Episode Report Card M. Giant: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Fed Sematary
By M. Giant | Season 7 | Episode 6 | Aired on 01.26.2009
In the hallway outside the Situation room, Tim catches up to Ethan at 1:43:46 and says they have to talk some sense into the president before she gets more Americans killed. Ethan agrees with Tim. "There is someone she'll listen to," he says. "Maybe we can convince him to help us."
Except he can barely help himself right now. Henry Taylor is still parked on Samantha's sofa, right where Agent Gedge plunked him after spiking his coffee with a paralytic in the previous hour. Gedge is quite busy, going around the apartment with jacket off, knife in hand, tie tucked in shirt, and clear plastic gloves all the way up to his biceps. He looks like a demented pharmacist. Henry watches him cut Sam's Ethernet cable, powerless to stop Gedge from stranding her in meatspace.
Meanwhile, on the street below (which the camera takes pains to show us is D Street at 8th, Sam gets out of Agent Vossler's car and walks toward the entrance to her building. I can't read the whole awning in this shot, but a little research tells me it's "The Residences at Market Square." Thank you, Google Maps Street View. Vossler dials his cell phone. Inside, Gedge rolls up a length of cable, looking purposefully up at Sam's loft high above. He pauses to answer the call from Vossler reporting that Sam's on her way up, and says he'll call back when it's all over. He hangs up and gets back to work winding up the cable. By this time, it's 1:45: 27, and Sam is walking down the hallway from the elevator to her door. She pauses to retrieve the key from under her mat, because she really is that stupid. I was actually holding out hope that she hadn't left it there herself, that the evil Secret Service had somehow used their resources to make a copy of her key and plant it there just for Gedge to use it in front of Henry during the last hour, but no; she really is that stupid. She lets herself in obliviously. Seeing her enter from his perch on the couch, Henry starts trying to telepathically warn her of the danger she's in, but she's so busy checking her mail she doesn't even see him on her sofa until she's well inside. Obviously she jumps in surprise, and asks how he got in. Maybe it had something to do with the KEY under the MAT, you moron. She keeps prattling away, completely failing to understand the significance of the intense faces he's barely able to make at her. And completely unaware that behind her, Gedge has stepped out from behind her potted plant, knife at the ready. Sam is finally figuring out that something's wrong with Henry by the time Gedge sticks the blade in her back. Twice. She tries to crawl toward Henry for help, but he can't do a thing for her as Gedge steps on her back, rolls her over, takes one more look at Henry like this is all his fault, and stabs her noisily in the chest. So what have we learned? Don't leave your key under the mat.