24

Events might not occur in this precise order.

• Jack is thrown for a loop by the last hour’s events.
• Someone is dead
• Jack calls CTU (Command Transfers Unexpectedly)
• CTU tells jack where to go.
• Jack goes there.
• Jack kicks major ass.
• CTU changes command.
• Jack interrogates person.
• Jack gets information.
• 2 CTU members find time while trying to stop WWIII to talk about their relationship.
  
• Jack is forced to break the law to get the next piece of the puzzle.
• Jack is now wanted by the authorities
• The Main Bad Guy phones orders to lesser bad guys
• Jack calls Chloe to get what he needs without CTU’s knowledge.
• Chloe frowns, acts bitchy, and then magically solves the problem by walking in to the somehow unsecured server room and hacking the system.
• Jack breaks more laws to get what he needs.
• CTU closes in on Jack
• Jack talks to whoever happens to be in command of CTU at the moment, and explains why he had to do what he did.
• Jack is exonerated.
• Jack is now in command of CTU strike team sent to arrest him
• Jack is forced to make a shit deal in exchange for the next piece of information
• Jack, or CTU on Jack’s behalf, calls president to get approval for shit deal.
• President stalls until Jack uses the proven negotiating tactic of “WE HAVE NO TIME!”
• Jack makes deal.
• Jack is betrayed.
• Someone marches in to CTU, immediately displays how clueless they are, and then announces that he or she is now in CTU.
  
• Jack enlists aid of Common Citizen/ Low-level Law Enforcement
• CC/LLE is Killed
• Informant is killed, device is stolen, or piece of information turns out to lead just slightly higher on the bad-guy ladder.

If not the finale:

• Either the Main Bad Guy turns out to be a Lesser Bad Guy by means of a new phone call, or the Main Threat turns out to be a diversion for a Much Greater Threat.
• A critical event happens precisely on the hour.

If it IS the finale:

• Jack mows through Main Bad Guy's henchmen like a chainsaw through butter, kills the main bad guy and saves western civilization
• Something happens on the hour to completely wreck Jack's life.