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
Just then an alarm goes off on the building schematic. Buchanan's on speaker phone as Chloe explains that the gas must be mixed with an acid, and the acid is breaking down the seals between rooms. Wow, that is one mean gas. And greedy, too. As Buchanan stupidly runs his fingers along the seal protecting his office, because maybe his finger oil will slow down the process a little, Chloe guesses that they have fifteen to twenty minutes before the seals break down entirely. "And then what?" Barry asks, because the blood hasn't quite gotten all the way back to his brain. Kiefer: "As soon as the gas permeates the seal, it enters the room. Then it's over." He refrains from adding that it'll be Barry's fault, although I'm sure that's only because he hasn't figured out how yet.
It's 7:19:22 in one of the hallways at Not Camp David, and Novick is on his cell phone with the Vice President. Yes, I know the Veep is in the building too, but it's a big compound. Novick basically eats the Veep's shit until the call ends and he sees FLOTUS lurking in the hallway behind him. Novick explains to her that he was just asking to help draft Logan's newest statement, which Gardner is insisting on doing himself. FLOTUS is shocked at Gardner's overstepping: "That means he's effectively making policy! We've got to stop him!" Yeah, the nerve of that guy. It's like he thinks that he has some official role in government or something, when everyone knows that that's the First Lady's job. Whatever, it's not like any of these people were ever actually elected anyway. Novick says he's trying, but Logan "wants all the counsel he can get." But the cacophony of a third voice in his ear must be deafening. FLOTUS complains that the Veep's got his own ambitions for the presidency, which she thinks the Veep is trying to land by wrecking Logan's administration. Because whatever's bad for the President is good for his putative successor, right? Just ask President Gore. Novick reminds FLOTUS that Gardner has a history of giving Logan goofy ideas, then taking the credit for the ones that work and passing the blame for the ones that fail. Which only works, of course, because Logan lets the Veep get away with it. That's my theory, not his, but you know I'm right. Novick says he can't point this out to Logan, because the Vice President outranks the Chief of Staff or something. I think that's crap, and that a more likely scenario is that Logan, who never wanted the presidency himself in the first place, doesn't perceive his own Vice President as more ambitious than he was. Whatever the case, Novick points out that FLOTUS has influence that trumps them both. FLOTUS asks to see the statement as soon as possible, and Novick leaves with a promise to make it so. Ooh, looking at statements! It is fucking on!