George Mason (24 character)

Infobox character
series=24


caption= Xander Berkeley as George Mason
name=George Mason
portrayer=Xander Berkeley
lbl1=Appearances

data1=1, 2

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

Characterization

George Mason was born in 1949.cite book|last=Cerasini|first=Marc|title=24: The House Special Subcommittee's Findings at CTU|publisher=Harper Collins|date=2003|edition=First|pages=204|isbn=0-06-053550-4] He has a Master of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Arts from the Washington State University, and served as an Ensign in the U.S Navy.

Appearances

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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 the $200,000 that 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 he 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 Director 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, who had been stabbed during an attempt to place a tracker on him. 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. Palmer promised Mason that Mason would be rewarded for going along with the trade, a promise Palmer never was able to keep. 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. Mason is briefly suspected as the second mole inside CTU when it is revealed that the plans for the prison were tampered with.

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, just arriving back at CTU, 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 his pregnant wife, Teri.

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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. A shootout ensued, during which a stray bullet released weapons-grade plutonium, which he inhaled. The doctor who examined him suggested that he could die within a few days. When he returned to CTU he kept his radiation sickness from his coworkers as long as possible, although his symptoms became obvious to those around him. Jack Bauer found out about it, and agreed not to tell Chappelle in exchange for being allowed to interrogate Nina Myers. 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, giving him the access codes to CTU and Division.

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 told Jack that while he hoped to kill himself heroically, the truly heroic thing for Jack to do would be to survive, reconnect with his daughter and continue to serve his country. Mason successfully piloted the plane into a deep canyon where the bomb's nuclear radiation would be contained and died instantly in the nuclear explosion. He became the second character to receive the silent clock — the ticking clock that shows at the end of each episode did not beep like it normally does.

References