Episode Report Card M. Giant: A- | 170 USERS: B+ YOU GRADE IT Day 8: 4:00 PM -- 5:00 PM
By M. Giant | Season 8 | Episode 1 | Aired on 2010.01.17
Out on the CTU floor, a tech nerd with a scruffy beard that's going to be a continuity nightmare is monitoring aerial video of the city that's being transmitted by remote-controlled camera drones. Either that, or he's watching a rerun of Without a Trace. Oh, except it's one that features a bikini chick sunbathing on a roof, so he can zoom in and ogle her creepily. Cole comes up to him, calling him Arlo, and tells him that Hastings just called an emergency briefing. "And if he ever catches you doing that, you'll be out of a job," he adds, as though Arlo's giant monitor isn't visible from the entire floor. Arlo is creepy some more, then hands off control of the drones to some other operator before following Cole. Let's hope whoever is controlling the drones now will fly them with both hands.
At 4:28:22, Hastings meets his employees -- the ones with speaking parts, that is -- and gives them the sitch. "How good is the intel?" Dana wonders. "According to Jack Bauer, very," Hastings name-drops. "Who is Jack Bauer?" Arlo wonders. Everyone looks at him like he just asked, "What's a Jonas Brother?" but no one bothers to answer. Hastings tells Cole to take a small team along, and declines to give him a second team to help him secure the landing site, instead having Arlo deploy a drone, which I'm sure will work out just splendidly. Hastings instructs Arlo to send an aerial drone to cover it. They all split up to their respective jobs.
An NYPD patrol car pulls up next to the shot-up car Victor stole earlier, which is still parked outside Kiefer's building. Damn their efficiency! Of course we've all heard the horror stories about New Yorkers' stolen cars turning up within a half hour of being ganked. Meanwhile, Kiefer makes sure the alley outside the back entrance is clear and leads Victor out. Neither of them is aware that the uniformed officer is calling in the stolen car, and that the call is being monitored inside a bad-guy hideout, telling them right where Victor's car is. The scanner is being operated by the guy who played creepy bile-creature Eugene Toombs on The X-Files, with all of that actor's usual charm and magnetism. The two failed assassins from earlier listen to where they need to go and promise, "We'll take care of it." Unimpressed, Toombs demands in a vague East-European accent, "When am I going to have to step in? Now would be the time to tell me." They make more promises, grab a couple of machine guns, and stomp out, leaving Toombs to contemplate his wall of Hassan photos. It's 4:30:27.