Episode Report Card Gustave: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Sisters in disguise
By Gustave | Season 2 | Episode 11 | Aired on 02.03.2003
The time is 06:04:35 PM. Kiefer and Cate are in the Kiefmobile on their way to the local mosque, where Cate is going to identify Syed Ali. Cate is feeling better now that her ear has stopped bleeding. She even got one of those CTU stylists to blow-dry her hair so it has a lovely flip to it. But Cate really wants to know why they need to identify Syed Ali -- not to mention why he kidnapped and tortured her to begin with. Kiefer klaims he kan't tell her because the information is klassified. Cate insists that she has the right to know. Kiefer sighs and tells her about the B-O-M-B. Jeez. You know that joke from Austin Powers about how you can get any piece of information out of anyone simply by asking three times? On 24, apparently, all you have to do to get anyone to divulge a secret is to ask twice. Hell, sometimes you don't even have to ask twice. Sometimes you can ask once and then make a scowly face. I love how, last year, Bride would complain about how secretive Kiefer was. If only. "Do you want some nutmeg or cinnamon on your latte, Mr. Bauer?" "Okay, okay, there's a nuclear bomb about to go off today and time is running out." Anyway, Cate is stunned by this piece of information. She puts her hand over her mouth and thinks really really hard. "You're the only person we know of who knows what Syed Ali looks like," says Kiefer. "The reason that I'm taking you with me is because we're running out of time." Kiefer's cell phone rings. It's Mason, informing him about the police car accident and how Kim is missing again. Kiefer is enraged to hear that Spawn was still being held by the local authorities. "Your people were supposed to pick her up," he says. Mason explains that someone on the police force got a bug up their ass and claimed jurisdiction. "You told me you would take care of this," pleads an angry Kiefer with his patented bedroom whisper. "You gave me your word. Please, please find my daughter!" The screen splits to reveal that Cate is listening to Kiefer's side of this conversation and is either a) concerned that this man who just saved her life is having troubles of his own or b) really turned on by the trademark Sutherland velvety bedroom whisper.
NSA. The time is 06:07:31 PM. Inside Palmer's office, PoorMan'sHumeCronyn gets off the phone and reports back to Palmer that the Justice Department doesn't think that the evidence against Yulin is "actionable." Speaking of Yulin, he's having one of those generic meetings at a conference table right outside of Palmer's glass-walled office. Actually, come to think of it, NSA is kind of like the set of Taxi, with Palmer as Danny DeVito in "the cage" looking out at all of the interpersonal activity in the main garage. Palmer is furious and frustrated that there's nothing they can do about Yulin, despite the fact that it's obvious he's connected to Colonel Sanders…and Colonel Sanders shot down Kiefer's plane. PoorMan'sHumeCronyn -- Judd Hirsch? -- argues that the evidence is "circumstantial" and it's going to take time to get a judge to issue a warrant. "We don't have time," says Palmer forcefully. PMHC suggests that they remove Yulin and "deal with the ramifications later." "You may need to expand the limits of how far you've been willing to go," says PMHC. Hey, I saw the previews for this week's show. He's talking about torture. Woo! Meanwhile Rolaide -- Marilu Henner? -- is at a desk outside Palmer's office, playing receptionist. When Lady Mac -- Rhea Perlman? -- calls looking for Palmer, Rolaide has to take a message. Lady Mac reminds Rolaide that she's Palmer's wife and an integral part of his team, and tries to get Rolaide to keep her in the loop about the Yulin situation. Rolaide counters that she's not in the loop either, and couldn't do anything to bring Lady Mac up to speed even if she wanted to. "I'm sure that if the President wanted input from either of us, he'd let us know," says Rolaide in that dry, professional, but throaty tone that I just love. Lady Mac tries throwing the whole speech rewrite thing back in Rolaide's face. She even imperiously raises her index finger while she speaks…not that Rolaide can see the finger since it's a phone conversation, but still. She urges Rolaide to have Palmer get back to her. Rolaide promises to do whatever she can.