Episode Report Card M. Giant: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Gray Widow
By M. Giant | Season 4 | Episode 20 | Aired on 05.01.2005
That's because Kiefer is already in position outside the Consulate. It's 2:24:32, eleven minutes after we last saw him at CTU. The fact that the Chinese Consulate is a real place with an actual address is going to be a big help with my CTU triangulation project, I think. Kiefer's cell phone rings. It's Palmer, asking if Kiefer's at the Consulate yet. Kiefer says he and his team are set up outside, and Palmer says they're out of time. Palmer forcefully asks if Kiefer has any doubt at all that Lee is working with ImhoTerror. Kiefer says just as forcefully that there's no doubt whatsoever. Palmer says they have to get Lee out. "Yes, sir," Kiefer says. Palmer instructs, "No one connected with the government can admit to knowing anything about this. Ever. If you're caught you'll be tried in a Chinese court under Chinese law." Kiefer understands. I don't know why he likes Palmer so much, with all the shitty stuff Palmer's always making him do. Palmer says if it were anyone else, he'd ask if Kiefer were sure, but with Kiefer he already knows. Kiefer just looks at the building, waiting for Palmer to finish his conscience massaging so he can get on with it. "God bless you," Palmer finishes. Kiefer thanks him and hangs up. "We're on. We're going in to get him." Kiefer dials his phone.
His call goes right through to the CTU phone that Soul Patch happens to be standing next to. I really don't know how the phones work in that place. Kiefer says he needs real-time infrared satellite coverage of the Consulate. Soul Patch is on it, but he asks what's going on. Kiefer explains his mission. "Who knows about this?" Soul Patch asks suspiciously. "We have authorization from the White House," Kiefer hedges. But Soul Patch is the only one at CTU who can know about this, and Kiefer wants him to clear the satellite records afterward so there's no evidence that it ever happened. Wow, Kiefer sure called the right guy, didn't he? Soul Patch agrees to Kiefer's instructions and hangs up. "Let's suit up," says Kiefer, and the loud ticking of the act-out clock showing 2:26:07 doesn't come close to drowning the indignant howls of millions of Kieferettes still hoping for an onscreen costume change.
2:30:33. The Chinese Consul wonders why he doesn't have an office or a bedroom and instead has to wander around the building in his suit all night; Palmer waits for his abuse of non-authority to catch up with him; and DoDder is still inflicting herself on poor, paralyzed Grayadder. In the van outside the Chinese Consulate, Kiefer's on the phone with Soul Patch, who's updating Kiefer's GameBoy with the schematics to the Chinese Consulate. Um, is that something we're supposed to have? I can't imagine the Chinese would be too keen on that. Especially if they're easily accessible to someone with only a level three security clearance. Soul Patch has also got the plans up on an overhead monitor at CTU, and he's talking in a normal voice in the middle of the floor, which isn't really consistent with the Mole Patch we've seen in the past. To be fair, Kiefer did instruct him to make sure that his workstation wasn't being monitored, and what better way to do that than put everything on a screen that can be seen from fifty feet away? Who's going to care about his dinky little monitor then? He's got the infrared satellite view overlaid on the 3-D schematic, so they quickly establish that most people inside the building are asleep, and that one of the few moving people gathered in a certain area is probably Lee. They hang up. Curtis asks how Kiefer wants to deploy, and Kiefer announces that he's going in alone. Curtis starts to object, but Kiefer says he has to make the mission "completely deniable." Raab is to stay in the van until she's needed, while Curtis and the other agent are instructed to "cover the perimeter," only engaging after Kiefer leaves the Consulate. "Masks on, non-lethal force." Curtis agrees. But what happens when Curtis gets killed? Kiefer pulls down his own ski mask and exits the van. It's 2:31:56.