Episode Report Card M. Giant: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Things Fall Apart
By M. Giant | Season 4 | Episode 23 | Aired on 05.22.2005
5:25:33. Mandy makes more preparations with her big case full of guns, Bitchelle waits for Mandy's call, and Soul Patch is still unconscious (wimp! Special Agent Breck would have been demanding a raise by now). In the White House Bunker, the Veep slumps out of the Undal Office to join Palmer and PMHC in the outer lobby. Apparently the Veep just got off the phone with the Chinese Foreign Secretary about the Consulate raid. "They're determined to pin this on us," complains the Veep. I don't think it's "pinning" if you actually did it, dude. The Veep continues, "If they manage to confirm that this is one of our men? I don't have to tell you what kind of a disaster that would be." He throws the surveillance photo of Agent Burn down on the coffee table in front of Palmer. Wow, the Chinese Foreign Secretary was so mad he jammed the picture through the phone? Yikes. Palmer rises and assures the Veep that the photo's not enough for the Chinese to start an international incident. "But if they find corroborating evidence?" the Veep wonders. Palmer says CTU is doing everything they can to make sure that doesn't happen, including getting Agent Burn out of town. The Veep says, "You never should have ordered that assault." Palmer says if they hadn't, "We'd be nowhere on stopping the missile." "And where are we?" the Veep snaps. "Is there some progress I don't know about?" Heh. Palmer says, "CTU is closing in on one of ImhoTerror's associates." Oh, good. Let's see, how many "associates" of ImhoTerror's has CTU "closed in on" today? By my count, going purely by memory, I'd say roughly eight hundred. But Palmer is hopeful that they can catch Mandy and use her to find ImhoTerror, because Palmer didn't show up until three quarters of the way into the season. The Veep is a bit more realistic, though: "Do you know how speculative that sounds?" the Veep panics. "My God, we're never gonna find it in time!" Palmer cuts him off, telling him not to say that. PMHC sits there looking unhappy that Mom and Dad are fighting again. Palmer insists, "We will stop it, but you must believe that if you're going to lead today." The Veep's not buying. "We are not sitting on our hands, Mr. President," says Palmer. "We are using every resource at our disposal to find this missile. We will prevent the warhead from going off." The Veep sadly wishes that he shared Palmer's confidence. Palmer says the Veep needs to do just that. "Remain presidential," he says. "Remain"? "Demand nothing less than success from your people and you will get it." The Veep nods, somewhat mollified. But he still wants to know what to tell the Chinese. Palmer says, "You don't. Let PMHC handle it. He'll tell them that unless they have proof of our involvement, we don't want to hear from them today." The Veep looks to PMHC, who nods his agreement. I think PMHC is the only person in the room who hasn't had a chance to blow off a Chinese diplomat today, so he's probably eager to get a piece of that action.
5:28:02. Buchanan gets a phone call from Agent Burn, so he goes off somewhere private to take the call on his cell phone. Agent Burn, standing near a parked helicopter somewhere, tells Buchanan that "I got a message to call you as soon as I landed in San Diego." Buchanan tells Burn that the Chinese still have a hair up their ass about the Consulate raid, and while they don't have any evidence beyond the surveillance photo of Burn, they have to make sure none turns up. As a black CTUmobile pulls around the corner and approaches Burn and the agents escorting him, Buchanan instructs Burn to start manufacturing an alibi proving that he was at CTU San Diego during the attack. Burn's escort steps forward to meet the CTUmobile, and he and the driver show each other their badges as Burn promises Buchanan that his alibi will be airtight. Burn asks about his family, in order to establish for the viewers that he has one, and Buchanan says they've been moved to a hotel for now. Burn's being led to the CTUmobile, and as he gets off the phone, the agent escorting him opens the back door to reveal that the CTUmobile already has a passenger: Consulate Cop. Hey, that's not a CTUmobile at all! At least not any more. Agent Burn is bundled, struggling, into the DeeplyPissedOffChineseGuyMobile, and another man in the seat behind him wraps his arm around Burn's face and holds a gun to his head. "Drive!" snaps Consulate Cop, and the vehicle tears off, revealing a couple of CTU agents in the alley who are bound, gagged, and unconscious. And also probably fired.