Teri Bauer

Characterization

Teri Bauer was born in 1961. She was the wife of Jack Bauer and the mother of Kim Bauer. She has a Master of Fine Arts and Art Practice at the University of California, and worked as a freelance interior designer. She was killed by Nina Myers on the day of the California Presidential Primary in Season 1.

24: Season 1

At the beginning of Day 1, Jack has just moved back into his house with his wife and daughter, at Teri's request - though Kim is still treating her mother with a lack of respect as she takes Jack's side in the separation. This shows Kim's unappreciation for her parents. When it becomes apparent that Kim has left the house, Teri goes to look for her, along with a man claiming to be Alan York, the father of the girl Kim is with. When Kim realizes that she is not in control of the situation, she calls Teri to say, against her will, that everything is alright. Teri begins to suspect that something is up when Kim tells her that she loves her, something that she never says. Teri stays with the man claiming to be Alan York and eventually they find out that one of the girls had been taken to the hospital after being hit by a car.

Teri and Alan York go to the hospital where they discover that Janet is the one that was the victim of the hit and run. Teri is later re-united with Jack at the hospital, where it is revealed that Kim's disappearance may have been connected with terrorists. After Gaines contacts Jack and forces him to leave the hospital without telling Teri anything, Teri once again leaves with Alan York, who (unknown to Teri) has since killed Janet, to find Kim.

Teri eventually discovers that the man claiming to be Alan York is an impostor when Nina Myers phones her to tell her that a body Jack found is the real Alan York. The man posing as him is actually Kevin Carroll. She fakes being carsick to get him to pull the car over and uses that opportunity to escape. However, Kevin listens to a voicemail left by Gaines telling him that Teri has just learned that he is not Alan York. He goes to find her, but is knocked out by Teri with a rock. She ties him to a tree with cables and calls CTU for help. Agents come to pick her up, but they are in fact Gaines's men and instead take her to the compound where Kim is. Both collaborate to escape with Rick's help. One of Gaines's men, Eli attempts to rape Kim, but Teri offers herself instead, saying she won't fight him off. Eli accepts and takes Teri into another room. When they come back, Teri reveals that she was able to steal Eli's cell phone and uses it to call Jack, but he is unable to find them when the battery dies while running a trace on the phone. When Gaines orders Eli to kill her and Kim, Teri shoots him with a gun that was given to them by Rick, killing him. They hide his body and they are soon rescued after Jack has Kevin bring him to the compound. Rick steals one of the vans from Gaines and they all try to escape, but the van is shot out of commission. During the shootout, Jack orders Teri and Kim to take his GPS and run to where the CTU chopper will be arriving. The chopper soon arrives and they are flown to safety.

Teri and Kim are examined at a hospital and Dr. Rose Kent suspects that Teri's abdominal pain she started having is related to an ovarian cyst rupture. As the doctor begins explaining that an enlarged uterus can be the cause, Nina interrupts and says they must go to the safe house immediately. Dr. Kent gives Teri a pregnancy test to use on herself later. The two are then taken to a safe-house where Teri takes the pregnancy test and it turns out that she is pregnant. The safe house is later attacked by minions of the Drazens, and they are able to escape by car. The car rolls down a hill with Kim inside and explodes, leading Teri to believe that Kim had been killed and causing her to suffer amnesia. Teri is helped by the man she had been seeing while separated from Jack, and eventually is returned to CTU by Tony Almeida where she would be "safe" and he tells her that Kim had escaped from the car before it exploded and that she is alive. She later learns from Nina that Kim had been kidnapped again by Drazen's men while heading to CTU from the police station and that Jack is working on saving her. When Jack speaks to her on the phone, Teri tells him that she is pregnant. Jack starts crying and tells her that he's happy about it and that he loves her. When Jack and Kim are both safe and on their way back to CTU, Teri goes to speak with Nina and accidentally discovers that she is the mole for the Drazens. She attempts to leave, but Nina stops her at gunpoint.

Nina ties Teri to a chair, tapes her mouth shut and finishes up wiping all evidence of her being the mole. While on the phone with her employer, Nina is ordered to make sure nothing can connect her to Germany, which is where she will be fleeing to. Nina then tells Teri that she's leaving and someone will find her soon and picks up her gun. When Jack comes looking for Teri, he finds her slumped in the chair, bleeding from a gunshot to the stomach. Jack takes Teri out of the chair and holds her in his arms as he realizes that she is dead and weepingly tells her that he's sorry (as he remembers when the family was reunited in the Series Premiere). Teri is then given the first silent clock as the season ends—going to 12:00:00.

Teri's death affects Jack so much that he quits CTU (returning at the request of President David Palmer during Day 2) and was estranged from Kim for eighteen months as she blamed him for Teri's death. It's also hinted that one of the reasons Jack was addicted to heroin during Day 3 was to cope with Teri's death and later on in the season when Michelle is kidnapped, Tony tells him that he won't sacrifice his wife for his job like Jack which angers Jack and he pushes him, telling him to shut up. In Day 4, she is brought up by Audrey, during the course of their relationship and as it progressed. In Day 5, she is mentioned when Jack tells Kim how sorry he is for abandoning her, saying it was worse than losing her mother and when Jack calms Tony down before he kills Christopher Henderson, the man who killed Michelle, by saying he knows what he's going through. In Day 6, she is mentioned by Jack's brother Graem, since the last time they saw each other or spoke was at her funeral. She is later brought up when Jack goes to get Audrey from Heller, when Heller says he won't let Audrey pay the same price his wife did. The most recent instances are when Jack was interrogating Tony in Season 7, when he said that the government killed Teri just like they killed Michelle and every second he helps them he is spitting on her grave which enrages Jack to the point where he almost kills Tony. Renee also asked him if he felt Teri's death or just thought it was necessary, too. Larry also says he will not let Renee end up like Bauer or the people he cares about and also when he tells Chloe that he was surprised she survived so long, being Jack's friend, because Teri, Jack's wife, did not. It is also revealed in Season 7 that Kim Bauer has a baby daughter whom she named Teri, after her mother.

Alternative endings

Three different endings were shot for the final episode of the first season:

After Season 1

Teri Bauer is mentioned in every season barring season 8: