Episode Report Card M. Giant: B | 1 USERS: A YOU GRADE IT Out of Time
By M. Giant | Season 8 | Episode 24 | Aired on 05.24.2010
At 3:29:26, Logan walks into Taylor's office waving the data card and saying, "This is it." He tells Taylor about how Kiefer, Cole and Chloe planned to distribute the file using CTU servers. "It almost worked. My people never gave up, and now it's over. You won. Congratulations." Taylor somehow doesn't look all that victorious. He sets it down on her desk, and she asks if he listened to it. "Frankly it's not worth hearing," Logan says. I'm sure that'll work. In fact, I'm kind of surprised he doesn't try to make a grab to get it back. He adds that Kiefer's about to be brought back to CTU. "I realize that this is a difficult area," he begins gently, and she already looks dismayed at what he's about to say, which is that Kiefer will never let it go. "No. I don't suppose he will," Taylor sighs wearily. Logan makes a little speech: "All great achievements in state are fragile things, Madam President." Like "state" is a sport you can letter in or something. "Especially in their infancy. They need to be protected. Our peace agreement? Very vulnerable." Notice how it's "our" peace agreement now. Taylor promises, "We will lock him away in a black site halfway around the world," like that's not bad enough. Suddenly Logan's not as optimistic as he usually is. "He will find a way. Madam President," he says. In a quiet but insistent tone, he presses, "Mark my words. He will rise up out of the deepest hole in the ground. He will claw his way back from the ends of the earth, unless we stop him before that can happen." By now, Taylor is staring miserably out the window again, and Logan adds, "Pending approval, I've taken it upon myself to, uh, put a plan in motion." "Of course you have," Taylor says without looking at him. After a pause, he slimes, "I will take your silence as tacit approval," and leaves the room. She could maybe still almost save her soul if she stopped him. She doesn't stop him.
But when he's gone, she goes back to her desk and pops that little memory card into the reader on the side of her laptop. Suddenly there's Kiefer on her computer in the middle of his speech, like this is a videocassette that starts playing at whatever point it was at when the last person ejected it. He picks up a bit before where we saw him leave off, talking about the day's deaths. "These people died today because President Suvarov wanted to destroy the peace treaty for his own interests. And President Taylor knows this because I told her. But she's willing to cover it up because she believes the peace accord will serve the greater good. She is wrong. It won't." Taylor pauses it to answer a call from Tim telling her the signing ceremony is about to begin. She thanks him and hangs up before going back to the video. Kiefer lectures, "Lasting peace cannot simply be political. It has to be born out of trust and honesty and understanding, and most importantly a will on both sides to move forward." Well, look who's such an expert on peace all of a sudden. "Currently, that will does not exist and this peace is fraudulent, and I cannot in good conscience allow the people that lost their lives today to go unspoken for." So he's still in good conscience after everything he's done the past few hours? Good to know. "You reminded me of that earlier today," he tells Spawn. "That's who I am." Taylor takes out the card and looks sad. But at least after letting Logan arrange a hit on Kiefer, she won't have to listen to any more speeches like that from him.