Episode Report Card M. Giant: A- | 170 USERS: B+ YOU GRADE IT Day 8: 4:00 PM -- 5:00 PM
By M. Giant | Season 8 | Episode 1 | Aired on 2010.01.17
It's 4:06:16, and speaking of the United Nations building, here we are. A reporter from Exposition News is doing a stand-up about an upcoming joint press conference to be held by Presidents Taylor and Hassan within the hour. Hassan is expected to bail on his country's nuclear weapons program, and the reporter claims Hassan is calling the new treaty an historic move for the Middle East. Presumably he lacks the analytical powers to understand what this means in a more immediate geopolitical sense, even though you and I do: by this time tomorrow, the streets will be clotted with blood.
But for now, we join the talks currently in progress. President Allison Taylor and her former Chief of Staff Ethan Kanin, now her Secretary of State, sit across a table from a couple of swarthy dudes. One of them is the aforementioned President Hassan, played by Anil Kapoor from Slumdog Millionaire and his giant pompadour. The other is a younger guy with an awful lot of hair for a high-ranking diplomat, not to mention the little flavor-saver under his lower lip. And of course the whole room is ringed by the kind of people doing the kind of things that people who ring rooms do in these kinds of room-ringing scenes. Taylor wants to talk about verification, so Hassan says he's ready to abandon their nuclear program, "with full International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards." Taylor wants American inspectors, and a moment later, Ethan and Hassan's number two are spiraling into a heated discussion over the point. Hassan interrupts with a quiet "Farhad," and tells Taylor, "Please excuse my brother's passion." Okay, but I'm not sure I'll excuse the clumsy exposition. Taylor says it's cool, but she wants to resolve this in the hour before an upcoming press conference. Hassan reasonably asks, "Madame President, what would your Congress say if my Revolutionary Guard were stationed on your soil?" He reminds her that whatever he agrees to, he has to sell it back home. Taylor suggests an adjournment and they take a break. Which is good, because the delegation from the Middle East looks like it has some pretty demanding grooming requirements.