In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.
Despite nearly getting away from Tony -- and then almost immolating himself to destroy the pathogen inside him -- Kiefer gets recaptured. Finally, Tony explains to Kiefer what he's been up to all this time: he's just been trying to get at Alan Wilson, the guy behind the guy behind the guy, going all the way back to Season Five. Tony's move is to wire Kiefer with explosives so he can blow Wilson up when he arrives. Except that thanks to the laptop Spawn rescued, the FBI swoops in on the meeting, and Walker frees and diffuses Kiefer. Wilson and the Faux-yer run to ground, but Tony catches up with them, kills the former, and confronts Wilson -- breaking the news that Michelle was pregnant at the time of her death. Unfortunately, he takes too long savoring the moment, and Walker and Kiefer catch up to them and stop Tony. In custody, Wilson denies everything, and Walker asks Kiefer for advice about making him talk, but all that happens is that after all these years of torturing people into talking, Kiefer tortures us by talking. While Kiefer's waiting out his last moments in the hospital, Imam Gohar comes to pray with him. Which seems to make him feel better.
In Taylor-related news, Ethan confronts Olivia about Hodges's death and makes her confess to her parents. Henry wants to protect Olivia by covering it up, but Taylor's insisting on doing the right thing, which leaves her feeling quite alone, with no one to turn to but Ethan. That'll learn a woman to become president.
In the final moments, Walker wrestles with the decision of what to do with Wilson, and Spawn shows up at her comatose father's bedside to insist on donating whatever she needs to donate to effect Kiefer's experimental treatment against his will. Dude, he is going to wake up pissed.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!No previouslies at all this hour. That never happens! It's almost as though someone knew all along that this would be airing immediately after the episode.
Sudden daylight has also reached the area outside the airport parking ramp, and the fire department has finished putting out Bob's car and covering up his crispy corpse. One of these days there's going to be a 24 spin-off, all about the local fire department following Kiefer and his friends around and putting out the stuff they blow up. If anything, they'll be busier than Kiefer. Walker's talking to Chloe back at base over walkie-talkie, about that laptop that Spawn recovered. Chloe says tracing it back to whoever it was communicating with will be harder than it looks; it's "encrypted, with multiple relays." You can totally tell by the cursor bouncing all over an animated world map on the monitor, like in Sneakers but with better graphics. Walker tells Chloe to get back to her when she has something. Overhearing, Spawn asks if there aren't any other leads to where Kiefer is. Walker points out that Spawn's the only reason they have this one. It's a testament to how little Walker knows Spawn that she's able to make this comment without her head exploding. "Except my father's dying, and we don't know how much time he has left," Spawn complains. Like Walker's going to say, "Oh, why didn't you say so?" and conjure Kiefer into their presence. Shut up, Spawn.
Having just escaped from Tony and the Faux-yer's complex, Kiefer finds a not-quite-closed garage door somewhere and squirms underneath it on his back. He finds himself inside a taxi garage and sets about breaking into one of the cabs. But suddenly Tony's there, reaching his gun under the door and shooting at him. Careful, Tony, don't shoot him in the virus! Kiefer dives for cover, but happens to notice the hanging controls for the door. Dodging Tony's shots, he rolls over to it and hits the close button. Unfortunately, Tony ducks back out before he gets squished. Kiefer notices that the cab Tony shot up is now leaking gasoline all over the floor. And a moment later, Tony is trying to force the garage door back open by stabbing through it with the tines of a handy forklift. Realizing he's trapped, Kiefer does what anyone would do in this situation: he wades across the puddle of gas he's standing in to grab a road flare that's conveniently sitting on a workbench. While Tony continues raising the door (He tried to kill him with a forklift!), Kiefer kneels in the fuel and tries to strike the flare, but it's tricky with handcuffs on. Also, I'm not sure he really wants it, if you know what I mean. By the time he gets it lit, Tony's made it inside, and he runs over and kicks it out of Kiefer's hands, sending it arcing through the air to burn out harmlessly on dry concrete. Kiefer tries to crawl to it, but only gets pistol-whipped into unconsciousness and dragged out by the feet for his trouble. Nice escape, Kiefer.
Olivia has a visitor, and she's not pleasantly surprised to see that it's Ethan. Aaron follows him in, and Olivia orders him to kick Ethan out. "No, ma'am. I am not going to do that," Aaron says clearly. And not just because his shift would have ended hours ago, if he were a real Secret Service agent, which he isn't. Olivia picks up her phone to call security, and Ethan sets a portable digital recording deck down on her desk and hits play. Why did he need to plug it into his car, then? Was Hyundai jealous of Cisco's product placement? After listening to only a few seconds of her conversation with Martin, Olivia presses stop, but she's gotten the message. Ethan explains about how Olivia confiscated a decoy, and Aaron had the real one. "How long have you known, Aaron?" Olivia asks. Well, it only happened a couple of hours ago, genius, so probably not much longer than that. Aaron only says he was hoping he was wrong, and goes to wait outside. He really is having the worst retirement ever.
p>Olivia tries to explain to Ethan how she tried to call it off, but he's not impressed. She's dumb enough to think he's just blackmailing her to get his job back, but he says he's only interested in the truth. Olivia says that could destroy Taylor, which Ethan realizes. "Then what do you want?" Olivia asks. Ethan says it's up to Taylor; she just needs to know. "I'll let you tell her yourself." A gentleman to the end.At 7:05:22, Tony's got Kiefer handcuffed to a chain link fence inside his hideout, which gives Kiefer a chance to guilt-trip Tony, now that he's woken up again. "I know you think this country failed you and I don't care what kind of ideology you believe in now. This is no way to fight for it." Tony ignores him until Kiefer tells him to look at him. "Please, as someone who was once your friend, let me die in peace. Don't let them use me to kill innocent people." Tony says he doesn't plan to and never did. "I overheard you," Kiefer insists. Well, actually, Tony said that directly to you, Kiefer, so I don't know if that counts as "overhearing," per se. In any case, Tony says that was just a ruse, "to get the man who's coming here right now. Took me three years to find him. Took me another year to get him to meet me face to face." And how lucky for us that today is the day he gets to meet him! Tony's talking about Alan Wilson, of course, to whom he says had to prove himself. "He was the man behind Charles Logan. He's the one who ordered the hit on David Palmer. And he had Michelle killed to cover his tracks. This is the man who murdered my wife, Jack." Kiefer's not impressed that Tony's been doing freelance deep-cover work all these years for personal revenge. "You killed innocent people, Tony!" Tony says ten times more would have died without him, pointing out that he came up with the plan to bring the bad guys down. "I enlisted Bill and Chloe to help me track all the elements of this Group. And when I finally got what I wanted, they would turn them in and shut them down. But you screwed that all up, didn't you, Jack?" Must be the Bauer genes. Tony claims that on top of everything else, he saved more lives than Kiefer today. "I'm the one who helped you recover the CIP device. I'm the one who warned you about the White House attacks. I'm the one who stopped Jonas Hodges from launching those missiles!" Kiefer is not convinced that this all makes Tony a good guy, angrily pointing out that whole Washington Center Station attack that they barely prevented that would have killed thousands. Tony says he did what he had to do. "You kill him, and no one will ever know the full extent of this conspiracy," Kiefer points out. Which is the weakest argument he could have come up with. These conspiracies never have a full extent; there's always more to it. If there weren't, this show would be called 6, at best. Tony says he's not going to kill Wilson; Kiefer is. With that, Tony wraps an explosive belt around Kiefer's waist, saying he's sorry it has to be this way, but he'll never get within fifty feet of Wilson himself. "You're the one he's coming for," he says. "You're not honoring Michelle's life," Kiefer hisses. "You are reveling in her death and she would despise you for this." Rather than bothering to respond, Tony turns to one of the monitors, which shows the Faux-yer coming back, and programs his cell phone to become Kiefer's detonator. He then puts a strip of duct tape over Kiefer's mouth (because he can't have Kiefer blabbing his plans to the Faux-yer) and zips up Kiefer's jacket over the belt (because he wants to preserve Kiefer's trim silhouette). The Faux-yer suspects nothing when she returns. It's 7:09:28.
7:13:53. The Faux-yer quietly tells Tony that Wilson doesn't know about their relationship, and she wants to keep it that way for now. Tony agrees, like he cares one way or another at this point. The monitor shows Wilson's convoy rolling onto the grounds, and they go outside to meet him.
Wilson has arrived in a stretch limo bookended by Humvees, a clear sign of a man who wants to protect his anonymity. Of course if he were really careful, he'd be riding in one of the Hummers. Or possibly in a sling underneath it. A small army of bodyguards gets out of the two larger vehicles, but Wilson stays put inside the limo for now. His men fan out and take up positions all around the courtyard, their weapons plainly visible. Tony and the Faux-yer meet up with them, and the guards pat them both down. Tony is relieved of his handgun, but he gets to keep his cell phone. Yes, that's the same phone that's now his detonator. The goon didn't even bother opening it to see if Tony's homepage screen was a picture of a big black cartoon bomb with Kiefer's face on it. Satisfied, Wilson finally steps out of the back of his limo. Tony tries to hold his cell phone as casually as he can as Wilson approaches. The Faux-yer walks ahead to meet him, but Tony is held back as Wilson stone-facedly says, "Hello...Kara," without taking his eyes off Tony. She pecks Wilson on one impassive cheek, and I think I just figured out why she didn't want to tell Wilson that she and Tony are shtupping. She introduces Tony, and Wilson asks where Kiefer is. She gives directions on where to find him inside the building, and Tony hands over the keys to Kiefer's handcuffs at 7:16:46. Two of Wilson's men scurry into the warehouse as Wilson says that Tony's "been an asset," which is practically gushing for him. Tony says he has more to offer, as Kiefer is frog-marched out of the building. Wilson asks for Kiefer's pathology report, and the Faux-yer produces it on a PDA. Kiefer is dragged closer to Wilson. Tony fingers his cell phone. It's about to go down.
But suddenly, a helicopter roars into view over the courtyard. Walker's amplified voice rings out: "This is the FBI. You're surrounded." Looks like Chloe came through after all. "Lay down your weapons," Walker orders. Instead of doing that, Wilson's men start firing them at the chopper, as Wilson grabs Kara and they run for cover. Armored agents on the helicopter's landing gear open up with machine guns, and while bullets rain down around him, Tony takes a gun off one of Wilson's fallen men. Government SUVs are also rolling onto the scene, disgorging yet more armored agents. Kiefer breaks away from the men holding him and dives behind a parked pickup. Walker gives her pilot the order to land as the firefight rages on. A fuel drum gets pierced, and Tony creates a diversion for himself by shooting the stream on the ground and setting the stack of barrels alight, allowing him to run for the door through which Wilson and the Faux-yer just fled. Shortly thereafter, Walker runs from the helicopter and orders an agent to drive her over to the pickup Kiefer's hiding behind. She jumps on the running board, shooting as she goes, and finally somersaults off and ends up to Kiefer. With the tape still on his mouth, he shakes his head and grunts at her, and tells her to get away as soon as she removes the tape. "I'm wired with C-4, Tony's got the detonator," he warns. But she opens his jacket and says she knows how to disarm it. Lucky, that. As she gets to work with the little screwdriver that apparently all FBI agents have on them at all times, she tells him Spawn's safe, and he tells her in return, "Tony's been playing both sides all along." He adds that Tony's after Alan Wilson, the man behind the conspiracy, and she needs to stop him. Quit distracting the lady who's fiddling with the explosives strapped to your body, Kiefer. Finally she finishes defusing him, then takes off his handcuffs. They go running off in search of Tony, Kiefer still wearing the bomb. It is surprisingly slimming, I suppose.
At 7:19:44, Wilson and the Faux-yer are making their way through the warehouse, Wilson on the phone to someone to get them out. Then he asks the Faux-yer how the FBI tracked them, but she doesn't know. Ooh, hey Kara, do you suppose it was through the operatives you left twisting in the breeze at the airport? Didn't I warn you about that, you dumb-ass? I'd be so much better at her job than she is. Hearing footsteps, she calls out to Tony and goes to him, telling him help is on the way. He's so relieved to hear it that he shoots her in the gut. She's quite surprised as she crumples, but his full attention is already on Wilson before she even hits the ground. Wilson just blinks at Tony, until Tony lunges at him, grabs him, and puts his gun to Wilson's forehead. Which is totally blowing his cover. Wilson wisely doesn't say anything. Tony says it took a long time, but it was worth it. "Ever since the day you had her killed, the only thing that kept me alive was this moment right here." "You sound like you were involved in some kind of a tragedy, but I had nothing to do with it," Wilson says, and gets pistol-whipped for it. Tony says that he and Michelle had escaped their lives in counterterrorism and were starting over. You know, in private security. "Until you came along and took it all away in a split second." Tony clubs Wilson to the ground and kicks him before telling us something we didn't know: "It wasn't just my wife you murdered. She was carrying my son. You killed my son! My son!" Tony screams. Drama queen. "And now I'm going to kill you." But before he does, a bullet hits him in the shoulder and he goes down. Walker has arrived just in time, with Kiefer right behind her and now carrying a gun of his own, although in fairly shaky hands. Tony tries to crawl over to recover his gun from the floor, despite having two FBI weapons pointed at him and Kiefer warning him not to move. Finally Kiefer shoots Tony in the wrist, making it a GSW hat-trick for Tony today. More armored agents arrive to drag Tony away, but not without Tony favoring Kiefer with an unhinged rant. "These people think they can take everything away from us, Jack. Somebody had to stop them. And what'd you do, huh? You ran away! You're one of them now! Congratulations! How would Teri feel about that, huh, Jack?" I don't think Teri would be able to make sense of a word Tony just said, frankly. Meanwhile, Wilson sits submissively on the floor, allowing himself to be handcuffed and dragged to his feet. Walker glares at him, while Kiefer collapses against a pillar at 7:23:13. I think his grand mal is long over due, don't you?
So now it's all over but the crying, and since it's only At 7:27:36 when we come back, there's clearly going to be quite a lot of crying indeed. Let's get it over with.
Outside the warehouse, Walker goes over to where Wilson is submitting to the attentions of a paramedic for the gash in his temple and tells him, "A lot of people died today because of you. Including someone close to me." She threatens him with charges of treason and the death penalty unless he talks, but he plays dumb. "How can I cooperate if I have no idea what you're talking about?" he asks, far too smoothly for an innocent man. He adds that whatever this conspiracy might be, "I guarantee you won't find a shred of material evidence connecting me to it. In the eyes of the law, I'm an innocent man." She grabs him by the jacket, but he just tells her to talk to his attorneys. Ooh, that's torn it. But before she can do more, an agent says that Kiefer's ready to be taken to the hospital. Instead of tuning up on Wilson right now, she storms off into the building.
She finds Kiefer sitting up on a gurney, declining a shot of hydromorphone for the pain. Probably because he was once a heroin addict, and the last thing he needs right now is for a painkiller to send him back on a long, opiate-fueled downward spiral that ends with him dead in an alley three years from now. Of course, for that to happen, his three-year-old remains will need to be exhu
med and placed in an alley, but still, you can't be too careful when it comes to recovery. Kiefer asks the EMT for a moment, saying that Dr. Macer can wait. Once Walker's alone with him, she says that Wilson's denying everything and claiming there's no case against him. "Is he right?" Kiefer asks. Walker thinks maybe, which, if true, gives him no reason to roll over on anyone else. "But I can make him talk," she offers. "If we don't find these people, one day they will launch another attack, and I don't see how I can live with myself knowing that there was something I could have done to stop it." Uh, why don't you try giving it more than ten minutes, Agent Impatient? Jeez. You are signed on for Season Eight, you know. She's basically asking Kiefer for advice, but he doesn't have any for her. "I've been wrestling with this my whole life," he says. And losing, I might add. "I see fifteen people held hostage on a bus, everything else goes out the window. I will do whatever it takes to save them, and I mean whatever it takes." Yes, we've noticed that about you. He admits that he was really trying to save himself. Walker asks if he has any regrets from today, and he can't think of any. Which may just be a sign of more severe short-term memory loss, a symptom that up until now seems to have been afflicting the writers more then Kiefer, because they keep forgetting to put that in there. Oh, but Kiefer's talking about something else. He says, "Then again, I don't work for the FBI." Unlike Walker, who "made a promise to uphold the law." CTU agents don't have to do that? No wonder they always had so many guys. He warns her about crossing the line: "before you know it, you're running as fast as you can in the wrong direction, just to justify what you started in the first place. These laws were written by much mater men than me. And in the end I know that these laws have to be more important than the fifteen people on the bus. I know that's right. In my mind, I know that's right." Well, duh! Have I not been saying that this whole time? "I just don't think my heart could ever have lived with that," he says. Walker's eyes are filling with tears as Kiefer concludes, "Try to make choices that you can live with." Well, thanks for nothing. Walker doesn't know what to say. He gently touches her face and whispers, "Don't say anything at all." The EMT returns, and Kiefer is wheeled away. It's 7:32:55, and how touching and sweet that Kiefer's last words to Walker were basically "shut up."
At 7:37:22, Taylor is surprised to enter the residence and find Henry sitting up in a chair in his robe, and Olivia pacing around the room unhappily. She knows right away that something's up, and it's not just Henry. "Olivia wouldn't say until you got here," Henry says gravely. As Olivia gestures for her mom to sit down, she prefaces by saying she hopes they'll understand. "It's going to be hard enough to say once." Taylor calls her Livvie as she asks what's up. "Jonas Hodges is dead because of me," Olivia says slowly. Taylor's upset enough when she merely thinks that Olivia just leaked the info, but Olivia says it's even worse: Fighting tears, she says, "He killed Roger. Hodges killed my brother. And then you agreed to put him into Witness Protection." So really, this is Taylor's fault. "And the thought of him getting away was too much for me. So I called Martin Collier." They both react somewhat to that name, because as we know, everybody knows Martin Collier=evil. "He had once told me he knew someone who could do this kind of thing." Taylor thinks she's saying Martin hired a hit man, but Olivia has to say she did it herself. Taylor's eyes close in anguish as Olivia starts babbling about having tried to call it off, but it was too late. Henry asks who else knows, and Olivia tells them about Ethan and his recording of her and Martin, and how he's leaving it up to Taylor. She doesn't mention that Aaron knows as well, and of course we all know about Aaron's poor record of covering up for people in the White House. Instead of deciding what to do right now, Taylor grabs her daughter by the shoulders and shakes her, demanding, "How could you do something so stupid?" Well, Madam President, look at her birth certificate. If the date on it is less than thirty years ago, then there's your answer. It used to be that everyone under twenty on this show was automatically an idiot, but then Spawn got older and raised the bar. Henry tells Taylor to quit yelling at Olivia, and reminds her that Hodges killed their son. "If anyone deserves to die, it's him. All you should be thinking about now is how to protect our daughter." In other words, he wants her to destroy the recording. "And cover up a murder?" Taylor says incredulously. Henry tells her to cut the crap. "You're Olivia's mother." "I'm also the President of the United States," she reminds him. "And our family's already paid a steep enough price for that," Henry says. Ooh, dick move. "Your job cost our son his life." Taylor says she couldn't have done anything to save Roger, so Henry says she can save Olivia. "For God's sakes, Allison. We've already lost one child." Olivia's just staring pathetically at Taylor this whole time, which, if she were my kid, I'd ship her off to jail just to get her to knock that shit off.
Just then there's a knock on the door, and in comes Tim Woods, not getting very far into the room with a report on news from the FBI before reading the totally janky energy in the room and ducking out as quickly as he can. "Good news," he adds on his way out. Taylor promises to be right there. After he leaves, Henry tells Taylor to go ahead. "But so help me," he says with tears on his face, "Destroy that recording and save what's left of this family." Taylor goes. After Aaron closes the door behind her, Olivia sobs, "Dad, what did I do?" He manages a "what are you gonna do?" shrug and promises that they'll "figure it out." Good luck with that. Hey, maybe they should be discussing who of the other ten people who knew about this they should frame. After all, it's not like Kiefer has any long-term plans.
At 7:42:42, Tim is on his way out of the White House, planning to go to FBI-DC to pick up Wilson himself, at least according to the phone conversation he's having with Janis. He says he'll be there in twenty minutes, which is going to be too late if he wants to get there before the end of the season. After Janis hangs up, she goes over to Chloe, who has her coat on and is ready to leave. Chloe says she'll come back later or tomorrow for the debrief. "I want to be here for Jack," she explains. Janis nods, and thanks Chloe for her help. "Yeah, it was interesting," Chloe says. "Given what you have to work with, you're doing a pretty good job." Janis smiles and accepts the compliment, such as it is. "Good, that's what it was meant to be," Chloe says, and walks out, smiling to herself at having delivered one last passive-aggressive dig before taking off.
Taylor sits in the Oval Office alone, looking at the family photo of all four Taylors standing in that same room, looking dressed for an inaugural ball. Which is weird, because we know that before last night, Olivia hadn't talked to Taylor since getting fired from the campaign. And if this was taken during the campaign, it seems a little presumptuous for a photo op. A tear spills down Taylor's cheek, because in addition to this horseshit with her daughter, now she's going to have to fire someone in the prop department.
At the hospital, Dr. Macer looks at MRIs of Kiefer's brain, which were certainly taken and developed quickly. She explains to Kiefer that the weaponization of the pathogen means it's at an advanced stage. Lying in the hospital bed with one hand twitching above the covers (because if it were twitching under the covers, we might get the wrong idea), Kiefer again refuses any morphine, which Macer says will induce a coma to stop the pain. A nurse enters to say that Kiefer has a visitor, and at 7:44:27, Kiefer says to show him in. A moment later, in walks Gohar, the imam from the Al-Zarians' mosque. Sweet! Kiefer's converting to Islam! As Macer leaves the two of them alone, Gohar crosses to Kiefer's bed and Kiefer thanks him for coming. Gohar says he was surprised to hear from him. "I'm dying," Kiefer twitches. Gohar says he knows. "I made so many mistakes," Kiefer says, "and I always thought that I would have time to correct them." Gohar sits on the edge of his bed and says the time is right now. "You don't know what I've done," Kiefer says, nearly breaking down. Except that's not what Gohar said earlier. But now, Gohar is willing to cut him some slack under the circumstances. "We live in complex times, Mr. Bauer. Nothing is black and white. But I do know this: I see before me a man, with all his flaws, and all his goodness. Simply a man." Who's been through the death of his wife, the death of himself (real but brief), heroin addiction, the death of himself again (fake but much longer), torture in China, and so many other brushes with death he could probably take over for the man with the scythe. But simply a man. Gohar takes Kiefer's hand, and says, "Let us both forgive ourselves for all the wrongs that we have done." Does Gohar do that with everyone? Because if so, it seems like he gets a lot more than his share of forgiveness. He should remember to forgive himself for that. But it seems to calm Kiefer both emotionally and neurologically. He thanks Gohar and says, "It's time." 7:46:45?
At 7:51:03, one of the splitscreen windows shows Dr. Macer shooting a large dose of something into Kiefer's IV. Wouldn't it be awesome if it were Red Bull? No coma for you!
Hanging out in the White House residence with Henry, Olivia appears to be over the guilt and is now just pacing around wondering what's going to happen to her. When Taylor returns, she smiles at both of them, takes their hands, and kisses them both. Olivia looks so relieved. When Taylor speaks, it's to apologize to her husband and daughter for how hard her job has been on them. "But I have a sworn duty to enforce the Constitution. Failing to honor that oath would be the worst kind of hypocrisy. Olivia, I love you more than anything in this world, and I will do everything I can to help you through this. But as president, this is what I have to do, no matter how much it breaks my heart." Olivia's already shut down as Taylor says Aaron will remand her into federal custody. Aaron enters and tells Olivia that he's taking her to the Justice Department. Henry kisses Olivia's hand before she's led out. "I'm sorry, honey," Taylor calls lamely after her daughter, and is roundly ignored, like she was the one who put out a hit on someone. Then she turns to her husband, who hasn't said a word this whole time. Nor is he about to, apparently. He just looks away from her, refusing to speak. And this incredibly stubborn woman, who today has stood up to terrorists, traitors, extortionists, and Kiefer, just gives up and leaves the room. Poor showing, Madam President.
In the hallway, she leans against a side table for support, and that's how Ethan finds her. "Allison?" he says, and offers to talk later as he turns to go. She says she couldn't cover it up, as much as she wanted to. Well no, she never would have gotten away with it. Oh, maybe that's not what she means. Ethan says she doesn't have to explain, and that he understands. "Henry doesn't," Taylor says. Ethan tries to assure her, "He'll come around, in time," but Taylor thinks not. "I've lost my family," she says, all choked up. "I've lost everyone." Yep, that's what happens when a chick becomes president. Make a note of it, ladies. "Not everyone," Ethan corrects, and just like that, he's un-resigned. Taylor pulls herself together, telling him about the FBI's new star prisoner, Alan Wilson. It looks like they're going to get right back to work. Maybe I've said this before and maybe I haven't, but does this country really need a chief executive who's in the habit of denying herself sleep until she hallucinates?
At 7:56:02 (!), a handcuffed Wilson is led through an observation room at FBI-DC, and on into the adjoining interrogation room. He's seated at the table by the armored agents who escorted him in, which leaves Walker and Janis alone in the observation room. Observing. Janis tells Walker that Tim's on his way, and Walker needs to sign the transfer papers before he gets there. Walker makes no move for the folder. Instead, she starts turning off the cameras and telling Janis to get out. Janis refuses, because the last time she went along with this brand of Walker's bullshit she ended up as the target of a Justice Department investigation, and for years she's going to have nightmares about that impotent bureaucrat who wandered helplessly around the office waiting for her to have three minutes to spare for him. "Fine," Walker says, and crushes the door keypad with her gun butt. Janis demands to know what she's doing, and Walker actually draws on her, making her handcuff herself to the AV rack. While she does so, Janis tells Walker not to do this. "You've done your job, you arrested him. Let the courts take it from here. Stop this now before it's too late." Walker has already taken off her FBI windbreaker, and looks at the badge folder in her hand. Finally Janis says, "Larry would not have wanted this. Don't dishonor his death like this." That almost seems to reach Walker, but she puts her badge on the table and opens the door to the interrogation room. She stands in the doorway for a moment while Wilson smirks up at her, but the smirk melts when he gets a load of her expression. And she closes the door. With her inside. Genius move, Walker. Maybe he would have gotten put away and maybe not, but torturing a confession out of him is certainly going to tip things one way. And I don't think it's the way she's thinking.
Gohar stands peering through the window of Kiefer's darkened hospital room, until loud, dizzy footsteps come clacking up to him. "Daddy," Spawn whispers upon seeing Kiefer comatose in the bed. "I'm too late." Yes, Spawn, that's why he's still in the bed alone with all the machines hooked up to him. Idiot. Dr. Macer, who happens to be standing nearby, explains it's just a coma. She fails to mention that it's Kiefer's last coma. Spawn suddenly wonders who the swarthy dude to her is, and he introduces himself. "My name is Gohar. I'm a friend." Spawn's confused, as always, probably because who ever expected Kiefer to have a Muslim friend? Gohar assures Spawn that Kiefer has accepted the situation. But of course, Spawn hasn't, and with Kiefer out of action, it's suddenly all about her. She asks Macer if the stem cell treatment is still an option. Macer reluctantly says it's not too late, and starts to warn her about the risks, but Spawn shuts her down. "It's my choice now, and I've made up my mind." Try wagging your finger at her, Spawn, that always helps people take you seriously. Macer pulls out a cell phone to get into a surgical suite. "Have Dr. Rosen call me right away." And don't forget to page Dr. Rosenrosen and Dr. Rosenpenis. Instead of calling her husband/boyfriend and telling him not to pick her up at the airport because she won't be there, Spawn goes into Kiefer's room and sits on the edge of his bed, taking his hands and saying, "I'm sorry, Daddy. But I'm not ready to let you go." Kiefer doesn't react, because -- get this -- he's in a coma. What a dynamic and exciting close for the season. It's 8:00:00.
So that "cliffhanger" is a wrap for Season Seven. As slow as that last half hour was, I have to admit, I thought it hung together better than most seasons in general. Most of my nitpicks for the overall arc are pretty minor compared to the kind of thing I usually have to bitch about. But presumably season they'll be going back to the old system of making it up as they go along, unless the WGA goes on strike again. So at least my job of pointing out all the places where the whole thing falls apart should be easier. See you then.M. Giant is a Minneapolis-based writer with a wife, a son, and a number of cats that seems to have settled at around two. Learn waaaay too much about him at Velcrometer, follow him on Twitter, or just e-mail him at M.Giant[at]gmail.com.