Episode Report Card M. Giant: C+ | 1 USERS: B YOU GRADE IT Daddy Issues
By M. Giant | Season 6 | Episode 10 | Aired on 02.18.2007
Up in the utility room, Dad is giving Kiefer the obligatory self-justifying speech/plot explication that is required in situations like this. He explains that Gredenko somehow found out about his connection to David Palmer's assassination, and used the information to blackmail him into letting him keep some of the nukes. He insists that he didn't know Gredenko had provided them to Fayed until Valencia got nuked this morning, and that in order to put a stop to it, he's been looking for Gredenko ever since. During the breaks between trying to eliminate all of his descendants, that is. "I'm a patriot, Jack," claims Dad. "I never wanted any harm to come to this country." Kiefer calls bullshit. And he seems to think bullshit is very far away and therefore may not be able to hear him, so he calls it very loudly. "You let all this happen so you could cover up what you did!" Kiefer bellows. Dad tries to blame it all on Kiefer, saying that he would have handled Gredenko in time: "None of this would have happened if you hadn't turned your back on me." Kiefer looks away ashamed, instead of wishing that he hadn't agreed to come unarmed. "So that you could become, what? A civil servant?" Dad mocks. Okay, now I'm wishing I wasn't unarmed. Apropos of nothing, Dad says that CTU will now make Gredenko help them to find Fayed, and Dad will be exposed. Kiefer admits that they never found Gredenko. "Then all of this was for nothing," says Dad. Whatever that means. Shouldn't they be talking about how much Kiefer has told CTU about Dad's involvement in this? I'm sure Dad would be interested to know how far Kiefer has gone out of his way not to incriminate him. But I suppose if either of them brings that up, it'll raise the issue of how little sense that makes, and my credence is creaking under this last scene as it is.
It gets worse when Dad tells Kiefer to get on his knees. Which, given their height differential, seems redundant, but Kiefer obeys. As Dad walks around behind Kiefer and levels his gun at his son's head, he says, "It didn't have to end like this. You could have had it all." Hotel suites with gigundous plasma screens! The means to raid minibars with impunity! Dead offspring! The camera zooms in tight on Kiefer for his big speech as he says he never wanted Dad to think he was turning his back on him or the family. He says he just had to go his own way and do things for himself. Dad looks thoughtful as Kiefer concludes, "It was never good enough for you. I'm sorry." Oh, Kiefer, don't be such a wimp. Not now. Your dad's an asshole. Make him own it. Kiefer says that he's ready, and waits for the shot. Then he starts getting angry and jittery when it doesn't come, and finally turns around, saying, "Damn you!" Of course, Dad is gone, and he's got a thirty-second head start. Kiefer will never catch the old duffer now. Maybe it wasn't the best move to let Dad position himself between you and the door. Kiefer runs out and scans the roof; he then leans over the railing to check the sidewalk below, just in case. And then he notices a PDA left behind on the roof railing. The message simply says, "JACK CALL 310-597-3781." Yes, it's the fan phone number again. That thing really gets a workout. I don't know if Dad planned this all along, or if he changed his mind and did this on his way out. Which, unless he texts a lot faster than I do, would have burned about three minutes of his thirty-second head start. Instead of chasing after his Dad, Kiefer stalks across the roof thinking about his next move as the end-of-episode splitscreen commences. We also see Wayne looking over Assad's speech, and Chad Lowe wiping his fingerprints off the strip of duct tape covering the mouth of the still-unconscious Tom before leaving him to rot in the steam pipe trunk distribution venue. Kiefer dials the fan phone number.