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The CTU cast is all sealed up in "safe" rooms, but they won't be safe for long. That's because the nerve gas filling the building comes complete with seal-eating acid, which means that our heroes can't wait around for help to arrive. Chloe could take care of it from the Situation Room, but there's that computer in the ventilation room that has to be shut down manually. Kiefer's attempt to get through to it is blocked, so McGill has to step up. And it kills him. That'll learn him not to report his keycard stolen. Meanwhile, all manner of political maneuvering is going on in the outside world: the Vice President is pushing harder than ever for martial law, and it looks like the Department of Homeland Security is going to take over what's left of CTU. Once the building is aired out, Spawn declares that two hours around Kiefer is quite enough for her, thank you very much. And a vengeful Tony decides to finish off an apparently comatose Henderson with a lethal injection. Notice I said "apparently." So when Tony loses his nerve, Henderson snaps awake, turns the needle on his would-be executioner, and escapes, leaving Tony for dead. Kiefer arrives just in time to hear what might be Tony's last words. Yes, I said "might be." It's Tony. I'll believe he's dead when I see his bones. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
Hey, in case you missed last week's episode, CTU got gassed but good. Also in case you missed it, it turns out that they have an automated announcement set up for exactly this kind of occasion. An unfamiliar voice on the P.A. explains how Sentox nerve gas has been released in the building, and lists the safe rooms (one of which is McGill's holding room, like, way to remember that a week later, writers). The announcement further instructs anyone in those areas not to leave until the chemical response teams clear the area. I don't know who the announcement thinks it's talking to in terms of people who aren't inside the safe rooms, because those folks? They dead. This is a highly specific yet not terribly bright automated announcement, is what I'm saying. One of those many corpses is, as you'll recall, Edgar, who's splayed out on the floor with strawberry yogurt spilling out of his mouth. Inside the sealed-off Situation Room, Chloe drops to her knees in front of the window as she looks out at him. Now she'll never get to hit that.
Buchanan's in his office (also sealed up safe), on the phone with Curtis. The Handsome Black Agent was already on his way back to CTU, but it's going to be another half hour before he and the Chemical Response Teams arrive -- even though it took them less than a half hour to get to the hospital two episodes ago, during rush hour. They must have been going against traffic back then. Buchanan hangs up and calls down to the Situation Room to relay the news to Kiefer and the gang, explaining that the CRT units that weren't at Tyler Memorial (over an hour ago! Snap it up, slowpokes!) have been sent to other "high-probability targets." On the bright side, all of the phones and computers are working, so they can still read my recaps. Kiefer's main concern for now is whether Henderson is still alive. He explains to Buchanan that the suspect was shipped over to Medical by Burke The New Torture Guy just before the barriers went down. Buchanan tells him to look at a building grid to find out. As for nerve gas countermeasures, CTU is lucky enough to have gas masks in the armory and atropine (nerve gas antidote, I suppose) in medical storage; CTU is less lucky in the sense that both of those areas are inaccessible. Kiefer tells Buchanan he'll call back. Because he's going to order a pizza?
He goes over to Chloe to try to snap her out of her paralysis, but she isn't snapping. For once. Kiefer acts all patient and understanding with her for about ten seconds, but his voice quickly begins to rise in frustration. And then Spawn's shrink boyfriend Barry cuts in: "Mr. Bauer." Kiefer gets up, walks all the way around the table, stands right in front of Barry, and pisses at him, "What?" Hee. Barry offers to help Chloe with what we can presume are his mad shrink skillz. Kiefer swallows his contempt for the man -- which briefly makes him look like a python devouring a boar -- and accepts the offer. Spawn gives a tiny, proud smile as her man goes around to where Chloe is sitting. Barry hunches down in front of Chloe, gets her to tell him Edgar's name, and explains to her that she's in shock and he wants to help her through it. What Barry doesn't realize is that this isn't the worst thing that's ever happened to Chloe. It's not even the worst thing that's happened to her today. He guides her over to a chair and as he holds her hands, he advises her to "collect your breath, just for a second." Chloe decides to spend some, instead: "He was such a great guy, and I just treated him like crap all day," she soliloquizes. Everyone's watching. Nobody's arguing.
In the Holding room, at 7:05:42, McGill decides that confession is good for the soul. There's a random Redshirt sealed in there with him, whom McGill informs, "This is my fault." The Redshirt's confused, and McGill red-facedly explains that his keycard was stolen and he didn't report it. The previously bored guard is suddenly a lot more interested, as McGill explains, "I was embarrassed. I didn't want anyone to know I got beat up." Redshirt: "So we're all gonna die because you were embarrassed?" I guess we can assume that this isn't the Redshirt who let McGill back into the building without his keycard. McGill just looks at his fellow survivor like he's thinking, (a) Why did I decide to share that, and (b) when I fire him, who's going to throw him out of the building?
Just as we guessed last week, the entire CTU clinic was sealed off in time, and not just the area where Burke took Henderson. I say that not merely because Tony's getting out of bed again, as if that would mean anything. But Dr. Besson seems to be fine also. Although he's predictably effective at keeping Tony in bed, which is to say, not at all. Kiefer would have done a much better job, I bet. Tony reaches one of the glass walls that look out into the hallway, where a conveniently-placed corpse drives home the reality of the situation. What, didn't he hear all the squeaking?
Back in the Situation Room, Audrey and a nameless extra have managed to pull up a building grid on Chloe's laptop even without her help. Kiefer calls Buchanan, who tells him to check whether anyone's "logged in." Kiefer says two zones have, and Buchanan tells Kiefer to try calling them on the phone. Oh, sure, try the easiest thing last.
In the clinic, Dr. Besson answers the speakerphone. Kiefer explains to him about the Sentox in the ventilation system, and why they needed to seal off the rooms. He also asks if Burke and Henderson made it to Medical, and Besson confirms it. "Henderson's here right now?" Tony says loudly. Oops. Kiefer's surprised to hear Tony's voice, but he's even more surprised when the doctor suddenly drops out of the conversation. That's because Tony has sneaked up behind Besson, clapped a hand over his mouth, and put him in a sleeper hold that has the poor guy out in a matter of seconds. Kiefer asks Audrey and her sidekick to figure out how to get a video feed from Medical, but it's going to take a minute because they're not Chloe. On the other hand, even Chloe's not Chloe right now, so what are you gonna do?
Burke The New Torture Guy is standing over Henderson and taking his pulse. He's so absorbed in the task that Tony is able to sneak in behind him and steal Burke's weapon right out of its holster. "Move aside," he orders Burke at gunpoint. So Burke's quite capable with old guys who are strapped down, but completely overmatched by someone who got blown up twelve hours ago. Good to know.
This is the tableau that appears on the Situation Room's video screen. Kiefer wants an audio connection, but all they can do at first is set up a one-way link; in other words, Kiefer can hear Tony, but Tony can't hear Kiefer. Kiefer hears Burke telling Tony that he can't kill Henderson because they need the information he has. Tony doesn't care, and finally convinces Burke to move aside rather than get shot. So Burke's a wuss, too. Interesting. Tony addresses Henderson, who's just blinking at him, barely conscious: "Hello. My name is Tony Almeida. You killed my wife. Prepare to die." Or words to that effect. Finally the extra in the Situation Room achieves a two-way audio link, and Kiefer's voice comes through to Tony. "Stay out of this, Jack!" Tony yells, the gun still leveled at Henderson's expressionless face. Kiefer tries to talk Tony down. "I know how you feel right now," he says, as he and Spawn exchange a glance. Spawn doesn't look too thrilled at Kiefer's use of Teri's death to try to gain control over the situation. Kiefer basically begs Tony to let them finish the interrogation, the implication being that Tony can do whatever he wants after that. Is Buchanan hearing this conversation? Because I would think he might have a thing or two to add. Still sighting down the barrel of Burke's gun, Tony grunts, "Hurry up." Well, that's going to make Henderson more anxious to talk than ever, don't you think? Kiefer gives Burke the green light to go back to work on Henderson at 7:09:46, and Tony gets out of the way. Burke injects a fresh syringe full of distilled pain into Henderson, who rouses himself enough to look anguished, although he's still not talking. Kiefer asks Burke if they can increase the dose. "Not without killing him," Burke says. Surprisingly, Tony doesn't offer to prep the needle.
From the other Situation Room on this show, the one at Not Camp David, where the only airborne poison anyone has to worry about is the funk of Logan's constant panic, the Prez and the Veep are on the phone with someone at the Los Angeles office of the Department of Homeland Security. Their contact there, a poor man's Helen Mirren named Karen Hayes, tells them that although CTU was able to achieve partial containment, "early reports indicate that 40% of their personnel have been taken out." That seems kind of low, unless a whole lot of people got out of the building entirely. And unless non-speaking roles don't count as much. Logan and Vice President Gardner wonder who's going to be protecting Los Angeles now that CTU is out of commission. Naturally, Hayes advises that Homeland Security be put in charge -- specifically, Karen Hayes at Homeland Security. "Do it," the Veep says, like he's the boss. Logan neither confirms nor belays the order, so apparently the Veep's say-so is good enough. After they hang up, Gardner once again pushes for his brilliant plan for martial law in Los Angeles. Logan argues that "my advisors" (all two of them) say that soldiers on the streets will create panic. Gardner argues that there's going to be panic anyway when the gas starts flying, and they'd better have troops in place when that happens. Logan's still doubtful, so Gardner tries a different tack: "If we clear the streets of everybody except the military, these terrorists won't be able to move as freely as they are right now." Logan nods reluctantly. If he were thinking straight, he'd point out that there's never more than one car on the road at any given time on this show anyway, so all they need to do is give orders to start pulling over anyone not driving a black SUV.
Bierko's sitting at a laptop in his bunker when a henchman comes up and reports, "CTU is no longer an obstacle." Bierko tells him to have their men relocate to "the target." The henchman asks how much of the nerve gas to use there. "All of it," Bierko says. Well, that seems wasteful. You don't want to spread it out? Maybe do a little more damage? But then, I guess they're only batting about .340 on nerve gas attacks today, and he probably wants to make sure this last one counts. It's 7:12:47.
7:17:43. In the CTU Sit Room, Kiefer goes over to where Barry is still sitting in front of Chloe and growls, "Excuse me." Everyone looks over nervously as Barry gives up his spot. Kiefer takes it and asks if Chloe is ready to go back to work. Since Henderson isn't breaking, Kiefer needs her to decrypt his computer files, and he slides the laptop over in front of her, like, get to it already, you load. Chloe says she already tried, and whines, "Maybe somebody else can do it." Kiefer says she's the only one in the room who's qualified, but manages not to add that that means she's also the only one in the building who's qualified. Aside from Henderson, obviously, and he's not in a position to do much typing. Kiefer tells Chloe, "You know how things work around here. We do not quit until it's over." Maybe if they hired a night shift? Barry tries to get Kiefer to back off, but all Kiefer does is that thing where he gets up and walks all the way around the table to get in Barry's face again. He bitches at Barry about how short on time they are. And then, while he's wasting time walking back over to Chloe, Barry non sequiturs that you "just need to be there" for people, which is Kiefer's cue to turn around and snap, "Like you were there for my daughter?" Spawn rolls her eyes disgustedly, Barry takes exception to Kiefer's insinuation, and Kiefer gets even further up in Barry's face. Should have brought a phone book to stand on. He clamps a hand around Barry's throat, until Spawn intervenes: "Before I met Barry, I didn't even want to live." Kiefer doesn't exactly relent upon learning that Barry was the one who restored his daughter's will to live. Finally Chloe bitches, "Fine, I'll get back to work if everybody would just relax." This is what makes Kiefer a hero, you see; even when he's just being an immature asshole, it ends up being for the best.
Just then an alarm goes off on the building schematic. Buchanan's on speaker phone as Chloe explains that the gas must be mixed with an acid, and the acid is breaking down the seals between rooms. Wow, that is one mean gas. And greedy, too. As Buchanan stupidly runs his fingers along the seal protecting his office, because maybe his finger oil will slow down the process a little, Chloe guesses that they have fifteen to twenty minutes before the seals break down entirely. "And then what?" Barry asks, because the blood hasn't quite gotten all the way back to his brain. Kiefer: "As soon as the gas permeates the seal, it enters the room. Then it's over." He refrains from adding that it'll be Barry's fault, although I'm sure that's only because he hasn't figured out how yet.
It's 7:19:22 in one of the hallways at Not Camp David, and Novick is on his cell phone with the Vice President. Yes, I know the Veep is in the building too, but it's a big compound. Novick basically eats the Veep's shit until the call ends and he sees FLOTUS lurking in the hallway behind him. Novick explains to her that he was just asking to help draft Logan's newest statement, which Gardner is insisting on doing himself. FLOTUS is shocked at Gardner's overstepping: "That means he's effectively making policy! We've got to stop him!" Yeah, the nerve of that guy. It's like he thinks that he has some official role in government or something, when everyone knows that that's the First Lady's job. Whatever, it's not like any of these people were ever actually elected anyway. Novick says he's trying, but Logan "wants all the counsel he can get." But the cacophony of a third voice in his ear must be deafening. FLOTUS complains that the Veep's got his own ambitions for the presidency, which she thinks the Veep is trying to land by wrecking Logan's administration. Because whatever's bad for the President is good for his putative successor, right? Just ask President Gore. Novick reminds FLOTUS that Gardner has a history of giving Logan goofy ideas, then taking the credit for the ones that work and passing the blame for the ones that fail. Which only works, of course, because Logan lets the Veep get away with it. That's my theory, not his, but you know I'm right. Novick says he can't point this out to Logan, because the Vice President outranks the Chief of Staff or something. I think that's crap, and that a more likely scenario is that Logan, who never wanted the presidency himself in the first place, doesn't perceive his own Vice President as more ambitious than he was. Whatever the case, Novick points out that FLOTUS has influence that trumps them both. FLOTUS asks to see the statement as soon as possible, and Novick leaves with a promise to make it so. Ooh, looking at statements! It is fucking on!
At CTU, 7:21:26, a shirt-sleeved Buchanan is on the P.A., confirming Chloe's analysis. As the folks in the Sit Room, Tony and Burke in Medical, and McGill and his Redshirt in Holding listen, Buchanan says that Chemical Response won't arrive in time, and they need to figure out for themselves how to either neutralize or flush the Sentox gas out of the place before it reaches the safe zones. "I want all personnel working on this problem," he concludes, like anybody's playing solitaire right now. He's barely finished before Kiefer, looking out at one of those huge exposed air ducts that run through the whole facility, gets an idea. He tells Chloe to access the ventilation system through her laptop. While he's standing off by himself, Audrey wanders over and quietly tries to blow a little sunshine up his ass: "Maybe it's not as bad as we think," she says. She further adds that CRT might get there in time. Which I have to agree with, since they have between twelve and seventeen minutes by my reckoning, and CRT is due in...let's see...eleven? Yeah, they're screwed. Although it's probably nice to have a glass-half-full-of-poison-gas kind of person like Audrey around. Kiefer looks over at Spawn and softly tells Audrey that the only reason Spawn's there is because he asked her to stay, and if anything happens to her it'll be his fault. Otherwise, you know, he wouldn't waste time on saving their lives and would heroically continue trying to get at Henderson right to the bitter end. Or something. Audrey sharply says there's no way Kiefer could have known what was going to happen. And she's relatively new, so I'll cut her some slack for that argument, but a much more effective one would have been to point out that Spawn is a disaster magnet no matter where she is.
Chloe calls Kiefer over to the laptop with good news and bad news. The good news is that she thinks she can flush out the gas using the building's air conditioning. I don't know where she plans to flush it to, and Kiefer doesn't ask. Outside? Maybe they figure the neighbors will be dead before they can call and complain. In any case, there's a program blocking her access to the system she needs, and it's running on a computer in a contaminated area. Kiefer wonders if he can get there somehow, and Chloe points to the wall behind her, saying it's a false wall and the air behind it is clean -- but only until Kiefer leaves the safe zone at the far end of the passage beyond. Spawn is, for once, the voice of reason, saying Kiefer can't do it, but Kiefer says that he can hold his breath. And he addresses a minor debate that's been raging -- okay, grumping -- on the boards, namely the question of whether the nerve gas is deadly when absorbed through the skin. And apparently it is, but Kiefer doesn't think he'll be exposed to it long enough to be in danger. Ooookay then. That still leaves the question of how long it stays on your skin once you're exposed while wearing a gas mask, but since that will only lead to the question of why Kiefer hasn't changed his clothes or taken a shower since the Sunrise Hills Mall, I'll leave it in the hands of the forums. Audrey doubts Kiefer can hold his breath that long, but Kiefer says he only has to manage long enough to get to the computer, shut down the program, and get back to the safe room, which Chloe says she can clear out in twenty seconds. You know, like an airlock. Kiefer gets a knife out of a canvas briefcase that someone conveniently left in there. Which reminds me to hope that the man-purse is in a safe zone somehow. Kiefer cuts away a panel in the false wall. He tells an extra to put the panel back as soon as he goes through, and he disappears into the wall, pulling up the hood on his jacket as he goes. Spawn sits there thinking, God, this is so like him. "Look at me, I'm a big dumb hero, we don't have time, who are you working for, blah blah blah." It's 7:24:06.
7:28:32. Kiefer's making his way through the space between walls with a flashlight clamped between his teeth. He hasn't been holding his breath the entire commercial break, in case you were worried; he's still in the safe area between walls. He finds his way through a ceiling panel and into a maintenance room, where someone had the presence of mind to leave a toolbox with a roll of duct tape in it. You know, just to be prepared for this very eventuality. Kiefer uses the tape to seal the seams around the panel, and tells Chloe over his earpiece that he's done so. He adds that he's about to go into the computer room, and when he gets back, he'll tap his comm unit three times so she knows to start clearing out the nerve gas in the room. Chloe reminds him that if his makeshift airlock fails, they'll all be dead in three minutes, and Kiefer assures everyone it'll be fine. "Anyway, it'll be more like forty-five seconds," he refrains from adding. He replaces his jacket hood on his head, takes a couple of deep breaths, and swings the door open.
Tell me you didn't hold your breath during this sequence, and I'll know you're lying. I did it too. In fact, I'll go one better: I'll hold my breath while recapping it. Ready?
Kiefer finds himself in a room with a corpse or three at 7:30:06. He crosses to the far wall, which is another one of those false ones, and cuts away a panel. He's so distracted with placing the panel aside that at first he doesn't see what we see, which is a set of iron bars blocking his access to the room...and black spots...or maybe that's just me...when he looks up, he realizes he's screwed. He can see the computer across the room through the bars...dizzy...he runs back to the safe room...chest hurting...mklsdgq'j.
When I wake up and lift my head off the keyboard, I rewind the tape a few minutes to the point where I blacked out. In the Situation Room, Chloe is looking at a display on her laptop that's showing the seals are 86% compromised. Like they're Star Trek deflector shields or something. Spawn wonders how they can help Kiefer from there, and Chloe gives her some bitchy backtalk. "Don't talk down to me, Chloe," Spawn threatens. And why should Spawn be any different? For that matter, why should Chloe be any different? Barry tries to calm everyone with a little psychobabble, telling everyone to breathe. "What's with you and the breathing?" Chloe snaps. "Is that your solution to everything?" Well, in a few more minutes, it's going to be the problem.
Kiefer seals himself back in his homemade airlock and taps his comm. They hear it in the Situation Room, and as Chloe does whatever she does on the computer to replace the gas in Kiefer's room with clean air, everyone speculates as to what it means that Kiefer's back so quickly. After twenty seconds or so, Audrey tells Kiefer that the room's clear and he can breathe. He gasps for breath at 7:31:52, and says he saw the computer controlling the ventilation system; It's the same computer that Fucked-up Accent Guy was mucking around with last hour, right before he released the gas. He wasn't afraid to give CTU a lot of credit, was he? Kiefer's problem is that he couldn't get to the computer due to the security grate behind the wall. "Trust me, it's there," he tells a skeptical Chloe. She digs a little deeper into the system and finds that it's an upgrade from two years ago that was improperly filed, which is why it didn't show up. And it's going to be the same deal with all the other vents into the room. Isn't it amazing that she can tell all this from a laptop? Aren't you glad she didn't space out and bring an Etch-a-Sketch in there instead? Kiefer brings up the novel concept of the ventilation room's actual door, and asks where it leads. Chloe says it leads to a corridor above Holding Room Four, which is where McGill is. Kiefer asks, "Are there any other vented rooms we can get him to?" Chloe says there's nothing. Kiefer rolls his eyes, feeling like shit about what he's going to have to do. "Patch me through to him," he finally says. Chloe dials as Audrey steps away from the computer, already realizing that McGill's day is about to get even worse.
The phone in Holding Room Four rings. Why is there a phone in there all of a sudden? Well, I'm going to wank that it's because the Redshirt let them into the Observation room. The point is that there is one, and McGill answers it. Kiefer explains the situation: he needs McGill to shut down the offending computer program, because he's the only person close enough. "How we gonna do this, Jack?" McGill wonders, looking a little confused. Kiefer admits that he would do it himself if he were close enough, but he's not. "And I'm going to have to ask you to do it without any protection." Kiefer has even worse news: once McGill opens the door, the holding room will become contaminated and they won't have a safe place to send him. "We can't airlock you," he explains. McGill softly says, "There are two of us in here, Jack." The Redshirt introduces himself to the speakerphone as "Harry Swinton," like Kiefer cares. Harry asks if they're both going to die when McGill does his thing. "I'm so sorry," is all Kiefer can say. McGill tells Harry that they don't have a choice, and wanders over to the other side of the room while Harry argues with Kiefer for a minute. Shouldn't this kind of conversation be Buchanan's job? Not just because he's nominally running the place, but also because, unlike Kiefer, he actually works there? McGill puts Kiefer on hold and tells Harry, "We have to do this, Harry. We're going to die anyway. If we don't, so will everyone in CTU." Even Harry can't argue with that. McGill takes Kiefer off hold and gets more instructions from him and Chloe. "Lynn, we don't have a lot of time," Kiefer says. "I'll do it," McGill announces. It's 7:34:44.
7:39:12. In one split-screen window, Kiefer's descending the ladder back towards the Situation Room. Where Spawn has apparently decided to spend what might be her last few minutes of air yapping with Chloe. She goes around to sit to her ex-colleague and says she's sorry about her own behavior and the loss of Edgar. With that out of the way, she can move on to what she wants. Specifically, she'd like to grill Chloe a little about the contact Chloe had with Kiefer during his "death." Chloe says that she sent along information every month, mostly about Spawn. "Your breakup with Chase, your depression..." Spawn is a little confused by this, which requires Chloe to say, "I'm really good at getting information." Spawn asks if she happens to know where Chase is. Chloe offers to find out, but Spawn declines: "Barry thinks I should let that go." Chloe makes some slur about shrinks, and Spawn lets that slide and asks, "How are you doing?" Chloe explains, "Well, this morning I woke up with a guy in my bed that I'll probably never see again...I just watched one of my best friends die right in front of me...I guess not that great." Spawn just says, "Yeah." She's her father's daughter, all right.
Speaking of Kiefer, he crawls back into the Situation Room and orders Chloe to bring up the video feed from the Observation Room. So I was right. Aren't you impressed with how I can put these things together after watching these scenes nine or ten times? It's 7:41:05 as McGill watches Harry talking to his little girl over the phone. He doesn't say he's about to die, of course, just that if she falls asleep before he gets home, he'll wake her up. Which means that little girl is going to wake up in the bright sunny morning to some really bad news and dread mornings for the rest of her life. And it's such a cheap ploy, scenes like this, but that's because they work. As for McGill, we don't know of any family he has aside from his sister, and he'll be seeing her soon enough. He says it's time, and Harry says goodbye. McGill then calls Chloe and tells her he's going in. "Good luck...and thanks for doing this," Chloe says awkwardly. "Yeah," McGill says, and crosses the room to place his hand on the door handle. He looks back at Harry, who nods at him bravely and sucks his breath in to hold it. McGill does the same, holding his folded necktie against his mouth and nose as he opens the door and hurries out. McGill gets the full Rudy hero music as he scampers up the stairs and down the hall to the ventilation room, where he quickly shuts down the program and runs back out. Oddly, he doesn't trip over the stabbed and abandoned corpse of Carrie on the way.
In the Situation Room, Chloe announces that McGill did it and she's starting the fans. She says it's going to be fifteen minutes before the building is clear, but the concentration is already, conveniently, going down enough to stop breaking down the room seals. Amazing, really, considering they broke down 86% in half an hour and then lasted another ten minutes. "It looks like the seals will hold until all zones are clear," she says. So, yeah, the seals saved them this time, but time somebody fills the building with Sentox nerve gas, they won't be quite so lucky. I hope that means they'll be more careful about this kind of thing in the future.
Speaking of careless CTU employees, McGill makes it back to the Observation Room, where Harry is still holding his breath. McGill collapses in the corner near the door, still not breathing. Kiefer's voice, heavy with emotion, comes over the speakerphone to tell them they were successful. "I will personally notify your families and tell them of the sacrifice you made," he promises. It's 7:43:15. "I'm so sorry. I don't know what else to say. Thank you." Having held on long enough to receive Kiefer's benediction, Harry finally has to let go. He takes a deep gasp of air, and is amazed to realize it doesn't kill him. "I'm okay!" he says in disbelief, while McGill's eyebrows hop up hopefully over his tie. But then Harry gasps, chokes, and falls to the floor, drooling strawberry yogurt. Everyone in the Situation Room sees it on the video feed, while McGill watches from across the room. And then McGill, who was running around with no air while Harry was just sitting around, finally has to breathe as well. And as with Harry, it's only a few seconds before he starts twitching and goes fetal on the floor in his own puddle of Yoplait. He does it way better than Harry did, though, the showoff. "Look at me, I was in an Academy-Award Winner for Best Picture, la-di-dah." The security feed shows him from directly above, looking small and broken on the floor in his dark suit, like he was dropped from a great height. And then he's still. Even Buchanan looks moved as he watches from his office.
Down in the Sit Room, Kiefer's already going from sympathetic to pissed. "Pull up the security feed to Medical," he growls. Audrey does it before he can break her fingers. He goes off into the corner, looking wrecked. Spawn looks after him, concerned, and the makeup people have done a good job of making her look sad, kind of pink and blotchy. She doesn't go to him, though. He just stands there alone, doing that power-glower he does so well.
At the CTU clinic, Burke is about to give another dose of liquid pain to Henderson, who at this point won't even give his name. "You're wasting your time," Tony scoffs at him at 7:45:02. Kiefer's voice comes in, and Burke has to admit that they're still not getting anywhere. So then we're back in the Sit Room, where Kiefer's apparently gotten over the worst of his red funk. He tells Chloe that it's all on her now to get into Henderson's computer files. Chloe wonders how she's supposed to do that with a dead team, and Kiefer answers, "Only work on his files," like that's helpful. He then goes over to Spawn and tells her to go to Medical to get checked out once the barriers are up. But Spawn says she's leaving. She claims she's not angry, and she loves him, "but there's nothing left to say except I don't want to be around you. Every time I am, something horrible happens. People die. And I know that's not your fault, but I can't be a part of it." Aw, be fair, Spawn. People die when you're apart, too. Kiefer begs for another chance, but she refuses, and walks across the room to Barry, who kisses her on the side of the head and says, "God, that was close," pulling her into a hug. That's the clearest indication we've seen that they're doing it, by the way. Audrey sees that Kiefer is totally destroyed, so she goes over to him and takes his hand. "Are you all right?" she asks. Without looking at her, Kiefer flatly says, "No." He went to all the trouble of getting a guy to sacrifice himself to save Spawn, and does she appreciate it? No, she doesn't. It's 7:46:54.
At 7:51:23, Novick and FLOTUS are in Logan's office, reading a draft of the new statement. One key phrase that jumps out at Novick is "emergency peacekeeping force." Which is of course political-ese for "Gestapo." He and FLOTUS are both still doubtful that this is a good idea, but Logan says, "If you or Mike have any better ideas, please, I would be glad to hear them." They don't, of course. Great. These are the people he turns to in a crisis -- people who, when asked for a better idea than martial law, can't even bring themselves to say, "How about...not martial law?" FLOTUS quietly asks Novick for a moment alone with her husband, and Novick leaves. FLOTUS says what's on her mind: if Logan thinks this is the best plan, then she'll support him, but she's not about to let the Vice President take over. Logan angrily insists that he's doing it for the right reasons. And then what little composure he has begins to crack. "I don't know how much more of this I can take," he says, starting to get weepy. Oh, better and better. People who cry to get their way are bad enough, but in a President of the United States, it's damned unseemly. "I really don't." FLOTUS is disarmed, however, and her expression becomes sympathetic. Logan runs down the events of the day: "David's assassination, nerve gas, the murder of those hostages, Walt Cummings's betrayal, and you...I almost lost you. I didn't lose you, did I?" Defeated, FLOTUS takes his hand and wearily says he didn't. "I'm still here," she says, but she's clearly not feeling it. She'd much rather have someone come in and 25th-Amendment his ass right here and now, but of course that would only benefit Gardner. So she'll just have to wait until there's a Vice President she doesn't hate quite as much.
Bierko's hanging out at his bunker when one of his henchmen comes up to him, having just gotten off the phone. "The men are there and they need the schematics," the henchman says. Without a word, Bierko pulls out his own satellite phone and dials.
The call rings on a cell phone in someone's apartment, where a brunette is slinking into a rather unflattering lingerie ensemble. And no, before you ask, it's not Naked Mandy. This chick is quite strapping. Before she answers, the naked guy in her bed asks who it is, and she says it's "just a client." The client is Bierko, of course, and we learn from the conversation that her name is Collette, and she's apparently Bierko's source for the schematics that his men need. She looks at her laptop, which we can tell is connected to the World Wide Web by the map of the world currently displayed on it, and tells Bierko that it's going to be a few more minutes. He says he's paying her a lot of money, and she gives him some sass that strikes me as ill-advised when talking to someone who has seventeen canisters of nerve gas in his possession. And yet he looks chastened when he hangs up. At Collette's end of the line, she slinks over to the bed at 7:54:52, looking sad about her "difficult client." She straddles her boy toy, who fishes for clues about what she does, offering to "help." "You do help me," she says. They mack. Oh, come on. Who's helping whom?
CTU. Buchanan's on his phone, still in his office, but getting word that the air will soon be clear. He switches over on his call waiting, and it's Karen Hayes from Homeland Security on the other line, calling from a moving car. She asks him for a body count, and he estimates, "We'll need at least twenty in Comm, thirty-five in Tactical and other departments." That's when Hayes says she's on her way, which surprises Buchanan. And it's not a Christmas-morning kind of surprise, either.
After Hayes gets off the phone, she turns to the evil computer geek in the back seat of her car, who says that he's just finished reformatting all of CTU's servers from his laptop. "All of their tactical protocols will have to go through me," he boasts. Hayes reacts like this is good news, when all I want to do is punch him in the face. Evil Geek also asks whether Hayes minds if he replaces some CTU people with his own folks, and of course she doesn't, "after what these people have been through." It's amazing how little sympathy she's able to communicate with that line. And shouldn't the night shift be coming on soon anyway? Oh, never mind. Evil Geek frets evilly about the chain of command, and Hayes assures him that once they get there, she'll be in charge. "For all intents and purposes, CTU is no longer an operational entity. It's a building with workers who will report to us." And computers that'll be probably be useless after exposure to seal-eating nerve gas, and toxic residue all over everything, and dead people, and sticky puddles of Dannon Fruit-on-the-Bottom that they'll forever be slipping on. I can see why she's so keen to move in.
The metal barriers around CTU's Situation Room roll back up into the ceiling, effecting the reversal of the Inspector-Gadget-like transformation that made it a panic room. Kiefer announces that he's going back to Medical. But before he does, he tells Spawn, "I have to finish this now." "I know," she says. "Goodbye, Dad." Wow, that's cold. She barely tolerates a kiss on the cheek from him, and he turns to leave. On his way out, Barry stops him, and he turns back with undisguised contempt. But Barry just wants to thank Kiefer for saving them. Kiefer melts a little and tells him, "Take her outside the city. Don't make any stops, you understand?" And he turns to leave the room, completely forgetting to tell Barry to "stay gold." It's 7:57:22.
At Medical, Henderson is looking pretty grim, and Burke tells Tony that their prisoner's nervous system is shut down and he can't be woken up. So Burke can't torture a guy without frying him. Huh. The phone rings, and Tony grabs it first. He still has the gun, remember. The caller is Kiefer, on his cell phone, who tells Tony he's on his way as he jogs along. Tony informs Kiefer that Henderson's gone completely Schiavo on them. "You've had your chance," Tony says. "He's mine now." Ran that past a lawyer, did you, Tony? Kiefer speeds up as he begs Tony to hold off: "It's not going to bring Michelle back." Tony agrees, but says he'll feel better. "Trust me, you won't," Kiefer insists. Tony's a reasonable man: "You're probably right," he admits. "I'll let you know." And then he hangs up. Kiefer drops his phone on the floor and pours on the speed.
Tony tells Burke, who apparently didn't hear Tony's end of the conversation, that Kiefer's on his way, and that they'll figure out what to do about Henderson when he arrives. "There's nothing to figure out," Burke says. "This guy's cooked." And then Tony pistol-whips Burke from behind, sending him unconscious to the floor. So Burke has a glass skull. Got it. Tony turns to Burke's open case of torture goodies, selects a vial, and fills a syringe. He holds the needle poised over Henderson's sternum, but when his own Pulp Fiction moment arrives, he can't commit the deed. He ends up just standing there, holding the syringe, looking disappointed in himself. Which is of course when Henderson's eyes pop open. Taking in the situation at a glance, he grabs the needle and forces it into Tony's chest. Nice one, Tony. And nice one, Burke. The idiot not only went too far, he misdiagnosed his subject, and of course completely failed to restrain him. Burke is the worst torturer ever. Roger. Tony drops to the floor and commences dying. Henderson sits up, pulls out his IV, grabs Burke's gun off the bedside table, checks the clip, and heads on out of there, barely pausing to rub his aching head. Now that is fucking bad-ass.
He apparently took a different exit than the one Kiefer is just arriving at. Kiefer immediately spots Tony on the floor, still holding the empty syringe that's killing him. "I couldn't do it," Tony manages. Kiefer says it's all right, and pulls Tony up into his arms, hollering for help. Too bad Tony knocked out the only surviving doctor in the place. Kiefer begs Tony to hang on, but Tony's not in the mood: "She's gone, Jack," he says. And then it looks like Tony is too. Kiefer holds his friend tighter, giving Henderson a nice, juicy head start while his face gets all weepy and lemony. Sure, Kiefer just had a particularly bad hour, but he should consider himself lucky that Henderson didn't bother to blow up the room behind himself this time.
So then the clock ticks down to 7:00:00. And if you think they're going to do the silent clock two episodes in a row, guess again. This was the cause of much uproar on the forums, that Edgar got the silent clock and Tony didn't. I choose to interpret it as Tony not being actually dead. At least not for good. And y'all are going to feel pretty silly when he Buffys out of his grave along about Season Seven, I'm thinking.