Morris O'Brian
 |
Morris O'Brian is a fictional character from the TV series 24. He is portrayed by actor Carlo Rota.
Day 5
Morris is introduced late in Season 5 when Chloe, his ex-wife, calls him to help her recover a recording that implicates President Logan in the conspiracy behind the Sentox Gas attack. When Morris arrives at CTU, Chloe reveals that she called him actually to help her and Jack Bauer to cover their actions by interfering with CTU communication. After this, Morris is sent to deliver the necessary equipment to Jack, in order to make a confession on video of Logan admitting his acts. Later, when Chloe is going home after a painful day, including witnessing the death of her friend Edgar Stiles, Morris goes with her to talk.
Little was revealed about Morris, but all points to the fact that he and Chloe had problems because of their work and Morris' behavior, with him showing to be gallant with the ladies. When asked to give him clearance by Chloe, Bill Buchanan is very reluctant to allow Morris to return to CTU implying that they have had a run in in the past. Morris speaks with an English accent. It was revealed in Season Five that, during the events of Day 5, Morris was "selling women's shoes in Beverly Hills".[1][2]
Day 6
Morris returns to CTU full-time prior to the events of Day 6. He is seen having frequent disagreements with his boss, Milo Pressman, who also recently returned to CTU. Milo worked with Morris before Day 6, as an analyst and co-worker, however Morris states that as a boss, Milo is "a bit of a bore".
Morris has resumed a relationship with Chloe, something which she hypothesizes is the reason he and Milo argue, since Milo dated her during her separation from Morris. Morris comforts her when they are presuming that Jack Bauer is to be killed, since she and Jack were friends. He attempts to locate Jack using a private satellite he has access to from a past contracting job. However, Abu Fayed, the terrorist holding Jack learns of this and contacts CTU (with which he had struck a deal not to be tracked), which causes Bill Buchanan to yell at Chloe and Morris.
Throughout the day the heat between Morris and Milo Pressman continued and seemed to get worse until Chloe loses her patience. She informs Morris that she went out with Milo a few times and then realized that nothing was there so she broke it off.
At around 12:55 p.m. during Day 6, it is revealed that Abu Fayed plans to force Morris into programming at least one of the four remaining suitcase bombs, and gets him outside of CTU by falsifying information inferring that Morris's brother has been hospitalized. He is kidnapped by Darren McCarthy and his girlfriend around 12:58 p.m.
1:00pm through 2:00pm, Jack follows the car containing Morris over Los Angeles in a helicopter, until McCarthy stops the car under an overpass and switches vehicles. Morris informs McCarthy's girlfriend, Rita, that CTU only knows about McCarthy's involvement, and informs her that she will be responsible for thousands of deaths if she does not intervene. Rita responds by shooting McCarthy point-blank and leaving his body in the street, but instead of dropping off Morris, she decides to give him to Fayed and take the money for herself.
Morris is taken to Fayed's apartment by Rita, who is executed shortly thereafter when she states that she has made a terrible mistake. Morris is tortured by beating, a power drill in his shoulder, and repeated drowning in a bathtub after refusing to co-operate and claiming he is only an analysist. After Fayed threatens to bleed Morris to death, and eventually moving in to drill his brain, Morris agrees to perform the programming, and does so. CTU arrives, and Morris is saved from execution by Fayed, but Fayed escapes.
Morris is returned to CTU and, after commiserating over his compliance with Fayed, he returns to his job after persuasion from Chloe. After learning that Milo was injured while bravely protecting Marilyn Bauer during a field mission gone awry, Morris becomes even more ashamed of his compliance with Fayed.
Morris steps out of CTU for a few minutes to clear his head. He steps into a nearby store where he sees a news report on TV of the devastation in Valencia, where Fayed's men had detonated one of the nuclear weapons earlier in the day. Believing his actions may lead to further destruction, a despondent Morris buys a bottle of whiskey and takes a drink. He immediately comes to his senses and forces himself to spit it back out. He returns to CTU and when Chloe confronts him about the smell of whiskey, he admits to buying the drink but swears he spat it right back out and begs her to give him another chance. Chloe agrees not to inform Buchanan, but tells him to call his Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor and warns him she'll be watching him closely for the rest of the day.
Morris tried to remain sober in his job, though there were hints he was not functional in full capacity. Chloe eventually confronted him in the men's bathroom, where he steadfastly denied being out of control. However, after Chloe left, he dumped the remainder of the alcohol he bought down the sink. Morris is set to be killed off in episode 21 and will be replaced by Milos brother in episode 23 as part of the two-hour season 6 finale.