Episode Report Card M. Giant: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Dead Kiefer Walking
By M. Giant | Season 7 | Episode 16 | Aired on 03.30.2009
At 11:17:52, Walker is still hanging out in that holding room at FBI-DC. Moss comes in and wastes no time getting to the point. "Jack was right about Starkwood," he says. The explanation for Starkwood's involvement is at least getting shorter as we hear it for the umpteenth time, but Walker's more interested in where Kiefer is. "He's on his way over here," Moss says in a way that tells Walker something's wrong. Moss stammers, "He managed to secure the weapons, but then, uh, Starkwood got 'em back, and when that happened, um, Jack was exposed." Moss is obviously wishing he'd just sent Walker home for the night and told her all this via e-mail. She's clearly crushed, as Moss goes on to say that he wants her to debrief Kiefer about the weapons when he gets back. Or deboxer him as the case may be. "And I owe you an apology," he adds as tears spill down Walker's cheeks. He says he should have trusted her. "I let my prejudice about Bauer get in the way." He still says she should have trusted him too, which she admits. Just when it looks like Moss is about to take a crack at turning this into another kind of holding room, if you know what I mean, she asks, "When are we moving on Starkwood?" The tears turn into steel so fast you can practically hear them clattering on the table.
Aaron's making his way down a White House hallway, his arm in a sling, when he's hailed by Olivia. She heard he was leaving, but says she needs him to stay. Jesus, lady, he just saved your life when he wasn't even on duty. How much more pro bono work do you want from him today? Well, this, in fact: she wants him to handle her security detail now that she's the acting Chief of Staff. Aaron says he's flattered, but also retired. "There are plenty of fine agents on the roster," he says. Olivia doesn't want a fine agent; she wants Aaron. She tells him that the threat is ongoing, and she needs people she can trust. What about people she can pay? "I'm running into a meeting with the president," she bulldozes. "I assume your answer is yes." She leaves without letting him give his real one. Poor Aaron. I bet he's thinking, Man, the next time Bill Buchanan calls me for a favor, I'm going to-- oh, wait. Never mind.
At 11:20:47, Taylor calls the meeting in the Situation Room to order. Olivia takes a seat at her mom's right hand, next to Tim. Taylor gives him the floor, and he tells them about the belief that Starkwood has acquired a bioweapon. He puts a satellite photo of Starkwood's local compound up on the screen. "Over three square miles, 259 structures. The weapons could be hidden anywhere on the facility." Admiral Smith asks what kind of bioweapons (a question which somehow sounds smarter coming from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs), and luckily a CDC boss named Ben Landry is there with the preliminary field report, which tells them exactly what kind of bug they're dealing with. It's "A prion variant indigenous to the East Congo. It's a form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, which attacks the brain and the nervous system. Causes dementia, physical deterioration, ultimately death." And all within a day or two, as opposed to the months it would usually take. Sounds like a weapon developed just for 24. And of course there's no treatment or cure. Boy, let's hope Kiefer doesn't have it then, huh? Taylor declares, "It goes without saying, we can not allow a private military force, these killers, to possess weapons of mass destruction." And yet she said it. "Now we need to find these weapons and arrest those bastards at Starkwood who were responsible for bringing them here!" A highly decorated general stands up and says that the size of the compound means it'll take a large force to find the weapons. "Not to mention the fact that there are fifteen hundred highly trained mercenaries on that base. God forbid they decide to resist. We could have a small war in our own backyard." Well, not to quibble, but given Kiefer's activities over the past couple of hours, it's going to be more like 1,497. Admiral Smith agrees with the general, and adds that if they move in, Starkwood might use the bioweapon against them. Taylor asks about the possibility of an air strike, but Smith advises against that for a variety of reasons. A civilian guy who may or may not be the Attorney General points out that even if they could do any of this, it would be in violation of Posse Comitatus. "We can't deploy military personnel in a law enforcement capacity. Not without Congressional approval." Taylor isn't ready to let it slide, so she tells everyone to figure something out. Surprisingly, nobody asks if they can sleep on it and get back to her in the morning.