Episode Report Card M. Giant: A- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Class Reunion, Without the Class
By M. Giant | Season 7 | Episode 2 | Aired on 01.11.2009
At 9:39:02, Kiefer is staying a few cars behind Tanner as they drive through one of the more scenic areas of D.C. I've never been there myself, so I didn't realize before now that the Washington Monument is visible from every outdoor location in the city. Like the Eiffel Tower in Paris, or the Space Needle in Chicago. Walker's cell phone rings; it's Moss. Kiefer tells her not to answer it, but she does. Moss is entering his office as he asks her what's going on. Walker makes up a story about a lead she's following up with Kiefer, but Moss is totally not convinced. "Renee, what the hell's going on?" he demands, rubbing his face. "Has Bauer gotten you involved with something?" Walker quietly asks Moss to trust her, and he unhappily agrees. When Walker hangs up, she complains to Kiefer, "I just flat-out lied to my boss." Of course, none of this is Kiefer's problem; he only cares if he bought it or not, which Walker thinks he did. Kiefer manages to suppress a sinister cackle of "You are learning, grasshopppah."
Back at the office, Moss returns to Janis and asks if Walker's comm unit is online. Janis confirms as much. Moss asks her if she can do a triangulation to determine where Walker is. Janis starts to say the system isn't set up for that, but seeing Moss's expression, she says she can try. "Can you not just call her?" she wonders. Moss is in no mood, so she gets to work. I like this scene because it shows how it's possible for a female computer geek to be funny without being actively irritating.
Back on the driving tour of D.C., Walker asks Kiefer a question that's been bugging me, too: how far would he have gone with Schechter? "You told me to do whatever it takes," Kiefer says, as though that's an answer. Walker claims to have said that to scare Schechter, and repeats the question. Which Kiefer dodges, until he gets bored. "You know, I've been answering a lot of questions lately about my past, and frankly, I'm done." Unless it's someone like Agent Kilner asking, that is. "I told you I'd help you find Tony Almeida, I even agreed to do it your way. Since the FBI's been compromised, that's no longer an option. I can still help you find him, but you're going to have to let me do it my way. Is that going to be a problem?" Walker, totally uncowed by his pissy little outburst: "We'll see." Good answer. A splitscreen of Kiefer and Tony closes out the act at 9:42:38.
It's 9:48:38, and Henry Taylor and Agent Getsch walk down the hall at the Sloan Kittredge brokerage firm, bickering awkwardly some more about Roger's death. Cut to Sam's desk, where she's looking remarkably put together while she's on the phone with a client. The other line buzzes in; it's the receptionist, telling her there's a Secret Service agent there to see her. She seems pretty surprised, and bails on the call to meet the agent waiting for her at reception I assume he's the driver, since we haven't seen him before now. He leads her to a narrow rooftop balcony, where Henry and Agent Getsch are waiting for her at 9:49:52. She tries to make a little small talk, and Henry tells her, "I know about the money, Sam. Four hundred thousand dollars wired to an offshore account three days after you found my son's body." He asks who paid her off for keeping quiet about whatever she knows of Roger's death. "Please, just answer the question," he tells her in a voice that breaks Getsch's laser-like focus on the skyline in front of him. The agent looks over at his charge with concern that even his government-issue sunglasses can't conceal. Sam explains that the money is her aunt's, and she suggested moving it offshore to hide it from the IRS. Henry isn't convinced: "You want me to believe that you had the presence of mind to commit tax fraud three days after my son died? The man you supposedly loved?" Sam insists she's telling the truth, but he doesn't believe her. With her eyes filling with tears, she turns to go, but Henry grabs her arm. Getsch finally decides it's time to intervene before he has to arrest the guy he's protecting, and as he leads Henry away, the distraught father threatens, "I'm going to find out what you're hiding, and when I do, God help you!" Well, that went well. Of course, as nutty as he might be acting, the nice thing about being a conspiracy theorist on 24 is that you'll eventually be proven right. Even if it is moments before you are killed.