Episode Report Card M. Giant: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Things Fall Apart
By M. Giant | Season 4 | Episode 23 | Aired on 05.22.2005
"What the hell is this?" Agent Burn demands of Consulate Cop. Consulate Cop says Burn already knows -- as do we -- but that doesn't stop him from telling everyone again anyway: "CTU sent a team into our Consulate just a few hours ago. You were in the team and our Consul General was killed. You are going to tell me who was responsible." Burn plays dumb, but not as well as you might expect him to. Consulate Cop asks. "Then why were you being transported here by helicopter from CTU Los Angeles?" "You don't know where I came from," Burn says. But actually, Consulate Cop does, since they've been watching CTU on satellite, and they saw a helicopter leaving the place while Consulate Cop was inside. Burn maintains it wasn't him. Consulate Cop is like, yuh-huh, and says that the Chinese government wants someone to take responsibility for the raid. "What does that mean, take responsibility?" Burn asks, like, smooth, guy. Way to maintain your ignorance there. Consulate Cop says he thinks Burn was just following orders, and if he tells Consulate Cop gave him those orders, they'll let him go. "I'm not telling you anything," Burn says defiantly, again sort of undercutting his whole "I know nothing" routine. Consulate Cop speaks Chinese to the driver for a few seconds, and then returns his attention to Burn. "I believe you're going to change your mind," he says ominously.
It's 5:30:46 as we get an arty, ground-level shot of rain beginning to fall into the Naked Arms pool. At CTU, Bitchelle's phone rings. Mandy asks her, "Have you redeployed all your men?" Bitchelle has. She's out on the floor now, but everyone is being vewy quiet so as not to give away the game. Kiefer and Curtis have set up a surveillance center in the complex's workout room, with cameras pointing out through the window. Mandy makes some more threatening noises about killing Soul Patch if she finds out Bitchelle played her. Bitchelle worriedly says she understands, and the call's over. Buchanan calls out the order for the analysts to start working up the call. Lispy Skip is the one unlucky enough to have had Bitchelle standing next to him during the conversation, and she turns on him with a stream of angry technobabble. He's trying to stop her freaking out on him as Potato Face swoops in to back him up. I mean she backs him up with the computer stuff, not with Bitchelle, because if you need Potato Face to get your back on an interpersonal issue, the guys from the mental hospital are probably wondering how you got out in the first place. "I will not let this thing fall apart because of technical incompetence," Bitchelle bitches. Potato Face makes a scared face at her, clearly unaccustomed to not being the most insufferable person in the room even for a minute.
At the Naked Arms, Curtis confirms that all of their guys along Mandy's exit route have been pulled out of sight. Kiefer looks through a telescope, and all he sees is falling rain. An agent at another window calls Kiefer over, and together they peer through their respective magnification devices as two figures sharing a single umbrella make their way through the foul weather between buildings. A live video feed of their walk gets projected onto the CTU big screen. While that's happening, Mandy calls Bitchelle again. "We're on our way." And there are some more threats, of course. Kiefer observes, "[Mandy]'s running a huge risk, exposing herself like that." Of course she's exposing herself. What else do you expect from someone called Naked Mandy? Everyone watches as the two shadowy forms walk across the street to a parked Jaguar. Curtis tells everyone to sit tight. Bitchelle still has her phone to her ear as Mandy says, "Okay, here's the deal. As soon as we're in the car and I've cleared the area, I'm going to call you and I'm going to tell you where you can find Soul Patch." The two people reach the car, toss the umbrella aside, and get in. The woman is clearly holding a gun, but not wearing a miniskirt like Mandy has been all along. Don't we all wonder what that's about. Now that they're in the car with the doors shut, Buchanan gives the order to move in. Kiefer tries to countermand, but CTU guys are already in the open. Bitchelle hears Mandy flatly say, "I see your men, Bitchelle. You lied to me, you bitch. You are not gonna take me. Alive. Got it?" And before Bitchelle can answer, the car blows right the fuck up.