Episode Report Card M. Giant: C | 3 USERS: B+ YOU GRADE IT Unresolved
By M. Giant | Season 6 | Episode 24 | Aired on 05.20.2007
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.CTU quickly figures out which oil platform Josh has been taken to, and the Veep is just as quick to order an air strike that will not only destroy the component but kill everyone on board. You know Kiefer's not going to be down with that. Fortunately, Buchanan knows how to fly a helicopter, so the two of them steal a CTU chopper and head out to rescue Josh before the missiles hit. Kiefer not only shoots all the bad guys, he also captures Cheng alive and catches up with Josh just in time to prevent him from killing the grandfather he's already wounded. Realizing there's no way he can get his father off the rig in time to save him and make him pay for his crimes, Kiefer abandons Dad (and the component) to his fate, leaping off the platform and onto the rope ladder Buchanan's dangling in front of him just before the platform explodes underneath him. Instead of hitching a ride back to CTU, Kiefer lets go just above the surf line, swims to shore, and waves Buchanan off.
So, to wrap up the other story lines, Russian President Suvarov is satisfied with the component's destruction and calls off the attack on the U.S. base in Centralasia. Tom convinces the Veep to cut Karen some slack for being right, and surrenders the recording from earlier. Buchanan flies Cheng back to CTU, where Cheng gets off an excellent line. Marilyn and Josh reunite, without any revelations about Josh's paternity coming to light. And Chloe's pregnant. Try to look surprised. No, I said "surprised." Try again.
So what happens to Kiefer? Well, conveniently enough, the spot where he dropped from the helicopter is within walking distance of Heller's beach house. Completely off his meds by now, Kiefer goes to confront his former boss at gunpoint, angrily blaming him for not doing more to get Kiefer out of China and demanding his life back -- in the form of Audrey. But as soon as Kiefer sees Audrey in the hospital suite that her dad has already set up for her in her bedroom, he realizes that Heller's right, and he can only keep Audrey safe by staying away. He breaks up with her sleeping form, then walks out onto Heller's back balcony to stare sadly down the cliff into the sea, and then into the lightening sky. Downer, dude. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
Collapsing Chloe gets her very own freeze-frame in the previouslies this hour, as does Doyle. Too bad he can't see it.
The boat carrying Josh speeds through the water to the oil platform, docking at the platform's jetty as Dad watches from above. Josh accepts his grandfather's hand to help him out of the boat, but then yanks himself away, saying, "I don't want to be here with you!" I don't blame him. That hotel they were in this afternoon was much nicer. Dad says they're leaving, and he doesn't expect Josh to understand everything yet. "In the meantime," he says, roughly grabbing his grandson's arm, "You'll do as you're told. Clear?" Josh nods reluctantly. Cheng comes down the stairs, having just finished a conversation on a walkie-talkie. Apparently, a Chinese submarine is going to be picking them up in thirty minutes. Well, that should be a fun ride.
Speaking of getting picked up, Doyle is being lifted up off the sand by CTU medics. Kiefer watches the ocean pensively. He's finished with Doyle duty for now.
At CTU, Chloe has been transferred to the clinic. She's doomed. At her bedside, an aging, birdlike doctor named Hastings tells Morris that Chloe isn't in any immediate danger. Well, not until she got set up in Medical, she wasn't. Morris asks what's up with her, then. "Dehydration. Exhaustion. She hasn't slept for thirty-six hours," the doctor says. Okay, the first two items, plus the third one that indicates that Chloe habitually sleeps until five in the afternoon, tells me that Chloe is suddenly a pop diva on her way to rehab. Hey, it's no weirder than some of the other stuff they've made her do this season. The doc leaves the room without saying more. Chloe opens her eyes and her mouth to tell Morris that she's fine and he should get back to work. "If you really want to make me feel better, you'll go find Phillip Bauer," she says. Morris agrees to leave, probably also so that Nadia has another character to talk to out on the floor. Seriously, we started out the season with five CTU-based regulars, and now one's fired, one's dead, and one's pregnant. Oh no, did I spoil that for you? I thought you knew Milo was dead. With a mighty effort, Chloe lifts her head off the pillow, presumably so she can pout from a vertical position. Totally worth the energy she used, too.
Morris wasted no time getting back out to the floor, where Nadia has already succeeded in finding one of Dad's oil rigs her own damn self. It's a decommissioned one, which doesn't really make it a great idea for Dad to have every light on the thing burning like he does. Morris takes over the keyboard and runs a thermal satellite scan, which shows several warm spots (aside from every light bulb on the thing). "It's awfully crowded for a decommissioned platform," Morris observes. Nadia has him play back the last few minutes of satellite coverage, and sure enough, they see the boat arriving, twenty minutes after Josh got nabbed. Satisfied that they've tracked down Dad's current base of operations, Nadia tells Morris to send the data to her screen so she can notify the White House. They'll be happy to hear about this.