Episode Report Card M. Giant: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Putting The "Curt" In "Curtis"
By M. Giant | Season 6 | Episode 3 | Aired on 01.14.2007
Wayne's still veg-ing out in front of PrisonerVision, which is now showing the men at an airfield getting ready to board a plane. Buchanan's call comes through -- before the commercial for once -- and he tells Wayne (and Tom and Karen, who are also in the room) that the Handler done blowed himself up. "I'm sorry," Buchanan adds. "So am I," says Wayne calmly. "Keep me informed." Wow, he's like the Anti-Logan. Tom holds out his open cell phone and says that if Wayne really wants to go ahead with the prisoner release, they're waiting for the order. They wait a little longer, and finally, Wayne quietly says, "Load them on the plane." Tom relays the order into the phone.
At the airfield, it's 8:47:46 as the sergeant in charge coordinates the headcount and the boarding onto the plane, reporting that everyone's accounted for. He barks a few more orders to the prisoners, and to the men guarding them, and then tells them to move the buses out and hops onto one. As the bus drives away with him and the driver the only apparent passengers, the camera pans to look toward the back of the bus. I don't see anyone back there. Do you see anyone back there? I sure don't see anyone back there. Least of all someone in an orange jumpsuit.
At Fayed's HQ, the tech guy tells Fayed that the prisoners are getting loaded onto the plane, and summarizes, "The President has given in to us." Instead of responding, Fayed turns away from his laptop to gaze into the shadows next to his seat. The music seems to think it's kind of scary, but if we were really afraid of the dark, we probably wouldn't be watching this show in the first place. It's 8:48:52.
8:53:14. Dad arrives at the appointed address with Ahmed's parcel, and carries it into some dingy little office. He follows a guy's voice back to a large, cluttered stock room and finds a disreputable-looking white guy -- the aforementioned Marcus. Dad hands over the package, and Marcus slits it open in front of him with a switchblade. The box is stuffed with cash. But it's not enough. Marcus explains, "The component cost me a little more than I thought it would. I'm gonna need another $50,000." A little more? What was the sticker price originally? Dad complains that that's all the cash he has, and begs Marcus to take the money. Marcus isn't negotiating. He does let Dad use his phone, though.
Back home, Ahmed is still holding the rest of the fam at gunpoint when Dad's call comes in. Dad tries to sound all calm for Marcus's benefit as he explains the situation, and Ahmed is totally unsympathetic. He doesn't have any more money to send, anyway. Wait, isn't his boss's name Fayed? Couldn't he ask him to dip a little further into his share of the Harrod's fortune? Oh, come on. Like you haven't been thinking that too. Ahmed insists, "You have to get that item from him. You understand what happens here if you don't, right?" Dad's playing it all cool as he hangs up, and then goes back to Marcus and tells him that he'll get the money. "He just wants to make sure you really do have [the item]," he says. Seems reasonable to Marcus, who retrieves a box off a shelf and shows its contents to Dad. "There it is," Marcus boasts, like anybody's going to recognize the random-looking collection of circuit boards and wires inside. When Marcus turns away to return it to the shelf, Dad grabs a heavy lamp off a file cabinet and smashes it over the back of Marcus's head. Marcus is down, but not out, and he gets up, retrieving a gun which he aims at Dad. Oops. Too bad Marcus's head broke Dad's only weapon. Dad rushes him, knocks the gun away, and throws Marcus to the ground. "Just take the money!" he orders, punching Marcus in the face and then bouncing his head on the concrete floor a few times. See, I would have a much easier time buying this scene if it were Ben Stiller instead of this guy, who would rattle around loosely inside a Toyota Echo. After a while, Marcus quits struggling, and his eyes stare lifelessly up at the ceiling. Dad backs away in horror, his hands covered in blood and what little brains Marcus had. The component lies on the floor, spilled out of its box. You think Dad will leave the money? Technically, it belongs to Marcus's estate now.