Episode Report Card M. Giant: A | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Two Can Play at That Game
By M. Giant | Season 7 | Episode 1 | Aired on 01.11.2009
And I gotta say, absolute genius move to reveal Tony not only in the first episode, but in the first act. Obviously his return was pretty thoroughly spoiled a long time ago, so getting it out of the way as soon as possible was a great call. Plus I appreciate the show not expecting me to act surprised.
At 8:21:44, we're in the Oval Office, where President Allison Taylor is doing what all 24 presidents do in times of crisis: watching the news. Specifically, it's a "CNB" network report on General Juma, the Sangalan warlord we met in "Redemption." Apparently he's been busy in the last month and a half; he's killed almost 300,000 civilians. So far. It's the "so far" that puts this in Taylor's lap. Her Chief of Staff, Ethan Kanin (not to be confused with writer Ethan Canin, who to my knowledge has never been a senior administration official), mutes the TV and says this is the worst mass murder since Rwanda, but half the newspaper columnists are against U.S. intervention. Taylor predicts that the same pundits will accuse them of moral bankruptcy in six months if they do nothing. Damned if they do, damned if they don't, and fucked with their pants on if they're foolish enough to rely on the U.N. Looking at the TV, which is now showing images of a grinning Juma with a rifle slung over his shoulder, Taylor insists, "General Juma has to be stopped." Ethan says they're only awaiting her order to do so, and the Joint Chiefs are assembling in the Situation Room. Well, okay, it sounds like the decision has been made, then. Suddenly Taylor's husband Henry bursts in unannounced, saying a reporter is doing a CNB piece against moving in. Colm Feore, the actor who plays Henry, has always been a thin man, but some genius costume designer has put him in a suit that's a little too big, as though he's recently lost weight. The possible reasons for this will become apparent soon. Taylor's not happy to hear about the upcoming news report. "As if getting through this day won't be hard enough," she foreshadows. Henry offers to try to talk the reporter down, and she quietly gives him the go-ahead, against Ethan's suggestions. But now the Joint Chiefs are waiting, and Ethan hands her a briefing folder and starts to leave the room. Before going, Taylor clasps hands with her husband and says, "Wish me luck." "Luck," he responds, with admirable verbal economy.
As Taylor and Ethan cross the hall to the elevator with a small entourage, Ethan quietly expresses his concerns that Henry isn't up to this. "Henry's fine," says Taylor. "It's going to take more than a few months. He lost a son." Roger's dead? Wow, Jon Voight doesn't fuck around. Ethan says that she suffered the same loss, but hasn't let it interfere with her job. As they get off the elevator in the basement, he worries that Henry doesn't have her resilience. She snaps, "I'm about to take this nation to war and grief is a luxury I can't afford right now." Oh, sure, it's all about you.