Episode Report Card M. Giant: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Let's Give The Boy A Hand
By M. Giant | Season 3 | Episode 24 | Aired on 05.24.2004
Meanwhile, Saunders himself is being led by agents in riot gear to Potato Face's desk, jingling all the way. He's in leg and wrist irons, you see. It's 12:07:49. Potato Face picks up her phone and asks Spawn to come help her with the remote courier ID project she's working on. Spawn tries to beg off on the grounds that she's babysitting a newly-bereaved wife, but Potato Face cares not: "Bitchelle said I could reassign anyone I wanted to help me and I want you, so please don't make me ask again." Spawn is struck breathless at Potato Face's lack of boundaries. Again. Make excuses for Potato Face all you want, but there are seventy-seven other people she could ask for help on this, and she's got no good reason for insisting on Spawn. There's a fine line between "socially inept" and "rancid bitch," and I'd say Potato Face passed it several exits back. Spawn pawns off Mrs. Gael to someone named Barry and goes off to help her least favorite coworker. Barry stares helplessly at the weeping stranger in front of him until someone approaches to ask for his signature on something. While he is thus distracted, Mrs. Gael quietly gets a really bad idea.
12:08:56. At the subway station, the CTU agents have set up several portable driver's license photo stations, because CTU is nothing if not prepared for everything. They've even got the digital cameras linked up to CTU so the photos can be instantly uploaded to Potato Face's monitor. Saunders is looking through the mug shots as they appear on Potato Face's screen, and it's not immediately clear why Spawn needed to be involved, because I can't even see what she's doing. Saunders doesn't see his guy among the passengers, at least not yet. At the subway station, a shifty-looking guy takes up position in front of a camera. Meanwhile, Mrs. Gael is walking out of CTU with a carton of Gael's stuff. Presumably still with that bad idea in her head. Barry's right behind her, for all the good he's about to do. As Mrs. Gael passes Saunders, the man responsible for her husband's death, she stops walking and looks at him. He glances up at her disinterestedly. She reaches into the box, pulls out a gun, and shoots Saunders twice in the chest.
Aaargh! How does this happen? My issues with this turn of events are legion, beginning with the chances of Mrs. Gael even being allowed in the building in the middle of a crisis like this; being allowed to get near a service weapon, let alone a loaded one; being allowed within half a mile of Saunders, and so on. But since it's the season finale and I'm feeling magnanimous, I'm going to let the writers off the hook and blame this whole thing on Potato Face. Saunders falls to the ground, and some slow-moving uniforms tackle a hysterical Mrs. Gael to the floor. Kiefer wants to know what the racket in his earpiece is all about. Bitchelle, crouched over Saunders, tells him. She bellows for medical help. Wow, she's even hot when she bellows. Kiefer reminds everyone how important it is to keep Saunders alive. Too bad they can't; he's dead. And his underdeveloped motivation dies with him. What a pity. Kiefer tells Special Agent Charlie Brown what just happened, presumably so Charlie Brown can keep his hand in. We can still hear Mrs. Gael crying throughout all of this as the handcuffs go on her. We zoom in on the image of the shifty guy on one of the monitors at CTU. I think we can assume this is Wild Card, but Saunders is the only person who knows that, and he's not in much of a position to help now. Too bad Spawnders isn't around to stare blankly at his corpse. It's 12:11:12.