Blogs.4Bauer

Blogs4Bauer has ranked the hottest women of 24, (you’ve gotta admit, there’s no reason whatsoever to rank the hottest men of 24, unless you conceded right off the bat that Jack’s No. 1 and everyone else is just sloppy seconds).

Anyway, now we’re looking at the people we love to hate. From we break down the top villains of our favorite show and reveal the Top 10 – 24 Villains of all time.

Today, we look at the hottest male villain. It was a tough call and Vladimir Bierko almost made it (sorry, Julian Sands), but I had to go in another direction.

Name: Syed Ali
Season: Two
Occupation: Leader of Second Wave, an Islamic fundamentalist terrorist group.
First seen: 4:00pm-5:00pm
Last Seen: 11:00pm-12:00am
Status: Dead

Syed Ali recruited the woman who was perhaps the hottest female 24 villain (other than Mandy, OK Wyatt?), Marie Warner.

The best thing about Marie, however, was that her involvement brought us the best Bauer Girl yet, her sister, Kate Warner.

But this is about Ali. Sorry, got sidetracked.

Ali was the mastermind of the Season 2 plot to nuke L.A. (the bad guys didn’t get this accomplished until Season 6, remember).

Using intel from Nina Myers, Ali attacks CTU with C4 explosives to keep them busy and unable to investigate his bomb plot. Shockingly, this does not stop Jack.

Anyhow, Ali had planned to fly the Cessna loaded with the nuke all by his lonesome, the ultimate suicide bombing. But before he heads out to the airfield, he stops at a mosque to pray. Bad choice. That’s where Jack captures him and starts torturing him.

Given that Ali was about to nuke himself along with L.A., the torture’s not all that effective. So Jack ups the ante and sets up a video connection to Ali’s family, who are tied to chairs and being held by gunmen.

He still refuses to give Jack any info, so Jack gives the signal and Ali’s son is executed in cold blood. That works.

After George Mason (already dying of radiation exposure) sacrifices himself by flying the nuke over the desert to be detonated, the U.S. wants to retaliate against whoever’s reponsible. CTU raids Ali’s hotel room and finds a recorded conversation (henceforth known as the “Cyprus recording”) between Ali and high-ranking officials from his and two other unnamed Middle Eastern countries.

Michelle and Jack don’t believe the recording is real. Jack tells Ali that his son isn’t really dead. Ali again insists the recording is fake, but he’s then assassinated. Jack must then prove the Cyprus recording is fake.

This whole plot line leads to the removal of President David Palmer by his Cabinet under the 25th Amendment and his eventual reinstatement because, of course, Jack was right, he was right all along.

It turns out that Marie Warner helped Ali bring the bomb into the country, in part by funnelling at least $475K from her dad’s company to Ali for Second Wave. She shoots a CTU agent and her fiance, Reza, in cold blood to prevent the truth from coming out. But Marie’s ultimate motivations and how she got involved with Ali are never really explained.

Extra: Palmer’s temporary removal led to an abiding friendship with Secret Service Agent Aaron Pierce, who became one of the coolest of the cool in later seasons. (Pierce was in Season 1 as well; he and Jack Bauer are the only two characters to appear in every single season so far. Here’s hoping he’s in Season 7.)

Also, Day 2 is set 18 months after Day 1 and is believed to take place in September 2005.

ALSO, this is the infamous cougar bait season. It has nothing to do with Ali, unfortunately, but has provided much wonderful humor for years.

Final Rankings (out of 10)
Meanness: 4
Coolness: 4
Reign of Terror: 5
Sexiness: 10
Total Points: 23

Tags: Aaron Pierce, Cougar-Bait, CTU, David Palmer, Kate-Warner, Marie-Warner, Nina Myers, Season 2, Second-Wave, Syed-Ali, Villains, Vladimir-Bierko

Thursday, August 23rd, 2007 by AmyV • 24 Villains, Season 2 Both comments and pings are currently closed.