Episode Report Card M. Giant: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Gassing The Gap
By M. Giant | Season 5 | Episode 8 | Aired on 02.12.2006
At the mall, Henchman #2 has succeeded in cutting a huge section out of the vent panel, giving them access to the duct. It's 2:32:43 as Kiefer watches them load the canister into the duct, still listening to the discussion going on between CTU and the President. I'd love to hear what Kiefer's position is on this, but it's not like he can weigh in any more than we can. At least not unless he shoves that earpiece in a lot further so they can hear his actual thoughts.
Novick is asking Team CTU how many casualties they're projecting at the mall, and McGill says they're guessing between eight and nine hundred. "Sir, many of them are children," Audrey pipes up. She doesn't say how many of them are acting like assholes at the moment. Novick suggests evacuating the mall, but McGill says that'll tip their hand as well. Logan looks at this from his usual perspective, which is the political cost; he says the public won't stand for it. McGill assures him that the decision will be covert, and no one will ever know. He adds that "We know with a hundred percent certainty that when they leave the mall, they're going back to the remaining canisters." Because Logan hates actually making decisions, he asks for McGill's recommendation. McGill says that he and Buchanan agree that "the greater good would be served by allowing them to release this single canister of Sentox nerve gas." Audrey argues that they have no right. So now Logan's on the spot, and the terrorists are almost ready. Logan tries to weasel out of it, saying, "This is a field operation. It's up to you." Buchanan insists that only Logan has the legal authority to make this call. I love how Buchanan's so tired of Logan all the time. "You're putting me in a terrible position," Logan all-about-mes, and puts CTU on hold so he can turn to Novick. But Novick's no help: "You have to make the call," he says, probably just because he enjoys making Logan squirm. Seriously, the President would probably rather hang himself than have to deal with this. Logan finally reopens the line and speechifies, "The terrorists are forcing us to make a tragic choice... Let them release the gas." Kiefer looks stricken at hearing this over his earpiece. "But you better find those other canisters," Logan threatens, "or those people will have died in vain." And somebody might even get fired. End of call. Won't it be embarrassing if the terrorists accidentally end up opening all twenty canisters at the same time? They're all on the same remote, after all. But I guess CTU can't afford anybody smart enough to think of that, having spent all of their money on two-way earpieces that cost more than Chelsea.
It's 2:34:52 as McGill orders, "Pull our TAC teams out of the mall." Into his headset, McGill reminds Kiefer that he heard the President's decision. So here we are at this hour's big choice. We heard the whole discussion between representatives of CTU, Division, and the Department of Defense, as well as the President of the United States and his entire staff of advisor, grappling with the question of whether you sacrifice a thousand lives to save a million. And they've arrived at a conclusion, but it all comes down to Kiefer to actually let it happen or not. Will his tendency for insubordination, his disrespect for pukes like Logan and McGill, and, okay, the remaining scraps of his underlying humanity win out over his cold-blooded willingness to do what needs to be done, no matter the cost? We have no way of knowing, because even though he's the one who's going to have to actually carry out the decision, he's also the only one who can't say what he's thinking. Furthermore, are we the viewers even sure of what is the right thing to do? It's the episode's one truly suspenseful moment. Or it would be, if the promo guys hadn't ruined it already.