Season synopsis
Contains spoilers for this season and earlier seasons.
Twenty months after Chinese agents captured him, Jack Bauer is released through a deal arranged by President Wayne Palmer, who trades him to Abu Fayed for information about a bombing campaign. Jack discovers that Hamri Al-Assad, presented as the mastermind, is trying to stop the attacks; Fayed is responsible and plans to detonate five suitcase nuclear bombs. Jack saves Assad, killing Curtis Manning when Curtis tries to take revenge, but one bomb explodes at Valencia. The surviving bombs lead CTU into a hunt involving Russian General Dmitri Gredenko and Jack’s estranged father, Phillip Bauer.
Jack learns his brother Graem and father joined the conspiracy around Logan’s administration, while his nephew Josh becomes a bargaining chip in Phillip’s plans. After CTU stops Gredenko and Jack kills Fayed, two bombs are secured, but Cheng Zhi reveals Audrey is alive and holds her hostage. Jack trades a nuclear circuit board for her, but Cheng escapes with it, raising the prospect of conflict between China, Russia and the United States. Chinese mercenaries attack CTU; Jack and his colleagues defeat them, while Phillip’s demand for Josh draws the family feud to an offshore oil platform.
When a government airstrike is ordered against the platform, Jack and Bill Buchanan commandeer a helicopter to rescue Josh. Josh wounds Phillip, but Jack refuses to kill his father; he leaves him behind, and the strike kills Phillip. Jack, Josh, Buchanan and Cheng escape, with Cheng captured alive. Jack later confronts James Heller, who blames him for Audrey’s suffering but admits he was unfair about Jack’s captivity. Jack finds Audrey unconscious and tells her he loves her, then leaves her in Heller’s care. The season ends with Jack alone above the Pacific, his future unresolved.