Episode Report Card M. Giant: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Dead Kiefer Walking
By M. Giant | Season 7 | Episode 16 | Aired on 03.30.2009
At 11:40:54, Olivia enters the Oval Office to find Taylor watching some grim footage on the big screen. It shows civilians writhing and twitching away their last moments of life in the dust, while gas masked soldiers stand over them with guns. "What is this?" Olivia asks in horror. "My new press briefing room, you like it?" Taylor replies. No, actually, it's footage from Sangala that was apparently just smuggled out of a weapons lab 45 minutes ago. Leaving aside the convenient timing, why did it have to be smuggled? Isn't Sangala a 51st state now? In any case, it's proof that Juma was testing the bioweapon for Starkwood. "And that's what we allowed Starkwood to bring into this country." She rants about all the stuff the government has outsourced to Starkwood. "My God, we even passed a law so that they could build a military base thirteen miles from the nation's capital!" She isn't pacified when Olivia says that Taylor fought all that. And this episode has not been brought to you by Blackwater. Tim and Admiral Smith interrupt the pity party by walking in and telling them that Moss is calling from the FBI. From the conference room where he's hanging with Janis on her webcam-equipped laptop, Moss says they have a contact inside Starkwood: Greg Seaton is willing to give up the weapons' location in exchange for immunity. Moss says he's already prepping the raid, but needs Taylor to sign the agreement. Tim and Smith advise Taylor that this is probably their best chance, and Smith adds that they should have Navy SEALs ready to back up the FBI. "The Attorney General will raise hell," Olivia warns, but Taylor puts that off for later and gives Moss the green light. Then the show suddenly turns into an ad for Cisco WebEx, whereby according to Moss, Taylor can provide a "secure digital signature and we're good to go." Tim leads Taylor to the outer office, where it's all set up. She signs on a track pad, and her signature magically appears at the bottom of a long and wordy legal document that's been rapidly drafted to pardon Seaton. I hope that in the interests of verisimilitude, the prop department banged that out in under eight minutes. Then Moss, Seaton, and Taylor are all in live video windows on...well, someone's monitor, talking to each other. Moss says they can make it to Starkwood in ten minutes, and Taylor wishes him good luck. While he and Janis are relocating to the bullpen, Tim says they may have caught a break. Way to jinx it, dude. Fortunately, Taylor says she wants everyone to keep looking for other options.