Episode Report Card M. Giant: C | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Thrilling Bureaucratic Intrigue!
By M. Giant | Season 5 | Episode 16 | Aired on 04.02.2006
Buchanan's finally decided to let Audrey in on what's going on regarding the takeover by DHS. She's in denial about it: "They can't do that, not after what you've accomplished today." He agrees that it's a really bad time to be making a changeover, what with the search for Henderson still going on, but he points out that Hayes is getting her orders from the Vice President. Neither of them understands what the Veep is up to. I hope I'm not giving too much away by remarking that the Veep has got his hands full with a boatload of misdirection. By the way, Audrey looks outstanding again, and, like her late husband, appears to have the innate ability to recover from the effects of horrific torture in a matter of minutes. Which is forcing me to develop all manner of unsavory theories about their bedroom habits.
Speaking of Henderson, here he is now. He appears to be set up with a few gunmen inside some large, abandoned industrial facility. And if Homeland Security will just hurry up and level all of these places, I fully support the takeover. Henderson's on the phone with the head of the hit squad that tried to kill Wayne Palmer last hour. The guy has to explain that Wayne "knocked Cobb out and retrieved his weapon." Wow. Go, Wayne. Not that I believe it for a second. The hit man then adds that someone came to Wayne's rescue. Henderson isn't nearly as pissed as you might expect; he simply checks his watch and says, "We're going to a fallback. Scrub the scene and get over here." He hangs up. No way are they going to have time to "scrub the scene." The best they'll be able to do is a light rinsing.
It's 10:07:15 as Aaron climbs out of his Secret Service Mobile near the Presidential corral. He makes sure no one's around before going around to the back and opening the tailgate, revealing that he crammed the wounded and unconscious Wayne under the cargo cover. Surviving brothers of dead ex-presidents don't really get the standard Aaron Pierce Red Carpet treatment, do they? "You're all right, Mr. Palmer," he assures us, lest we think he's turned into some kind of jerk in the last ten minutes. Wayne shakes himself awake and sits up, and Aaron suggests they get Wayne to a doctor. Wayne Kiefers that there's no time for that and he's fine. So Aaron asks what's going on and why Wayne was being targeted. Wayne explaynes: "Because David had a source inside the White House, and someone is trying to prevent me from seeing her." That source? The First Lady's assistant, Evelyn. Of course -- who else would it be? In a White House with only half a dozen speaking parts, options are rather limited. Aaron is surprised to hear it, and even more surprised to hear that David Palmer and Evelyn had been trading emails. Wayne wants to find out what was in those messages, because he thinks his brother was killed over information that Evelyn gave him. Which doesn't explain why Wayne called ahead to set up a meeting to give something to Aaron, but then that was like two hours ago and thus totally beside the point.
And here's Evelyn now, with her coat and purse and just about to head out for the day. So she's not staying at Not Camp David while the Logans are in California, I suppose. Don't worry, it's about to get even more confusing. She hands off some papers to FLOTUS, seeming hurried and distracted as she backs toward the door while talking. FLOTUS stops her and asks if she's all right, and Evelyn claims she's just tired. FLOTUS makes sure Evelyn has her credentials with her, due to the curfew still being in effect and all. Evelyn does, and she exits the FLOTUSuite hurriedly. FLOTUS looks a little worried about her. Hey, if I'd just worked a sixteen-hour day, I'd want out of there too.