Episode Report Card M. Giant: B | 3 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT Out of Time
By M. Giant | Season 8 | Episode 24 | Aired on 05.24.2010
The leader seems pretty confused about being ordered by Taylor to release Kiefer, but her orders are pretty clear: "You and your men are to leave Mr. Bauer where he is. Stand down and withdraw outside the west gate until the FBI arrives. If you have any thoughts of fleeing before then, the drone is equipped with two AGM-114 Hellfire missiles. I will not hesitate to use them, are we clear?" They're clear. Seems like a clear violation of posse comitatus but it wouldn't be the worst thing Taylor's done today. Now she wants to talk to Kiefer. The leader orders Kiefer uncuffed and tells his men to get ready to leave. Then he gives Kiefer the phone and says, "The president wants to talk to you." Don't they always?
Kiefer takes the phone, and as the van drives around the corner with the hit squad in it he tells Taylor, "You should have let them kill me, 'cause I'm not gonna stop until this is over." Taylor tells him it is; "I withdrew 15 minutes ago from the signing of the peace treaty. Within the hour I will tell the world what happened today. I will tender my resignation and remand myself to the Attorney General, and face the consequences of my actions. Unfortunately you will have to do the same." But how will he ever get near the Attorney General? She goes on, "I wanted this peace so badly, Jack. And for that, I have betrayed every principle that I have ever stood for. And I betrayed you." And then she says something that Kiefer probably wishes that he could print on a T-shirt and give to every person he's ever met: "If I had listened to you, none of this would have happened." Kiefer graciously says, "We both made mistakes we're gonna have to live with." See how magnanimous he can be when he finally gets his way? Taylor says she wishes she could take it back, "but all I can do is tell you to leave the country while you still have a chance. The Russians will be coming after you. And so will we. Jack, I am so sorry. I don't know what else to say." Looks like neither of them does, because she hangs up without either of them saying another word. So I guess a pardon is out of the question?
At CTU, Chloe's been watching the Kiefer-feed with Arlo and Cole, and crying. He's switched to his own cell phone -- which, I don't know how the hell he still has one of those -- and he's calling to tell her what happened. Chloe was listening in on the line, of course, which is good because there's not enough show left to go over anything twice. Kiefer says they'll use Spawn and her family to get to him, and he makes her promise to keep them safe. "How much time do you think I've got?" he asks. Chloe doesn't know, but says she'll get him as much as she can. So that means it must be okay for him to spend a few minutes shooting the shit with her. "When you first came to CTU, I never thought it was gonna be you that was gonna cover my back all those years," he says. "And I know that everything that you did today was to try and protect me. I know that." He suddenly turns to look up at the drone, so it looks like his big old bloody face on the CTU big screen is looking deeply into her eyes as he says, "Thank you." "Good luck, Jack," she says. "Yeah," he grunts, and disconnects. Finally he gets to his feet and walks to the fence as Chloe tells Arlo to recall the drone. "Whatever happened here didn't happen," she tells Arlo and Cole." Understand?" I'm sure Cole has some things he'd like to add to the list of things that didn't happen today. Like, he didn't kill Nick, and he didn't dump Nick's body along with Kevin's, and besides, if he'd had anything to do with anyone named Nick and Kevin, wouldn't there have been a Joe involved as well?