana Walsh, who, according to Bazhaev, was placed at CTU by the Russian government and has evidence and names of conspirators thereby. Logan finds out and is forced to reveal the truth about the Russians to President Taylor. Logan convinces Taylor that if the Russians are exposed, they will back out of the peace negotiations and destroy any chance of peace with the IRK. Taylor travels to CTU to meet Jack in person and after a heated exchange orders him to stand down. Jack is to be taken off-site by helicopter for debriefing, but holds his escort at gunpoint and escapes alone on the helicopter, leaving Chloe with no choice but to order 

"Day 8: 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m."

President Taylor, in doubt about her complicity in covering up the Russian conspiracy, is convinced by Logan to hire a private security firm to take Dana Walsh into custody. These men, led by Mark Bledsoe (D. B. Sweeney), have orders to obtain by any means necessary the evidence she was going to give to Jack, thus removing her leverage over the treaty and Taylor's administration. Ethan Kanin resigns from his position in protest, while Bledsoe calls Logan's aide Jason Pillar (Reed Diamond), asking what should be done with Dana after they are finished with her: in his professional opinion, they should kill her and arrange for it to look like she was escaping. Jack lands his stolen helicopter and evades pursuit on foot, contacting old friend Jim Ricker (Michael Madsen) for help in re-arming. He also obtains several pay-as-you-go cell phones, from which he pleads with Chloe to help him gain access to Walsh. Chloe agrees and is able to obtain the location of the security firm's hideout, but decides to instead lure Jack into a trap at a CTU safe house, where Cole and his team are positioned to capture him. Jack, who knows Chloe too well, sees through the deception, takes Cole hostage, and then convinces him to assist in rescuing Dana. 

"Day 8: 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m."

While Dalia Hassan speaks at the UN, Jack and Cole infiltrate and rescue Dana from the private safe house. She takes them to a bank where she has a joint account with Cole, and where she has a safe-deposit box containing her evidence. Charles Logan proposes to President Taylor that his aide Jason Pillar be sent to CTU to take over as head of manhunt for Bauer. Taylor agrees to this, while Logan meets with Novakovich and makes it clear that it is in Russian interests to have Jack stopped and requests that Novakovich deploy his nation's covert operatives to deal with Jack. Novakovich assigns Pavel to the hit, and Jason begins to feed Pavel information from inside CTU. Dana's safebox, in addition to a memory card, contains a suppressed pistol and a flashbang trap which incapacitates Cole; Dana calls NYPD and sets them on Jack before escaping on foot. Despite police interference, Jack resumes his pursuit of Dana. After a brief gun fight and chase, Jack corners Dana, collects the incriminating data, and, despite her pleas for mercy, executes her. 

"Day 8: 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m."

While NYPD takes Cole into custody and turns him over to CTU, Jack peruses Dana's memory stick, which shows her meeting with Pavel to organize both Hassan's assassination and the dirty-bomb plot but does not indicate who either of them is reporting to. After securing more help from Jim Ricker, he contacts Meredith Reed and offers to give the evidence to her. CTU intercepts this phone call, and Logan calls Pavel with orders to set up an ambush. Chloe takes note of Pillar's secretive actions, and begins to suspect that he is involved with the conspirators. With Arlo's semi-willing assistance, she begins a private manhunt for Jack. Logan convinces President Taylor to publicly praise his involvement in the signing of the peace treaty. This backfires spectacularly when Jack uses Reed to lure the Russian assassins out into the open, capturing Pavel and killing the rest with the help of Ricker. Pillar urges Logan to back out and deny all involvement, but Logan decides to stay in the spotlight. Jack gives Dana's evidence to Reed and then attempts to get the answers out of Pavel by brutally torturing him; but, for once in Jack's life, his preferred interrogation methods do not have any impact. Finally it occurs to Jack that Pavel's cell phone might give him everything he needs, but Pavel managed to drop his phone, dislodge its SIM card and swallow it during his brief captivity. Jack cuts him open to retrieve it, avenging Renee. The redial feature takes an astonished Jack to "the voicemail of President Charles Logan." 

"Day 8: 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m."

Meredith Reed, with Jack's evidence safely in hand, phones her editor Gary Klausner (Thomas Ryan) to arrange for publication of the evidence on the memory card. As per Logan's advice, President Taylor issues an executive order in an attempt to quash this story. Ricker locates Logan via his phone number and Secret Service's travel manifests — Logan is on his way to the airfield to meet the Russian President Yuri Suvarov (Nick Jameson). With this information Jack intercepts Logan's motorcade and kidnaps him, forcing him to reveal that Pavel was reporting to Novakovich. As the CTU tactical teams close in, Jack knocks Logan unconscious and escapes. Chloe and Arlo manage to track down Jim Ricker; she secures Cole's release and sends him to Ricker's address in the hope of tracking down Jack. After Klausner tells Meredith that their office is being investigated by the FBI, she manages to contact Kayla Hassan and arrange a meeting with Dalia, but is shortly thereafter taken into custody by the Bureau. Logan, after being recovered by CTU tac teams and Jason Pillar, phones Novakovich to warn him of Jack's impending attack, but the phone is answered by the last of Novakovich's men, who reveals that Jack has already come and gone, killing everyone in his path. Logan then phones Suvarov, who has just landed, and assures him that the trail of evidence stopped at Novakovich, and that Suvarov, who actually gave the orders, will not be implicated. Jack, however, planted a bug on Logan during their earlier altercation and overhears this conversation. Despite a serious wound taken in the fight against Novakovich's men, he sets off with revenge in mind. 

"Day 8: 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m."

Cole Ortiz, on the orders of CTU Director Chloe O'Brian, locates Jim Ricker and persuades him to comply in the ongoing search for Jack Bauer. Logan informs President Taylor that Suvarov was complicit in Hassan's assassination, shaking Taylor's resolve further. Jack kidnaps Pillar and uses him to sneak inside the UN; after getting some field sutures from him, he attempts to execute Pillar, but has a change of heart and simply leaves him unconscious and locked in the trunk of his own car. Allison Taylor goes to Dalia Hassan and confesses the entire story; Dalia refuses to sign the peace agreement in light of the possible Russian involvement in her husband's death, but a thunderous Taylor blackmails into remaining her by threatening to use Samir's failed bomb attack as a pretense for a declaration of war. Jack sets up a sniper position in a building across from the UN in anticipation of Suvarov's arrival and then records a video message to Kim, telling his side of the story. Here Chloe finds him and begs him to stand down, but he incapacitates her with a sleeper hold. Jack then places the cross-hairs on Charles Logan and forces him to lure Suvarov to his office. 

"Day 8: 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m."

Chloe regains consciousness and persuades Jack not to shoot Suvarov and start a war, instead offering to help him publicize his evidence. Jack capitulates and formulates a plan in which she must shoot him as if he were attacking her, which she eventually accedes to. Pillar suspects her of complicity with Jack, and has her and Cole shadowed; CTU thus recovers the data card before Chloe can upload its contents, and Logan later presents it to President Taylor. He informs her that Jack will need to be done away with, and she allows him to set up a hit on Jack's ambulance convoy. Taylor then views the data card, which along with the incriminating recordings of conversations between Logan and Suvarov, contains Jack's video to Kim, which engenders a change of heart in her. At the signing ceremony, she confesses her role in the cover-up, and also attempts to have Logan's ambush of Jack's medical convoy called off, but is unsuccessful. When Logan finds out that his involvement has been revealed, he shoots both Pillar and himself in the head. At CTU, Chloe takes charge again and locates Jack. He is on the verge of execution when Taylor orders his assassins to stand down, her words backed up by the weaponry on a CTU surveillance drone. Via satellite phone, she apologizes to Jack and declares that she will soon announce her resignation and accept her punishment, whatever it may be. She advises him to flee the country as the Russians and Americans will both be after him. Jack, via a drone camera, asks Chloe to protect Kim and her family as he suspects they will be used in order to lure him out of hiding. Chloe gives him her word that they will be protected. Before disappearing, Jack tells Chloe that when she first came to CTU, he had never once thought she was going to have his back all these years and thanks her. As he begins to flee, Chloe has the drone camera shut off and the final clock of the show counts down, instead of up, from four seconds to a series-concluding 00:00:00. 

The main cast of Season 8.

Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer (24 episodes)

Mary Lynn Rajskub as Chloe O'Brian (24 episodes)

Anil Kapoor as Kamistan President Omar Hassan (15 episodes)

Annie Wersching as Renee Walker (13 episodes)

Mykelti Williamson as Brian Hastings (17 episodes)

Katee Sackhoff as Dana Walsh (20 episodes)

Chris Diamantopoulos as Rob Weiss (12 episodes)

John Boyd as Arlo Glass (24 episodes)

Freddie Prinze, Jr. as Cole Ortiz (24 episodes)

Cherry Jones as President Allison Taylor (20 episodes)

[edit]Special guest stars

Gregory Itzin as Charles Logan (8 episodes)

Elisha Cuthbert as Kim Bauer (2 episodes)

[edit]Guest starring

Nazneen Contractor as Kayla Hassan (21 episodes)

Necar Zadegan as Dalia Hassan (20 episodes)

TJ Ramini as Tarin Faroush (11 episodes)

Mido Hamada as Samir Mehran (10 episodes)

Bob Gunton as Secretary of State Ethan Kanin (10 episodes)

Clayne Crawford as Kevin Wade (9 episodes)

Frank John Hughes as Secretary of Homeland Security Tim Woods (8 episodes)

Reed Diamond as Jason Pillar (8 episodes)

Akbar Kurtha as Farhad Hassan (8 episodes)

Navid Negahban as Jamot (8 episodes)

Graham McTavish as Mikhail Novakovich (7 episodes)

Jürgen Prochnow as Sergei Bazhaev (7 episodes)

Jennifer Westfeldt as Meredith Reed (6 episodes)

David Anders as Josef Bazhaev (6 episodes)

Michael Filipowich as Nick Coughlin (6 episodes)

Julian Morris as Agent Owen (6 episodes)

Hrach Titizian as Nabeel (6 episodes)

Michael Madsen as Jim Ricker (4 episodes)

Doug Hutchison as Davros (4 episodes)

Gene Farber as Oleg Bazhaev (4 episodes)

Joel Bissonnette as Pavel Tokarev (4 episodes)

Nick Jameson as Russian President Yuri Suvarov (3 episodes)

Stephen Root as Bill Prady (3 episodes)

Callum Keith Rennie as Vladimir Laitanan (3 episodes)

Paul Wesley as Stephen (2 episodes)

Claire Geare as Teri (2 episodes)

D. B. Sweeney as Mark Bledsoe (2 episodes)