Episode Report Card M. Giant: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Putting the "Dent" in "President"
By M. Giant | Season 4 | Episode 16 | Aired on 04.03.2005
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.A lot going on this hour, people. There's another big, fun shoot-out in the first act as Kiefer leads CTU to ImhoTerror's hideout, but slippery, slippery ImhoTerror escapes again. Can you imagine what he'd be accomplishing if he weren't on the run all the time? Looks like Bitchelle is shtupping that Buchanan guy from Division, and Soul Patch doesn't take that so well. Lispy Skip's upset to hear that he's going to have to throw a funeral for his mom without actually burying her, so he screws something up and Potato Face takes the blame for it. Just because, I guess. President Keeler wants to address the nation before the 11:00 news, apparently heedless of the fact that it's already after 11:00 in three time zones. He bonds over his speech with his bland son, who also doesn't own a watch. Kiefer follows a lead to the apartment of Poor Man's Eric Stoltz, where NotMandy, posing as an FBI agent, is looking for an incriminating hard drive. The hard drive is found, Kiefer takes out NotMandy, and then he and CTU figure out that Poor Man's Eric Stoltz is stealing a stealth fighter. And that the most likely target is Air Force One, which is coming to Los Angeles for some reason. As Poor Man's Eric Stoltz closes in on the president's plane, Kiefer gets in touch and tries to talk him down, but even a cockpit chock-full o' Velvet isn't enough to deter the pilot from his mission. The episode ends with a pretty cool midair explosion, but to see what happens to Air Force One, we'll have to wait until next week. Or maybe just the preview for next week. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
Previously on 24: ImhoTerror held Kiefer prisoner so they could trash-talk each other face-to-face. ImhoTerror left Kiefer alone to mess with some exposed phone wires, in keeping with this season's motif of thwarting the villains with their own utilities. ImhoTerror offered a prisoner exchange -- Kiefer for TerrorTeen -- in order to distract CTU from his plan involving a military pilot. Bitchelle introduced CTU to a guy from Division named Buchanan. The prisoner exchange went ahead, and Kiefer notified CTU about his sabotage, which allowed them to remotely locate the ImHideout. With the help of the phone company, of course. Meanwhile, Poor Man's Eric Stoltz fraudulently closed out the trouble ticket on his plane and prepared for takeoff. Those previouslies so did not need to be two minutes long. Do you suppose they pad them to that length regardless of whether there's two minutes of stuff we need to know? In any case, that's two minutes of actual episode I don't have to recap, so I shouldn't complain. The following takes place between 10:00 PM and 11:00 PM.
Soul Patch and Bitchelle are making their report via videoconference to President Keeler, explaining that the tracking devices they planted on TerrorTeen are no longer working, which means they can't find him. It also doesn't look like a camera crew will be able to find him either, since TerrorTeen doesn't appear in this episode at all. For that matter, the only "regular" cast members left in the opening credits are Kiefer and Kim Raver. Driscoll's gone, DaD's finally been driven away by his irritating DoDder, Curtis is presumably following TerrorTeen's abductors all the way to Portland or something, and Special Agent Breck went and got herself Bitchelle-slapped right out the door. But back to Soul Patch and Bitchelle, the former of whom has apparently spent the previouslies finding and donning a CTU jacket over his T-shirt. He must have felt a little underdressed for a meeting with the Prez. He goes on to explain that Kiefer tagged the location of the ImHideout and teams are on their way to raid it. "I want ImhoTerror found. Now," Keeler says. Jeez, what did they just get done telling you? Keeler goes on: "I've asked Secret Service to secure a landing site so I can be on the ground to address the nation before the 11:00 news." Uh, good luck with that, what with it being after 11:00 in three time zones. But feel free to address the West Coast. Rather than pointing to a clock, Soul Patch says he thinks Keeler's safer in the air. Think he'll regret that comment later? Keeler points out, "I've been flying for twenty hours. The American people need to hear from me now." Not sure how those two statements are connected, unless he wants to warn the nation about the dangers of deep vein thrombosis. Bitchelle suggests that Keeler make his address from Air Force One. Which is something he's already done today, although she doesn't mention that. Keeler says, "I appreciate your concern, but I'm going to give my speech when I get to Los Angeles."
Wait, since when is Keeler going to Los Angeles? As of this morning he wanted DaD back in D.C. tonight, so that couldn't have been his original plan. So instead, head to L.A., where the terrorists are at large? And when did his plan change? And more to the point, how did ImhoTerror know it would change, and when, and with such precision that it played right into a part of his plan that must have taken months to organize? Keeler signs off before we can ask him any of these questions. Soul Patch tells Bitchelle that Kiefer's teams should be in place at the ImHideout shortly.