If you are not a devout fan of Fox's 24, then you have absolutely no
idea what the hell I'm talking about

If you are a fan, however, you mourn with me.

For the uninitiated, Edgar Styles is (was) a character on 24. Played by
Louis Lombardi, we first met Edgar during Day/Season 4. He is (was) a
competent, if somewhat easily distracted analyst for the Los Angeles
branch of the Counter Terrorism Unit, a fictional version of Homeland
Security, if you will. On a show which heretofore has had a planted
double agent, or at least a tragically flawed leader, Edgar was a breath
of fresh air. Honest to the point of being vulnerable, and hopelessly
in love with another character, Chloe Sullivan.

Edgar's most endearing moments came last season when he was charged with
disarming about 100 nuclear plants which had been set to overload by
terrorists. He successfully disarmed all but a handful, saving tens of
thousands of lives, but then was hopeless to save his own elderly
mother, who happened to be in the danger zone for one of the nuclear
plants he couldn't disarm. He was told that there were just not
National Guard, police, and other public service personnel for one to be
spared long enough to go save his mother. When he threw a tantrum about
it, he was simply told to get over it and get back to work.

That's enough background story. Back to this season. For those of you
who TIVOed it, or plan on watching it soon, let me give you the short
version. CTU was compromised. Toxic nerve gas. They had to
evacuate. Edgar went to look for someone who he had snapped at, and
sent on an errand, instead of high-tailing it out of there. Finds the
chick dead. Meanwhile, those left in CTU realize that it's too late to
get out of there and end up sealing themselves in a few rooms that were
safe. They're sealed in. Looking out through the all-glass doors and
walls, and in stumbles poor Edgar. He already feels bad about the chick
that he sent to her death. He's probably flashed on the last crisis in
which he lost his mother. Sees the gas refugees in the sealed off room,
and instantly understands that he's a dead man. Everyone in the sealed
room who counts remembers what happened to his mother, and they're all
of a sudden very sad, and their eyes are getting moist, including Chloe,
who probably had a little crush on Edgar, too, but just couldn't admit
it to him, much less herself. Edgar collapses to the floor.

Probably the most tender moment to date I've seen on 24.

Know what I'm sayin'??