Episode Report Card M. Giant: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT One-Term Wonder
By M. Giant | Season 5 | Episode 23 | Aired on 05.21.2006
Those Fox News broadcasters still can't quit smirking over Palmer's death, can they? The report in question is being watched by the First Lady, who's still sitting up awake in the FLOTUSuite. She's woken from a doze by a knock at the door, and she sleepily/hopefully murmurs Aaron's name. Which would have been awkward if it had been Logan, after all the trouble they went to in order to hide Aaron's continued existence. But Novick enters instead at 5:46:27, and FLOTUS mutes the TV so Novick can tell her that Aaron is "safe." If by "safe" one means "abandoned without a ride in the wilderness just a few miles from the President of the United States who wants him dead." FLOTUS starts to go off on Logan's gall in planning to eulogize Palmer after being responsible for his death, but Novick urgently cuts in to say that Kiefer's on his way to "confront" Logan. "Will he hurt him?" FLOTUS asks, in a tone that suggests that it wouldn't necessarily be a deal-breaker. Novick nods, "Jack Bauer will do whatever it takes to compel your husband to confess the truth. He's the only one I know who can do this." FLOTUS's only objection is that the fifteen remaining minutes before Kiefer arrives will make him too late to catch Logan before he leaves for the airfield. Novick already knows this, and says he already tried to delay Logan. Now it's up to FLOTUS. She balks, but Novick says she's their only hope. "You have to find a way to stall him." It's 5:47:45, and we're left to wonder how a wife could possibly stall her husband. Hmmm.
Commercials. Looks like Victor Garber's landing on his feet. As for his costar Kerr Smith, someone really should have told him that his haircut makes him look like Natalie Portman.
It's 5:53:34, and one of the splitscreens shows a Navy helicopter (not Marine One) parked in one of Not Camp David's corrals. Kiefer drives his Navy staff car up the road to the retreat, and stops when he sees Aaron waiting by the side of the road. Way to lay low, there, dude. If you really want to keep a low profile, perhaps you should also set fire to your tie. Kiefer gets out of the car and the two men greet each other by their first names. Aaron tells Kiefer that FLOTUS is helping them stall the President. Kiefer asks if he's sure she can be trusted, and Aaron insists, "She is with us, Jack. A hundred percent." Kiefer changes the subject to Secret Service deployment grids, namely whether Aaron can still access them. Aaron says he can and has, and that there's too much security around the building for even Kiefer to get through to Logan. Kiefer asks about Logan's transport to the airfield, and Aaron answers that the tight scheduling has forced Logan to use a "reduced detachment" and travel by Navy helicopter. Kiefer tells a doubtful Aaron to get him as close to the helicopter as he can, and they'll go from there. "All right," Aaron breezes. "Let's go." They head back into the retreat on foot, because the tense hour FLOTUS just spent trying to get Aaron off the grounds alive wasn't all that big a deal anyway.