Episode Report Card M. Giant: B- | 216 USERS: B+ YOU GRADE IT Fire in the Hole
By M. Giant | Season 8 | Episode 14 | Aired on 2010.03.29
Inside Ethan's borrowed office, Brucker has apparently left the unconscious Ethan alone with Rob, after having helped lift him up onto the sofa so that his heart can continue to Rob takes Ethan's pulse while trying to ignore a knock on the door. When it doesn't go away, he throws on his suit jacket and answers it. The woman outside says Jack Bauer's insisting on talking to Ethan, and won't be put off. Rob says he'll take the call at 5:42:46. After some hesitation, he finally does. As a cursory nod to realism, Kiefer has to contend with some static while deep underground, but of course it's the least realistic-sounding static ever. Soon the call clears up so that Kiefer can tell Rob what's going on, and ask why Ethan tried to call him and now won't answer. Rob makes some lame excuses about Ethan being busy with the Joint Chiefs (which is going to be awkward when Kiefer finds a reason to be in a room with the Joint Chiefs himself at some point), and when Kiefer asks what Ethan wanted to talk to him about, Rob pretends not to have any idea. "It could have been anything," he says. Kiefer doesn't think so: "He knows we're conducting a sensitive evac. He called me during it. There's got to be some kind of connection." For a secret agent, Kiefer certainly thinks like a screenwriter sometimes. Rob promises to relay the message, and Kiefer snaps, "I don't think you understand. I need to talk to Secretary Kanin now!" The post of White House Chief of Staff is a thankless one. You get the blame for what goes wrong, you get no credit for what goes right, and sooner or later Jack Bauer is going to be yelling at or even threatening you about something. Rob yells at Kiefer to do his job, and hangs up on him. Realizing what happened, Kiefer tells Walker, "Son of a bitch just hung up on me." Of course he doesn't realize Rob just did him a favor; if Rob had a brain in his head, he would have kept Kiefer distracted with the phone call while he walked into Brucker's ambush. Amateur. Walker makes excuses about the stress everyone's under, which doesn't impress Kiefer. He orders a halt to the march, and decides they're heading back. Wait, does Kiefer not know about the bomb deadline? I can't believe he'd make this choice between a radiological attack and a losing game of phone tag.