Episode Report Card M. Giant: C+ | 330 USERS: C+ YOU GRADE IT Thrilling Bureaucratic Intrigue!
By M. Giant | Season 5 | Episode 16 | Aired on 2006.04.03
Wayne tells Evelyn it's time to go, and suggests that he and Evelyn should leave separately in case she's being watched. So they should meet up in the parking lot and take Evelyn's car together. Well, as long as they're being careful. Aaron opens the door, and Evelyn leaves discreetly. Wayne straightens his tie, just so nobody gets the wrong idea if they are spotted.
Audrey's reading from the statement that Slime has already prepared and printed out, and it's pretty much a hatchet job on Buchanan. There's not a word about McGill's part in the security breach that led to the gas attack, either in the part of the statement we hear or in Audrey's response to it. "You can't possibly expect me to sign this," she sighs, removing her glasses. "Thanks to CTU, hundreds of thousands of people are alive who would otherwise be dead." Slime slimes that it's CTU's fault that those lives were in danger in the first place. And normally I would agree that a day at CTU is generally one screw-up after another, but to the extent that's true this season, the people who are to blame are pretty much dead now. Audrey pushes the statement back across the table at Slime, unsigned. Slime puts on a big show of being disappointed, "but I appreciate your loyalty." Audrey gets up to leave, but Slime's not finished -- he fake-friendlies that although Audrey was there all day, participating in some of CTU's allegedly bad decisions, "it would be a shame to see the taint of CTU's mismanagement spread to your agency. And your career." He promises that by signing it, she can protect herself. And her taint, presumably. Audrey takes a long moment, her face troubled. She returns to the table and looks seriously at the statement, and I actually think she's about to fold. But then she looks up at Slime and says, "I'm proud of what we did here today. The people of CTU are heroes. Especially Bill Buchanan. This takeover is completely unwarranted. And I won't help you justify it." I don't say this often, but go, Audrey. He sits there blinking, embarrassed at having miscalculated in thinking that everyone is as much of a self-serving asshole as he is.
Audrey marches out of the Sit Room at 10:21:25, just as her cell phone's ringing. It's Kiefer, calling Audrey so we can hear for the third time the episode's setup: Wayne Palmer, Evelyn, damning evidence, kidnapped daughter, Henderson, blah blah blah. Kiefer tells her what he needs: a surveillance satellite over the coordinates of the meeting place. He doesn't have those coordinates yet, but Audrey points out a bigger problem: CTU is being rolled up by Hayes and Homeland Security, and everyone's being replaced. Kiefer says that doesn't make sense, like Audrey doesn't already know that and like it isn't my line. All she can tell him is that Hayes is taking her orders from Vice President Gardner. While Kiefer looks freshly worried at this news, Audrey suggests bringing Hayes in on their little operation. But Kiefer doesn't want to risk it, because it's more fun going all lone wolf, and in any case Henderson is protecting someone powerful. "And now all of a sudden Vice President Gardner is shutting down CTU when we're actually in a position to bring Henderson in?" Kiefer snits. Wow, he's cynical when he gets blown up. He tells Audrey to have Chloe get ready to reposition the satellite. Audrey whines that Chloe and her entire department have been fired. He snaps, "Audrey, I need the satellite. Just figure out a way to get Chloe back on." Audrey says she'll call him back and hangs up, looking nervous. Then she happens to glance up at the boss's office, where she sees Slime conferring with Hayes. She comes to a decision and heads off in that direction, but not before throwing up a little in her mouth.