Episode Report Card M. Giant: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Management Issues
By M. Giant | Season 7 | Episode 9 | Aired on 02.16.2009
Inside the building, Moss is assigning some stuff to Janis that she indignantly calls "busywork. Administrative crap you're handing me." Moss basically tells her to shut up and do it, saying he doesn't have to explain himself. When someone flags him down to say that Chloe has arrived, he tells Janis to "Set up a secure VPN socket. Port it to the conference room." Janis asks why, and Moss says he's bringing in a consultant from Homeland to look for "lingering gaps in the firewall." Now he gets all explainy.
He goes and meets Chloe as she comes off the elevator at 4:18:56, and they greet each other politely enough. Moss directs her into the conference room, and she notices the dead-eyed stare Janis is giving her from her desk. You'd never guess that Mary Lynn Rajskub and Janeane Garofalo have been friends for 15 years. Inside the room, Moss leads Chloe to a computer setup with twin monitors and explains where Kiefer and Walker are right now and what they're up to so she can set up the satellite feed. Chloe doesn't move, preferring to give the hairy eyeball to the conference room's glass doors. "I'm feeling a little exposed here," she says. Does she not remember the fishbowl that was the old CTU conference room? It's okay, Chloe. Nobody can see your tummy. Oh, wait, that's not what she means: "If someone out there is working for Dubaku, shouldn't we be doing this more covertly?" Moss says he's got a cover story in place, and adds, "Besides, this is the only space available where you'll have full access to our server. Our network doesn't support remote modules." Chloe says that's a stupid way to set up a network. There's a long pause, during which I have plenty of time to reassure myself that Moss is a Special Agent In Charge, not an IT guy, and therefore would never have been in a position to set up FBI-DC's network one way or another, which means I didn't just hear a setup for a really obvious joke. "I set our network up that way," he says flatly, and I stand corrected. As Chloe settles in, Moss decides to get a lick in about how long she's worked with Kiefer. "Seven years, on and off," Chloe says. Moss says it's impressive that she's survived this long. "What are you talking about?" Chloe responds, instead of with what would be a much more reasonable "duh." Moss runs down a sharply abridged list of Kiefer's casualties: "Curtis Manning, Ryan Chappelle, his own wife." Wow, Moss has done his homework. When in this busy day has he had time to sit down and watch all those old DVDs? Chloe gets a little heated on Kiefer's behalf: "Jack Bauer is the most trustworthy, honorable man I know. Maybe you should worry less about him and more about the mole in your office working for Dubaku." Advantage: O'Brian. I prefer watching Moss call Kiefer on his shit to his face. He should stick to that.