Episode Report Card M. Giant: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT I Won't Be Your Father Figure
By M. Giant | Season 5 | Episode 10 | Aired on 02.26.2006
4:54:42. One of the splitscreen windows shows the Suvarovs and FLOTUS shakily climbing out of their smoldering limousine. The others are just people staring, like usual. Back at Omicron, Kiefer and Henderson have finally reached the destination of their half-hour stroll. That must be a huge campus. Henderson's telling Kiefer about the airtight security at the Sentox project: "Each defense contract is run out of its own separate, dedicated bunker." As Henderson swipes his card and swings open a heavy airlock-style door handle, he explains, "Nothing gets in and nothing gets out." And then they go in. So far, not impressed with the airtightness.
Kiefer finds himself with Henderson in a space that looks like a server room, only different from CTU's in the sense that it's white instead of a dank concrete cave. They have the place to themselves. Henderson sits down at a computer to see who's working on the Sentox project. Kiefer gives Henderson grief for not knowing that off the top of his giant head, and Henderson grumps that there are 8,000 employees, but it'll only take him a minute to find out. As he taps away, he idly asks who's running CTU now. Kiefer tells him, "Bill Buchanan." Henderson clearly recognizes the name, as he derisively chuckles, "What a stiff!" For a disgruntled ex-employee, he sure seems to have been keeping up with our forums. He says CTU keeps getting rid of everyone who can do their job. And quite a few people who can't, to be fair, but Kiefer cuts through it and says, "You made your own bed." Henderson still insists he was framed. "By who?" Kiefer wonders skeptically. "Nina Myers, George Mason, who knows," Henderson says. Kiefer looks like he's thinking, Actually, that makes sense. But Henderson is still hurt that Kiefer never believed him. By now, Henderson has found the name of the lead scientist, but if Kiefer wants to speak with him he's going to need a Ouija board: "He died in a helicopter crash in Geneva two years ago." There's a photo of the crash scene on the system and everything. The next two scientists Henderson pulls up both died suddenly and "accidentally" as well, two weeks apart. Both men seem to realize something suspicious is going on, and Kiefer tells Henderson to upload all the files to CTU for work-up. Henderson heads out, saying he's going next door to get some help with that from the IT department.
As Henderson leaves, Kiefer announces that he's going to give CTU a heads-up that the files are on their way. But when he picks up the desk phone, all he gets is static. Rather than pulling out his cell phone (whose signal might be jammed by the bunker environment, although I find it odd that Kiefer doesn't even try), Kiefer crosses the room at 4:57:14 to another phone, which also fills his ear with static. It's here that his radar starts pinging, about ten seconds later than mine did (although I initially thought that Henderson was getting screwed as well). Kiefer scampers to the door, only to discover that Henderson locked it tight behind him and there's no getting out. And now it occurs to Kiefer to start wondering what might be in the room with him. I expect the place to start filling with gas, considering what once went on in there, but Kiefer goes over to Henderson's thick metal clipboard, which his old boss left behind. Kiefer carefully opens it, and rather than papers, he finds a very sinister-looking device ticking away inside. At this point, I would like to advise all Omicron employees that if Christopher Henderson ever comes into your office, make sure he leaves with everything he brought in. "How could I be so stupid?" Kiefer curses himself. Indeed. But I have to say, this is where Henderson became my favorite character. I don't care if CTU finds the nerve gas next hour; I would happily watch the rest of the season for free if it went completely Spy vs. Spy and consisted of nothing but Henderson repeatedly getting the drop on Kiefer and Kiefer having his hands full just not getting killed. Do that four or five times an hour, and it's A-pluses from here on out.