Episode Report Card M. Giant: C | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Thrilling Bureaucratic Intrigue!
By M. Giant | Season 5 | Episode 16 | Aired on 04.02.2006
But Evelyn doesn't get very far down the hallway before she runs into Wayne and Aaron. "I really need to talk to you," Wayne says. Evelyn must really be in a hurry, because she tries to blow him off even after that hot look he gives her. She says she needs to get home (so she lives in L.A. then? See? Confusing), but Aaron backs up Wayne, and they quickly prevail upon her to join them in an empty room at 10:09:37. Before starting, Wayne loosens his tie for some reason. Good of him to have changed into a suit since this morning for this secret visit to official headquarters. He cuts right to the chase, saying he knows that Evelyn and David had been emailing each other. I don't know how he was able to trace the emails back to Evelyn without being able to ascertain what any of them said, but he seems certain, even though Evelyn is playing ignorant. He leans on her harder, saying David was killed and someone tried to kill Wayne, which means that Evelyn is probably in danger as well. Evelyn's face gets more and more twitchy, until Palmer starts yelling at her to tell him what he needs to know. And then Evelyn tearily reveals the reason for her reluctance: "They kidnapped my little girl!" Ah, the old kidnapped daughter routine. Works every time on this show, except when it doesn't. Also: Evelyn lives in L.A. with her daughter? Must be a bitch of a commute when FLOTUS is in D.C., even if Evelyn drops the kid off at school in St. Louis. Evelyn explains that the bad guys promised to give her daughter back if she gave them some key evidence she has: "I have proof about who's behind everything that's happened today." She starts crying, so Wayne gets all sensitive and comforting: "Even if you turn over this evidence, they're not just going to give you back your daughter and let you go. That's not what these people do." Oddly, that doesn't seem to make her feel better. Nor does Aaron's contribution to the discussion: "Mr. Palmer's right. You know too much. They'll kill you both." They give Evelyn a minute to process that, and she finally recovers enough to tell Wayne, "I'll give you the evidence that I have if you get me back my daughter." It's 10:11:57, and we go to commercial before Wayne has to confess that he couldn't even retrieve a medicine bottle from his ex-sister-in-law's house without getting her killed.
It's 10:16:22, and Kiefer is using a white rag to clean his face while driving. He's always been such a god multitasker. At CTU, Chloe and New Girl Shari are just about to start data-mining Henderson's work records when a whole group of people in suits marches in. Chloe and Shari look up worriedly, like this doesn't happen several times a day. The guy at the front of the group points the blonde woman at his right to Chloe, who tells Shari, "That's Jim Hill from Homeland." In case we missed it, Jim Hill from Homeland introduces himself to some random as "Jim Hill, Homeland Security," and then promptly disappears from the episode. Great to meet you, Jim Hill from Homeland! Take care! The blonde he sicced on Chloe comes over and announces that she's there to take over Chloe's station. Chloe tries not to completely freak out as she asks what's going on, and that's Hayes's cue to come out and make her big announcement. From the mezzanine over the main floor, she tells the room that CTU is being absorbed by DHS, and asks everyone to "cooperate to make this transition as smooth as possible." Of course, if the search for Henderson were really a priority, the transition would be as nonexistent as possible, but there are obviously other agendas at play here. She reminds them that Bierko is on his way to CTU Medical, and that Henderson is still "an open protocol." And that's all she has to say. I would expect pandemonium to erupt on the floor below as fired CTUers try to make off with armloads of office supplies, laptops, and interrogation drugs, but that doesn't happen. Buchanan just turns away, looking disgusted.