Episode Report Card M. Giant: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT McKilled
By M. Giant | Season 5 | Episode 13 | Aired on 03.12.2006
Speaking of careless CTU employees, McGill makes it back to the Observation Room, where Harry is still holding his breath. McGill collapses in the corner near the door, still not breathing. Kiefer's voice, heavy with emotion, comes over the speakerphone to tell them they were successful. "I will personally notify your families and tell them of the sacrifice you made," he promises. It's 7:43:15. "I'm so sorry. I don't know what else to say. Thank you." Having held on long enough to receive Kiefer's benediction, Harry finally has to let go. He takes a deep gasp of air, and is amazed to realize it doesn't kill him. "I'm okay!" he says in disbelief, while McGill's eyebrows hop up hopefully over his tie. But then Harry gasps, chokes, and falls to the floor, drooling strawberry yogurt. Everyone in the Situation Room sees it on the video feed, while McGill watches from across the room. And then McGill, who was running around with no air while Harry was just sitting around, finally has to breathe as well. And as with Harry, it's only a few seconds before he starts twitching and goes fetal on the floor in his own puddle of Yoplait. He does it way better than Harry did, though, the showoff. "Look at me, I was in an Academy-Award Winner for Best Picture, la-di-dah." The security feed shows him from directly above, looking small and broken on the floor in his dark suit, like he was dropped from a great height. And then he's still. Even Buchanan looks moved as he watches from his office.
Down in the Sit Room, Kiefer's already going from sympathetic to pissed. "Pull up the security feed to Medical," he growls. Audrey does it before he can break her fingers. He goes off into the corner, looking wrecked. Spawn looks after him, concerned, and the makeup people have done a good job of making her look sad, kind of pink and blotchy. She doesn't go to him, though. He just stands there alone, doing that power-glower he does so well.
At the CTU clinic, Burke is about to give another dose of liquid pain to Henderson, who at this point won't even give his name. "You're wasting your time," Tony scoffs at him at 7:45:02. Kiefer's voice comes in, and Burke has to admit that they're still not getting anywhere. So then we're back in the Sit Room, where Kiefer's apparently gotten over the worst of his red funk. He tells Chloe that it's all on her now to get into Henderson's computer files. Chloe wonders how she's supposed to do that with a dead team, and Kiefer answers, "Only work on his files," like that's helpful. He then goes over to Spawn and tells her to go to Medical to get checked out once the barriers are up. But Spawn says she's leaving. She claims she's not angry, and she loves him, "but there's nothing left to say except I don't want to be around you. Every time I am, something horrible happens. People die. And I know that's not your fault, but I can't be a part of it." Aw, be fair, Spawn. People die when you're apart, too. Kiefer begs for another chance, but she refuses, and walks across the room to Barry, who kisses her on the side of the head and says, "God, that was close," pulling her into a hug. That's the clearest indication we've seen that they're doing it, by the way. Audrey sees that Kiefer is totally destroyed, so she goes over to him and takes his hand. "Are you all right?" she asks. Without looking at her, Kiefer flatly says, "No." He went to all the trouble of getting a guy to sacrifice himself to save Spawn, and does she appreciate it? No, she doesn't. It's 7:46:54.
At 7:51:23, Novick and FLOTUS are in Logan's office, reading a draft of the new statement. One key phrase that jumps out at Novick is "emergency peacekeeping force." Which is of course political-ese for "Gestapo." He and FLOTUS are both still doubtful that this is a good idea, but Logan says, "If you or Mike have any better ideas, please, I would be glad to hear them." They don't, of course. Great. These are the people he turns to in a crisis -- people who, when asked for a better idea than martial law, can't even bring themselves to say, "How about...not martial law?" FLOTUS quietly asks Novick for a moment alone with her husband, and Novick leaves. FLOTUS says what's on her mind: if Logan thinks this is the best plan, then she'll support him, but she's not about to let the Vice President take over. Logan angrily insists that he's doing it for the right reasons. And then what little composure he has begins to crack. "I don't know how much more of this I can take," he says, starting to get weepy. Oh, better and better. People who cry to get their way are bad enough, but in a President of the United States, it's damned unseemly. "I really don't." FLOTUS is disarmed, however, and her expression becomes sympathetic. Logan runs down the events of the day: "David's assassination, nerve gas, the murder of those hostages, Walt Cummings's betrayal, and you...I almost lost you. I didn't lose you, did I?" Defeated, FLOTUS takes his hand and wearily says he didn't. "I'm still here," she says, but she's clearly not feeling it. She'd much rather have someone come in and 25th-Amendment his ass right here and now, but of course that would only benefit Gardner. So she'll just have to wait until there's a Vice President she doesn't hate quite as much.