Episode Report Card M. Giant: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Dead Kiefer Walking
By M. Giant | Season 7 | Episode 16 | Aired on 03.30.2009
Inside the building where Tony was led earlier, he's being subjected to a beating and some questions from Stokes, who is asking him what the FBI knows. As if Tony's talked to anyone from the FBI in the last, oh, thirteen hours or so. Hodges joins the little group and calls Stokes off so he can play good cop. When Hodges promises that Tony can walk away alive if he tells them what the FBI knows, Tony takes his time, and finally opens his mouth. "I don't know anything...Mr. Hodges," he whispers with a mock-helpless gaze. Hodges mock-pats Tony on the face, roughly, and keeps trying to lean on him -- closer and quieter, as though his favorite instrument of torture is halitosis -- until Seaton interrupts. Reluctantly, Hodges pulls himself away. Seaton quietly suggests getting rid of the evidence while there's still time. Hodges refuses to give up the bioweapons, but Seaton says they're risking too much. "I think you're worried about your own ass," Hodges accuses Seaton, and orders Tony taken away. To Seaton, he says, "Keep your doubts to yourself. I'm not going to tell you again." You think Tony overheard all of that? Think he was meant to?
Kiefer is dressed in white scrubs and being told by Macer that she's going to need more blood and saliva samples from him, and probably a spinal tap. That last thing right there is probably the scariest thing that'll happen to him in the six and two-thirds seasons to date. As for whether he's been infected, preliminary results are due in the next fifteen minutes, or at least another commercial break away. Another red-suit comes up and tells Macer that they've detected an airborne pathogen near the truck, which they haven't yet identified. Macer isn't worried about the low levels, but wants air monitors set up just in case. She tells Kiefer he saved a lot of lives sealing the canister, and all he asks for in return is a ride back to the FBI. Macer says that's the plan. So this is what it looks like when government agencies actually cooperate with Kiefer? Considering they get along so well, maybe he should consider joining the CDC when this is all over.At 11:09:57, Taylor and Olivia are discussing potential Chief of Staff replacements. Taylor is thinking about someone from inside her administration, but of course Olivia pushes for someone new. But since it might take weeks anyway, Taylor asks her daughter to step into the breach in the meantime. Because it's not like there's anyone else in Taylor's administration who could do the job, who's been inside the White House before today, and who knows stuff like people's names. No speaking roles, anyway. Olivia lamely pretends to resist, but accepts eventually. Just then, Tim from Homeland (who suddenly has a last name: Woods) enters saying he's got a call from Larry Moss about an "imminent homeland threat." Tim hesitates before putting Moss on speaker in front of Olivia, but Taylor says her daughter is the new Chief of Staff, so not to worry about security clearances or any of that silly nonsense. Once Moss is on the line, the first thing he tells Taylor is that Kiefer didn't kill Ryan Burnett or Senator Blaine Mayer. Taylor's the opposite of shocked, and asks who framed Kiefer. Moss tells her about Starkwood, their support for Juma, and what they got in return: a place to "Manufacture weapons of mass destruction...specifically, biological weapons." Way to bury the lede. The line goes quiet as Taylor paces around, and Moss just waits for someone on the other end to talk again. This is what happens to people who spend too much time on the phone with Renee Walker: they start to think long silences like this are totally normal. Finally Olivia chimes in, "What kind of bioweapons are you talking about?" Uh, the cute, fuzzy kind? What the hell kind of a question is that, anyway? Taylor's new Chief of Staff sucks. Moss says CDC is working on that. Oh, and by the way, before he forgets to mention it, Starkwood's got a big ol' shitload of them right now. "We need to move on Starkwood immediately," Moss says. That lede just keeps getting burieder and burieder. Tim gets up and asks, "Madam President?" "Assemble the Cabinet and the Joint Chiefs," Taylor orders. It's 11:13:25.