Tony Almeida
Template:24 character Tony Almeida is a fictional character played by Carlos Bernard on the television series 24. He has appeared in more episodes than any other character with the obvious exception of Jack Bauer, clocking in at 96.
Bio
Template:Spoiler Almeida obtained Bachelor's degrees in Computer Science and Engineering from the San Diego State University and his Master of Science in Computer Science from Stanford. He served in the United States Marine Corps, attaining the rank of First Lieutenant and attended the 3rd Marine Division's Scout-Sniper School as well as the 1st Marine Division's Surveillance and Target Acquisition Platoon School. He is a certified instructor of the Krav Maga self defence.
Just before joining CTU, he worked for the Transmeta Corporation as a Systems Validation Analyst.
Tony is allergic to penicillin.
CTU
Season 1
In the first season, Almeida was third-in-command of the Los Angeles Counter Terrorist Unit (behind Jack Bauer and Nina Myers). At the end of the first day, Jack left CTU due to personal difficulties after his wife was murdered, and Nina was sent to prison for various crimes. Tony became second-in-command behind George Mason.
Season 2
In the second season, Mason was exposed to lethal radiation. In a noble effort to remove an armed nuclear bomb from a populated area, he crashed a plane carrying the bomb into the Nevada desert, sacrificing his own life in the ensuing nuclear blast. This left the position of Special Agent in Charge open for Tony. He starts developing a romantic interest with Michelle Dessler.
24: The Game
While Jack Bauer is often pre-occupied with other tasks such as leads to save his daughter or find more information about the terrorist threats, Tony has been out in the field as extensively as both Jack and Chase Edmunds. Throughout the day, Tony apprehended Joseph Sin-Chung, who was currently posing as a crew member of the apprehended cargo boat named Lee Jin-Yu. He prevented a terrorist threat at a metro station prior to the capture of CTU. During the hour that CTU was held hostage, Tony guides Kim Bauer to encrypt the hard-drive containing the data of the undercover CTU agents, significantly slowing down the terrorists' progress in getting the information.
Shortly after Kim's return to CTU, Tony leads one of the tactical teams disarming one of the bombs at a construction site situated along a fault line. Hours after the threat, Tony had to rush to the scene of a crime, which involved a hostage situation with Governor James Radford. After restraining as many confused gunmen as he could, he had to negotiate with the leader, who was merely a desperate man trying to save his sick son. Tony succeeds in calming down the gunman, but the gunman is found dead by the time Tony busts open the locked door. He started becoming suspicious of Radford as he checks the gunman's body. Tony's suspicions came true when an assistant of Governor Radford calls telling him to meet her at Fisher Pier, which was happening approximately at the same time as Chase Edmunds's return to C.T.U.
Tony met up with the assistant and was given a keycard to Radford's office, with the assistant suspecting that Radford was involved in terrorist activity. The suspicion came true as a helicopter ambushed the pair, killing the assistant. Tony barely escapes with his life and drives off to the Governor's office building. After dealing with various gunmen under Radford's payroll and rescuing any trapped civilians, Tony found evidence that showed Radford's involvement with the terrorists. It turned out that Radford was seen conversing with Peter Madsen, Joseph Sin-Chung, and an unknown third man. Tony attempts to track Radford and manages to eavesdrop on Radford's conversation with the unknown man. Radford attempted to walk out, but the assassin Mandy already kills Radford before Tony could do anything. Tony's evidence proved invaluable since CTU was later able to identify the third man as Max.
While Jack and Chase were busy at Fort Lesker, Tony, Michelle, and Chappelle have information that Kate Warner is still alive, but Chappelle restricted Tony from notifying Jack under the guise of completing the established mission. A few hours later, the trace was complete being located at Max's Yacht. After berating Chappelle out of disgust, Tony heads back out to the field one more time to assist Jack and Chase at the L.A. Docks in a CTU helicopter. Tony picks up Chase first, and pilots the chopper to have Chase provide support fire for Jack before picking him up.
Tony maneuvers the helicopter around the yacht allowing Chase to mow down gunmen firing at them, while Jack abseils onto the deck of the yacht. As the day ends, Tony stays on the yacht with Kate to clean up the mess while Chase pilots the helicopter with a wounded Jack to a nearby hospital.
Season 3
Tony still maintains his title as Agent-In-Charge, who was receiving promotion offers from other CTU divisions, particularly in Langley, Virginia. Unfortunately, things got jeopardized when he was sent to prison for aiding a terrorist who was holding his wife, Michelle Dessler, hostage. The charge was treason, and his likely sentence determined to be at least 20 years imprisonment or at most execution. (The least possible without a partially suspended sentence or presidential commutation is five years in lock-up.)
Post-CTU
Season 4
Almeida's wife, Michelle Dessler, left him after he was released from prison due to his drinking habits and bitterness and because he pushed her away. He moved in with a woman named Jen Slater, where he resided until about Day 4, when Jack required assistance at a security building. Tony saved Jack and Audrey Raines' life, and they laid low at his house for roughly half an hour. Jack planned on apprehending a suspect by himself, and Tony did not volunteer to come along, stating that he did not work for CTU. Jack respected Tony's wishes not to be dragged further into the day's events, but ultimately he convinced Tony to help. During this time, Jack told Tony he was "the only person he could trust".
As Tony and Jack went through the investigation, Jack saw his friend "come back to life," showing some of his old nobility, courage and resourcefulness as he became increasingly involved in the case. Eventually, Jack was able to convince Tony to return to CTU on a provisional basis, where he would work Tactical for Jack. Tensions rose when the Associate Special Agent in Charge of Division Bill Buchanan and Almeida's former wife, Michelle Dessler, took active command of CTU Los Angeles when incumbent Special Agent in Charge Erin Driscoll left for personal reasons.
Tony and Michelle clashed at first, but gradually, the two began to warm up to each other again, and near the end of the day, they had agreed to leave CTU together and start a new life. However, when Jack called Tony into the field, Tony was captured by an assassin. The assassin, a woman named Mandy who has caused much trouble for CTU in the past, put Michelle in an ironic situation — move LAPD units out of the area and clear a path for Mandy to escape, or she would kill Tony. Michelle didn't comply, and thought she lost Tony. However, due to the swift actions of Jack Bauer and his tactical teams, Tony was rescued and returned to Michelle.
At the end of Day 4, when an overzealous member of the new Logan Administration decided that Jack Bauer needed to die, due to his part in an illegal raid on the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles, Tony played an intricate part in faking Jack's death. After smuggling him out of CTU, Tony allowed himself to have an emotional good-bye to his best friend, a man whom he might never see again.
Season 5
By Day 5, Tony and Michelle are no longer working for CTU and seem to have built a happy life together. After receiving news that President David Palmer has been assassinated, Tony attempts to dissuade Michelle from going to CTU to assist in the investigation. He hesitates, but as he decides to follow Michelle outside, Michelle's car explodes violently. Rushing to get to her, he finds her unconscious, and presumably dead. As he holds her, the fuel tank in the car ignites causing a second explosion, critically injuring him. It is later revealed through CTU conversations that Michelle is, in fact, dead.
Tony was transported to CTU Medical. Agent Curtis Manning requested he speak with Tony upon arrival, but pressure to Tony's brain left him unable to speak before going into surgery. At the White House, an assassin is sent into CTU by Walt Cummings to kill Jack Bauer, murdering and then posing as the doctor. Jack was informed that Tony had awoken and wanted to speak to him. With Tony unresponsive, Jack caught the oncoming attack in a reflection, and killed his would-be assassin.
Upon waking a few hours later, Tony is told by CTU Director Bill Buchannan that Michelle's condition is still unknown in order to keep him out of shock. However, Tony suspects otherwise and escapes CTU Medical to access a computer, where he learns of his wife's fate.
Tony was sealed inside CTU Medical, with Christopher Henderson, when the terrorists released the Sentox nerve gas in the building, killing approximately 40% of the staff. Enraged and feeling he has nothing left to live for, Tony decides to kill Henderson. At 7:59 on day 5, whilst Tony has second thoughts about killing Christopher Henderson for killing his beloved Michelle, Henderson awakes from his comatose state and stabs Tony with an overdose of hyoscine-pentothal (Agent Rick Burke had been using the drug to try to get Henderson to talk). Henderson then escapes the building. Jack rushes in and holds the dying Tony in his arms. His last words before dying were, "She's gone, Jack."[1]
Criticism
Tony's death has received criticism from various individuals. They were angered that Tony, after being on the show for five seasons, did not even receive a Silent Clock whereas Edgar — who died an episode earlier and who was on for less than two seasons — did. There is also anger displayed at producer/writer Howard Gordon for arranging what appears to be a "shock death", a.k.a a death that has no purpose in the plot other than to jolt the viewer.
Furthermore, making him part of the main cast of characters for Season 5 and then giving him such little screen time has not gone over well with fans. Some individuals have even called for a boycott of the show, stating that Tony's death is the "beginning of the end" of 24.[2]
There are rumors that, since his prominent character did not recieive a silent clock, he may still be alive and in a coma. Also, Bernard has been seen on the set of the currently shooting Season 6 and bystanders say they have seen him shoot scenes.
The Bauer-Almeida Connection
Tony Almeida and Jack Bauer had a rocky start to their friendship. During Day 1, Almeida was suspicious of his lover, Nina Myers, because she had been Bauer's lover at one point. During the day, Almeida often impeded Bauer's investigation, frustrated that he was being kept out of the loop. (At this early point in the series, viewers were sometimes left to wonder if Tony might himself be a mole working against CTU.) When Myers was revealed to be a mole, however, an undeclared but formidable bond was forged between the two characters, both feeling betrayed by the same woman.
During Day 2, Almeida was trusted by Bauer to find his daughter, Kim. When Almeida took command of CTU Los Angeles, after Special Agent in Charge George Mason died, Almeida and Bauer shared a moment in which Bauer congratulated Tony on his promotion. However, after Bauer learned that the Cyprus Audio Recording which was being used to support a war with three (unnamed) Middle Eastern countries, Bauer and Almeida were pitted against each other, as Almeida was, once again, being kept in the dark. When Almeida learned the full story, he was behind Jack completely, going as far as to incapacitate Division Director Ryan Chappelle to support Jack's investigation.
During Day 3, Almeida, Bauer, and a CTU agent named Gael Ortega were the masterminds behind an elaborate collaboration between CTU and the US Army's Delta Force to recover a virus from drug lords Ramon and Hector Salazar. The operation failed, and the virus fell into the hands of former MI-6 agent Stephen Saunders. Later in the season, CTU took Saunders's daughter into custody. When Saunders took Almeida's wife Michelle hostage, forcing Almeida to commit treason and allow Saunders's daughter to escape. Jack Bauer finally confronted Almeida and went against him, risking Michelle's life to stop Saunders from releasing the virus. Almeida, having given into Saunders' demands, was sent to prison for roughly seven months, despite Bauer's plea on Almeida's behalf. "You should be slapping a medal on him," Bauer told Division Director Brad Hammond, "not handcuffs."
During Day 4, Bauer was cornered by a group of mercenaries and called Almeida for help. During the ensuing hours, Almeida and Bauer worked together to stop hundreds of nuclear power plants from melting down. As Bauer later commented, "I've seen my friend come back to life." It was mentioned several times throughout the course of the season that Bauer was the only true friend that Tony had left. By the end of the 4th season, Tony, along with Chloe O'Brian and Michelle Dessler, helped Jack Bauer stage his own death to avoid being killed by a secret service agent.
During Day 5, Tony Almeida is killed by Christopher Henderson. Jack holds Tony in his arms as he dies and cries, this is some what similar to Jack cradling Teri in his arms and the end of Day 1. Despite their conflicts and differences, Tony and Jack shared a mutual respect and worked together on several of their most important missions and, over the ensuing days and years, went from being enemies to best friends.
Trivia
- Tony Almeida is a playable character in 24: The Game.
- Tony has a Chicago Cubs coffee mug that has appeared in every season of 24. During Days 1-3, it can be seen on his desk at CTU, on Day 4, he is seen drinking beer from this mug at his home, and on Day 5, it was on his kitchen counter right before the explosion. Fans have christened this mug "Cubby." Curiously, the Cubs play on the North side of Chicago, while, according to Operation Hell Gate, Tony is from the South side, where the Chicago White Sox play.
- Tony was one of the few characters left who had appeared in all of the first five seasons of 24, others include: Jack Bauer, David Palmer, and Aaron Pierce.
- Tony Almeida has appeared in a total of 96 episodes of 24, which is the highest number of appearances any character has ever made on this show, with the exception of Jack Bauer.
- His character nickname on the website Television Without Pity was "Soul Patch," for the small growth of facial hair below his bottom lip he sported during seasons 1 and 4. Elsewhere on the internet, fans dubbed him "funk chunk".
- The only other time Jack cried over any dead character's body on 24 was his own wife, Teri, in Day 1. However, his breakdown at the end of Day 3 may also have been heavily influenced by the death of Ryan Chappelle (at Jack's hands) six episodes previously, however a deleted scene released in the collector's edition also shows Jack crying inside the helicopter after Chappelle's death.
- In Trojan Horse (of the 24: Declassified book series), Tony uses the alias, "Tony Navarro," while undercover in Mexico.
- In Day 4, there was a long running inconsistency concerning Tony's tenure as Director of CTU: LA. While he took charge in Day 2 replacing George Mason and was taken out of office in Day 3, marking a total of three years of duty (It is quite clear that Day 3 took place three years after Day 2), both he and his ex-wife Michelle Dessler mentioned several times in season 4 that he was in charge of CTU "for two years." (Perhaps this was supposed to have been "you ran CTU two years ago" referring to the 18 month jump between Days 3 & 4, but nonetheless, both characters said the former statement, which led to much confusion among the fans.)
- The writers had several different story lines for Tony in Season 5. He was originally going to die in the first episode with Michelle, but Carlos Bernard disagreed with that move, so they changed. He was then supposed to die by the hand of the assassin that was sent to kill Jack, then they thought about having him die in the field while helping Bauer. All of these plotlines obviously didn't make it into the finished product, but it is interesting to speculate what Day 5 would be like if Tony died some other way.