“I’m calling the only man I can trust right now.”
Jack Bauer
There are not many people you can call when facing certain death, Tony Almeida is one of them and Jack Bauer sure knew that.
In season four of ’24’ Tony came out of the shadows and stole the show. At the end of season three Tony chose his one love, Michelle, over his own freedom. Forced to endure prison for his decision to save Michelle showed his altruistic nature. He puts those he loves ahead of himself.
And what does this get him? Tony ends up an alcoholic ex-con who spends his days drinking beer and watching soccer. That is the Tony we see when season four comes around. Yet even though the love of his life and most of his friends have turned their back on him at a seconds notice Tony is right there to save Jack from imminent death.
This is how one fan base expressed Tony’s return to ’24’:
“AT LAST, ALMEIDA HAS RISEN. This is truly the most amazing, most unbelievable return of any character to this series. This surpasses even Chappelle’s comeback of Season 2 or Nina’s comeback of Season 3. THIS IS THE ULTIMATE and once again confirms that TONY ALMEIDA IS GOD.”
Almeidaisgod.com
Yes there is a webpage dedicated to the belief that Tony Almeida is God. While that argument may be a stretch, and a bit blasphemous, you can’t argue with Almeida’s greatness.
For those of us that love Tony, and there are many as that website proves, it was hard to imagine Tony Almeida down on his luck and struggling to get by. I remember when I was first introduced to Tony way back in season one. He appeared uptight, a stickler for the rules and even a prick at times. Now we faced a Tony, who despite his loyalty to his friends and country, abandoned to the dregs of society. How far he had fallen.
Yet all of this made his retribution and rebirth all the more sweet and vindicating. With the help of his old pal Jack, Tony was brought back into the fold at CTU. Within hours those at CTU recognized Almeida’s greatness and he was soon running the show. Yeah I know pretty unbelievable, from drunken bum to running CTU in like six hours.
If this wasn’t enough Tony than had to face Michelle and Bill, the guy who Tony thinks she left him for. Tony has to take orders from Michelle and keep a straight face around her and the guy whom he assumes she was sleeping with. You could see in his eyes he wanted to punch Bill and scream at Michelle.
But the ever-cool Almeida bides his time. Despite Michelle’s lack of faith in Tony he proves his worth time and time again. Eventually Michelle can’t resist the charm, charisma and overall sexiness of Tony Almeida (I mean who could) and they reunite passionately.
End of story right? Wrong, this is 24 after all. Tony ends up being held hostage by the ever-sexy Mandy, who seems to be unsure if she should kill Tony or just have wild sex with him.
Jack returns the favour from earlier in the day when he and Curtis come to rescue him. With the Secret Service and the Chinese government looking for Jack, Tony helps him fake his death and escape. What an eventful day for Mr. Tony Almeida.
With season five looming in January 2006 it’s more than likely Tony Almeida will once again have the spotlight turned on him. A CTU sans Jack Bauer will need the level head of Almeida and Jack, wherever he is, will no doubt be calling on Tony to help him resurrect his career and reputation as he did for Tony.
The greatness of Tony Almeida will continue to grow.
