Morris O'Brian

Morris O'Brian
24 character

Carlo Rota as Morris O'Brian
First appearance Day 5 – Episode 23
Last appearance Chloe's Arrest (Season 8 Epilogue)
Portrayed by Carlo Rota
Days 5, 6, 7, 8
Information
Spouse(s) Chloe O'Brian (Divorced)

Morris O'Brian is a fictional character from the TV series 24. He is portrayed by actor Carlo Rota. As shown in Day 6 (5PM to 6PM), Morris can speak and understand at least some of the Russian language.

Characterization

Actor Carlo Rota described Morris as "complex".[1] Originally from the United Kingdom, he is a systems analyst at CTU, and the husband of Chloe O'Brian. While charming, flirtatious, and proficient with CTU's systems, he harbors a past of alcoholism.

Appearances

24: Season 5

Morris is introduced late in Season 5 when Chloe, his ex-wife, calls him in to help her recover a recording that implicates President Logan in the conspiracy behind the Sentox Gas attack. Before this, Morris worked selling women's shoes in Beverly Hills. When Morris arrives at Counter-Terrorist Unit (CTU), Chloe reveals that she actually called him to help her and Jack Bauer cover their actions by interfering with CTU communications. After this, Morris is sent to deliver the necessary equipment to Jack, in order to record a confession on video of Logan admitting his acts. Later, when Chloe is going home after a painful day, including witnessing the death of her friend Edgar Stiles, Bill gives her a picture of herself with Edgar, smiling, and she starts to get emotional. She and Morris go off to talk about it.

Little is revealed about Morris, but everything points to the fact that he and Chloe had problems because of their work and Morris's behavior, with him shown to be gallant with the ladies. When Chloe asks Bill Buchanan to give Morris clearance, Bill is very reluctant to allow him to return to CTU, implying that they have had a run-in in the past. Morris speaks with a southern English accent.

24: Season 6

Morris returns to CTU full-time prior to the events of Day 6. He is seen having frequent disagreements with his boss, Milo Pressman, who also recently returned to CTU. Milo worked with Morris before Day 6, as an analyst and co-worker, however Morris states that as a boss, Milo is "a bit of a bore".

Morris has resumed a relationship with Chloe, something which she hypothesizes is the reason he and Milo argue, since Milo dated her during her separation from Morris. Morris comforts her when they are presuming that Jack Bauer is to be killed, since she and Jack were friends. He attempts to locate Jack using a private satellite he has access to from a past contracting job in Uzbekistan. However, Abu Fayed, the terrorist holding Jack learns of this and contacts CTU (with which he had struck a deal not to be tracked), which causes Bill Buchanan to yell at Chloe and Morris.

Throughout the day the heat between Morris and Milo Pressman continues and seems to get worse until Chloe loses her patience. She informs Morris that she went out with Milo a few times, realized that nothing was there, and broke it off.

At around 12:55 p.m. during Day 6, it is revealed that Abu Fayed plans to force Morris into programming at least one of the four remaining suitcase bombs, and gets him outside of CTU by falsifying information implying that Morris's brother has been hospitalized. He is kidnapped by Darren McCarthy and his girlfriend around 12:58 p.m.

1:00pm through 2:00pm, Jack follows the car containing Morris over Los Angeles in a helicopter, until McCarthy stops the car under an overpass and switches vehicles. Morris informs McCarthy's girlfriend Rita that CTU only knows about McCarthy's involvement, and informs her that she will be responsible for thousands of deaths if she does not intervene. Rita responds by shooting McCarthy point-blank and leaving his body in the street, but instead of dropping off Morris, she decides to give him to Fayed and take the money for herself.

Morris is taken to Fayed's apartment by Rita, who is executed shortly thereafter when she states that she has made a terrible mistake. Morris is tortured by beating, a power drill in his shoulder, and repeated drowning in a bathtub after refusing to co-operate and claiming he is only an analyst. After Fayed threatens to bleed Morris to death, and eventually moving in to drill his brain, Morris agrees to perform the programming, and does so. CTU arrives, and Morris is saved from execution by Fayed, but Fayed escapes.

Morris is returned to CTU and, after commiserating over his compliance with Fayed, he returns to his job after persuasion from Chloe. After learning that Milo was injured while bravely protecting Marilyn Bauer during a field mission gone awry, Morris becomes even more ashamed of his compliance with Fayed.

Morris steps out of CTU for a few minutes to clear his head. He steps into a nearby store where he sees a news report on TV of the devastation in Valencia, where Fayed's men had detonated one of the nuclear weapons earlier in the day. Believing his actions may lead to further destruction, a despondent Morris buys a bottle of whiskey and takes a drink. He immediately comes to his senses and forces himself to spit it back out. He returns to CTU and when Chloe confronts him about the smell of whiskey, he admits to buying the drink but swears he spat it right back out and begs her to give him another chance. Chloe agrees not to inform Buchanan, but tells him to call his Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor and warns him she'll be watching him closely for the rest of the day.

Morris tried to remain sober in his job, though there were hints he was not functioning at full capacity. Chloe eventually confronted him in the men's bathroom, where he steadfastly denied being out of control. However, after Chloe left, he dumped the remainder of the alcohol he bought down the sink and focused back on his work.

Later in the day, Morris notices that someone has hacked into his computer. When he asks Chloe, she admits that she has stolen the bomb's schematic for Jack and asks Morris to keep it in the dark. However, Morris refuses and forces Chloe to bring it to Bill. Chloe reluctantly tells Bill and is angry at Morris for not listening to her. Morris and Chloe have an additional argument, which climaxes with Chloe telling Morris to "stop arming nuclear weapons for terrorists". Morris subsequently asks Buchanan to move him from the Communications Department (where Chloe and himself presently work) at CTU. After Buchanan is fired by Karen Hayes, Nadia Yassir takes over as interim Director of CTU, and refuses to comply with Morris's wish for a transfer. Chloe then confronts Morris. Morris tells her that she crossed the line and says to her, "We're done," leaving her in tears.

Later, Chloe confronts Morris over his decision to break up. Morris tells Chloe that he ended their relationship because he felt that neither of them would be able to move past the fact that he had armed the nuclear weapons; soon afterwards, CTU was attacked by Cheng Zhi's operatives and the entire staff, including Chloe, was taken hostage. In a desperate move to save the lives of CTU's workers and the productivity of the unit, Jack Bauer, Nadia Yassir, and Morris ambush four of Cheng's armed terrorists, subduing or killing all of them until further backup arrives from Mike Doyle and his tactical team.

In the penultimate hour, Chloe collapses and Morris comes to her aid. Toward the end of the final hour Chloe informs Morris that she's pregnant, while lying in a bed in CTU's clinic, which prompts Morris to get back together with Chloe.[2]

24: Season 7

Actress Mary Lynn Rajskub confirmed that Morris would appear in the seventh season: “[I'm] calling Morris while I’m busy. So far he’s taking care of the baby, but he’ll be around.”[3][4] On July 3, 2008, Michael Ausiello revealed that "Carlo Rota has just signed on to appear in a handful of episodes, starting around the midday point".[5]

Morris appeared twice in season 7. His first appearance was dropping Chloe off at the FBI office, where she had been routed to help their investigation. Their son Prescott was in a car seat in the back. He then appeared later that night; after Chloe was arrested for surreptitiously helping Jack, Morris was called in to broker a deal and help FBI Special Agent In Charge Larry Moss determine just what information had been slipped to Jack. Though respectful of his wife's loyalty to Jack, Moss threatened Chloe with 15 years' jail time, which Morris felt was too high a price to exact on her— and, for that matter, their son. Chloe is released from custody a little after 9:40 PM, and the two return to their son.

In the 3:00 - 4:00 AM episode, Jack calls Chloe while she is asleep in a hotel room. We notice that beside her in the queen-size bed is her son, Prescott, and Morris is sleeping across the room on a couch. Jack tells her he got the old CTU servers unsealed from the vault where the Senate investigation was holding them, and that she is the only one who can work them properly. She agrees to help him, but when he tells her about the bio threat, she realizes she must get her husband and son to safety. Chloe wakes Morris up, and after a while, he agrees to take Prescott and leave town to safety.

24: Season 8

Morris is featured in the epilogue to Season 8, available on the Blu-ray release, but doesn't appear in the season itself. He, along with Prescott, is present at Chloe's New York apartment when Chloe is arrested by the FBI for aiding fugitive Jack Bauer. This is their last appearance in the series.

24: Live Another Day

Morris is mentioned in episode 3, when Chloe is distracted by a child and man that look like Morris and Prescott and lets a target escape. When pressed by Jack to explain why she got sloppy, she tells him both Morris and Prescott were killed in a car accident while they were stopped at a traffic light, after Chloe asked Morris to pick up their son from soccer practice. She reveals that it is normally she who picks their son up and that the driver of the truck who struck and killed them was targeting her specifically because she knew the true nature of the events of season 8; however, this is revealed to be a lie told to her by Adrian Cross in order to convince her to join his cause. The car accident that claimed Morris and Prescott's lives was just an unrelated, random accident.

References

  1. ↑ "Is there a Chloe-Morris-Milo love triangle?". FOX. Retrieved 2008-08-17.
  2. ↑ Writer: Robert Cochran, Manny Coto, and David Fury Director: Brad Turner (2007-05-21). "5:00am-6:00am". 24. Season 6. Episode 144.
  3. ↑ Matea Gold (2007-10-25). "24 Fans Are Crazy; Flock To Times Square". LA Times. Retrieved 2008-05-17.
  4. ↑ Rob Moynihan (2007-10-25). "24 Trailer Premieres in Times Square". TV Guide. Retrieved 2008-05-17.
  5. ↑ Michael Ausiello (2008-07-03). "'24' Exclusive: Chloe (Temporarily) Clocks Out!". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2008-07-03.

External links