Episode Report Card M. Giant: B | 556 USERS: B YOU GRADE IT Poison
By M. Giant | Season 7 | Episode 15 | Aired on 2009.03.23
At 10:05:34, President Taylor is on the Oval Office phone to her husband, who's apparently awake after his surgery. She's got nothing but good news for him, telling him that the crisis is all over and everyone behind it is dead (as far as she knows), plus Olivia's back in the fold. Too bad he slept through all of the excitement while having a bullet dug out of his thorax. Henry's happy to hear it, even though he's still pretty groggy as he balances a phone next to his ear in his hospital bed. With a promise to visit as soon as they can ("I'm not going anywhere," Henry says), Taylor hangs up just as Ethan enters the Oval Office. Even as she tells him that Henry's going to be fine, Taylor can tell from Ethan's grim demeanor that something's wrong. Ethan has to tell her that Senator Mayer is dead, apparently at Kiefer's hand. Taylor is shocked and confused. "After everything he's done today, why on earth would he do this?" she wonders. Ethan doesn't have an answer; only an offer of his own resignation. She resists the idea at first, but Ethan convinces her that it's for the best, with a few subtle digs at some of Olivia's previous remarks. Taylor hates to do it, but she knows he's right. And the whole scene only takes about five minutes longer than it needed to.
So now it's 10:10:45, and Kiefer joins Tony, who is peering through the port's chain-link fence with the aid of binoculars. Somehow Kiefer has changed out of his suit and into commando gear in the last five minutes, plus he's got an assault rifle. I have to assume he got both out of the back of Tony's car. Poor Tony; he started the day doing cool stuff like almost crashing planes into each other, and now he's Kiefer's laundry service. They know that they have to get access to the port's manifest to find the right container, and that means dealing with security. So far, Tony has only spotted one Port Authority guard. Sounds easy enough. Too easy.
That guard, Carl, is now doing his rounds outside the guard shack, shining his flashlight around while on his cell phone reassuring his wife, stuck at home, that he'll be home in a few hours. He's played by Connor Trinneer from Enterprise, although somehow he looks a lot more weaselly than Trip Tucker. We also learn that his wife is pregnant with twins. And that's what we need to know about Carl the guard for now. Before we can learn more, he hears a thump among the shipping containers and says he'll call her back. Approaching the nearest container and peering around it, he suddenly finds himself pinned face-first against the side of it by Kiefer. He and Tony turn him around and take his weapon at gunpoint. When Kiefer demands a look at the port's manifest, Carl protests, "I'm just a P.A. cop." Kiefer responds by pressing his gun against Carl's forehead and repeating the question. Carl points him to the customs house, and the three of them head off in that direction at 10:12:25. But Kiefer! He's expecting twins!