Episode Report Card M. Giant: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Swap Meet
By M. Giant | Season 6 | Episode 19 | Aired on 04.22.2007
At what's left of the Calderone, Kiefer holds his flashlight between his teeth as he finishes wiring his makeshift bomb with its block of C-4. I forgot to mention last week that he was working on that selfsame bomb while riding with Doyle in the CTU pickup, and I have to say that rather than riding along with a bomb in progress, I would have preferred to follow Kiefer in another vehicle. On another road. Kiefer now takes out a small remote detonator and presses the button once. I assume that's only to arm the bomb, because all that happens is that a little red light comes on instead of the whole thing blowing up in Kiefer's face, which would have been quite embarrassing for him. Kiefer sets the charge between a couple of exposed wall studs, then hides it by leaning a loose scrap of drywall up against it. He should probably drive a few nails through that scrap just to cover his bases, but he doesn't bother. His next task is to call Buchanan's voicemail. He tells Buchanan that he's about to make the trade for Audrey, and that he hopes she'll be safe by the time Buchanan hears the message. He adds that he promised to confirm for Wayne that the circuit board had been destroyed, and wants Buchanan to consider this message that confirmation, since the explosion that hasn't happened yet will destroy the component. Kiefer can not only withstand brutal torture, single-handedly shoot down an entire terrorist cell, and torture suspects; he can also count chickens before they've hatched. "The meeting will take place at the Calderone Hotel off highway 305," he says. He asks Buchanan's voicemail to take care of Audrey, and thanks it for being a good friend. Then he hangs up and goes over to stare out the window and wait for Cheng. It's 12:34:33.
12:38:53. Morris enters Buchanan's office and asks him for a transfer. "I need to get out of Comm," he non-explains, refusing to elaborate. Buchanan asks if this is about problems with Chloe. "You could say that," Morris agrees. Instead of pointing out that if he transferred everybody who ever had a problem with Chloe she'd have the whole building to herself, Buchanan says he doesn't want to lose Morris. Morris just wants to go anywhere else. Buchanan sighs and agrees to figure something out.
Speaking of marital strife, Buchanan decides that this is the time to return his wife's phone call. Sitting in her office, Karen tells Buchanan that "the DOJ investigator found out about Seattle." Buchanan is genuinely confused; as far as he knew, it wasn't a secret to begin with. It was all by the book, as he points out. Karen handles this as poorly as possible, saying that she can't let it "touch [her]" and that there's "guilt by association." Buchanan realizes that he's about to be scapegoated, left twisting in the wind, and that his wife is driving the bus, and all this reckless metaphor-mixing on my part is making him dizzy. But at least she's not asking him to resign. "I have to fire you," she says as gently as she can. Buchanan thinks that Karen's being pressured by someone, but it's even worse; she's doing this all on her own. He's pretty pissed that she's effectively ending his career to protect herself. She says that they'll get through it, and all that should matter is that she loves him. So Buchanan hangs up on her. When she tries to call back, he's too busy staring down at the floor through his glass office wall to answer. Hey, since he's not doing anything else, maybe he should check his voicemail?