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
Considering this episode was written by former Buffy and Angel writer David Fury, I don't know why his oldest and dearest friend the Ironic Segue Fairy doesn't immediately transport us to where Logan is all but being held hostage by Walt. It must have been tough for him to watch her get thrown out of the Real Time Productions offices. Instead, we cut to Kiefer, who's cooling his heels in the stable's storage room. How tacky. (Sorry. Firing myself again.) Aaron comes in and tells Kiefer -- who's still handcuffed -- that he's being moved to a detention facility. Kiefer demands to know the charge, but Aaron's just following orders. Again. Kiefer's about to allow himself to be led out of the room, but then he remembers who Aaron is. And, more importantly, how he can use it as leverage. "You served under David Palmer, right?" Aaron confirms it, and Kiefer asks to talk with him for a moment. Aaron refuses, until Kiefer tells him that it's about Palmer's murder. And then Kiefer spills everything he knows about Walt's involvement. "Walt Cummings ordered the assassination of David Palmer. I know it's hard to believe, but I can prove it." Aaron admits that it's not that hard to believe, given what the First Lady told him earlier. Kiefer drives home his argument: "Your primary responsibility as lead agent is to protect the President of the United States." Well, and to move prisoners, apparently. Kiefer continues, "Someone in the administration is undermining his authority. That is equivalent to a coup d'etat." That's kind of a stretch, but Aaron looks like he's seriously considering it. If only he'd been around during Season Two, we could have covered the same amount of ground in twelve hours. It's 12:38:22.
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12:42:55. The Logans and McGill all look pensive separately, and there's a Secret Service agent posted outside the door to the Logans' residence. Aaron approaches the agent and says that Kiefer has escaped, and he wasn't able to notify anyone because his comm's down. He sends the agent to call it in and have everyone meet up at the west gate. "What about you?" the agent asks, and Aaron says, "I'll take your post." The agent reluctantly leaves. Someday I'll have Agent Pierce's job, he thinks, but I'll also have lips.
On the other side of the door, Walt's worried that CTU hasn't handed over the search for the nerve gas yet. It's been, what, six minutes? It's a national security emergency, dude, not a basketball. Walt tells Logan to call CTU and tell them to step off it, but Logan says he's been avoiding McGill's call because he doesn't know what to tell him. "You don't have to tell him anything," Walt says. "You're the President." Walt's even snarling contemptuously at the Prez now. It's a little jarring to see him doing that openly instead of just on the inside. At this point, Aaron walks right into the room. Logan tries to kick him out, but Kiefer comes in right behind the Secret Service agent, with this little speech: "Mr. President, my name is Jack Bauer and I'm sorry to have to confront you like this. But your Chief of Staff is withholding information that is vital to this nation's security." Nobody moves for a second, until Walt dives for the phone. Kiefer intercepts him, and sends him reeling to the floor with a vicious blow. And then another vicious blow. And then a few more to him while he's down, just for fun. Looks like somebody forgot his little bargain with McGill. Logan, shocked by the violence unfolding before him, tells Aaron to do something. "I am, Mr. President," Aaron says, just standing there with his hand on his gun. "I am upholding my oath to protect you." I get what he's saying, but that statement would carry a little more weight if Aaron were standing between Logan and Kiefer right now. Logan grabs the phone himself, but Aaron tells him it's useless. "I've overridden the distress line." Is that part of the oath, too? By the time this has all played out, Kiefer has decided to take a little breather from beating the stuffing out of Walt. He starts reciting Walt's list of offenses, but doesn't get far before Logan interrupts, "I know about that, but there's an explanation." Kiefer looks at Logan in shock. "It's very complicated," Logan blathers. Kiefer doesn't really care right now; he just wants to find the nerve gas before it's too late. Logan says it's already too late. "Apparently it's on its way out of the country," he stammers. And that's all the excuse Kiefer needs to start beating on Walt again. "He's lying to you, sir," he bellows at Logan in between blows. Walt repeats that his contact has gone dark and he doesn't know where the gas is now. So Kiefer produces a sharp knife. Doesn't really seem like Aaron's style to have given that back to Kiefer, but I guess he figures that once he's off the reservation, he might as well commit. Kiefer points the blade directly at Walt's eye, and unspools the following filibuster: