Episode Report Card M. Giant: C+ | 330 USERS: C+ YOU GRADE IT Thrilling Bureaucratic Intrigue!
By M. Giant | Season 5 | Episode 16 | Aired on 2006.04.03
It's 10:07:15 as Aaron climbs out of his Secret Service Mobile near the Presidential corral. He makes sure no one's around before going around to the back and opening the tailgate, revealing that he crammed the wounded and unconscious Wayne under the cargo cover. Surviving brothers of dead ex-presidents don't really get the standard Aaron Pierce Red Carpet treatment, do they? "You're all right, Mr. Palmer," he assures us, lest we think he's turned into some kind of jerk in the last ten minutes. Wayne shakes himself awake and sits up, and Aaron suggests they get Wayne to a doctor. Wayne Kiefers that there's no time for that and he's fine. So Aaron asks what's going on and why Wayne was being targeted. Wayne explaynes: "Because David had a source inside the White House, and someone is trying to prevent me from seeing her." That source? The First Lady's assistant, Evelyn. Of course -- who else would it be? In a White House with only half a dozen speaking parts, options are rather limited. Aaron is surprised to hear it, and even more surprised to hear that David Palmer and Evelyn had been trading emails. Wayne wants to find out what was in those messages, because he thinks his brother was killed over information that Evelyn gave him. Which doesn't explain why Wayne called ahead to set up a meeting to give something to Aaron, but then that was like two hours ago and thus totally beside the point.
And here's Evelyn now, with her coat and purse and just about to head out for the day. So she's not staying at Not Camp David while the Logans are in California, I suppose. Don't worry, it's about to get even more confusing. She hands off some papers to FLOTUS, seeming hurried and distracted as she backs toward the door while talking. FLOTUS stops her and asks if she's all right, and Evelyn claims she's just tired. FLOTUS makes sure Evelyn has her credentials with her, due to the curfew still being in effect and all. Evelyn does, and she exits the FLOTUSuite hurriedly. FLOTUS looks a little worried about her. Hey, if I'd just worked a sixteen-hour day, I'd want out of there too.
But Evelyn doesn't get very far down the hallway before she runs into Wayne and Aaron. "I really need to talk to you," Wayne says. Evelyn must really be in a hurry, because she tries to blow him off even after that hot look he gives her. She says she needs to get home (so she lives in L.A. then? See? Confusing), but Aaron backs up Wayne, and they quickly prevail upon her to join them in an empty room at 10:09:37. Before starting, Wayne loosens his tie for some reason. Good of him to have changed into a suit since this morning for this secret visit to official headquarters. He cuts right to the chase, saying he knows that Evelyn and David had been emailing each other. I don't know how he was able to trace the emails back to Evelyn without being able to ascertain what any of them said, but he seems certain, even though Evelyn is playing ignorant. He leans on her harder, saying David was killed and someone tried to kill Wayne, which means that Evelyn is probably in danger as well. Evelyn's face gets more and more twitchy, until Palmer starts yelling at her to tell him what he needs to know. And then Evelyn tearily reveals the reason for her reluctance: "They kidnapped my little girl!" Ah, the old kidnapped daughter routine. Works every time on this show, except when it doesn't. Also: Evelyn lives in L.A. with her daughter? Must be a bitch of a commute when FLOTUS is in D.C., even if Evelyn drops the kid off at school in St. Louis. Evelyn explains that the bad guys promised to give her daughter back if she gave them some key evidence she has: "I have proof about who's behind everything that's happened today." She starts crying, so Wayne gets all sensitive and comforting: "Even if you turn over this evidence, they're not just going to give you back your daughter and let you go. That's not what these people do." Oddly, that doesn't seem to make her feel better. Nor does Aaron's contribution to the discussion: "Mr. Palmer's right. You know too much. They'll kill you both." They give Evelyn a minute to process that, and she finally recovers enough to tell Wayne, "I'll give you the evidence that I have if you get me back my daughter." It's 10:11:57, and we go to commercial before Wayne has to confess that he couldn't even retrieve a medicine bottle from his ex-sister-in-law's house without getting her killed.