Episode Report Card Gustave: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Survivor: The Family Edition
By Gustave | Season 2 | Episode 12 | Aired on 02.10.2003
The time is 07:28:27 PM. Klockwise from the top left, CTU agents continue to explore the mosque, Syed waits to see what's in store for him in the basement, Yulin continues to get zapped, and Spawn and Hunky Stranger walk back to his place. Meanwhile, a phone has been set up for Cate. They explain yet again that Cate's number will appear on Marie's caller ID, and that she is to keep Marie on the phone long enough to get a trace. And as we know from last year's attempts to do the same thing, this isn't going to work. Cate dials, and Marie answers from the Blondemobile. They make small talk. And even though this would be a great time to bring up the fact that there are probably hundreds of confused wedding guests wandering the grounds of Chez Crew, they don't mention it. Cate suggests that they meet at the house and "grab a bite." "They've found Reza, haven't they?" says Marie. Cate bursts into tears and begs Marie to tell her what happened. "You wouldn't understand," says Marie. "Sometimes people have to die for things to change." Cate tries to question her further, but Marie soon realizes that their call is being traced, so she ends the call by throwing the phone out the window. Kiefer and Ko. have managed to trace the call to a ten-block radius within Sylmar. "You don't know who she was with!" shrieks Cate from a fetal position on the floor of the mosque. "They could have been forcing her!" "I'm sorry," says Kiefer.
Back at CTU, Panama Hack gives Bitchelle and Soul Patch a twenty-minute lecture on the nature of paper pulp, fiber patterns, and computer imaging. The end result is that the phrase "N34" has been found on the charred bit of paper. Thanks, Milo 2.0! The results are sent to Kiefer. Soul Patch has Bitchelle check out any possible links connected to that phrase like license plate numbers, shipping codes, et cetera.
Back at the mosque, Kiefer gets the results from Panama Hack. He bursts into Syed's interrogation room and demands to know the significance of "N34." "Either tell me now or I make you suffer!" growls Kiefer. Syed insists again that he's not afraid to die. Kiefer promises that the only way that Syed is going to die today is by Kiefer's hand, because they are going to stop the bomb, come what may. HAFA enters and tells Kiefer that they "have a live feed." Kiefer tells him to patch it through and then turns on a bank of video monitors. Hey, whaddya know? Somehow, in the last few minutes, they managed to find Syed Ali's family in Fauxraqistan, tie them up in their home, set up video cameras to record the whole thing, and link it to Kiefer and Syed via satellite. All I can think about right now is how, if I were the CTU agent in charge of rounding up Syed Ali's family, I'd probably go to the wrong house. So when they turned on the monitors, Syed Ali would be all, "Uh, that's not my family, I've never seen these people before in my life." I'd never live it down. For the rest of my CIA career, it would be, "Hey Ehrlich, remember '03 when you captured the wrong family? We can laugh about that now but sheesh!" And I'd be all, "Hey, give me a break! Do you have any idea how many 'Ali families' there are in Fauxraquistan? I might as well be looking for the Smiths in Minnesota." Judging by Syed Ali's reaction, though, they do have the right family. "For the last time," says Kiefer. "Where is the B-O-M-B?" Syed grunts and struggles. The time is 07:34:44 PM.