Episode Report Card M. Giant: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Out of Time
By M. Giant | Season 4 | Episode 22 | Aired on 05.15.2005
4:15:02. The blowed-up CTUmobile burns merrily while Kiefer squats miserably nearby; Palmer and the Veep study a 24-verse electoral map whose red-blue divide runs roughly along the Mississippi; and Potato Face glares at her monitor. She's going to void the warranty if she keeps doing that. Buchanan comes up to her to ask what's up with ImhoTerror. She says the perimeter teams caught him. HA HA HA! Obviously, I kid. Potato Face really says that ImhoTerror has already ditched the stolen CTUmobile and there's no sign of him on satellite. Buchanan wants to know how the terrorists got into the area in the first place. Potato Face figures they were there all along. I don't know why that has to be the case, unless CTU's perimeter guys are a whole lot better at keeping people out than they are at keeping ImhoTerror in. Buchanan tells her to shift all personnel to searching for the missile. Good plan. It's about time they figured out that looking for ImhoTerror is futile, even when they find him.
Soul Patch has to relay the bad news about ImhoTerror's escape to Kiefer via cell phone. Kiefer wastes time asking how ImhoTerror got away. Same as always, Kiefer: because that's what happens. Might as well ask why the sun's coming up in a few hours. Let's just move on. Kiefer asks how Buchanan wants to handle it. Hearing the question on the speaker phone, Buchanan pipes up, "Finding ImhoTerror is becoming less likely." Not to mention less useful. "With that missile in the air we have to follow primary leads only. Right now, that's DiCK." What an appropriate nickname. What do they have to go on? Dick, that's what. Kiefer says he wants to interrogate DiCK himself, and he's on his way in. He hangs up, and he and Curtis head over to the one remaining CTUmobile and drive off. How are the other surviving agents going to get home now?
The Veep steps out of the Undal Office into the outer lobby, where, since the act-in splitscreen, the entire Cabinet and other officials have been assembled. If there are any gory Igloo coolers in the room containing the sloppy remains of whatever Cabinet members were spatulaed out of the wreckage of Air Force One, they're tastefully kept out of the shot. Which is good, because I'm all about tasteful. The bigwigs in the room are all fully and professionally dressed, which seemed weird to me until I realized it's after 7:00 AM D.C. time. And if The West Wing is anything to go by, it's probably a couple of hours into these people's workdays. The Veep first apologizes for the abruptness of their removal. Which, considering he just gave the order to get them here about ten minutes ago, must have been pretty fucking abrupt indeed. Like, transporter abrupt. He cuts to the chase: "A cruise missile containing a nuclear warhead has been launched and is now headed for, we believe, a major U.S. city. Possibly Washington, D.C." He says they're trying to track it now. A sourpussed man interrupts to express surprise that neither the missile's target nor its location are currently known. The Veep confirms it. "When are you planning to inform the public?" asks Sourpuss. The Veep says, "We feel that informing the public wouldn't be in the best interest of the country." "We, meaning who?" Sourpuss persists. "I feel that way, Mr. Speaker." says the Veep, trying and failing not to look busted. The Speaker of the House apparently also wants to be the Speaker of the Bunker, but the Veep says that's all for now. He excuses himself.