Episode Report Card M. Giant: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Carry-on Kiefer
By M. Giant | Season 5 | Episode 19 | Aired on 04.23.2006
Kiefer's next call is on his own phone, to Bill Buchanan's house. "I don't have time to explain," he says, a rarity in the opening minutes of an episode. He says he's been trying to reach Chloe. I had to think for a minute about how Kiefer knew that Buchanan would be at home instead of at work (never mind that it's 1 AM; I finally figured out that CTU is on the Centaurian thirty-seven-hour day from Men in Black), but then I remembered that while he was tied up in the maintenance room with Audrey, she had plenty of time to tell him how she sold Buchanan up the river to get Kiefer's satellite coverage. Anyway, Buchanan tells him that Chloe's right there with him, having escaped from custody last hour. On speakerphone, Kiefer asks her to access CTU's satellites to track Henderson. She's nervous about her chances of getting caught doing that, but he talks her into technobabbling her assent. Apropos of nothing except some stuff that'll happen later, she adds that she can set up a way for his calls to remain untraceable, but only on the phone he's using now. Kiefer hangs up and tells Audrey they have to bounce, then hauls her to her feet. That coat of hers is ruined. I'm having trouble feeling sad about it.
Back at Cabana Buchanan, Chloe is furiously technobabbling orders at her former boss to help her augment her laptop. "I hope you don't mind me bossing you around, but technically I don't work for you anymore," she remarks. Buchanan's totally cool with it, although he'd probably prefer her to stifle the narration.
Back at the airfield, Kiefer's loading Audrey into his stolen police car. Chloe is calling him back already, saying she's loading satellite footage of the airfield from fifteen minutes ago. So she's figured out how to make the satellites go back in time? Cool. Buchanan's busy trying to hook up his large-screen TV to Chloe's computer, because you have to have a big-screen on this show, always. On the satellite footage, Kiefer directs her attention to the explosion he caused by blowing up the fuel tanker, an explosion which has brought absolutely nobody running. Airport must be abandoned at this time of night or something. Yep, nobody there at all. Just Kiefer, Audrey, and the tumbleweeds. Anyway, Chloe quickly finds the point in the footage where Henderson left the airport, and Kiefer hops behind the wheel, telling her to call back as soon as she catches up with Henderson on a live feed. Because apparently satellites have started covering all of Southern California in the past couple of hours. It's 1:05:56 as he and Audrey haul ass out of there. Every time he gets into that car, I expect him to say, "It's 106 miles to Chicago. We've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses." Sadly, he never does. And no, I didn't have to look that up.