Electric Blue Kiefer. New credit sequence that's very reminiscent of last season's. For the benefit of those who just tuned in after tonight's American Idol, VoiceOverKiefer explains that a terrorist threat has been made against Los Angeles as they show a smoky-looking L.A. cityscape. "There are people inside our government who maybe involved," says VoiceOverKiefer as shots of Yulin, PoorMan'sHumeCronyn, Rolaide, and Bitchelle are shown. And that's an important detail, boys and girls, because as you may well remember from last year, Nina's face was shown when Kiefer referred to an insider being involved with the Drazens. "And my daughter is in danger," kontinues Kiefer, as Spawn is shown getting ready to run away from that car accident. No, we don't get to see the jiggle yet, but there's lots of that coming soon, I promise. "My name is Jack Bauer," says Kiefer. "And from 9:00 AM, I have been tracking this bomb," he adds, while various shots of Kiefer with his gun drawn are displayed. "And time is running out."
Previouslys. Kiefer determines that the militia men at the crash site were Americans trained by Colonel Sanders, some dude who is funded on the sly by NSA. Palmer questions Yulin about Colonel Sanders. Yulin denies everything. A phone call from Lady Mac reveals that she is in cahoots with Yulin. Syed Ali orders PonchoDude to kill Cate, but Kiefer kills PonchoDude first. Then he and Cate go look for Syed in some L.A. mosques. Enricky starts a fire in the back of PolicemanWithSpeakingPart's SUV. Only Spawn and her lying boobage escape the totaled vehicle. Marie is bad. Real bad.
It's been a long three weeks, hasn't it? And what better way to usher in a new block of new 24 episodes than to feature a nice long stretch of Spawn running from the totaled police car now that a team of paramedics has arrived. And then, in something one of my art history professors would have referred to as "visual rhyming," a pair of mountains is featured in the background. What I'm assuming are rescue helicopters appear on the horizon. Spawn hides from them under some brush. I'm not sure why they'd send a rescue helicopter to an accident scene involving a single car…especially when an ambulance has already arrived at the scene. But hey, who can complain if it makes Spawn run?
But maybe some of us weren't really looking forward to Spawn running as much as what Marie was going to do after shooting her fiancée and a CTU agent a few minutes ago in cold blood. Well, back at Crew and Co., Marie makes her way around the body of an extra who is supposed to be Reza -- no need to pay an actor for another episode if he's not going to have any lines, right? -- and puts her gun with silencer back into her little tan purse. Then she goes behind Papa Crew's desk, lifts up the G4 CPU off the floor and places it atop the desk like it's a copy of Marie Claire, and rips out the hard drive inside. Um, what is on Papa Crew's hard drive? Evidence that Marie is involved? Apparently not, since all Reza and DeadBlackAgent found on Papa Crew's computer was evidence that business had been done with Syed Ali from Reza's laptop. Otherwise, I doubt that there are any files on Papa Crew's computer that, say, contain location information about the B-O-M-B. For the seventeenth time this season, I'm wondering why Syed and his posse are so worried about keeping their involvement with the B-O-M-B a secret when they're all going to die that day anyway. Plus, someone's obviously going to see the dismantled CPU and dust it for fingerprints anyway. But then, it is quite entertaining to watch Marie coldly sidestep those bodies and gut her father's computer, so I'll stop complaining.
Marie's cell phone rings. It's Syed Ali, informing her that Basheer (Joey Fatone) and Marko (Ben Kingsley's Nephew) are dead, and Justin Al-Guarini (tm Dogboy) has the van now. News, like everything else, sure travels fast in the Twentyfourverse. I mean, I love how there's no mass panic from the terrorist threat because, apparently, no one has time to watch CNN, but Syed Ali has time to sift though all of the local news in order to learn that two of his henchmen have been shot. Anyway, Syed informs Marie that the "mission" depends on her now. Apparently, Marko left the "bomb trigger" in his locker at work. Okay, I'm not quite sure what I find more appalling: the fact that someone would bring a device designed to detonate a nuclear bomb to his job and leave it there, or the fact that these terrorists had to hold down menial jobs during their last days alive. I mean, they are all so meticulous about covering their tracks, and yet one of them just leaves the bomb trigger at work? Here's what I leave at work: umbrellas, herbal tea bags, packets of Sweet 'N' Low, my cell phone recharger, the AC adapter for my laptop, et cetera. I would never leave a bomb trigger. But then, I'm not a terrorist. And these people aren't known for being detail-oriented. Case in point: the dude who tried to get the deposit back on the rental car used to bomb the World Trade Center in 1993. And what is up with this terrorist cell? They have to get jobs? Jeez, the 9/11 bombers got to hang out in an air-conditioned Florida motel room with a pool while they took flying lessons. I mean, if I'm blowing up a city with me in it, I'm going to live a little. It's not like I'm going to have bills to pay much longer. So basically, Syed asks Marie to head over to Burbank, pick up the trigger, and give it to Justin Al-Guarini, the only one of three TerrorStooges who is still alive. Well, I guess that answers the question of whether or not Justin Al-Guarini was going to break ranks and take off with the B-O-M-B. Syed tells Marie that Marko's locker was locked, so she needs to do whatever she has to get inside that locker. Oh, and she needs to change her appearance. They hang up, and Syed enters a mosque.
The time is 06:04:35 PM. Kiefer and Cate are in the Kiefmobile on their way to the local mosque, where Cate is going to identify Syed Ali. Cate is feeling better now that her ear has stopped bleeding. She even got one of those CTU stylists to blow-dry her hair so it has a lovely flip to it. But Cate really wants to know why they need to identify Syed Ali -- not to mention why he kidnapped and tortured her to begin with. Kiefer klaims he kan't tell her because the information is klassified. Cate insists that she has the right to know. Kiefer sighs and tells her about the B-O-M-B. Jeez. You know that joke from Austin Powers about how you can get any piece of information out of anyone simply by asking three times? On 24, apparently, all you have to do to get anyone to divulge a secret is to ask twice. Hell, sometimes you don't even have to ask twice. Sometimes you can ask once and then make a scowly face. I love how, last year, Bride would complain about how secretive Kiefer was. If only. "Do you want some nutmeg or cinnamon on your latte, Mr. Bauer?" "Okay, okay, there's a nuclear bomb about to go off today and time is running out." Anyway, Cate is stunned by this piece of information. She puts her hand over her mouth and thinks really really hard. "You're the only person we know of who knows what Syed Ali looks like," says Kiefer. "The reason that I'm taking you with me is because we're running out of time." Kiefer's cell phone rings. It's Mason, informing him about the police car accident and how Kim is missing again. Kiefer is enraged to hear that Spawn was still being held by the local authorities. "Your people were supposed to pick her up," he says. Mason explains that someone on the police force got a bug up their ass and claimed jurisdiction. "You told me you would take care of this," pleads an angry Kiefer with his patented bedroom whisper. "You gave me your word. Please, please find my daughter!" The screen splits to reveal that Cate is listening to Kiefer's side of this conversation and is either a) concerned that this man who just saved her life is having troubles of his own or b) really turned on by the trademark Sutherland velvety bedroom whisper.
NSA. The time is 06:07:31 PM. Inside Palmer's office, PoorMan'sHumeCronyn gets off the phone and reports back to Palmer that the Justice Department doesn't think that the evidence against Yulin is "actionable." Speaking of Yulin, he's having one of those generic meetings at a conference table right outside of Palmer's glass-walled office. Actually, come to think of it, NSA is kind of like the set of Taxi, with Palmer as Danny DeVito in "the cage" looking out at all of the interpersonal activity in the main garage. Palmer is furious and frustrated that there's nothing they can do about Yulin, despite the fact that it's obvious he's connected to Colonel Sanders…and Colonel Sanders shot down Kiefer's plane. PoorMan'sHumeCronyn -- Judd Hirsch? -- argues that the evidence is "circumstantial" and it's going to take time to get a judge to issue a warrant. "We don't have time," says Palmer forcefully. PMHC suggests that they remove Yulin and "deal with the ramifications later." "You may need to expand the limits of how far you've been willing to go," says PMHC. Hey, I saw the previews for this week's show. He's talking about torture. Woo! Meanwhile Rolaide -- Marilu Henner? -- is at a desk outside Palmer's office, playing receptionist. When Lady Mac -- Rhea Perlman? -- calls looking for Palmer, Rolaide has to take a message. Lady Mac reminds Rolaide that she's Palmer's wife and an integral part of his team, and tries to get Rolaide to keep her in the loop about the Yulin situation. Rolaide counters that she's not in the loop either, and couldn't do anything to bring Lady Mac up to speed even if she wanted to. "I'm sure that if the President wanted input from either of us, he'd let us know," says Rolaide in that dry, professional, but throaty tone that I just love. Lady Mac tries throwing the whole speech rewrite thing back in Rolaide's face. She even imperiously raises her index finger while she speaks…not that Rolaide can see the finger since it's a phone conversation, but still. She urges Rolaide to have Palmer get back to her. Rolaide promises to do whatever she can.
The time is 06:09:45. Across from the mosque where Syed Ali has gone to pray, CTU agents have set up makeshift headquarters in an empty parking garage across the street. Now, I've spoken before about multi-level parking garages and how they are scary-ass places, but even I have never contemplated the full horror of a parking garage located across the street from an Islamic mosque with terrorist connections. I mean, we're talking about a veritable one-stop shopping district of bad shit. What else is on this block? An abortion clinic? A fireworks factory? A smallpox rehab center? A public high school? The post office? The Kiefmobile enters, and Kiefer escorts Cate out of the SUV. An agent tries to get Cate out of Kiefer's way, but Kiefer insists that although Cate is not a CTU agent, she is his love interest this season, and therefore she must be with him at all times for whatever reasons the writers can come up with. That hot Asian guy from Angel enters and briefs Kiefer on how many people are inside Our Lady of Kandahar. Apparently, there are 100-125 worshippers inside, in contrast to the thirty CTU agents deployed and ready. Thusly, Kiefer decides that they shouldn't make a move on Temple El-Kaboom just yet. "If we go in hot," explains Kiefer, "we're going to have a crowd control situation." Heh! Kiefer just said "go in hot"! Anyway, it's decided that they should wait until prayer services end, and have Cate identify Syed Ali as he exits the building so they can take him out "fast and alive." HotAsianGuyFromAngel argues that they don't even know if Syed is at this particular mosque, and they probably shouldn't wait. Cate offers to go inside and identify him herself. "I'll wear a hijab," she suggests. "It will hide my face." Kiefer is all, "I don't feel comfortable putting you in that kind of a position." Heh! Kiefer just said "position"! "From what you've told me," argues Cate. "We're all in a pretty bad 'position.'" She insists on being given a chance to help out. Kiefer asks her if she's sure she wants to do this. Oh, please -- this is the same Nosy Parker who sicced a private detective on her sister's fiancé. She's willing to snoop around in the name of democracy, all right. The time is 06:11:31 PM.
Now they're showing an ad for that Bruce Willis war movie, Tears of the Sun, which features the line "the lives of many rest in the courage of a few." I guess these marketing people figured that anyone who'd watch 24 would see just about anything that had one of those "many" vs. "few" themes…even a Bruce Willis flick that's being released in early March. Because you just know that when an action flick isn't released during the summer or the holiday season, even the studio knows how much it sucks. Oh, and "coffee's not coffee without Coffeemate"? Please. Coffeemate is the ultimate "fuck you" to people like me who can't drink black coffee. You only see Coffeemate when the coffee is being offered as some kind of hollow courtesy, like when you're applying for a job at a temp agency or taking a continuing ed class at the local community college. It's like, "Oh, we don't really care enough about you to buy milk and keep it refrigerated, so we're just going to keep this jar of hydrogenated soybean oil powder around. Enjoy!" Is it me, or is Carrot Top looking a little old? Ever since a friend of mine told me that he's forty, I've been obsessively studying his face in these Call-ATT commercials. You know, if you cut his hair and put him in a pair of Dockers, he could be a low-level vice president at Citibank.
The time is 06:15:44 PM. Klockwise from the top left, Kim crawls through the dirt, Palmer thinks really hard, and Kiefer checks out the mosque across the street through his Kief-oculars. Out on the floor of NSA, when Yulin -- Christopher Lloyd? Jeff Conaway? Latka? -- tries to log onto the network via his laptop, a big "Access Denied" sign pops up on his monitor in huge block lettering that only computers on TV ever seem to use. Back inside Palmer's office, PoorMan'sHumeCronyn tells Palmer that everything is "in place." Palmer tells PMHC to "do it." Hee! Palmer said "do it"! PMHC tells someone on the other end of the phone to "move," and some guy with lots of medals on his military uniform starts marching toward Yulin's desk, flanked by two soldiers in camouflage. Like, what's up with the camouflage? Oh, they'll never see you in front of that Xerox machine with that camouflage on! You can totally sneak up on Yulin and listen in on his top-secret conversations with Lady Mac and Colonel Sanders! All of the other uniformed extras watch as Yulin is placed under arrest for conspiracy to commit treason. I'm surprised they even noticed those guys entering the room. They were wearing camouflage! Oh, moments like these are why Yulin gets cast in these roles as shifty patriarchs. Yulin's look of disbelief is pitch perfect…a little too pitch perfect. His eyes water. His jowls tremble. He even makes a feeble attempt at "demanding to speak to the president." No one does "old boy in trouble" like Yulin. No one. He places his spectacles in his breast pocket in a regal manner and allows the men to lead him out of the room, stopping briefly, of course, to give Palmer the stink-eye through the glass walls of his office. Rolaide, who has seen everything, enters Palmer's office and tells him that his wife urgently wants to speak to him. "I can put her off if you'd like," she offers. I love Rolaide. Palmer takes the call. Lady Mac demands to know why Palmer acted so hastily in placing Yulin in custody. "I don't run my decisions past you," says Palmer. Ree-ow! Lady Mac counters that she deserves a "place at the table" for all the things she's done on Palmer's behalf. "You're not a member of my staff," says Palmer. Heh! He said "staff." "You're not a government employee and you're not my wife." The call is over.
Back at CTU, Soul Patch drops by Bitchelle's desk to discuss their personal situation. Bitchelle apologizes for putting Soul Patch "on the spot" by asking him out. Soul Patch tells her that he was actually glad she did, since "something has been hanging between [them] since [she] started working at CTU." Heh! He said "hanging." Bitchelle agrees that something is indeed "hanging" between them. Soul Patch, however, explains that decided a while ago not to have any more office relationships due to what happened between him and Nina. Uh, if my girlfriend, who happens to work in the same office as me, turns out to be a treasonous murderer, I'm not swearing off office relationships. I don't need to, because I'd have stopped using my penis altogether. I don't think that the issue of "mixing business with pleasure" was really at the root of whatever the hell Soul Patch probably went through after the day of the California primaries, any more than Susan Smith had a broken brake line. "But now," continues Soul Patch, "I think I want to see what happens." Their conversation is cut short by a phone call. Papa Crew is getting violent in his interrogation room. Soul Patch goes off to check the situation out. Bitchelle watches him leave with a classic ambiguo-expression. She's either checking out his ass, or she's wondering when he's going to start trusting her with valuable information which she can use to destroy the world in the name of Allah.
When Soul Patch gets to Papa Crew's room, Papa Crew is wrestling with a couple of guards. He demands to be let go, insisting that Reza is lying and this whole thing is a set-up, et cetera. After Soul Patch threatens to hold him there all night, he finally consents to calm down and asks after his daughters. Heh! Soul Patch said "hold" and "all night." Soul Patch informs him that Marie left "a few minutes ago," but totally fails at pretending not to know where Cate is. "Did something happen to Cate?" asks Papa Crew. "She's with one of our agents," says Soul Patch. Papa Crew asks why. Soul Patch tells Papa Crew that he's just going to have to trust them.
Back at St. Anthrax, Cate is now wearing a hajib with a matching black dress. I think there should be a spin-off of 24, kind of like the same concept behind the animated Carlton Your Doorman from Rhoda. This spin-off would be about the gay stylist we've never seen who works for CTU who has to produce these ensembles for the CTU undercover operations at lightning speed. He's a burnt-out ex-fashionista who'd rather be back in New York, where he used to drape for the designer Miguel Androver until Miguel lost his backers and Serge was forced to take the CTU job. "I'd slept with everyone in Manhattan anyway," says Serge in a voice-over in the credits. "So I figured, hey, why not start over in L.A.? I've always wanted a garden." So our first episode begins with Serge and his assistant Martya, a twenty-something anorexic goth girl who never speaks, sitting in their workshop, chain-smoking Marlboro Lights and sneering at this month's InStyle. "Who is Melanie Griffith using?" asks Serge. "Because that queen needs to be taken out and shot." Martya nods and starts reapplying more liquid eyeliner. Kiefer and Cate enter. "My name is Jack Bauer. Millions of people are going to die today unless we can borrow a chador! You have one, right?" "Um, hello? Like I'd run the costume shop at CTU and not have at least a dozen chadors? Whatever! You're a size two, right?"
Anyway, Kiefer shows Cate a floor plan of the mosque and points out the separate men's and women's prayer areas. He warns her to get a good look at Syed as she enters the room, because her back will be to him once she's praying. Once she's made an ID, she'll exit, and CTU agents will be waiting for her in the alley. Kiefer gives her a Whatever gizmo that she can press and signal Kiefer's walkie-talkie if she gets into any trouble. Hey, man, all the other hot chicks who did undercover stuff like Nina and Faux-licity got fiber optic camera coverage. Cate just gets the CTU equivalent of one of those things that elderly people have to press when they've fallen and they can't get up. She covers her face with the hajib and makes her way to the mosque. Kiefer watches her back. Or is it her ass?
Cate enters the lobby of the mosque and looks around like she's thinking the exact thing I'm thinking: this place looks just like a yoga studio. There are hardwood floors and a stack of those wicker baskets where you're supposed to put your shoes after you remove them. There's even an intense brown-eyed dude with a funky hat and a flowing robe sitting at the front desk to take your class fee and maybe even rent you a sticky mat. The Mosque-a-teer greets her in Arabic. Cate greets him back in Arabic. He looks suspiciously at the trembling skinny blonde and informs her that prayers have already begun. Cate nervously apologizes for being late and explains that there was bad traffic. "Have you prayed with us before?" asks the Mosque-a-teer. Cate explains that she's been away for a while. She removes her chunky heels. The Mosque-a-teer parts the velvet curtain and admits her to the main floor. Oh, like that would happen at a yoga studio. If you're late for class, the Hindu Nazi at the desk never lets you in. As Cate makes her way to the women's prayer area, the men can be seen praying in their area through a see-through curtain. Cate walks super-slowly past the kneeling and chanting men and studies each one like she's at the zoo looking at the new panda cub. After, like, forty-five minutes of blatant staring with her thumb on the Whatever Gizmo, Cate finally locates Syed Ali toward the back of the room. Syed notices her and does a double-take. Cate turns her back on him and quickly makes her way to the women's prayer area…but not without dropping her Whatever Gizmo and staring back at Syed eleven more times. Once she reaches the women's prayer area, she ducks out a back entrance and starts running. Someone grabs her. It's Kiefer. He clamps his hand over her mouth so she can't scream. It's a sexy gesture…like when you're fooling around with someone in your bedroom and your parents are asleep door. Once Cate realizes whose hand is over her mouth, she calms down and informs Kiefer that Syed Ali is definitely in the building. The time is 06:25:51 PM.
The time is 06:30:07 PM. Klockwise from the top left, Spawn finds a clearing in the forest, Palmer and PMHC make their way down a corridor at NSA escorted by soldiers, and Yulin projects some more patriarchal indignation intermingled with fear. As Palmer and PMHC make their way to Yulin's holding cell, PMHC informs Palmer that the last call Yulin made was to Langley, Virginia and therefore was probably to an associate at the CIA. Palmer enters Yulin's cell by himself. He tells Yulin about all of the evidence they have linking him to Colonel Sanders and the bombing of Flight 69, and how he'll be executed if anyone dies. During this tirade he gets really close to Yulin. Their faces are so close they're practically kissing. And, dude, it's not like I'm imagining the homoeroticism here. You think I'd actively fantasize about Palmer and Yulin getting it on? Anyway, before Yulin has a chance to say anything, Palmer offers him a pardon if she tells the truth and starts cooperating. He'll get to collect his pension and everything. "No one will ever know anything about this," promises Palmer. "Do we have a deal?" After a long pause, Yulin plays dumb and insists that he knows nothing about any of this. "I don't know any more about the bomb than you do," he says.
Back at the mosque, Kiefer briefs the men on how to proceed. Kiefer and a hajib-less Cate are going to cover the main entrance. When the prayer service ends and Syed Ali leaves the building, Cate will tell Kiefer, and Kiefer will signal HotGuyFromAngel, who will signal the CTU agents to go in and capture Syed. HotGuyFromAngle reminds everyone to hold their fire, or, failing that, only shoot to wound. And because this is 24, you just know that this raid will go exactly as planned. No one will die needlessly, et cetera. I'm so sure. Kiefer koncludes by reminding everyone that they "can't afford any mistakes." The snipers take their places. Kiefer and Cate find a vantage point where Cate can observe the entrance. As Cate zips up her borrowed CTU tracksuit, which just happens to fit her body perfectly, Kiefer commends her for her bravery back inside the yoga studio. Cate girlishly protests, but Kiefer insists that she's doing "great." The prayer service lets out in seventeen minutes. Got that? Seventeen minutes until the raid on this mosque is carried out without a single hitch. Can't wait.
Back in the woods, Spawn is still wandering around trying to remain out of sight. She's not running much, though. She hears a twig snap in the distance. It's a cougar. No, I swear. I didn't make that up. Spawn is now running from a wild animal. Who thought this up? Spawn runs. She keeps running. Then she runs some more. Eventually her ankle gets caught in a snare trap. She falls to the ground and tries desperately to free herself, but she can't. The cougar appears just in time to see his immobilized prey lying helpless on a rock. The time is 06:36:49 PM.
The time is 06:41:08 PM. Klockwise from the top left, Spawn stares down the cougar, CTU agents wait for prayers to end, and Palmer drives somewhere in a jeep. A convoy of jeeps transports Palmer to his vacation retreat, where he meets with a Secret Service agent. "You wanted to see me sir?" says the agent, whose name is Simmons. All of a sudden, there's this jump cut. The other Secret Service men have vanished into thin air, and Palmer and Simmons are alone on this wooden bridge at the base of a pond. Hey, remember real time? I'm not going to complain too much about how it takes fifteen minutes to get anywhere in L.A. by car, but I'm also not going to resist snarking on the fact that Palmer and Simmons just violated laws of space and time. Palmer and Simmons have an expository conversation establishing the fact that Simmons served on some special ops unit out of Fort Myerson and, like Kiefer, basically knows his way around a towel, if you catch my drift. Palmer asks Simmons to act outside of his duties for the Secret Service. Under direct orders from Palmer, he is to "extract information" from Yulin. "If he resists," says Simmons, "how far am I allowed to go?" "Whatever you need to do," says Palmer.
Back at NSA, Bitchelle approaches Soul Patch to inform him that HandsomeBlackAgent, FemaleBlackAgent, and Reza were found dead by a janitor at Crew and Co. "Any suspects?" asks Soul Patch. Bitchelle recalls that the last time she spoke to FemaleBlackAgent, she had mentioned that PoorMan'sReneeZellweger had dropped by, and security cameras show that she was the only person to leave the building since the beginning of tonight's episode…I mean, "forty minutes ago." Soul Patch can't believe what he's just heard. He calls Kiefer on his cell phone and tells him the news. He also warns Kiefer about her sister Cate, who could be just as dangerous and suggests that they treat Cate as a potential suspect. Kiefer walks out of Cate's hearing range and explains to Soul Patch that he's pretty sure Cate knows nothing about her sister's terrorist activities. They hang up. When Kiefer walks back to Cate's side, Cate asks after her father and her sister. Kiefer just says that no one has heard from PMRZ in a while. Cate senses something amiss, but doesn't say anything.
Hey, speaking of skinny blondes in disguise and undercover, Marie enters the lumber mill where Ben Kingsley's Nephew worked, wearing one of those brunette bob wigs that Elizabeth Berkley wore in Showgirls. Is it me, or does she suddenly look a lot like Raggedy Ann? She approaches the foreman and explains that Marko was her boyfriend until they broke up last night, and now she needs something of hers that's in his locker. The foreman, who's kind of cute in a big lug kind of way, protests that he can't open his employees' lockers for just anyone. Marie begs him to reconsider and tells him that it's "really important." "I can't," says BigLug. "'Can't' or 'won't'?" asks Marie, coming closer and brushing up against him. "I'd really show my…appreciation," she says. They disappear into his office and lock the door. The time is 06:48:21 PM.
The time is 06:52:32 PM. Klockwise from the top left, Spawn struggles with the trap some more, Cate watches for Syed Ali, and Palmer sits at his desk and thinks really really hard. Meanwhile, in the NSA holding cell, Yulin is restrained in a chair. His bare feet are submerged in a tub of water, and Agent Simmons is standing in front of him holding defibrillator paddles. Hey, the ads made it look like Palmer was going to torture Yulin. I feel gypped. Simmons explains that he'll be raising the intensity and duration of the electrical current each time he has to repeat a question. Yulin calmly responds that he "know[s] the drill." "What is your agenda and who else is involved?" asks Simmons. Yulin doesn't answer. Zap! "Who else knew about the bomb?" asks Simmons. Yulin says he doesn't know anything about the bomb. Zap! Meanwhile, Palmer is watching expressionlessly from a video feed on his laptop.
Back in Papa Crew's interrogation room, Soul Patch enters. Papa Crew demands to know what Cate is doing with those CTU agents. Soul Patch assures him that his daughter is safe. Papa Crew's other daughter, however, is a totally different story. Soul Patch informs Papa Crew that Marie is the number one suspect in Reza's death. Papa Crew doesn't believe him, and accuses Soul Patch of trying to trick him.
The time is 06:55:37 PM. It's dark all of a sudden. It's called "twilight," dudes -- look into it. Prayer service at the mosque is over. Various worshippers start to emerge from the building. None of them are Syed Ali. Kiefer tells Cate to take her time in making an identification, but Cate is sure that she hasn't seen Syed yet. After a few moments, the Mosque-a-teer exits the building and locks the front door. "He's usually the last one out," exclaims Cate. Kiefer checks with the other units stationed at the other exits. No one has seen Syed. "You'd tell me if you saw him, right?" asks Kiefer. "What do you mean?" asks Cate, totally surprised that Kiefer doesn't trust her. Kiefer realizes that Syed must have "made" Cate when she went inside the building. He gives orders for all units to go inside the building. Everyone falls in. Kiefer is handing a search warrant to the imam of the house when he spots something burning in an adjoining room. Kiefer and HotAsianFromAngel draw their guns and approach the room, which I'm guessing is the Sunday school, judging by the circle of tiny chairs inside and all the toys on the ground. Oh, and there's also a man on fire. Kiefer grabs a fire extinguisher and sprays him while HotAsianFromAngel puts a blanket on him. The clothes match the description of Syed Ali, according to HotAsianFromAngel, but they're too late -- he's dead.
Back at the lumber yard, Marie's got her key. She lets herself inside Ben Kingsley's Nephew's locker and grabs the trigger, which looks like one of those leather manicure sets you always see in the "gift" section of TJ Maxx. On her way out, she hands BigLug the key. He watches her go in amazement. On a separate screen, Papa Crew reads a CTU report that Soul Patch has given him and groans in disbelief. On a third screen, Spawn is still tethered to a rock in the ever-darkening forest. Back at the mosque, Kiefer notices something strange about the charred remains of Syed Ali. The pants are too short. It's not Syed Ali's body. "Maintain secure exits," shouts Kiefer into his walkie-talkie. "Ali is still in the building!" The time is 06:59:58…06:59:59…07:00:00 PM.