Episode Report Card M. Giant: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Who Rescues the Rescuer?
By M. Giant | Season 5 | Episode 3 | Aired on 01.15.2006
9:21:12. Kiefer continues watching, the hostages continue huddling, Diane continues getting on my nerves, and Buchanan is holding a photo of Beresch. He's on the phone to Logan, Novick, and Walt, explaining that they've identified Beresch as a member of exactly the kind of terrorist organization that Logan's treaty is designed to fight. Well, no wonder. I'm sure the terrorists would be against anything that might make terrorism illegal. How would they make their livelihoods then? Logan says he doesn't plan to cancel the treaty signing, so they've got under ninety minutes to rescue the hostages. Buchanan says they're on it, although he uses more words than that. Logan impatiently says, "Spare me the agency patter, just get it done." Buchanan warns Logan that there may be more civilian casualties, but Logan isn't accepting that: "It's your job to make sure people get out of there alive," he tells Buchanan. Novick suggests opening a dialogue. "Yes, what about talking to them? Have you tried that?" Logan bitches sarcastically, like Buchanan's the idiot for not thinking of it. ["Cue another priceless reaction shot, this one a 'yeah, we're on it, Screechy, but thanks for your input' from James Morrison. Good work by these guys." -- Sars] Buchanan explains that they're working on back-tracing the call that Beresch made to McLaren earlier. Logan just wants it done: "When I put my name on that accord, I do not want to be signing the death warrant of innocent American citizens." End of call. Chloe comes in, having found Beresch's number, and Buchanan tells her to start dialing. He doesn't tell her to let him do the talking, but even Chloe seems to think that goes without saying.
At the terminal, Derek is trying to calm the woman who's quietly panicking next to him. "It's going to be okay," he whispers. At 9:22:45, Beresch's phone rings, and he answers it. Buchanan introduces himself, saying he's been authorized to speak on the President's behalf. But since the President isn't about to ditch his treaty, Beresch isn't too interested in anything else Buchanan has to say. "I don't think you understand just how serious we are," Beresch growls, and hangs up. He goes over to where the hostages are gathered, selects one, and orders his men to lead him away from the rest. Kiefer reports this to Curtis as the hostage is dragged away and his hands are restrained with a plastic tie thingy behind his back. Pulling his ski mask on, Beresch orders the hostage onto his knees in front of the video camera. The feed is back on the network, and Logan breathes, "Oh, my God," as he sees what's happening. The hostage whispers to Beresch, "Please, I have a wife." "So do I," says Beresch, and shoots the hostage in the head. Mrs. Beresch will be proud. Logan flinches, the hostages scream, Kiefer and Novick look sad, and Walt looks blank, since nobody's looking at him anyway. Chloe watches Buchanan watching the live feed of the hostage's body being dragged out of the shot at 9:24:33. Before anyone can say anything further, a masked minion grabs another hostage out of the herd. And this time it's Derek. "No," Kiefer whispers. He tells Curtis he's moving to another hiding spot so he can see where they're taking Derek. Curtis is also watching the live feed on a monitor as Derek is led to the spot in front of the camera and is forced to kneel with his hands tied behind his back. Diane sees this and runs up, completely losing her shit in a frequency that awakens every bat within ten miles. The airport cops obligingly drag her away and stick her in a nearby SUV. If they really wanted to be proactive, they would then roll the SUV off the end of the Santa Monica Pier. But I can see they've got a lot going on.