Episode Report Card M. Giant: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Duress Code: Casual
By M. Giant | Season 5 | Episode 4 | Aired on 01.15.2006
At CTU, Chloe comes into the Situation Room with the good news that there are only minor injuries among the hostages. Well, except for those two gaping skull wounds. Buchanan -- who's in the room with Audrey -- thanks Chloe and tells her to start running field updates through McGill. "Okay," Chloe says, arching her eyebrows so severely that they read "Whatever" in Arabic. On her way out, McGill passes her in the doorway and gives a little "Thanks" as she accidentally opens the door for him. I'm already digging those geeky little moments of his. You just know they're not in the script. Buchanan immediately apologizes to McGill for not trusting him, but McGill turns it right around and gives Buchanan credit for helping him figure out what Kiefer was up to. McGill: "I admit I was suspicious of Mr. Bauer, but you were so adamant about his integrity that I looked for a way to reconcile the contradiction. So thank you." And then they make out. No, not really; Audrey's sitting right there. And now's a good a time as any for me to remark that for two hours in a row, Audrey was in on any number of conference calls with Kiefer and never said a word. So he probably doesn't even know that she's around, and won't until he comes face-to-face with her at CTU. Isn't it just like her to withhold pertinent information until the very moment when it'll create the most drama? Maybe I shouldn't have told her to shut up so many times last season; she appears to have taken it to heart. In which case, shut up, Diane. But back to the men in the scene. Now that McGill has been all conciliatory, it of course turns out that he wants something. Specifically, he orders Kiefer taken into custody. He explains to a surprised Buchanan and Audrey that Kiefer's still a suspect in the deaths of Palmer and Michelle, after all. "Bring him in. Now," he insists. Buchanan looks at Audrey like, It was going so well with him for about ten seconds or so.
It's 10:55:44 as Kiefer jogs back into the main concourse area at the terminal, the man-purse back in its proper place across his body. You'll notice he put himself in danger to save Derek, but kept the man-purse hidden safely away. I predict that sometime this season, he's going to have to make some agonizing Hobson's choice where he'll have to sacrifice a loved one, or a key witness, or a vital lead, or himself, or the man-purse. It'll be interesting to see how that plays out. He tells the waiting agents that the rest of the building is clear, and keeps scanning the hostages in case he missed Yellow Tie before somehow. Curtis strides in, and the two men exchange manly greetings. You'll recall that this is the first time they've actually seen each other since before Kiefer's "death." Kiefer tells Curtis that they need to start looking for Yellow Tie right away, but Curtis says he has orders to get Kiefer back to CTU. Frustrated, Kiefer tells Curtis about the key card he saw Beresch pass to Yellow Tie. "Something else is going down here. We've got to find this guy now." I'd just like to say right now that if this whole hostage thing was nothing but a cover to transfer Chevensky's key card to Yellow Tie, I'm going to be so pissed. Rent a locker, idiots. Anyway, Curtis promises to stick around and track down Yellow Tie, but Kiefer's still got to be escorted back to CTU. Kiefer realizes he's stuck, and gives a detailed description of Yellow Tie to Curtis, who promises to find him. Kiefer goes and hands over his man-purse to his CTU escort, saying, "These are my weapons." Nice try, Kiefer, but I'm still calling it the man-purse. As they walk out, Curtis gets on the comm system to have his men start looking for Yellow Tie.