Episode Report Card M. Giant: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Putting the "Dent" in "President"
By M. Giant | Season 4 | Episode 16 | Aired on 04.03.2005
There's a sweeping external shot of Air Force One flying straight and level over the cloud cover, not crash-diving or banking or corkscrewing in any way, presenting a target as challenging as a cruise ship. The shot's too tight to reveal any surrounding fighters, as is the budget. Inside the plane, the First Preppie gets up from the chair where he's been sitting for the last half hour and tells his dad, "I'm scared." They share an embrace. So they're not even bothering to employ the countermeasures you'll find on any aircraft, from Air Force One to some commuter plane that belongs to Buddy Holly Airlines. I'm speaking, of course, of seatbelts. Or even seats, for that matter.
If you're waiting for an end-of-episode split screen, there ain't one. Poor Man's Eric Stoltz launches a missile, but we only see it as a radar blip. Potato Face says, "Oh my God," as the missile's blip on her screen streaks towards the blip of the escort fighter at Air Force One's eight-o-clock.
A blipvert of the interior of Air Force One shows light from a roaring explosion outside the plane flooding through the cabin windows, while Keeler stands cross-armed and stone-faced. This looked cooler the first time through. It lasts all of ten frames, but they could have at least had the guy start to look alarmed.
All is silence at CTU. Potato Face's radar screen only shows the missile's track into the area where it detonated. There's nothing but an indistinct blur of light there now. "Was Air Force One just hit?" Kiefer bellows into his phone. Potato Face is waiting for word. She finally speaks: "Escort pilots report…Air Force One has suffered an indirect hit by an air-to-air missile. Pieces are falling to the ground over the desert." Kiefer's lips give a barely perceptible tremble as he lets the phone drop from his ear. His eyes are wide in shock and devastation. No way is he going to have a job in the Veep's administration after this. It's 11:00:00.
Next week on 24: Air Force One is down, and Poor Man's Hume Cronyn is back! I don't know which is more shocking. And the football's in play. What football? That football. You know, the football. Brr.