Episode Report Card Kim: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Taken
By Kim | Season 3 | Episode 16 | Aired on 03.20.2004
Lauren coolly says hello to her father and then makes a lemon-sucking face. Dixon invites her to sit and says that upon his arrival, Sark will be prepped for "the Inferno Protocol." Hey, I think Mallory and Christena went through that last week! I realize that the shared audience between this show and the Real World/Road Rules Challenge isn't huge, but I had to try. Lauren appears a little freaked out and she says that she heard that half of the subjects suffer cardiac arrest during the procedure, and "the United States is not in the business of torturing witnesses for information." Ha! Ha ha ha! Tell me another one. Senator Reed points out that Sark isn't a POW, so the Geneva Convention does not protect him. Translation: We can put his nuts in a grinder if we want to. Lauren points out desperately that Sark has been known to sing like a bird on more than one occasion, so they probably won't need to torture him at all. Okay, now the writers are just making the other characters (especially Jack) look dumb when they don't notice that Lauren is frantically trying to prevent Sark's impending torture. Jack interrupts to say that the stakes are higher for Sark now, since he's invested his own money in the Covenant. I love how Jack is condescending to Lauren. Senator Reed tells Lauren to turn over any relevant materials to Jack, because he'll be conducting the interrogation. Lauren looks pissed (worst poker face ever!), and Dixon explains that Langley has requested that questions be included for which Lauren doesn't have the proper security clearance. Lauren says that she understands, and then shoots her father a dirty look. She hands over her files, and Jack promises to review them immediately.
Dixon's phone rings, and he turns to answer it as Jack, Lauren, and Senator Reed continue chatting about Sark. Dixon tells the person on the other end of the line that his kids aren't sick. Lauren looks quickly at Dixon, clearly aware of what Dixon is about to go through. Dixon says that the kids' carpool picked them up hours ago. This gets Jack and Senator Reed's attention. Dixon looks around anxiously.
At the airfield, Syd and Weiss are upset that Sark's plane is late. Do they really not expect Sark to escape after all this time? Syd gets a phone call, and it doesn't even get all the way through Syd's signature Nokia ring tone before she picks it up. Am I the only one who gets a little freaked out now every time I hear someone's Nokia phone ring? I have some students whose phones ring in class (which is a whole other rant) and when they dash out to answer it, I always think they are being sent on a mission. They never are, which is disappointing. Syd listens and then tells Weiss that Sark's plane landed in the middle of the desert, sixty miles away.