Episode Report Card M. Giant: B+ | 1 USERS: A YOU GRADE IT Manning Down
By M. Giant | Season 6 | Episode 4 | Aired on 01.14.2007
Kiefer bursts out of the house, yelling at Curtis to holster his weapon, his own weapon trained on Curtis. Curtis refuses. "By order of the President of the United States, put down your weapon!" Kiefer roars. I suppose "By order of Wayne" wouldn't sound as impressive. Curtis yells at Kiefer to stay out of it as he pulls Assad around to use as a shield. "I gave him my word that we would protect him," Kiefer says. Curtis didn't, though. Kiefer begs him to stop. Curtis doesn't. Kiefer closes one eye, just to make clear that he's totally serious about his aim. There are any number of other CTU agents standing about, but none of them is taking any action. "Please," Kiefer says again. "I can't let this animal live," says Curtis, and a gunshot rings out. But it's Curtis who goes down, as the other CTU agents suddenly remember that their limbs work, and they hustle Assad out of there. Over the barrel of his smoking weapon and some seriously operatic racket on the soundtrack, Kiefer watches Curtis slowly collapse to the curb from a fatal throat wound. They finally did it. They killed Curtis. It's hard out there for a Handsome Black Agent. For a member of that demographic, two-and-one-sixth seasons on this show practically qualifies as immortality.
From the back seat of a CTUmobile that's being driven away at high speed, Assad watches Kiefer with concern. He's going to need a lot more snuggling now. Kiefer walks off into an emotional breakdown. Finally he can't go any further, vomiting the paltry contents of his stomach onto the Wallaces' lawn as a mournful soprano goes completely Battlestar Galactica on us. Kiefer collapses against a sapling, leaning his head on the trunk. He's acting the fuck out of this. But then his cell phone picks that moment to ring, and even now he's not too far gone to answer it.
It's Buchanan, who's being really understanding about having just had his head of Tactical Ops killed right out from under him. He gently says that Curtis didn't leave Kiefer a choice. "That's what I keep trying to tell myself," says Kiefer, like it's been more than ten seconds. "Tell the President I can't do this anymore," he blubbers. Buchanan disagrees, saying that Kiefer's the reason they're going to find the suitcase nuke. "Good, then you don't need me anymore," Kiefer responds. Buchanan still wants Kiefer to come back and talk. At the very least, Buchanan's going to need a new head of Tactical now. "I'm done," says Kiefer, and hangs up so that he can go back to his crying.