George Mason (24 character)

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This article is about the television character. For the US patriot, see George Mason.

24 character

George Mason
Gender	Male
Jobs held	CTU - Special Agent in Charge, Los Angeles Domestic Unit Division Director Los Angeles Division CTU - Senior Section Leader, Washington Headquarters CTU - Team Leader, Washington Headquarters CTU - Associate Special Agent in Charge, Phoenix Domestic Unit CTU - Senior Agent, Miami Domestic Unit CTU - Agent, Los Angeles Domestic Unit
Affiliation	CTU Division CTU
Family	John Mason (Son)
Spouse	Divorced
Current status	Deceased
Portrayed by	Xander Berkeley
Seasons	1, 2

George Mason is a fictional character in the Fox television series 24. He is portrayed by actor Xander Berkeley.

1 Bio
- 1.1 Day 1
- 1.2 Day 2
2 Personal information
3 Quotes

[edit] Bio

[edit] Day 1

Mason was the District Director of the Los Angeles division of the Counter Terrorist Unit, an agency of the federal government that seeks and hunts down terrorist groups. In the first hour of day 1, Mason makes it clear that he dislikes Senator David Palmer, when he tells Jack that if Palmer is elected President, Palmer will shut down CTU because he isn't a friend of the agency. There is initial friction between him and Jack Bauer, due to the fact that Bauer had recently blown the whistle on three CTU officials for allegedly taking bribes. Jack believed that George was deliberately holding back the source of the information on the Palmer hit. Because of this, Jack shot him with a tranquilizer dart. While he was knocked out, Jack ordered Nina Myers to have Tony Almeida search for a connection between George and $200,000 which went missing from heroin dealer Philippe Darcet's assets after his takedown in Barcelona. The takedown had been headed by George, and Jack had always suspected Mason had pocketed it. Tony managed to trace the money to an account in Aruba. Jack confronted George with his knowledge of these events. As a result, George gave up the source so that Jack wouldn't bring it to the attention of CTU Divisional Head Ryan Chappelle.

After Greg Penticoff was brought to Van Nuys Precinct, Mason was able to apprehend Bauer. Penticoff would only cooperate with Bauer, who was forced to break him out of the precinct. Bauer found the body of Alan York in the trunk of a car, shortly before Mason arrived. Jack then told Mason that Richard Walsh and Scott Baylor had died because they knew information on a mole inside the agency.

George later replaced Alberta Green as Special Agent in Charge of CTU, and remained the leader for the rest of the day. Jack and George worked on another undercover operation, with Jack posing as Alexis Drazen. Jack met with Alan Morgan while an agent named Teddy Hanlin worked as the sniper. Hanlin had held a grudge against Jack for turning in his partner as a part of the aforementioned bribery scandal. Jack learned that Morgan was paid to turn the power off at a specific location, but Morgan soon figured out Jack was an impostor. Morgan attempted to flee. Hanlin shot him, trying to wound him, but Morgan fell to his death anyway.

Mason and Jack checked out the grid coordinates that Morgan was to turn the power off in. They found a secret, underground prison that wasn't on any maps. Mason returned to CTU, while Bauer investigated the prison. Bauer soon discovered that Victor Drazen, a man he thought was killed during Operation Nightfall, was being transported to the prison and his son Andre Drazen was attempting a prison break. The warden, Mark DeSalvo, was killed and Jack was taken in as a hostage.

The Drazens demanded that Alexis be traded for Jack. Mason initially refused, but after some convincing from Senator Palmer, he agreed to go through with the trade. After transporting Alexis to Drazen's men, George pulled out a gun asking for Jack. Jack was released in a different location and he continued his search for the Drazens, who had kidnapped his daughter Kim Bauer.

After Jack had killed the Drazens, he realized that Myers must be the mole inside CTU. He called Mason, and found video evidence that Nina had murdered Jamey Farrell in an attempt to cover herself. George ordered Nina's arrest and placed CTU on lockdown. Nina almost escaped, but Jack managed to stop her in the parking lot. When he apprehended her, he held her by the throat with a gun to her head. Mason and Almeida convinced Jack not to kill her. Unfortunately, Jack would soon learn that during Nina's escape, she had murdered Jack's pregnant wife, Teri.

[edit] Day 2

Mason had become the Special Agent in Charge of the Los Angeles office, a step down from his position as District Director in the CTU regional office during season 1. When he learned of the nuclear threat to LA, it seemed that he was about to abuse his authority in order to flee the city, but circumstances prevented his departure and his exact intentions were never made clear. As the closest available senior agent, he was sent to a suspected site of terrorist activity, where he came in close contact with weapons-grade plutonium, and was given less than a day to live by the doctor who examined him. Mason returned to CTU and kept his radiation sickness from his coworkers as long as possible. Eventually Michelle Dessler and Tony Almeida discovered his condition and convinced him to resign his position. Before doing so, he reconnected with his estranged son, to whom he bequeathed his life savings (including the money he took from the Philippe Darcet takedown that Jack tried to blackmail him with in the beginning of season 1). As his last act before leaving the office, Mason named Tony as the acting Special Agent in Charge. On that episode, he received the silent clock.

Jack Bauer and his team eventually located the nuclear device. Since the bomb technicians were unable to defuse the device, it was decided by CTU and President Palmer to fly the bomb into the Mojave Desert to prevent damage to populated areas. Jack Bauer volunteered as the pilot of the plane to fly with the bomb; however, knowing he was fated to die, Mason secretly boarded the plane, heroically took over the flight controls, and convinced Jack to parachute out of the plane before they reached the blast radius. He successfully piloted the plane into a deep canyon where the bomb's nuclear radiation would be contained. George Mason died instantly in the nuclear explosion.

[edit] Personal information

Mason's security password is 'Hendrix' — an homage to Jimi Hendrix.

In Day 2, he stated that he was originally going to be a teacher, but did not because the Department of Defense offered $5,000 more.

In Day 2, George gives his son a bank account containing $200,000. He says no one knows about the account, which suggests the money is the same Jack Bauer believes George illegally pockected before the events of Day 1.

[edit] Quotes

"He's a loose cannon. Rules don't apply to Jack Bauer. He does what he wants when he wants, and he doesn't care whose life it affects. I mean, he shot me with a tranq-gun right here in the office, for God's sake!"

[Michelle and George are talking about how Jack is working with Nina] George: He might do something stupid. Michelle: Like drugging one of our agents?! George: What can I say? The guy's a little crazy. But he gets results.

"Believe it or not, I used to want to be a teacher. A long time ago. You know why I didn't? DOD offered me more money. That's how I made my decision. So I made myself miserable. And I made everybody else around me miserable. For an extra five thousand dollars a year. That was my price. You know, Michelle, I'm not a big advice giver, but under the circumstances... Don't wait around for your life to happen to you. Find something that makes you happy, and do it. Because everything else is all just background noise."

[The officer asks him to take off his clothing so that they can hose him down after he has been contaminated by radiation] "What, you aren't even going to buy me dinner?"

[As he is getting scrubbed down] "Easy boys, I like my skin. Try to leave some of it on me."

[Mason is on the plane about to crash in the Mojave desert when Jack pulls out a gun on him] "Whoa! Jack, the service on this flight is bad enough, you don't have to shoot me!"

"You still have a life, Jack. You wanna be a real hero, here's what you do: you get back down there and you put the pieces together. You find a way to forgive yourself for what happened to your wife. You make things right with your daughter and you go on serving your country. That'd take some real guts."