Howard Gordon Movies

A made for TV movie that provides a bridge between the sixth and seventh seasons of the hit FOX action series 24, 24: Redemption features series star Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer. As the program opens, Bauer spends his time doing missionary work in Africa, laying low while the United States government attempts to capture him. His work leads him into contact with an evil warlord who maintains a loyal army by constantly brainwashing children into joining him. Bauer risks his freedom in order to stop the warlord. Redemption co-stars Oscar winner Jon Voight, Gil Bellows, and Robert Carlyle. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Marwan (Arnold Vosloo) has escaped, and CTU discovers that he was working for McLennan-Forster, a big defense contractor, under an assumed name. Jack (Kiefer Sutherland) heads to their offices to find out more. When Paul (James Frain) finds out about the connection, he offers to go with Jack, because he installed the defense firm's security software. At the firm, McLennan (Bill Smitrovich) and his underlings Conlon (Tomas Arana) and Reiss (Albie Selznick) pretend to cooperate, while they're secretly working furiously to destroy their incriminating files before Jack and Paul can uncover them. Because of Paul's expertise at retrieving their data, the crooked businessmen decide to take more drastic measures before it's too late. While the company charges an electromagnetic pulse to destroy all their hardware, Jack investigates the electrical disturbance, leaving Paul to print out a critical encoded file before the device goes off. At CTU, Driscoll (Alberta Watson), shaken by her daughter's suicide, is forced to step down from command. Heller (William Devane) appoints Tony (Carlos Bernard) interim director of CTU Los Angeles, but he also asks Division to send in a replacement as soon as possible. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Paul (James Frain) comes out of surgery paralyzed from the waist down. Audrey (Kim Raver) goes to his bedside and tells him how brave he's been. Tony (Carlos Bernard) begins to suspect that Michelle (Reiko Aylesworth) has more than a professional relationship with Bill Buchanan (James Morrison). Keeler (Geoff Pierson), still flying on Air Force One, decides to land in Los Angeles in order to address the nation about the day's horrific events. He asks his son Kevin (Chris Olivero) for advice on what to say. Chloe (Mary Lynn Rajskub) has been pretty hard on Edgar (Louis Lombardi), but when she catches him making a critical mistake, she decides to cover for him. It turns out that the ever-resourceful Jack (Kiefer Sutherland) was able to short out some phone lines while he was being held captive by Marwan (Arnold Vosloo), and this enables CTU to locate the hideout. Unfortunately, Marwan notices the shorted phone lines before the assault team arrives, and manages to cover his tracks as he makes his escape. After the assault, Jack interrogates a dying terrorist, but only learns that the next attack will take place "within the hour." Jack does find a forged document linking Marwan to Anderson (Ned Vaughn). An FBI agent arrives at Anderson's apartment, only to be killed by Nicole (Dagmara Dominczyk), the woman who helped Anderson abduct the pilot. Nicole then poses as the agent as Jack and Agent Hart (Dean Cudworth) arrive to search the premises. She's searching for a hidden external hard drive containing critical evidence, and gets the CTU agents to help her look. CTU eventually finds out the shocking truth about Marwan's next target. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Season four of the wildly successful "real-time" adventure series 24 begins some 18 months at the end of season three. John Keeler (Geoff Pierson) has succeeded David Palmer (Dennis Haysbert) as president of the United States, and the new secretary of defense is James Heller (William Devane) -- who is also the new boss of crack CTU agent Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland). One of Heller's first moves is to reunite Jack with his old nemesis Erin Driscoll (Alberta Watson), now the head of the CTU. Unbeknownst to most of the principal characters, Jack is in love with Heller's daughter (and policy assistant), Audrey Raines (Kim Raver), this despite the fact that Audrey is still legally married to estranged husband, Paul (James Frain). Outside of Jack Bauer and President Keeler, the only series character from season three to return as a regular in season four is CTU tech analyst Chloe O'Brien (Mary Lynn Rajskub); the rest of the cast is virtually brand-new. The "day" that comprises the fourth season begins, typically, with a nail-biting crisis, when James Heller and his daughter Audrey are captured by a terrorist group headed by Habib Marwan (Arnold Vosloo), who has already set a fiendish master plan in motion with a train bombing in the U.S. It soon develops that the abduction of Heller and Audrey is but a subterfuge to allow an enemy stealth bomber to blow up Air Force One and eliminate the president -- and ultimately to gain control of a nuclear warhead that will destroy a major U.S. city. Making matters worse, there is a turncoat in the ranks of the CTU -- and without giving the game away, it can be noted that CTU agent Sarah Gavin (Lana Parrilla) tumbles to the mole's identity before Jack Bauer does. As the tension mounts, Paul Raines is seriously wounded saving Jack during a covert mission, which "ices" Jack's relationship with Audrey; a shattering personal tragedy forces Erin Driscoll to resign from her post in mid-season; there is dissension in the terrorist ranks during a concerted effort to trigger nuclear meltdowns in six different cities; the seldom-used 25th Amendment is invoked to change presidents in midstream; and an old enemy of Jack's from the series' first two seasons appears virtually out of nowhere to make a terrible situation far worse than could ever be imagined. Clearly, the fourth season of 24 drew inspiration from the headlines of the day, notably the controversial treatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib. The series also was attacked by certain special-interest groups for making several of the villains Arabs, or of Arab descent. And of course, there were those who carped that the series' notion of "real time" (each episode consisted of a single uninterrupted hour in the same day) resulted in some rather ludicrous lapses of logic. But 24 was as big a hit in the ratings throughout its fourth season as it had been all along. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

As the fourth-season finale opens, Mandy (Mia Kirshner) has been offered complete immunity in exchange for revealing Marwan's (Arnold Vosloo) location. While Jack (Kiefer Sutherland) waits for the deal to be signed by Logan (Gregory Itzin) and sent over, Aaron Pierce (Glenn Morshower) reveals that Mandy was involved in an earlier attempt (season two) on Palmer's (Dennis Haysbert) life. But Palmer tells Logan to go ahead and sign her pardon, and she, in turn, reveals the location of her planned rendezvous with Marwan in downtown Los Angeles. While Jack races to capture Marwan alive in order to find and destroy the missile, Logan gets a call from Su Ming (Ping Wu) at the Chinese consulate, who tells him that they know Jack led the assault and kidnapping earlier. The Chinese demand that Jack be turned over to them to face "justice." As the CTU team faces down the nuclear threat, Logan and Cummings (John Allen Nelson) devise a dastardly plan to make sure that Jack doesn't implicate the U.S. government when he's turned over to the Chinese. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Palmer (Dennis Haysbert) has been given his next command by Saunders (Paul Blackthorne). Saunders wants Ryan Chappelle (Paul Schulze) dead. Palmer tells Jack (Kiefer Sutherland) the bad news, and then it's a race against the clock to find Saunders before the deadline for delivering Chappelle's body, at 7:00 a.m. Jack tells Tony (Carlos Bernard), who realizes that they need to change Chappelle's security clearance. Jack then takes Chappelle aside and tells him the shocking news. Since Chappelle has no past connection to Saunders, Jack realizes that the demand must be due to Chappelle's work on the money trail. He has Chappelle transfer those files to Chloe (Mary Lynn Rajskub), who finds an encrypted bank account. Chappelle tries to leave CTU, and when Jack stops him, he claims he was just going outside to smoke. As Chloe cracks the code and finds a Los Angeles address for Saunders, Jack takes Chappelle to the trainyard where his body is to be delivered, just in case the CTU team, led by Chase (James Badge Dale) and Tom Baker (Daniel Dae Kim), doesn't get to Saunders in time. Back at the Chandler Plaza Hotel, Michelle (Reiko Aylesworth) has an emotional phone conversation with Tony. She then offers the suicide capsules to the infected guests. One guest, Kathy McCartney (Brigid Brannagh), comes forward to tell Michelle that the man she spent last night with is no longer in the hotel, and Michelle realizes that he must have left after the virus was released, but before CTU arrived to seal off the building. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Nina (Sarah Clarke) is brought into CTU. Jack (Kiefer Sutherland) has an emotional reunion with Kim (Elisha Cuthbert). He wants to interrogate Nina about Alvers (Lothaire Bluteau), but Chappelle (Paul Schulze) insists that Jack himself be interrogated about his heroin problem. So Tony (Carlos Bernard) handles Nina, while Rae Plachecki (Jenette Goldstein) from the inspector general's office questions Jack about why he started using heroin long before he got in with the Salazars. Chappelle proposes fudging the timeline so his drug use looks more legitimate, and letting Jack get back to work, but Jack refuses to lie about his actions, or even justify them. "This office demands results," Jack tells them. "That's what I provide." Darren Richards (Butch Klein), an interrogation (torture?) specialist, is brought in to work on Nina, with disastrous results. Jack seems to be the only one at CTU who understands just how dangerous Nina is. Chase (James Badge Dale) learns that Kim found out that the baby is his. He asks Chloe (Mary Lynn Rajskub) how she took the news. "Gee, I don't know, Chase," Chloe tells him. "I think she's kinda pissed." Meanwhile, Sherry (Penny Johnson Jerald) returns to Palmer (Dennis Haysbert) headquarters, and tells him that she only spoke to Julia (Gina Torres) on the phone. But Julia calls Wayne (D.B. Woodside) with the real story. Palmer meets with his cabinet to decide whether or not to go public with the terrorist threat. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Jack (Kiefer Sutherland) manages to get the chip back. Mike (Jude Ciccolella) calls Palmer (Dennis Haysbert) into a conference room, where he sees that his cabinet has met, via satellite, with Prescott (Alan Dale), and learns of their scheme to remove him from office. They hold a trial of sorts, and Prescott calls Wieland (Michael Holden) and Stanton (Harris Yulin) as witnesses to Palmer's alleged instability. Prescott shows video of Stanton being tortured, on Palmer's orders, and Stanton lies about what he knew. Palmer expresses his anger with Mike for his betrayal. Meanwhile, Jack realizes that the chip has been damaged, and the source audio files can't be retrieved. But Michelle (Reiko Aylesworth) is able to find a signature on the chip and trace it to a specific hacker, a technician with an FBI file. Jack races to the man's last known address. He calls Palmer to tell him that the evidence has been destroyed, but that he's now absolutely certain that the Cypress recordings were faked. Palmer is powerless to act on this, as the cabinet is in the process of voting on whether or not to remove him from office. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Palmer (Dennis Haysbert) suspects Sherry (Penny Johnson Jerald) of freeing Wieland (Michael Holden), but surveillance footage shows that it was someone else. Palmer is considering attacking the reporter's credibility, but Sherry suggests he simply tell the truth. "It's what you're good at," she reminds him. Sherry has another unpleasant encounter with Lynne (Michelle Forbes) when she gets ahold of Palmer's speech and revises it without Lynne's consent. Despite CTU's efforts on their behalf, Kim (Elisha Cuthbert) and Miguel (Innis Casey) are being brought back to L.A. Reza (Phillip Rhys), feeling that Bob (John Terry) has been using him, offers to cooperate with CTU's investigation. Meanwhile, Kate (Sarah Wynter) and Paul (Al Sapienza) have been abducted by Syed Ali (Francesco Quinn), who wants to know what they learned in looking through Bob's files, and who they told. They torture Paul, to no avail. Jack's (Kiefer Sutherland) plane is forced to make a crash landing. He's unable to convince Nina (Sarah Clarke) to give up the bomb's location as the plane goes down. On the ground after the crash, Jack revives Nina. The crash site is quickly swarmed by rogue military personnel. Jack and Nina escape and hold them off until a CTU chopper arrives, but Nina manages to get the jump on Jack and has him at gunpoint, demanding to speak to Palmer. She says she'll reveal the location of the bomb if Palmer gives her immunity -- in advance -- for killing Jack. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Michelle (Reiko Aylesworth) and Adam (Zachary Quinto) find Kim (Elisha Cuthbert) bound and gagged, and Gael (Jesse Borrego) is quickly captured. Michelle convinces Ryan (Paul Schulze) to let her go to the hospital to see Tony (Carlos Bernard), while he handles the interrogation. Anne (Wendy Crewson) gets a call from her ex, Ted (Conor O'Farrell), who tells her that if she comes to meet him at his hotel, he'll turn over documents proving her innocence. While Ramon (Joaquim de Almeida) parties on the plane, he contemplates killing Jack (Kiefer Sutherland), who is tied up in the cargo hold. Jack manages to get loose, though. He gets a gun, and holds Ramon at gunpoint until the plane lands in Mexico, where Hector (Vincent Laresca) waits with a small army. Chase (James Badge Dale) disobeys orders again. He finds out where Ramon is headed, and flies there himself, telling Kim that he'll have to "go dark" to complete his mission. When Tony wakes up and finds out about Gael, he checks himself out of the hospital and races back to CTU, where he fills in the rest of the team on Jack's secret plan. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

With the presidential debate looming and a terrorist threat in play, Palmer (Dennis Haysbert) learns that Anne's (Wendy Crewson) disgraced ex-husband has changed his earlier testimony in an SEC fraud case, and is now accusing her of perjury. Wayne (D.B. Woodside) urges Palmer to distance himself from her, and suggests that they pay the ex-husband off to keep quiet. Luis Annicon (Carlos Gomez) is called to the prison to meet with Ramon (Joaquim de Almeida), who has a surprise for him. Jack (Kiefer Sutherland) is on his way to Kyle Singer's (Riley Smith) apartment, and he's fiending, but he's joined by a HAZMAT team before he has a chance to shoot up. Gael (Jesse Borrego), working inside CTU, tells Hector (Vincent Laresca) that they have a man on Kyle, so they don't have to worry about CTU reaching him. After an argument with his parents, Kyle tries to leave his house, but his father (Ted Marcoux) grabs his duffle bag and finds the "drugs" inside. Kyle struggles to get the bag back and it rips open. He runs off. When the CTU team arrives, Kyle's mother (Lucinda Jenney) panics and flushes the white powder down the toilet, setting off a desperate effort to close off the local sewer system. But Jack soon learns that there's no trace of the virus in the powder, and surmises that because the virus has a 14-hour incubation period, Kyle might have been infected, and they have about three more hours to find him before he'll become contagious. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Young, beautiful, single Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter) heads out for a hot date with William Christopher (Ken Marino), a successful shutterbug introduced to her by her girlfriend Sarina (Daphne Duplaix). After spending the night with this handsome gentleman, Cordelia awakens to find herself pregnant -- with no fewer than seven offspring! She enlists the help of Angel (David Boreanaz) and Wesley (Alexis Denisof) in tracking William down to discover the supernatural origin of her rapid pregnancy. They learn that Sarina, too, is pregnant -- another victim of William's covert demon brethren. As Cordy succumbs to the demon's telepathic control and fiercely protects her impending offspring, Wesley and the huge demon that William serves engage in a duel. Angel arrives to put the freeze on the demon, and soon Cordy is her svelte, normal self. Originally broadcast January 25, 2000, on the WB network, "Expecting" marked season one, episode 12 of the supernatural comedy drama. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide