Tony Almeida
Tony Almeida | |
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Rebecca Ingram Sidra |
Anthony "Tony" Almeida is a fictional character portrayed by Carlos Bernard on the television series 24. Almeida appeared in a total of 126 episodes (including 24: Legacy), the second highest number of episodes of any character in the series, behind Jack Bauer (192, played by Kiefer Sutherland) and just ahead of Chloe O'Brian (125, played by Mary Lynn Rajskub). Despite initially having friction with Jack Bauer, he eventually develops a strong friendship with Jack and becomes one of the few people Jack trusts unconditionally with his life. However, the loss of his wife Michelle Dessler and unborn son at the hands of a government conspiracy drives him into despair and then rage. His descent into darkness and evil to seek revenge against those responsible for destroying his life is widely lamented by fans and showcases a dark contrast to Jack whose life has also been ruined by the government.
Characterization
Tony Almeida was born in
Appearances
24: Day 1
Tony Almeida is a systems analyst and third-in-command at the
Just after midnight, word arrives of an imminent assassination attempt on Democratic presidential candidate
After Jack succeeds in rescuing
Before the day's end, Palmer is saved and the Drazens are killed. However, Nina is revealed to be a second mole working for the Drazens, having killed Jamey and staged Jamey's suicide when Jamey exposed her (Nina). Jack realizes this by viewing security tapes which show Jamey's murder. Nina is captured, though not before she kills several people while attempting to escape, including Teri. When Jack points the gun at Nina for her betrayal, Tony and George dissuade Jack from pulling the trigger. Tony can only watch in disgust and disbelief as the woman he thought he loved is led away.
24: Day 2
Tony becomes the new chief of staff and Mason's second-in-command at CTU, and is present when Jack returns to the agency to assist in hunting down
Near the beginning of the second season, Mason was exposed to lethal dose of
Jack learns from
Throughout the day, Tony and Michelle begin to realize that they share a mutual attraction. At first, Tony keeps his distance out of hesitancy after what happened with Nina. After receiving parting advice from Mason, however, Michelle expresses an interest. The two become romantically involved and later marry.
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
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
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.
24: Day 3
Tony fields promotion offers from several CTU regional divisions. Despite this, he, Jack Bauer and
Against Jack's explicit wishes, Tony uses Kim in a field operation as a replacement for Jane Saunders, the daughter of rogue
24: Day 4
Tony enters the story once again by rescuing Jack and Audrey from armed hostiles at a security firm. It is afterwards revealed that Almeida was sent to prison for treason, but was released early when Jack secured a
Tony considers the rescue a repayment of the debt he owes Jack for getting him out of prison and initially does not wish to be involved in the case any further. Jack respects Tony's wishes, but when setting out from Tony's house to apprehend a suspect on his own, Tony reasons that it would be stupid to let his friend go back out alone after saving his life and offers to help. This leads him to become further involved in the day's events, eventually returning to CTU on a provisional basis.
Tensions rise when the Associate Special Agent in Charge of Division
Tony and Michelle clash at first, but gradually the two begin to realize they still have feelings for each other. Near the end of the day, they have agreed to leave CTU together and start a new life once the current threat is dealt with.
An assassin named
At the end of Day 4, when
24: Day 5
By Day 5, Tony and Michelle have left CTU and are living life together as civilians. After receiving news that Palmer has been assassinated, Michelle wants to go into CTU and assist in the investigation. Tony tries to dissuade her but she leaves without him and triggers a bomb planted under her car. Tony rushes from the house to see what has happened to his wife, but as he finds her body, the car's fuel tank explodes, critically injuring him. It is later confirmed through CTU conversations that Michelle is dead.[7]
Tony is transported to CTU Medical, where he undergoes surgery and is stabilized. Later, an assassin infiltrates CTU, impersonates a doctor and lures Jack down to medical by claiming Tony has awoken. Jack manages to foil the attempt on his life. Upon actually waking a few hours later, Tony is not aware that Michelle has died. Having been advised by the doctor that Tony should be kept calm,
Tony ends up sealed inside CTU Medical along with Henderson when terrorists release Sentox
24: Day 7
Tony is discovered to be alive and currently working with a terrorist group to disrupt US President
Following the end of the White House siege, Jack and Tony scramble to intercept and then recover a shipment of bioweapons engineered by Jonas Hodges, president of mercenary corporation Starkwood, who intends to blackmail the President and enact Executive legislation benefitting himself. Aided by the FBI, Jack and Tony successfully destroy the chemical weapons in the Starkwood compound, although Jack is exposed to the bio-weapon and infected.
Following the destruction of the weapons, it is revealed that Tony is actually working with the terrorists. He murders FBI Agent Larry Moss and recovers the one remaining canister of the chemical weapon, which he gives to Cara Bowden, a representative of the conspirators, all of whom had planned the day's events and of whom Hodges was previously a member. Tony and the conspirators initiate their operation and attempt to detonate the canister inside the DC Metro tunnels. They are stopped by Jack and the FBI, who apprehend Tony and recover the canister before it can detonate. As they transport Tony to the FBI, Cara contacts Jack and through threats to his daughter
Wilson arrives to speak with Tony, but the group is ambushed by the FBI. Retreating into a warehouse, Tony kills Cara and corners Wilson. As Tony prepares to kill him, he reveals that not only did Wilson kill Michelle, but he also killed their unborn son. Jack and Renee arrive, disabling Tony before he has the chance to carry out his revenge. Tony is led away into FBI custody once again, cursing and raging at Jack.
24: Solitary
In the seven-minute special feature exclusive to the Live Another Day Blu-ray set, 24: Solitary, Tony requests to be moved to general population, approximately 8 years after Day 7, so that he can serve as an undercover “inside source” and provide actionable Intel about other prisoners. He states that his desire for revenge consumed him and that Michelle “never would’ve approved of the man I became” following her death. He accepts the fact that he’s going to die in prison, but hopes to save at least one life so that he can be worthy of Michelle’s love again. When the Prison Administrator denies Tony's case due to U.S. Attorney Vanessa Diaz's (who opposes any reduction in Tony's security) evidence, Tony violently attacks her. After Tony is taken out of the room, it is revealed that the attack was a ruse so that Diaz could pass off her glasses to Tony. Vanessa calls her contact on a secure line and informs him that Tony has the plans. Tony puts the glasses on and presses a hidden button on the side of the frame, which reveals a schematic to the prison with a carefully planned escape route on the lenses. He is confident that everything is going according to plan and that, soon, he will be a free man again.
24: Legacy
Tony Almeida returns in the 24 spin-off, 24: Legacy, having escaped from prison and become a mercenary.
References
- ISBN 0-06-053550-4.
- ^ Writer: Robert Cochran Director: Winrich Kolbe (2001-11-27). "3:00am-4:00am". 24. Season 1. Episode 4.
- ^ Writer: Andrea Newman Director: Bryan Spicer (2002-01-08). "6:00am-7:00am". 24. Season 1. Episode 7.
- ^ a b Writer: Virgil Williams Director: Stephen Hopkins (2002-01-22). "8:00am-9:00am". 24. Season 1. Episode 9.
- ^ Writer: Joel Surnow Director: Jon Cassar (2002-03-05). "1:00pm-2:00pm". 24. Season 1. Episode 14.
- ^ Writer: Robert Cochran and Howard Gordon Director: Jon Cassar (2005-05-23). "6:00am-7:00am". 24. Season 4. Episode 96.
- ^ Writer: Howard Gordon Director: Jon Cassar (2006-01-15). "7:00am-8:00am". 24. Season 5. Episode 97.
- ^ Ausiello, Michael (October 8, 2016). "24: Legacy: Carlos Bernard to Reprise His Role as Tony Almeida in Fox Reboot". TVLine. Retrieved October 8, 2016.