Episode Report Card M. Giant: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Who Rescues the Rescuer?
By M. Giant | Season 5 | Episode 3 | Aired on 01.15.2006
Audrey rushes up and says that the terrorists are making a broadcast from the airport and the networks are picking it up live. Spencer puts it up on the CTU big screen, and we can see that Logan and his sidekicks are watching as well from Not Camp David. The image on the screen shows Beresch, wearing a ski mask and talking to the camera about the anti-terrorism treaty that the presidents are going to sign that morning. As we see Kiefer making his way onto a metal-slatted catwalk that forms part of the terminal's ceiling (having failed to accidentally Bender right through the ceiling like Judd Nelson in The Breakfast Club), Beresch makes his demand: "I have hostages. Unless President Logan and President Suvarov make a joint statement repudiating this accord, I will order their execution. You have exactly ninety minutes." At Not Camp David, Logan screams to get Beresch off the air. Not out of the terminal, just off the air. Now that's leadership. Novick reminds him they can't force the networks to drop the signal. ["Kudos to Ciccolella for the silent '…you bonehead' that he added to that statement with his face." -- Sars] Kiefer takes up position on his catwalk, lying flat on his belly and peering through the slats with his cell phone earpiece tucked in. As he does so, Beresch finishes up his statement in support of terrorists, and yay, terrorism, and give us our own sovereign nation of Terroristan. Logan turns off the TV and throws a wobbler. "We've been preparing for this summit for sixteen months! Every news agency in the world is here. I've staked my entire administration on this day and now these people are demanding that I go on national television and publicly repudiate everything I've done?" Novick calmly advises the president to "take a moment." Logan just yells back, "I want this handled! I don't care how you do it, I don't care what it takes, FIX IT!" And he storms out. So the buck stops...where, now?
It's 9:14:02 as a CTU helicopter delivers Curtis to the command post that's been set up outside Ontario Airport. Somehow he can hear his cell phone ring even when standing directly under the rotors, and he answers it. It's Kiefer, giving Curtis the bullet: he can see four bad guys with bomb-vests guarding the hostages, two are roaming, and there are two chained-but-unguarded security doors on the northeast side of the concourse. Curtis dispatches a recon team to the northeast and asks Kiefer to "quarterback this thing from inside." While he's still on the phone, Officer McLaren, Airport Cop tells Curtis that Diane Huxley is there with info for CTU. Kiefer's quite surprised to hear that name, and asks to talk to her. Curtis puts her on. She tells Kiefer that Derek ran into the terminal to "warn" Kiefer, but she's not sure that Derek made it all the way inside. Kiefer tells her to hold on, digs his rifle scope out of his man-purse, and starts scanning the herd of hostages. It's not long before he locates Derek's scraggly mane. "Dammit!" he curses, quietly but forcefully. He confirms to Diane that Derek is with the hostages, but unharmed as yet. She begs him not to let anything happen to Derek, and he promises on his life that he's going to get Derek back to her. He can make that promise, you see, because he'd rather kill himself than listen to the weapons-grade whining that would ensue if Diane lost her son. Weeping now, Diane gives the phone back to Curtis, who's just looking at her hilariously like, Damn, I thought Kiefer's taste couldn't go any further downhill. Kiefer asks Curtis to let Diane stay at the command post, and I'd say Diane's lucky that Curtis owes Kiefer his life, because Curtis agrees. In return, Curtis asks Kiefer to let him know if anything changes in the terminal. Once off the phone, Kiefer hisses, "Son of a bitch!" He looks down at his favorite hostage, and I bet he's missing Spawn a lot less right now. It's 9:16:43.