Episode Report Card M. Giant: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Duress Code: Casual
By M. Giant | Season 5 | Episode 4 | Aired on 01.15.2006
Hobbit. Goonie. Notre Dame football player wannabe. And now Sean Astin is about to extend his range even further. At CTU, Chloe is furiously technobabbling at both Spencer and Edgar, when Astin walks in and recognizes her. He introduces himself as Lynn McGill from District, and says he met her at a "memory management lecture." Chloe, amusingly, doesn't remember. McGill asks for Buchanan, and Chloe directs him to the Situation Room. Once McGill's gone, Spencer comes up behind her and says, "You don't know who Lynn McGill is, do you?" Chloe neither knows nor cares, and tells Spencer to get back to work. See what I mean about Astin extending his range? Not only is he about to show his chops at playing a 24-verse bureaucrat, but he's playing one with a name that sounds like it belongs to a whore on Deadwood.
It's 10:09:27 as McGill enters the Situation Room, where Buchanan is just finishing up a meeting with a couple of randoms. As the others leave, McGill opens the door for them and gives them a quiet, awkward "Hi." Heh. Once the two bosses are alone, McGill addresses Buchanan as "Mr. Buchanan," but as Buchanan shakes McGill's hand he says pleasantly, "Lynn, please. Call me Bill." McGill says he prefers a "more formal mode of address" while in the office. Buchanan whatevers politely, and reminds McGill that they're kind of busy right now. McGill confirms a bunch of stuff that we and he already know, although it's news to him that contact with Kiefer has been lost. "That's interesting," he says inscrutably. Buchanan says that he's not clear on the reason for McGill's presence. McGill explains that "District was getting heat from the White House" regarding Kiefer's involvement in the operation, and sent McGill to make sure things run smoothly at CTU. As we'll soon learn, when McGill says "smoothly," he really means "slowly." I hope he gets a deeply rude welcome to real-time TV. Buchanan offers McGill a workstation, but McGill has a better idea: he wants to take over Buchanan's office for the day. "I just want to make sure you're okay working from another station," he says. Buchanan swallows his considerable irritation and grits out, "Fine." McGill asks Buchanan to address him as "Mr. McGill" in front of the staff, just to reinforce the chain of command. And possibly also because he's embarrassed about being named Lynn. "You know, Lynn, I'd rather not," Buchanan says, kind of awesomely. McGill says it was just a suggestion, but taking over Buchanan's office isn't. Astin's doing such a great job here that I already want to beat him down. As pushy as he is, he's also got this incredibly bland, inoffensive, college-boy manner that you just know is turning Buchanan inside out.
Just then, the speakerphone on the conference table pipes up with word that Kiefer's on the line. After confirming that Curtis is conferenced in on the call, Buchanan jumps into the discussion. While a minion holds Kiefer's phone to his prisoner's ear, Kiefer makes the excuse that he had to hang up when one of the bad guys got too close. Yeah, I'd say. You know, it's just too bad for CTU that this airport terminal doesn't have any windows or anything. As Beresch eavesdrops on an earpiece, Kiefer lies to Buchanan and Curtis that the hostages have been moved into the kill zone, and that Curtis should lead his men in at the spot Beresch specified. Curtis asks if Kiefer is near that location, and Kiefer answers in the affirmative. "I am in a flank two position," he elaborates. "Repeat. I am in a flank. Two. Position." I knew Kiefer's voice could do amazing things, but I've never heard it wink so broadly before. Neither Beresch nor any of his minions notice anything unusual about Kiefer's remark, and if Buchanan and Curtis do, they don't give it away. But then, they wouldn't. Curtis says his men will be ready in twenty minutes. Buchanan says they have thirty before the treaty is signed. Curtis promises to hurry, and to call Kiefer when his men are ready. The call ends, and Beresch is satisfied with how it went. Because he's stupid. Really, he should have been listening for anything that sounded like a signal (like I was), and Kiefer hit it so hard that I don't know how Beresch could have possibly missed it. But he did, so let's move on. Beresch tells two of his men to stay with the hostages, and leads the rest to the entry point he just made Kiefer specify to CTU. Kiefer watches them go, his gaze steely. Because if he'd really been forced to betray his friends, he wouldn't be looking at all broken or defeated right now. Bonehead. It's 10:12:34.