Episode Report Card M. Giant: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Gassing The Gap
By M. Giant | Season 5 | Episode 8 | Aired on 02.12.2006
At the terrorists' hideout in the motorcycle garage, where apparently the mechanics take very long lunches indeed, Erwich sends a couple of his guys out to meet "Rossler." And then he turns to find one of his other henchmen -- the same one he decked last week -- fiddling around with the wiring inside one of the canisters. If I were in a place where I saw this going on, I would start running, come back, throw on one of the gas masks, start running again, come back again, shoot the moron in the head, then run away for good. But Erwich looks a lot less pissed and freaked out at this development than I would be, and it quickly turns out that this was his idea in the first place, which makes him even crazier than I thought. It's because he wants to figure out a way to hot-wire the canisters in case the chip "Rossler" gives them doesn't work. Poor, suspicious Erwich; he can't know that not only will the chip work, but it's being supplied by CTU. "There may be a work-around," the Tinkering Henchman says, "but someone will have to be on-site with the canister." Erwich doesn't look thrilled to hear that, but tells his guy, "Get it done."
When you're the President of the United States, your work is never done. Those office windows aren't going to stare blankly through themselves, you know. Logan's in the middle of this vital Constitutional obligation when Novick comes in to say that Walt's body has been moved to the "Secret Service outbuilding," and that they still have to issue a statement. "No statement until his wife's been notified," Logan no-brainers. Novick looks flustered that he actually forgot that for a minute, but he quickly rallies to pitch an idea. He wonders if, given the fact of Walt's death, the need for disclosure of his misdeeds hasn't become "moot." Logan neutrally asks if Novick's talking about letting Walt "go out with some dignity, not as a traitor." That's exactly what Novick's saying. "My wife will have a considerable problem with that," Logan says, wishing that he had Jed Bartlet's ability to phrase that kind of sentiment without sounding completely whipped. Novick diplomatically points out that it's Logan's decision. Which, you know, is always Logan's favorite thing to hear.
It's 2:07:27 when Evelyn enters the FLOTUSuite with a glass of water to find her boss tapping away at her laptop. Evelyn's got something on her mind; specifically, the reasons for Walt's suicide. She's wondering if maybe Walt's death wasn't suicide after all. "What if we're in danger?" Evelyn asks. "What if it wasn't suicide?" Rather than enfolding her fledgling conspiracy theorist into a proud embrace, the First Lady assures Evelyn that it was indeed suicide. And when Evelyn seems unconvinced, FLOTUS swears Evelyn to secrecy and tells her that "Walt was a traitor," and decided to kill himself to escape the humiliation of a trial. Evelyn looks like her world has been, if not rocked, at least mildly swayed. The funny thing is, now Evelyn's got me wondering too. After all, Walt might not have been the only person The Man had on the inside. Right, Novick? No, I have no idea if that's true, I'm just fishing. Right, Aaron? ...No? Evelyn? FLOTUS? Anyone? Bueller?