Episode Report Card M. Giant: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT High Jack
By M. Giant | Season 5 | Episode 20 | Aired on 04.30.2006
It's 2:23:12, and Chloe's hunched over her laptop in that hotel bar. The lech from earlier has finally gathered up the courage to approach her. Or so he thinks. He actually has no idea how much courage this is going to take. Even when Chloe says to him, "Could you leave me alone? I can't talk right now." He thinks she's "freaked out because of the curfew," and she impatiently plays along to get him to go away. "When you come up for air," the guy says with an expansive gesture, "I'm buyin'." Great. By then he'll be able to access his 401(k). Chloe picks up her phone to talk to someone official about the flight's passenger list. And although she may be a fugitive, her CTU clearance code still works just fine.
Up on Flight 520, the "fasten seatbelt" sign dings on. Sue the flight attendant makes the announcement that turbulence is expected, and that everyone needs to, like the sign says, fasten their seatbelts. Although Kiefer doesn't know it yet, this is bad news for him because it means a seat-check of the whole cabin. I notice that the still-unconscious Marshal Avila is now slumped forward in his seat instead of against the bulkhead. Jeez, Kiefer tries to do something nice for someone and what happens? Or maybe 7C just stole her pillow back. As the plane seems to go over a couple of deep potholes, Sue tells her male colleague to go to the forward lavatory and shoo out the passenger in 12D, who, she figures, must be taking the worst crap of his life in the midst of all the shaking that's going on. But of course, the other attendant has already checked and found that the lavatories are empty. Another lurch spills the limp body of Marshal Avila straight to the floor, and I can't help thinking that it might be worth getting knocked unconscious on a plane if you get enough legroom for that to happen. Avila's seatmate runs screaming down the aisle in panic. The flight attendant helps the groggy Marshal back into his seat, then tells the male attendant in urgent but quiet tones, "Call the captain and tell him the Air Marshal's down and a passenger's missing." The steward rushes to comply as Sue tries to keep the other passengers calm. If basically saying "Sit! Now!" in a tone normally used for law enforcement can be said to have a calming effect.
Up in the cockpit, the pilot looks familiar. I think for a second that he might almost pass for '80s/'90-era Hey! It's That Guy Richard Gilliland, but he's far too old. And then upon rewatching I see Gilliland's name in the credits, and I remember seeing him on TV twenty years ago, when he was as old as I am now, and I get very depressed. Anyway, he seems rightly alarmed to learn over the cockpit phone that the Marshal's been assaulted and that one of his passengers is missing. "Assaulted?" he repeats in surprise, causing the copilot's ears to prick up as well. He tells the flight attendants to "secure the cabin" and hangs up. The copilot asks what's wrong, and the captain fills him in on the Air Marshal's situation. He tells him to make sure the cockpit door is secure (which the copilot does, without getting out of his seat). And since people can't seem to behave themselves back there, they're turning this plane around and going home right now.
Back in the cabin, the Air Marshal has recovered enough to say that they need to find the guy who was sitting next to him. And it gets worse as Avila reaches for his holster and discovers, "He's got my gun." It's 2:25:28.