Revealing mistake: Throughout season 2 on several occasions it's clear that John Terry (Bob Warner) is wearing a fake mustache and a fake beard.
Factual error: Invoking the 25th amendment cannot be done by vote. The members have to send in their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall then immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.
Day 2: 8:00 A.M.-9:00 A.M. - S2-E1
Continuity mistake: We see Kim having breakfast near the start. In one shot she has her fork in her hand. In the next she has a glass of juice. (00:11:45)
Day 2: 11:00 A.M.-12:00 Noon - S2-E4
Continuity mistake: In the long shot showing Kate and Reza driving down the highway, in the background of the passenger side, we can see a very tall wooden partition. However, the close shots of Kate talking shows a lush green background - suddenly there is no partition. (00:30:00 - 00:31:00)
Day 2: 12:00 Noon-1:00 P.M. - S2-E5
Revealing mistake: The Fox news video that Palmer watches of the Ambassador's helicopter being shot down is marked 1:18:24 in the lower right hand corner. The episode is supposed to take place between Noon and 1 p.m. This is 41.47 into the episode.
Day 2: 5:00 P.M.-6:00 P.M. - S2-E10
Continuity mistake: You see Nina lying on the ground with a knee of an soldier in her back and you hear handcuffs - but when he pulls her on her feet her left arm is free. (00:04:15)
Day 2: 5:00 P.M.-6:00 P.M. - S2-E10
Revealing mistake: Right after Kim Bauer and Miguel start a fire in the police van, the vehicle swerves off the road and tumbles. In the next shot, you see "Kim" on top of the car, trying to get in through the window (the car is about to fall off a slope or something). Pay close attention, zoom in, or whatever, the woman is not Kim but is a stunt double. She's got a much chubbier-looking face and is definitely not Kim Bauer. This occurs at 19:40 in this episode. (00:19:40)
Day 2: 5:00 P.M.-6:00 P.M. - S2-E10
Revealing mistake: Kate Warner holds a bloody towel to her wounded earlobe. She puts it away and you can see a very clean band aid around the lobe. (00:27:55)
Day 2: 5:00 P.M.-6:00 P.M. - S2-E10
Continuity mistake: Marie Warner goes to see Reza at her father's office at about 5:30. When she enters the office, she puts her handbag on the table and embraces Reza. After they embrace she picks her handbag up from the floor next to Reza's chair. There was no time or opportunity for anyone to move her bag.
Day 2: 6:00 P.M.-7:00 P.M. - S2-E11
Deliberate mistake: When Jack and that FBI team are looking for Sied Ali in the mosque, Jack finds a burning body in another room. He is led to believe that it is Ali, because the body's clothes matched the description that Kate Warner had given him. It is obvious that the skin is badly burnt, yet the clothes are barely scorched.
Day 2: 6:00 P.M.-7:00 P.M. - S2-E11
Continuity mistake: When Roger Stanton is about to be arrested, just before he stands up from his desk, we can see that the screen of his laptop is completely blue, however, while he is walking away with the army men, we can see the red ACCESS DENIED message on the screen on top of the blue background. No one touched the computer during that time.
Day 2: 7:00 P.M.-8:00 P.M. - S2-E12
Revealing mistake: When Kate Warner phones her sister, Marie holds her phone up to the camera and you can see that the words "KATE'S CELL" have been written using the 'Write Messages' function on her Nokia. The 'abc' in the corner gives it away plus you can see the cursor trying to be hidden by being moved next to the 'K' (00:20:05)
Day 2: 8:00 P.M.-9:00 P.M. - S2-E13
Deliberate mistake: The blue and white airplane when the male terrorist tries to take off has the following registration: N34G5 This seems to be a deliberate mistake as only the following N registrations are officially possible: N plus one to five numbers (N12345) / N plus one to four numbers and one suffix letter (N1234Z) / N plus one to three numbers and two suffix letters (N123AZ).
Day 2: 11:00 P.M.-12:00 Midnight - S2-E16
Factual error: At 18:50, Tony tells Jack that he's contacted someone at the San Jose Sheriff's Department. At 19:35 Jack calls and gets a response of "Sheriff's Department" on the line. There is no San Jose Sheriff's Department. It should have either been the San Jose Police Department or the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office. (00:18:50)
Day 2: 11:00 P.M.-12:00 Midnight - S2-E16
Continuity mistake: Mike Novik is briefing President Palmer about his phone call with Jack Bauer. In one shot Mike gets so emotionally involved in his speech to Palmer, a tear roles down his face and his eyes are glazed. The camera switches to Palmer, and in the next shot of Mike, his face is dry and his eyes are not glazed anymore.
Day 2: 11:00 P.M.-12:00 Midnight - S2-E16
Other mistake: In German Television the clock at the end switches from 23:59:59 to 23:00:00.
Day 2: 12:00 Midnight-1:00 A.M. - S2-E17
Factual error: When Yousef uses his Nextel to call Jack he uses the bleep button on the Nextel. Yet when Jack gives the phone to Wallace it is a regular call and not the Nextel bleep.
Day 2: 12:00 Midnight-1:00 A.M. - S2-E17
Continuity mistake: When Kate and Jack are escaping CTU the mirror breaks off one of the doors when the security guard tries to close the gate. Later on in the episode both of the mirrors are on the car.
Day 2: 1:00 A.M.-2:00 A.M. - S2-E18
Visible crew/equipment: When Jack is escaping with Yusef and Kate, the shadow of the camera crane is visible on the car. (00:21:00)
Day 2: 1:00 A.M.-2:00 A.M. - S2-E18
Visible crew/equipment: In the gun battle just after Kate has shot the man there is a shot of Jack spinning and shooting in which you can see a cameraman filming the action to the right of the screen.
Chosen answer: Nobody knew, not even the writers, until at least halfway through the season when they were writing the end. They wanted to keep all options open.
Nick N.