Episode Report Card M. Giant: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Spy vs. Spy
By M. Giant | Season 5 | Episode 14 | Aired on 03.19.2006
At CTU, Buchanan is explaining to Hayes his theory that Bierko is planning a large-scale attack, and that Bierko's men gassed CTU to keep them from stopping him. This gives Hayes an opening to ask if it worked. Buchanan quickly spots this as the loaded question it is, and gets a bit defensive. Hayes asks him whether CTU is working any leads, and he tells her about the team that's already on its way to nab Collette Stenger. "Good," says Hayes. Even though she'd much rather see this place floundering so that she could swoop in and save it. Maybe later, Karen.
It's 8:11:35 as Collette slips into her fuck-me boots at her hotel room. Her naked Eurotrash boyfriend in the bed "banters" with her about getting dressed and undressed, and once again fishes for clues about the deal she's working on. She touchily says that she never talks about her business, and he says he's only asking because he wants to buy a villa with her. Aw, Eurotrash in love. Satisfied with his "innocent" inquiry, she kisses him goodbye, and reminds him to meet her at the airport in forty-five minutes. Why, that's this hour! He'd better hurry.
Out in the hallway, Collette calls Bierko to tell him she's on her way, and to confirm that she has everything he wanted. In turn, he tells her he's got her money ready to transfer to her bank account. After she hangs up, an expositional henchman at the bunker tries to talk Bierko into a different goal: "The distribution center is a difficult target," he warns. Distribution center? I have one of those at my office. It's a small room with printers and paper. But Bierko is adamant as he points at the target displayed on his screen: "Release the Sentox here and 200,000 people die." That number just keeps getting lower, doesn't it? Still, that's a higher body count than my distribution center would suffer. It's 8:13:12.
8:17:34. On the way up to his office, Buchanan does that thing where you start to take a flight of stairs two at a time, but run out of momentum two thirds of the way up and have to slow down at the top. I shouldn't mock; dude's probably in a lot better shape than I am. He's a yoga teacher, you know. Once he reaches the office, he confronts Hayes with some new information he's just gotten. I won't bore you with the details (unlike the show), but the upshot is that Buchanan has figured out that the fix is in. Hayes explains, "CTU is being absorbed by Homeland. Which means, from now on, every operational decision needs to go through me." Is that nationwide, or just in L.A.? And why am I pretending to care? Buchanan argues with Hayes to let CTU stay in the fight, but Hayes isn't budging. And she even asks Buchanan to keep it between them until the takeover is complete. She turns back to his computer, and he walks out without a word.