Episode Report Card M. Giant: C | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT If We Only Had the Nerve Gas
By M. Giant | Season 5 | Episode 6 | Aired on 01.29.2006
12:29:45. There sure are a lot of containers at the port, Diane and Derek are still leaving CTU, Audrey works at her laptop, and Kiefer's out among the trees near Not Camp David, peering through his little telescope. He spots a black, late-model sedan approaching, with Novick at the wheel. So it took Novick twice as long to get there as it took Kiefer. Not Camp David must be huge! Novick gets out of the car and looks around, and Kiefer hurries out to meet him. Novick sticks out a hand, smiling, and Kiefer shakes it. And then they freeze like that. It's kind of sweet, really. But then you realize that it's because the Kief-dar is pinging. "Did you tell anyone we were meeting?" he asks. Novick denies it. But then we can hear what Kiefer hears, which is the sound of a rapidly approaching helicopter. And then we can see it, complete with a side-gunner ready to stitch Kiefer to the dirt road. "Who did you tell?" he roars at Novick, and Novick insists he told no one. And now Secret Service SVUs are converging on the spot as the helicopter loudspeaker tells Kiefer to drop his weapons. Kiefer angrily relinquishes the man-purse as Novick bellows at the agents to stand down. The agents refuse, however, saying they're acting on the orders of the President. Kiefer allows himself to be forced to his knees and cuffed, looking at Novick disgustedly the whole time. I just got my man-purse back a half-hour ago, he's thinking.
Logan sits on a couch in his residence at Not Camp David, staring straight ahead of him and remembering when he was running the country. I don't know what he's so depressed about; as I recall, it looked a lot like this. At 12:31:32, Walt hangs up the phone, having just learned that Kiefer and Novick have been safely taken into custody. Logan wonders if they're really going to lock up Novick, and what they're going to do when he gets out and talks to the press. "What can he say? He doesn't know anything," Walt says. "We stopped Bauer before he could give Mike any details." "What's he gonna think?" Logan demands. Walt says they can say that Novick's being detained because Kiefer was about to divulge national secrets that Novick isn't authorized to hear. Logan nods conspiratorially, like, yeah, that'll work. But he still worries about what Kiefer might have told CTU. Walt says it'll be hard to prove any connection between them and the nerve gas once the stuff leaves the U.S. Logan asks for assurances that the remote detonators will work and that the gas won't be used against the Russians. He's so in on it now. Stupid Logan. Walt provides such assurances, and says that all they need to do is take CTU off the search for the gas. Logan agrees, and Walt pulls out his cell phone to make it so. While that happens, the speakerphone rings, and the operator says FLOTUS is on the line for Logan. "Not now," Logan snaps.
It's 12:33:15 as the Secret Servicemobiles pull up outside the Not Camp David stables and Kiefer is pulled out of the lead vehicle, still in handcuffs. Aaron witnesses the offloading, and he and Kiefer share a long moment of confused eye contact before Kiefer is led off. Aaron flags down the nearest agent -- the one who took the lead on nabbing Kiefer, as it happens -- and gives him a little third degree: "What is Jack Bauer doing here, why is he under arrest, and why wasn't I told?" The agent tells Aaron that is was by order of the President, which really doesn't answer the first question. "It came through Walt Cummings's office," the agent clarifies. "Okay, thank you," Aaron says in that way some bosses have where you know they're not actually grateful, and it isn't really okay at all.