Episode Report Card M. Giant: A | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Walker Hard
By M. Giant | Season 8 | Episode 4 | Aired on 01.18.2010
7:17:22. Getting off the elevator to return to the U.N. Council Chamber, Taylor gets confirmation from U.N. security chief Manners that the bomb threat was a hoax and the room is clear. "I'm glad to hear it," Taylor says, shaking his hand warmly. Meanwhile, Rob tells her that Hassan is at CTU, waiting on the line to talk to her. She asks how he is, and Rob says, "Well, he narrowly escaped getting blown to pieces by his own brother so, not too well." Thanks, Chief of Staff Glass-Half-Empty. He pushes her to find out right away if Hassan still wants to continue the talks. Taylor doesn't think this is the time, but Rob insists. Isn't it kind of after business hours anyway? Had they been planning to negotiate all night? Ignoring all these questions, Taylor has Rob put Hassan on speakerphone.
From inside Hastings' office, Hassan hears Taylor express her relief at his survival. "I'm mortified that this outrage happened on U.S. soil," she adds. But Hassan is the one who is embarrassed, what with his brother turning out to be such a fuckhole. "He betrayed me, and worse, he put you in harm's way." Taylor says he fooled everyone. Rob cuts in to ask what Farhad's plan might be, "Aside from targeting you." Taylor cringes at Rob's clumsiness, prompting him to rephrase. "Regime change," Hassan says, unfazed. "Isn't that what you Americans call it?" Taylor offers to let Hassan off the hook for the talks, but Hassan wants to continue. "I would not give [Farhad] the satisfaction," Hassan says, and adds that he's ready to continue when she is. But who will take Farhad's place at the negotiating table? Hassan's bodyguard? But I guess with Ethan not having been seen since the evacuation and being completely absent from this episode, they could just go one-on-one.
After Hassan ends the call, Hastings reenters and Hassan says he wants to get back to the U.N. But first he wants to thank the man who saved his life. Hastings tells him Agent Ortiz is on his way back now. Which is better than saying, "No need to thank me again."
For the second time this evening, Kiefer and Cole get out of a CTUmobile at the tunnel entrance. Kiefer tells Cole to go to Medical, which he agrees to do as soon as he hands Davros over to Forensics. As for Kiefer, he still hopes to catch the last flight to L.A. after his debrief. Cole says it's been an honor and they part friends. Although I can't help wondering why they couldn't talk in the car and had to wait until they arrived to discuss their respective plans.
Inside the building, Chloe greets Kiefer and tells him they think Davros was working for the Russian mob, and they're bringing in an expert. Kiefer's glad to hear that, until he hears that it's Walker. Chloe explains to Kiefer about the flagrant retcon in which Walker has done undercover work with the Russian mob. Chloe asks if he's talked to her, and he says she never returned his calls. We also learn that Walker had a "rough time," as in some kind of breakdown. Yes, I bet Alan Wilson had a rough time as well. Kiefer instructs Chloe, "She didn't want to talk to me then, she's not going to want to talk to me now. I want to respect that. So please, don't tell her I'm here." He goes upstairs for another debriefing, and maybe it's just that he doesn't want her to see him without his briefs (Come on, I can't let them all go by without comment).
At 7:21:42, Davros is already on a slab in the CTU morgue, which is decorated suspiciously like the armory. In fact, if I didn't know better I would suspect it's the same set. And I'm not actually all that sure I know better. The pathologist closes the door on Cole, who then turns to see Hassan and his entourage coming down the hall towards him. Hassan thanks him for saving his life, and Cole modestly shares credit with Kiefer and Chloe. Hassan promises to thank them too, but, "You risked your life for me. You put yourself between me and the bomb. My family and I are in your debt." He's smiling and shaking Cole's hand when an alarm goes off overhead. Cole says it's a hazardous materials alert. He goes back to the morgue, and through the intercom next to the closed door, he finds out from the pathologist that it was Davros's body that triggered the alarm. Wow, I knew he was kind of repulsive, but I wouldn't have expected him to be literally toxic. Actually, it just looks like he's been exposed to trace elements of uranium, but not enough to be dangerous. Just enough to set off the alarm, I guess. And enough to let us know that there are going to be nukes this season after all. Indeed a quick readout confirms that it's weapons-grade stuff, and Davros's contact with it had to have occurred "recently," whatever that means. Fortunately, the one person who's in a position to have a theory about what's going on is right there at CTU, and it's President Omar Hassan. "I need to talk to Mr. Hastings right now," he says. But it's 7:22:58, so he's going to have to wait through the commercials.
7:27:14. Chloe stands outside enjoying the nighttime view of the Manhattan skyline and the wind from a chopper landing on the helipad. Out climbs Renee Walker, with a very serious expression on her face, not to say haunted. A more worrying sign of her damaged state is the fact that that formerly spectacular hair of hers is all pinned together in a messy updo. "Hey, Renee, it's good to see you," Chloe says. "This way." Walker silently follows her to the elevator hut. While they wait for the lift, Walker finally mutters, "Didn't know you were back at CTU." Chloe explains about Morris losing his job and her ending up here. So that pretty much exhausts that topic, and Walker doesn't seem all that invested in keeping the conversation afloat. Even Chloe can't deal with that much uncomfortable silence on the ride down, and she says she heard Walker worked for a security firm. "Didn't work out," Walker grunts. I bet her coworkers miss her terribly.
At 7:28:54, Hassan is in Hastings' office to share his theory about how Davros might have come in contact with weapons-grade uranium. It's actually pretty simple: Hassan's country was working on the Bomb, came up short on fissile material, and then Farhad was approached by someone claiming to have access to some old Soviet stuff. Hassan, whose already-giant pompadour actually seems to be visibly growing in this scene, thinks it was the same people who were behind the assassination plot. Hastings asks Hassan if he has any idea where the stuff is now. Hassan reasonably points out, "That man was contaminated recently. Doesn't that mean the materials are here in the U.S.?" Hastings has the grace to look not only disgusted but embarrassed that Hassan has to do his job for him. As is always necessary when transitioning from one crisis to another in mid-season, Hassan lays out the stakes: "We must find the Russians before they can get the uranium to my brother." Because a wanted international fugitive is just a couple of coolers of fissile material away from becoming a one-man nuclear power. Wouldn't it be easier to just freeze his accounts or something?
In a conference room, Walker is going over a whole wall of tattoo photos for Dana and Chloe. For instance, she can tell that Davros was sentenced to three life terms in a Siberian prison camp. As for the other two corpses Kiefer has made today, all three men have the same tattoo shaped like a broken cross. "So what does it mean?" Hastings asks, having walked in unannounced. He introduces himself and repeats the question. Walker says it means they won't talk even if every bone in their body is broken. But of course if you kill them, their tattoos will tell you everything you need to know. Way to think it through, Russian mafia guys. She says the broken cross is the symbol for a group called Red Square, if they actually exist. Hastings assures her they do exist, and they need to find them. "You're aware of the attack in Midtown today?" he asks her. "You mean the smoking crater by the U.N.? Yeah, it was hard to miss." I suppose if one finds oneself on a CTU helicopter, there's a fair chance that the ride will be extra-scenic. Ha