Episode Report Card M. Giant: C | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Unresolved
By M. Giant | Season 6 | Episode 24 | Aired on 05.20.2007
Kiefer continues to dangle from the ladder, not bothering to try climbing up. He's got plenty of ladder length below him, which makes me wonder how Buchanan got the chopper so close to the rig without losing a rotor. Oh, well, season's almost over.
At the White House, SecDef reports "multiple direct hits," as though they can't all see on the satellite screen that the platform is nothing but a ball of fire now. The Veep is still on speaker with Suvarov, who sees the same thing. Suvarov holds out his hands questioningly to his generals, who nod and shrug like, "Yeah, we're good, thanks." Just like that, international crisis averted, even though all Suvarov really knows for sure is that an oil rig just got bombed. People get so trusting when the day's almost over, don't they? Suvarov says he's pulling back his troops, and the Veep says he'll have his air support stand down as soon as that happens. Then Suvarov picks up a handset to personally tell the Veep how much he regrets the situation. "When my country's security is threatened, I..." The Veep totally feels him there. Suvarov gives his best wishes for Wayne's recovery. The Veep sort of smiles mirthlessly, like he can't decide himself how much longer he wants this job.
Still dangling below the CTU chopper, Kiefer takes one last look up at it and lets go, falling into the Pacific just beyond the surf line. The trip back to shore was a lot shorter than the trip out, I notice. Probably feeling the craft get lighter, Buchanan asks what happened. Alarmed, Josh says Kiefer "fell." Buchanan turns the chopper around, and they see that Kiefer is swimming to shore. Even with a man-purse full of guns still around his shoulder and his torso encased in Kevlar, Kiefer easily makes it to the beach. Are you picking up on the baptism symbolism? It's almost like it was intentional. Buchanan turns the chopper's searchlight on Kiefer and hovers overhead. Kiefer just raises one hand and starts walking on. Presumably, the saltwater turned the earpiece Kiefer was wearing into a future home for a hermit crab. Buchanan nods in understanding and turns the chopper away, telling Josh they're going back to CTU. Josh says they have to go back for his uncle. "Jack's not ready to go back yet," Buchanan says. Josh looks like he wishes that the "craziest member of my family" position could have remained vacant for more than two minutes. Kiefer leans up against a lifeguard tower to catch his breath. It's 5:36:22.
5:40:45. The Veep, Tom, and SecDef walk down the hallway to the Oval Office together. On the way, SecDef receives some news that he relays to the Veep when they reach the office, which is that the Chinese have recalled their submarine back to base. The Veep tells SecDef to have one of their subs follow, just to let them know they didn't get away undetected. The Veep thanks SecDef, and sends him off with instructions to thank the Joint Chiefs as well.