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
4:53:55. Naked Mandy loads and stows her silenced handgun, the Veep holds court outside the Undal Office, Bitchelle wears her headset on the CTU floor, and the LAPD SUV carrying Kiefer, Soul Patch, and Castle pulls into the parking lot outside the Naked Arms. Kiefer sends Castle and Soul Patch to take up position on the roof. With the help of an LAPD operator squawking in his earpiece, he punches in the code to the security gate. "I'm in," he says. He takes up position and peers through his scope at a curtained window with a female silhouette moving around behind the shade. "I've got a visual on the apartment," he says, because Kiefer never just "sees" anything. He gives the order for the Asian Agent Who Is Not Baker, Agent McCallan, to meet him outside the apartment. You may notice I never complain about the Asian CTU agents with Western names. That's because one of my best friends is an Asian woman named Erickson. Weapons drawn, Kiefer and McCallan make their respective ways through the halls and meet up at Naked Mandy's apartment door at 4:55:22. Kiefer has McCallan pick the lock, and they're inside in seconds. They silently split up to search the apartment, but the only warm body is in a chair in the living room, watching Fox News. And, as Kiefer quickly discovers, Naked Man isn't all that warm any more. Poor guy. I wouldn't want to be caught dead watching Fox News. Kiefer orders McCallan to take a picture of Naked Man and send it to CTU, then leaves McCallan alone in the apartment.
Over his earpiece, he asks Soul Patch and Castle -- who are already in position in the roof -- whether they've spotted any movement, since Naked Man is dead and Naked Mandy is gone. "She couldn't have gotten past the perimeter teams," says Soul Patch, demonstrating that things are never too tense for him to make a little joke. Kiefer says there are plenty of places to hide in the complex. And indeed, the Naked Arms isn't just some cracker-box apartment building; it's one of those sprawling, multi-building developments you can find on the edges of freeways and suburbs everywhere. Kiefer gives Soul Patch the order for everyone to stay put until they can search all the other apartments.
Naturally, it's at that exact moment that Castle starts to wander off by himself. It's 4:56:32. Mandy appears from around the corner he just turned his back on and puts a bullet in his arm. He drops his gun. Soul Patch, who has heard the muted gunshot and Castle's grunt of pain, turns his own weapon in that direction. But when Mandy shows herself, she's got Castle in human-shield position with her own gun pressed against the base of Castle's neck. Given their respective sizes, he makes an excellent shield for her. She orders Soul Patch to drop his own weapon. When he's slow to comply, she coolly puts another round into Castle, this time in the leg. Castle drops to his knees, and even though he's not nearly as good a shield any more, Soul Patch raises his hands and slowly puts his gun down on the roof. Which makes it sound like Soul Patch is really tall, I know, but you'll recall that they're standing on the roof as this happens. "Kick it away," she snaps. He does. "He's injured," says Soul Patch, as if she's not the one who injured Castle in the first place. "Let him go, you can take me instead." Aw, after the way Castle dissed him this afternoon, too. Mandy isn't quite so touched, and orders Soul Patch to remove his radio. He drops the pack, although the wire stays in his ear. She gets Soul Patch to turn around, kneel, and put his hands behind his head, and then orders Castle to cuff him. While Castle is making his painful way over to Soul Patch, Mandy picks up Soul Patch's radio. Having cuffed Soul Patch, Castle gets to his feet and faces her. And she shoots him, fatally this time. That'll learn him to dis Soul Patch. Everyone who's spent the whole season wishing Castle had been Agent Baker instantly shuts up. Mandy orders Soul Patch to his feet and marches him out of the scene at gunpoint.