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Recriminations are rife in the aftermath of Victor's death, and those of a couple of CTU guys. A lot of people are pointing fingers at Hastings for cutting corners, but the good news is that Dana quickly tracks some suspicious UN computer activity to the reporter, Meredith Reed. She gets nabbed right in front of Hassan, which I guess eliminates the issue of whether to keep him in the dark regarding the threat. Only Chloe is suspicious about the ease and speed with which Reed was busted, and even Kiefer isn't all that interested in getting involved -- at first. Dude's still got a plane to catch, after all. But then Spawn cuts him loose to help Chloe, and the two of them work together at CTU until Hastings busts Kiefer. But then Kiefer busts Hastings right back, blackmailing him with his screw-up unless Hastings lets him and Chloe keep digging.
Meanwhile, Hassan confesses his affair with Reed to his brother, who turns out to be the real mole in Hassan's circle, and we also learn that Toombs is undercover as part of the security detail at the U.N. Also, Dana seems to have a secret redneck past, in what promises to be the dumbest D-plot of the season.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Previouslies no matter what, because regardless of how fresh your memory of the events of the last hour might be, they still can't make enough show to fill the whole second hour and they have to do something with these first few minutes. In this case, it includes showing freeze-frames of Jack Bauer, President Allison Taylor, President Omar Hassan, and "CTU NY Brian Hastings." I bet he got made fun of a lot as a kid, with that name.
The CTU helicopter is still burning merrily up on that rooftop, and has drawn a small crowd watching from the sidewalk below. Probably because it's five o'clock and New Yorkers are on their way home anyway, otherwise no one probably would have noticed. Toombs emerges from the building behind them, blending in his nondescript service outfit, but less blendy with the cell phone conversation he's having with someone. "Aruz is no longer a problem," he says in his scary Eastern European accent. "But we don't know how much he told CTU. We need to accelerate the hit." He hangs up and walks on without waiting for an answer. Or for anyone to notice such an openly suspicious conversation.
Finally, CTU is getting word that Cole Ortiz is alive and calling in. As Dana allows herself to breathe, Hastings tells everyone on the floor to listen in on the call, which he'll live to regret. The first thing everyone hears is that two of his guys are dead and another is injured. "What happened?" Cole demands. "Those drones are supposed to have anti-ballistics. Why didn't they take out the missile?" Who would have expected that the first big surprise of this season is that a magical flying robot plane didn't shoot down an RPG? Arlo, who is being pretty well established as CTU's resident drone-whisperer, looks uncomfortable in a splitscreen window as Hastings says they're looking into that. Ortiz cuts in, saying they should have had another team, like he wanted. Hastings puts that discussion off, and agrees to talk to Kiefer. Kiefer reports to Hastings what Victor's last words were: that the assassin is working with someone close to Hassan. Hastings says they'll look into it, and summons Kiefer and Cole back for their debriefing. Kiefer tries to bail on that, but Hastings insists, and with a look over at the dead Victor and CTU guy, Kiefer reluctantly agrees. He should have known better than to expect to be able to witness the deaths of two police officers and two federal agents, kill two guys himself, and then get on a plane, but given some of the lengths he's gone to in the past to avoid paperwork, I guess I shouldn't be surprised.
No sooner has Hastings hung up with Kiefer than Dana comes up to him and says she might have a lead: unauthorized access to a U.N. database. She's certainly been busy in the five seconds since she learned her fiancé is still alive. Hastings tells Dana to keep working on that, and to draft Chloe to help. "If you don't think she'll slow you down," he adds. Dana smiles that Chloe's doing much better, and Hastings heads off to call Taylor's Chief of Staff, Rob Weiss, to give him an update. That'll be a fun call.
The joint press conference with the two presidents is going on at the U.N., with Hassan smoothly fielding questions. Rob's cell phone vibrates, and he steps out to take the call from Hastings. He's not impressed to hear that Victor and two CTU guys were killed in an ambush. Hastings says they're currently following a lead based on Victor's last words. "Tell me how, and I'd better be impressed," Rob warns. Hastings explains what they're working on. Rob is...not impressed. Hastings suggests locking down Hassan and postponing the conference, but Rob refuses. Peace, historical, blah blah blah. "You said you could get the job done. Lean, mean, and fast, that's what you said." That certainly sounds like Hastings, at least the "lean" part. Rob hangs up, ordering Hastings to keep him posted.
When he returns to the briefing room, Taylor is wrapping things up. Weiss intercepts her coming off the dais to talk to her in private, while Hassan checks his phone, tells his family he'll catch up (the missus is quite complimentary about his performance, so I guess they made up in the elevator), and returns the call. Which was from Reed, of course. "You were terrific," she says without preamble, and he chuckles modestly, saying he hoped no one could see how nervous he was. Dude, someone has a crush. She still wants to see him, and after waving away his brother, lurking nosily in the background, Hassan tells her he has a half hour before the session. "You'll meet me now and...we'll go up to my...private office together." Well that certainly sounds fully appropriate and non-creepy. But she's on her way.
At 5:07:48, Hastings stands over Arlo, who is explaining that he won't know why the drone didn't fire until he can take it apart. He quietly adds, "I don't want to sound like I'm covering my own ass, but I did tell you that the anti-missile system had not been tested in an urban environment." Hastings impatiently tells him to figure it out and "get back to me." Dana comes up and says that whoever hacked into the U.N. database downloaded all kinds of goodies, including security protocols, blueprints of the building, and Hassan's itinerary. She says Chloe should have a name by now, but when they get back to her desk, she doesn't quite yet, because remember how she sucks at her job now? "Come on, Chloe," Hastings moans impatiently. "Saying that isn't going to make it happen any faster," Chloe says. A few seconds later, up pops the name Meredith M. Reed, Freelancer. Try to look surprised. Dana reads from the screen that she's a reporter profiling Hassan, and applied for a security pass to the U.N. In fact, she's there now, and CTU is starting to kind of freak out about it. "Put me through to U.N. Security!" Hastings tells his ever-present Bluetooth.
Reed is just now getting her credentials scanned and entering the press area right outside the Council Chamber where the presidents have been having their meeting. As Hassan exits that room and starts glad-handing the crowd, Hastings is on the line with one of the U.N guards on site, telling him about the threat and that a photo of Reed is already on its way to the guard's PDA. While that's happening, Dana has facial recognition software scanning the room via the U.N.'s security system that they've patched into (presumably without Chloe's help, since it happened so fast). Soon they've got a live image of Reed, moving toward Hassan. Hastings reports this to the U.N. security guy, and as Hassan and Reed make eye contact, smile, and approach each other, a small army of suited guards moves in, grabbing Reed and ganking her purse while another team surrounds Hassan and bustles him into an elevator. "Mr. President?" Reed asks helplessly before she's frog-marched out and the elevator doors close in front of Hassan's very confused face. It's 5:10:26, and this season certainly is moving quickly.
At 5:14:42, Hastings is briefing his people at CTU about his theory that Reed has been using her profile on Hassan as a pretext to gain security info and feed it to the assassin. She's being brought in to CTU for questioning now. Dana enters with even more damning evidence against Reed: Some very fast-moving CTU guys have already searched her apartment and found the files in question on her laptop, as well as a very large one. It's encrypted, but they'll work on it. Hastings is quite satisfied with how all this is going, but Chloe decides it's time to stop merely rolling her eyes to herself and speak up: "Does anyone think this happened a little too fast and a little too easily?" she wonders, because it's not like the show is called 2. Dana says things probably do happen faster around there than Chloe's used to, more condescendingly than she probably means to. Chloe snits something back at her, and says that this was awfully careless for the kind of operation they're looking for. "Why would you go through all that trouble and leave a huge red flag for everyone to find?" Yes, let's be sure to remember that question for later. "It's like someone wanted us to find her." Arlo keeps quiet, but he looks like he's seeing her point, or maybe he's just wondering what an aerial drone guy like himself is doing in this meeting in the first place. Chloe says they should keep vetting it. Hastings says they will. "I appreciate your concerns. We'll keep them in mind." "In other words, 'shut up, Chloe,'" she snaps. Hey, that's my line. Dana says that's not what Hastings said. "Well that's what I heard," Chloe says. Not often enough. Hastings again thanks her, again in a "shut up" tone of voice, and instructs them to cross-reference Reed's recent movements in the Middle East with those of known terrorist groups. As the meeting breaks up, though, he assigns Chloe the task of debriefing Kiefer when he arrives. Rather than being happy about a chance to catch up with her friend, Chloe's pissed at being taken off the case, but there's nothing she can do. Which she should be used to by now.
A CTUmobile screeches to a halt in the security tunnel entrance at 5:16:53, and Cole and Kiefer climb out, Cole on the phone insisting on being the first to talk to the dead men's wives. After he hangs up, Hastings intercepts him at the entrance, and while Kiefer is wanded by security, the boss quietly tells Cole, "I know you asked for more boots on the ground, but what happened happened...you put your opinion on record, it's gonna flag an internal review from Division. It's only gonna hurt us moving forward." Ah, so Hastings is a weasel. Awesome. Hastings turns to greet Kiefer, who tells him, "Sorry about the loss of your men." Hastings thanks him for that, and for finding a lead that has already panned out. Kiefer is also surprised at how quickly that happened, and agrees to be debriefed by Chloe right after he makes a quick phone call. As soon as he steps away to use his cell, Hastings goes right back to work on Cole, who objects to being asked to lie on record. Hastings weasels some more, until Cole suggests, "maybe you'd like to debrief for me," Oooh, no he didn't!
Kiefer reaches Spawn on the phone just as her husband is loading Teri into her car seat, and any hope he might have had that this call would go smoothly is dashed when her first question is where he is. "CTU," he says after a reluctant pause. Spawn asks if it's about what's going on a the U.N., which she can see on a TV news screen, and Kiefer says yes but it won't be long and he'll meet her at the airport. "Dad, what's going on?" she asks seriously. He says he'll explain later, and she insists on coming to pick him up there. Kiefer agrees to that, because nothing ever bad happens when Kim comes to CTU, right?
Having finished his call, Kiefer walks up to Hastings, who is still leaning on Cole, now by guilt-tripping him about how he was the only one who believed Cole could run field ops despite his tender age. Politely pretending not to hear any of it, Kiefer asks where to find Chloe, and Hastings pleasantly directs him upstairs. "Think about what I said," is Hastings' exit line to Cole. Intimidating.
Kiefer climbs the stairs to the mezzanine level at 5:19:15 and finds Chloe in a conference room. Sitting down, he says, "I'm sorry, but we gotta do this kinda quick." But instead of debriefing him, Chloe starts telling Kiefer she thinks Reed is innocent, and that the files were planted. She's even got traffic-cam photos of someone using the service entrance of Reed's building at about the time of the U.N. hack. She shows them to Kiefer, and the face of Toombs is plainly visible in them. Too bad they don't know who he is yet. Otherwise they might wonder how he was at Reed's building and blowing up the CTU helicopter at the same time. "What if he went into her apartment and used her laptop to break into the servers?" Chloe wonders. Kiefer's not convinced, and wonders why he's the one seeing this instead of Hastings. Chloe says the boss blew her off, but he might listen to Kiefer. Because there's such a great history of weasely CTU bosses doing just that. But it's not even going to get to that stage, because Kiefer's not listening to Chloe. As you'll recall, Spawn's on her way to pick him up to go to Los Angeles in an hour. What about the bags still at his apartment? Is he going to fly back for them week? Or will he just fake his own death to get out of the rest of his lease? Chloe begs Kiefer to take ten minutes, arguing that if they have the wrong person, the real insider is still in place and acting as a serious threat to Hassan. "I'm sorry, Chloe, it's not my problem," Kiefer says. Ooh, cold. But on the other hand, it really is kind of about time he started saying that once in a while.
Hassan enters an office suite to find his very upset family watching the news. His daughter hugs him, but his wife is suspicious, asking how the reporter got so close in the first place. Hassan says he considered the article Reed was working on to be an important way to get his message across to the American people, but his wife isn't buying it. Hassan tells her to speak her mind, so she does: "You should never have let her into our lives! You've put us all in danger!" Their daughter begs them to stop, and into this highly fraught atmosphere walks Farhad, asking to talk to Hassan alone. I'm sure Hassan is only too happy to oblige, under the circumstances, and the brothers step out into the hallway together at 5:21:59.
Farhad dismisses the hallway guards and tells Hassan that Meredith Reed is on her way to CTU for interrogation. Hassan is in denial, wondering what her motive might be. "What reason does any American have to do anything? Money," Farhad says. Racist. He insists that she's guilty, she's going to talk, and he needs to know what she's going to tell them about her relationship with Hassan. "Be honest with me. Tell me everything," Farhad presses gently. "It started three months ago," Hassan admits with barely a pause. "We met for an interview, in her hotel room. Dalia and I had been fighting that day." Farhad cuts him off to say, "If this affair becomes public, it will destroy your credibility and everything you've worked for." Wait, what happened to "tell me everything?" He hardly told us anything! I mean, I wasn't expecting the names of sexual positions, but I've seen more prurient language in Guideposts. Farhad insists that Hassan deny it if it comes out, resisting the urge to do the honorable thing. "I need to be with my family," Hassan says, and walks back to the suite. The fact that he'd rather go back into that lion's den than continue this conversation is not a good sign.
Alone, Farhad takes out his cell phone and tells someone, "I just spoke with my brother. I told him to deny the affair." Who's he talking to? Toombs, of course, who is riding along in the back of a cab. Toombs really wants Hassan to deny it. "The reporter's claims need to be discredited. CTU needs to continue to think she's my contact on the inside." I'm sure Farhad would agree with that imperative, as the actual contact on the inside. "We only need another hour," Toombs says. "I'll be ready to move by then." He hangs up at 5:24:07.
At 5:28:25, Dana approaches Arlo's desk to ask for his help on decrypting a piece of that big file from Reed's computer. "And Arlo? You can stop staring at my breasts now." Okay, Dana, then you can stop walking around like you're carrying a ping-pong ball between your shoulder blades. Already having demonstrated his incapacity for shame, Arlo asks her, "When are you going to drop Captain America and find yourself a real man?" She says that she's still thinking about it, although she might just be fucking with him. "Don't take too long. I might lose interest," he "warns."
She steps away to answer her ringing cell phone. It doesn't seem like there's anyone there at first, but then we see the caller, speaking to her from outside a parked molester-van near the Brooklyn Bridge, looking scroungy and greasy in an all-denim ensemble. "Dana Walsh, I like that," he mocks. "That's actually better than the one your mama picked for you." Oh, no, tell me this isn't happening. Are you telling me that super-efficient career dynamo Dana Walsh has a secret trailer-trash past? "Whoever this is, I told you to stop calling me," Dana says. He responds, "I know what you told me, Jenny." By now, Dana has wandered off to a dark, quiet corner to continue the conversation, or possibly to scout out locations to dispose of her agent's body. She insists that he must have mistaken her for someone else, but he says she sounds just like someone from "Rock Springs" named Jenny Scott. "She was a wild thing, man, we used to do some crazy stuff." She threatens to call the police time he calls, and he counteroffers, "Let's contact 'em right now." Dana hangs up, just as Cole comes and finds her. She latches onto him, long and hard, and says she's glad he's okay. "I'm sorry that I have been so distant lately...I don't ever want to lose you." He tells her not to worry, and they go back to hugging. Boy, is he ever going to have a long day.
Reed is being led through the building by uniformed CTU guards. They get to wear tan shirts this season, which can only mean that year they'll be dressed in either green or pink, because those are the only colors left. That's how she meets up with Hastings, who makes a big important show of finishing up the Bluetooth call he's on before smarmily introducing himself as the director of CTU. Reed demands an attorney, and to know what she' s being charged with, because she's clearly never been inside a CTU facility before. Hastings says they found the files on her computer. Unsurprisingly, she has no idea what he's talking about, but Hastings isn't buying what he thinks is her act. Neither of them is aware that Kiefer's lurking on the catwalk above them as Hastings says he needs the name and location of the assassin, "and we talk about you avoiding the death penalty." Reed says they have the wrong person, but Hastings orders her sent to interrogation anyway. And what does that entail at CTU these days? "Full biometric package," he adds. Oh, that's a relief. I was afraid things might get unconstitutional.
As she's led off, Kiefer catches up with Hastings to say that she might be telling the truth. He shows Hastings Chloe's traffic-cam photos of Toombs leaving Reed's apartment, while Chloe watches pathetically through the glass wall of the conference room above. Hastings isn't impressed, and when Kiefer says it wouldn't hurt to send a couple of agents over to check it out, he refuses. "I can't waste valuable resources because Chloe O'Brian has a theory," he says dismissively. Kiefer is suddenly really starting to not like this guy, which is weird, because I consider Hastings' disdain for Chloe his finest quality. Kiefer presses, "Trust me, she's someone you might want to listen to. She's very good at what she does. And if she's right, the assassin's got you looking in the wrong place and you will get bit." Hastings blows Kiefer off and walks away. "I hate this place," Kiefer whispers to himself. Heh. Then he has to go back over to a rather disappointed Chloe, who still wants his help and is willing to pout and whine at Kiefer to make it happen. "Chloe, I did what you asked," he grumps, handing her folder back. He repeats that it's not his problem, and nor is it Chloe's any more. Chloe asks if any of this matters to him in the larger scheme of things. "What if Hastings knows something you don't?" he snaps at her. Looking into her kicked-puppy face, he apologizes and says Spawn's waiting for him and he has to go. Chloe calls him back. "You've come to me for help many times. And I've never let you down. You've asked me to do crazy things! And I've always taken your side. Please, help me. I can't do this by myself." And how does Kiefer respond to Chloe calling in all the favors she's done for him over the years? He says he can't. "Not this time. Not me." Sorry, dude, you still have this last year on your contract. Better spend it training FPJ in real good.
Kiefer exits out to the security tunnel at 5:34:39, to find the whole damn Spawn family there. Hubby Steven sets Teri down on the pavement and she rushes over to him excitedly, saying, "Look what I made!" He scoops her up so she can show him her stick-figure crayon drawing of herself, her parents, and her grampa, looking like a family of demented rutabagas. Kiefer lies that it's beautiful, and Spawn softly tells him, "Dad, we need to talk." Uh-oh, here it comes. Kiefer sends Teri scampering back to her dad, who's apparently the designated car-seat-bitch for this entire New York visit. Spawn says she called Chloe because Kiefer wouldn't tell her what was going on. Kiefer quickly explains to Spawn how he tried to help Chloe, but Hastings remains convinced he's got the right suspect. "But if he's wrong, then there's still someone inside the U.N. who's working with this assassin," Spawn points out. "That's what Chloe thinks," Kiefer admits. Spawn asks what he thinks, and for the third time, he thinks it's not his problem. And Spawn calls him on it. "I've never known you to walk away from something like this. If you have to stay, it's all right. You're not letting me down. I understand." They both want him to go to L.A., but Spawn realizes, "If something terrible happens, and you could have done something to stop it, I don't think you'd be able to live with yourself." Aw, look at that -- daddy's little moron is all grown up. Kiefer looks up at Chloe, still staring guilt-rays at him through the glass from inside CTU, and promises to be on a plane to L.A. as soon as he's done here. She tells him to be careful and they hug, and he starts to go over to tell Teri. Spawn says she'll handle it, and sends him on back inside. But it's left to hubby Steven to tell Teri that Grampa's not coming today. "But soon, okay? Let's go," Spawn rather shortly tells her disappointed child. Good thing she handled that; I don't think Kiefer would have been able to let her down that easy, do you?
Back inside, Kiefer barks at Chloe, "We need to find out where your suspect went after he left Ms. Reed's apartment. Start checking traffic-cams!" It's 5:37:47, and he gets to just take over CTU resources like this? Even a resource that the boss doesn't like very much?
5:42:04. Meredith Reed is sitting at a small white table in a tiny, cylindrical, windowless white room. Hastings is in the adjoining observation room with an interrogation tech, who tells him to start off with some easy questions so he can get some baseline readings. "Make her comfortable," he suggests. How hard can that be, when she's sitting with her hands strapped to two separate reading devices? Hastings enters the interrogation capsule by way of a door panel that slides up and then back down, leaving the only view from outside the one that comes from the surveillance cameras. So let's hope CTU never wants to interrogate anyone during a power failure or anything. Hastings paces around her a bit before suggesting they start over. This room doesn't even have a chair for the interrogator to sit in, so he has to crouch awkwardly to the table as he offers to let her tell her side. This is not an effective power dynamic, but she nods. His first question is when she first met President Hassan. She says it was six months ago, at a conference of oil ministers. He agreed to an interview, and they met twice in the lobby of his hotel. So far, so dull.
At the U.N., Hassan and his entourage return to the council chamber to resume the talks. He greets Taylor, who is grateful to him for wanting to continue. "You are no stranger to making personal sacrifices for your beliefs," Hassan says. "If the price of peace is my life, so be it." Taylor says their goal is to avoid that, and says they're working on it. Hassan asks Taylor what she knows about the suspect, and Taylor can't tell him much, other than to promise they'll keep him in the loop as they learn more. She wisely refrains from mentioning, "Oh, by the way, we knew about this threat an hour before you did. Sorry about that."
At CTU, Kiefer is watching the live video feed of Reed's interrogation at 5:44:32. If he's using his superpower of being able to tell when people are lying, he's keeping his findings to himself. Behind him, Chloe's coming up empty on her traffic-cam searches. Kiefer suggests something else, but all Chloe can think of is CTU surveillance drones, and she doesn't have the clearance to raid the archives stored in Arlo's station. So Kiefer tells her to hack in and do just that. Which she does. "I'm glad you're here. Thanks for staying," she says as she gets on it. Then she has to jinx everything by adding, "This'll all be over soon and you can get to California." Oh, she might as well just shoot him in the face if she's going to make comments like that. A second later, she's got footage from a drone that was apparently hovering at third-floor level, showing Toombs getting into a cab. She can't track the taxi, but this magical drone does have high enough resolution to allow her to zoom in close enough to read the cab's medallion number. That's all Kiefer needs; he tells her to call the cab company and find out where it went. "I'm not tracking this guy without a weapon," he says. She tells him to check out the CTU armory, and he'll need a handprint to get into it. He lets the machine on the table scan his palm (don't ask me why Chloe brought a palm-scanner in here for a simple debrief) and tells her to wipe it from the system as soon as he's gone. "I'll call you as soon as I'm on the road," he promises, and heads out. Wait, what's he going to drive? Or will he just take a cab, like everyone else seems to be doing?
Dana gets up from her desk, where she didn't really seem to be doing anything anyway, and slinks off to a private spot. At 5:46:14, she dials her cell phone. The call rings through to a wall phone in a filthy little hovel somewhere (Rock Springs, presumably), complete with a toddler in overalls and no shirt playing with plastic kitchenware. The beat-up looking lady with the stack of presumably unpaid bills at the kitchen counter grabs the phone, and Dana says to her, "Ruth, it's me." Ruth is surprised to hear from "Jenny" for the first time since Christmas, and Dana says Kevin Wade --the hick from earlier, presumably -- found her and has been calling her for the past two days. Ruth denies having told him where to find her, even though Dana (yes, I'm still calling her Dana in the probably vain hope that this moronic storyline will stop happening) says Ruth is the only other person who knows the truth about her. Ruth insists, "I didn't even know he was out of jail." Dana seems to accept that, but that leaves the problem of Kevin. "He's threatening to tell everyone the truth about me," Dana says, whatever that is. "It'll destroy my career. I'm about to get married, Ruth. To a really great guy." She doesn't know what to do, except to let Ruth go and call her later. Look, show, can we make a deal? This can keep happening to Dana, as long as she steers clear of the cameras when it does.
When she hangs up and turns back to the floor, there's Arlo waiting with that flat, suspicious look people always have in these situations for no reason except to scare the person sneaking around. "Where you been? I've been trying to find you," he accuses. She asks if the file is decrypted yet. He says no, but someone inside CTU hacked into his station to scan drone archives. "Track it down. See who it was," Dana orders, as if he couldn't have figured that out on his own. It's 5:48:07. But wait, whoever hacked into his system wouldn't leave a big red flag there, right? It's almost as though they wanted Arlo to find her.
At 5:52:24, Hastings is still questioning Reed, having moved on to whether any enemies of Hassan have ever approached her. She denies everything. "So all you did was interview President Hassan?" Hastings presses. "That's it?" She confirms it, setting off a series of beeps back in the observation room. The tech relays this to Hastings via Hastings' Bluetooth, and he pounces and accuses her of lying. She maintains her innocence, but he's still not buying it. "All I care about is stopping the assassin," he says. She agrees with that. "So if someone really is trying to kill Hassan," she says, "you need to stop wasting your time on me and find them." Looks like Farhad was wrong about what Reed would tell the authorities. What else do you think he might be wrong about? Besides everything?
At 5:53:20, Toombs walks up the front steps to a little house in suburban Queens and rings the doorbell. A mildly brassy young housewife answers the door, and they clearly know each other, because she calls him Mike and he calls her Maggie and she lets him in. Only he's speaking in a standard American accent instead of his usual vague Eastern European one, so maybe she doesn't know him as well as she thinks. He says he's there to ask her husband for a favor. He's acting all friendly-like (though he still looks plenty creepy to me) as her husband Jim calls down that he'll be right there. Toombs loiters in the living room while Maggie gets them some coffee. The news is on TV, showing the burning helicopter like it's the most exciting thing since, oh, a nuclear detonation in Valencia or something, and he somehow manages not to tell Maggie, "Hey, I did that!" Instead, he acts modest as she sits down and starts talking about what happened at the conference. She talks about how he and Jim will be part of history, being on the U.N. Security Detail and all. Oh, no. I don't know how he ever infiltrated his way into that gig, but my preliminary theory is that it's somehow Hastings' fault.
At 5:54:56, Dana goes to interrupt Hastings' interrogation of Reed. Before leaving the capsule, Hastings tells Reed, "You're not leaving this room until you tell me the truth. No matter how long it takes." He leaves her there thinking, God, what a dick. At least that's what I'm guessing by the expression on her face, which has been pretty immobile up until now. I'm trying not to be too disappointed by the job she's done so far, because this show has wrung shitty performances out of good actresses before (coughConnie Brittoncough). In the observation room, Dana apologizes for interrupting, and he asks her what it's about. "Jack Bauer," she says dramatically. Of course it is. What else is it ever about?
At the moment, Kiefer is using his handprint to gain access to the armory, which is decorated like an Apple Store for gun nuts. Everything is neatly laid out, with the handguns hanging on the white walls butts-out. Kiefer snakes one, loads it, and sticks it in the back of his pants before answering a cell phone call from Chloe. She's calling to tell him the cab dropped off their guy at Broadway and West 23rd Street in Queens. "I'll call you when I get there," he says, and hangs up, just in time to get stuck up by a couple of uniformed CTU guards who burst in with their weapons leveled. Kiefer wearily submits to a frisking as Hastings and Cole follow the guards in. Hastings gives Cole the man-purse Kiefer's been carrying around all this time, like Cole wants anything to do with this at all. The guards also give Cole the gun Kiefer snagged, and Hastings cuts them loose. He reminds Kiefer he told him to drop his little side investigation, and Kiefer grumps that they tracked their suspect, but he didn't think Hastings would authorize further investigation. "So you had no choice except to steal weapons from the armory?" Hastings asks. "Would you have followed through with an investigation if I'd asked?" Yes, that certainly justifies gun theft. Good luck getting on a plane to L.A. now, Kiefer. Better tell Spawn to pick you up at the bus station, in three to five years. Hastings tries to end the discussion and tells Cole to take Kiefer to detention. Cole doesn't move, at first, but when he starts leading Kiefer out, Kiefer says, "I'm sure President Taylor's going to be very interested in what happened to my informant when I tried to deliver him to you." Yes, he's calling Hastings out for sending a drone to do a team's work. "Cole hasn't said anything about it. And neither will I, as long as you let me pursue this." Hastings knows he's being blackmailed, but Kiefer calls it a case of "you forced my hand, now I'm forcing yours." "You don't want to be doing this, Bauer," Hastings warns. Kiefer readily agrees, "No I don't. I want to be on a plane to Los Angeles with my family, but you're not giving me another choice." Outmaneuvered, Hastings tells Kiefer to knock himself out, and tells Cole to give him his man-purse back. Cole, who hasn't said a word, hands it over. "I need Chloe to run ops," Kiefer adds as he slings it over his shoulder. Hastings is only too happy to hand her over. Kiefer sincerely thanks him and leaves, with his borrowed gun and everything. Once he's gone, Cole asks if Kiefer's right. "The only viable lead is sitting in our interrogation room and she's the only way we're going to get to the assassin," Hastings insists. Somehow, Cole doesn't call out to Kiefer, "Wait for me!"
Out in Queens, Jim comes down in his unbuttoned police uniform, sets his gunbelt down on a chair, and asks what he can do for his good pal Mikey. Toombs asks if they can swap shifts, since he can't make his tomorrow. Wait, I thought the hit was already scheduled for today? Two hours in and we're already seeing inconsistencies? This is not a good sign. Jim says they have a meeting with their kid's teacher tomorrow. After listening to them discuss this a bit and ascertaining that the kid's out of the house for the night, Toombs --who, incidentally, is now between Jim and where he parked his gunbelt -- acts disappointed that they can't trade shifts. Jim says it's important, and he's sorry. "Yeah, me too," Toombs says, pulling out a big old silenced handgun and pointing it at Jim. Dropping back into his regular Eastern European accent, Toombs tells Maggie to sit back down. She does. Toombs then tells Jim to cover Maggie's mouth with a bit of duct tape off the roll he'll find in Toombs' backpack. Jim moves to comply, and we're in splitscreen-world.
In other windows, Kiefer climbs into a silver sedan and drives it out of CTU, so clearly he got a car requisitioned for himself as well. Maybe he should have also asked for one of Arlo's drones, and a controller for it, and maybe Arlo. Also, Reed stews in her interrogation capsule, and the presidents continue their discussions.
By the time the splitscreens are over, Maggie has tape over her mouth. Toombs instructs Jim to call their captain and say he's sick and Toombs is filling in. Jim is barely into his protests when Toombs puts a bullet in Maggie's upper thigh, and not in the sexy way. "time I won't miss the bone," Toombs threatens. "Make the call." Jim agrees, the fight gone out of him. It's 6:00:00, and while I'm glad the show seems to be stepping back from ever-escalating terror threats, I'm not seeing a whole lot that's going to make people come back tomorrow. But then there aren't any previews on this screener DVD, either. And of course, I'm getting paid.