Episode Report Card M. Giant: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Kill Bi-- Never Mind, He'll Do It Himself
By M. Giant | Season 7 | Episode 13 | Aired on 03.09.2009
Pentagon? What does he think has happened since then? Or should I say, wasn't he just "at" the "Pentagon?" In any case, Walker intercepts him, and when she tells him it's urgent, he agrees to give her a minute. She starts to tell Ethan about what Kiefer told her. Ethan thinks about it, but we cut away before we have to listen to somebody telling someone the same thing for the third time.Cut to a shot of a logo for something called "STARKWOOD," which is a diagram of a globe in a set of crosshairs. Couldn't they think of anything more evil-looking? Blackwater's logo looks cute and cuddly by comparison. From there, we tilt down past some paper targets and into Hodges's office, whose brick walls and wide windows still make it look like a large radio broadcasting booth. Hodges buzzes in his man Seaton, who unhappily tells him that contrary to plan, Juma is dead and Taylor isn't, although they don't have any details yet on exactly how that happened. "Well, you gotta admire the damn bitch. She doesn't give up easily," Hodges sighs, standing up from his desk. Dammit, now I'm caught between my preexisting admiration for Taylor and my standing policy to do the opposite of anything suggested by someone who uses the phrase "damn bitch." He's even more evil than I thought. Seaton apologizes for the screw-up, and Hodges invites him to have a drink. Insists, in fact, forcefully enough that I wonder if Seaton's about to enjoy a scotch & strychnine. After a moment's thought, Hodges pronounces that since Juma held up his end, "Everything's still on track. Where are the weapons now?" Seaton says they'll be in their hands in a couple of hours. So that must be the "shipment" that Juma was talking about last hour. Although I have no idea what kind of weapons Juma has that Hodges doesn't. Wasn't Hodges the one arming Juma's army in the first place? Whatever the case, Hodges orders, "Get Chapman on the phone. I want to nail down some targets." Well, that doesn't sound friendly. It's 8:23:57.
At 8:28:24, Moss has escorted Kiefer back to the staging area himself, where he hands his handcuffed prisoner over to an agent with orders to hold him in the command center. Maybe he plans to torture Kiefer right back by making him listen to the Veep's accent. Then Moss's cell phone rings. It's Ethan, who wants him to put Kiefer's arrest on hold. He tells Moss that he just talked to Walker. Moss doesn't deny anything that Walker told Ethan, but when Ethan tells Moss to have Kiefer question Ryan Burnett again, Moss isn't happy. "With respect, sir, Bauer almost killed this man." Ethan reminds Moss that he was there. "But this will be a controlled interrogation. We're going to play on Burnett's fears. Bauer's presence alone should be enough to intimidate him into talking." So, psychological torture instead of physical torture, which is just fine. Moss still has objections, which is why Ethan tells him that this is on his authority alone, to insulate the president if anything goes wrong. Oh, what could go wrong? Moss finally pushes Ethan too far when he says, "With respect, sir, I think you're not telling the president because you know she'd never allow this." Ethan runs out of patience, and orders him to go ahead. "And I'm counting on you to supervise every second of that interrogation." Moss agrees and hangs up, looking pissed. Ooh, Walker's in trouble now.