Episode Report Card M. Giant: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Diplomessy
By M. Giant | Season 4 | Episode 21 | Aired on 05.08.2005
In the conference room, Curtis is running a meeting whose centerpiece is a map of the United States. He points to Eastern Iowa, where the warhead was stolen. No air traffic has been observed, which means that if the warhead is being transported, it's staying on the ground. Which in turn means they have a 300-mile search radius, an area that includes three major metropolitan areas. One of those metropolitan areas is, naturally, the Twin Cities. Jeez, 24, was it something I said? Aside from the last 27 recaps, I mean? Soul Patch asks if those cities have been alerted, but Buchanan says the Veep wants to keep it quiet for now. He tells everyone to concentrate on finding the warhead (rather than sitting in pointless meetings, one presumes), because while it's still the middle of the night, any trail ImhoTerror leaves is going to be easier to spot than when people start going to work in a couple of hours. Hmm, how could we prevent that from happening? The meeting breaks up at 3:18:54.
People are still speaking Chinese at the Chinese Consulate. One of them is the uniformed guard, who shows a photo to the Consulate Cop. It's from a dossier on the Briefly Unmasked Agent, and he's the closest match they could find. We can now see the Briefly Unmasked Agent's name, which is Howard Bern. Given what his unmasking, however brief, could do to the U.S. Government, I'm going to start calling him Agent Burn. The Consulate Cop wants to call CTU, even though the guard says they won't cooperate. "They'll have to," says Consulate Cop. "It would be a diplomatic mistake for them not to cooperate under the circumstances." He whips out his cell phone and Chineses, "Get me the head of CTU Los Angeles."
That lady is at the moment engaged in a round of technobabble with Lispy Skip when the Consulate Cop's call comes through. Bitchelle screws in her earpiece and walks off to take the call in private. The Consulate Cop introduces himself in English while Bitchelle goes into a conference room to conduct the call in private. She expresses her sympathy about the death of the Consul, and offers to help. Consulate Cop wants to talk to her about it -- now. Bitchelle tries to shoot that down, but Consulate Cop is insistent: "The murder of a Chinese Consul on Chinese soil could be construed as an act of war." And he thinks CTU was behind it. Bitchelle bites her lip and lets that hang for a second. "That is an outrageous accusation," she states. The Consulate Cop reminds us that Lee was kidnapped less than a half hour after the U.S. government asked to speak to him. "It is unlikely that the two events are unrelated," he understates. Bitchelle still isn't budging, so Consulate Cop threatens to go over her head. "I'm sure you'll do what you have to," Bitchelle says. "Very well, Ms. Dessler," Consulate Cop says cheerily. "You will be hearing from me soon." They hang up, and Consulate Cop's next call is to the United States Secretary of State.
Kiefer approaches DoDder again and thanks her for the help with the technobabble. "You're welcome," she says. Kiefer starts to leave, but comes back to suggest she get some rest. "Don't tell me what to do," she says quietly. Kiefer starts to respond, but refrains in favor of a needy stare. "What do want from me?" DoDder says. "You made a choice that killed Grayadder and I'm trying to deal with it." Kiefer doesn't have an answer for that, and she stomps off.