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
stings alludes to the connection between that and some allegedly loose nuclear material, and says he has a big favor to ask. He reminds her that she went undercover with the Russian mob for two years, and her cover is still intact, which sounds like a neat trick considering how many busts she made. When she asks if he wants her to return, Hastings kicks Dana and Chloe out to talk to Walker in private. When they're alone, he confirms that's what he's asking. This strikes Walker as ironic, but he offers to get her badge back. "I laid down my badge, Mr. Hastings," Walker says mildly. "I took it from my pocket and I laid it down. So why would you possibly think that I want it back?" Because he can't just ask anyone to do something without threatening or bribing them, Hastings asks what she does want, which she says is nothing. It's just that the Russian mob has weapons-grade uranium. "I can do something about that, so I'll go back in. But not for a badge." All Hastings can think to say is "thank you," and invite her to a briefing in ten minutes. He leaves her sitting in a chair, gazing up at the tattoos on the screen, with her back to the glass wall. Careless much?At 7:32:56, Kiefer emerges from his debriefing to say goodbye to Chloe. Seeing the back of Walker's head in the conference room, he asks how that went, and Chloe says things got weird when Hastings showed up. Like they ever don't, with all his slouching and peering around and Bluetooth-wielding. She also brings Kiefer up to speed on the mildly dosed corpse of Davros in the morgue. "What's that got to do with Renee?" Kiefer asks. Chloe says Hastings asked Walker to go back undercover. Kiefer loses all interest in Chloe--as he so frequently does--goes over to the conference room, and walks in. Walker turns and sees him, and actually smiles for the first time, walking over to give him a hug. She's alive! Kiefer explains how he didn't think she'd want to see him, and she apologizes for ducking his calls. Although she was happy to hear he was okay. I'm guessing this is the first time they've spoken since he almost died and she went rogue. Kiefer says that despite appearances, he's not actually back at CTU, and is in fact supposed to be flying back to L.A. with Spawn as they speak. Explaining how he ended up here, he says, "Old informant knocked on my door, everything went downhill from there." Just use that clip for the previouslies for the rest of the season, okay? Kiefer brings up Hastings' request, and Walker says she signed on. "You really think that's a good idea?" he wonders. He says he's worried about her. I'm worried about the sex-voice he's using. It makes me feel uneasy and slightly gay. "I know what you did," he whispers. She asks him to specify. "You almost killed Wilson during your interrogation," Kiefer says. "Things were so bad the FBI had to let you go, even after everything you did that day." Awesome. So glad to hear how that worked out. Although I do appreciate the fact that there's no mention of what Walker actually found out from Wilson, because honestly, does it matter? Kiefer tells her, "Renee, I know where you are, and it's a dark place." Yes, he's spent a lot of time there. One almost expects him to continue, "It seems like it would be nice given how close to the park it is, but there's a lot of druggie foot traffic. Also, the shelves in the kitchen cabinets are too high and the toilet keeps running until you jiggle the handle and you can't find a three-prong outlet to save your life." She claims to have come back from there, but he says it takes longer than she thinks. She says she's ready, but he disagrees. After having spent one day and two minutes with her, counting this scene. He takes her hand gently, like this is about to get romantic, but then pushes up the cuff of her jacket to reveal scars on her wrist. Nosy much? Hey, maybe she was just trying to get back together with Larry Moss. He says this is too important, but she shuts back down and goes to her briefing. It's 7:35:45.
At 7:40:02, Hastings leads Reed along the hallway to his office, clumsily apologizing. "I'm sure you understand that given the threat to President Hassan, we were under extreme pressure," he excuses. Reed doesn't exactly take the high road, instead saying, "I would have thought that came with the job. Along with the ability to handle it." Then she's ushered into the office, to find Hassan there waiting. Although they're in there alone, they don't exactly rush to each other. Meredith says she heard how Farhad betrayed him, but he says Farhad betrayed hem both. No shit. "And then I betrayed you," Reed confesses. They finally cross the room to each other as she admits telling on him. And she's grateful to him for not bailing on her. "Before that moment I never really knew what you felt for me." Hassan thought he'd made that clear. Aw. But she can tell something's on his mind. He says he saw today how fragile everything he's worked for really is, and he can't jeopardize it. Which is a nice way of saying he's dumping her. She begins to leave, and he takes her arm, only to see his bodyguard outside the glass door, pointedly looking away. She leaves without another word at 7:42:27.
In the conference room, Walker is giving a briefing on her old undercover op. She broke up an arms ring and arrested everyone but the leader, Vladimir Laitanin. Which I find confusing, because the photo on the screen is of Jürgen Prochnow, and when I looked up on IMDB how to spell his character's name it's spelled "Bazhaev." Vladimir is going to be played by someone entirely different, whom I'll be getting to in the next act. Whoever Vladimir is, Walker says he's their only possible link to Red Square. Chloe wonders how they find Vladimir, and Walker puts up a mug shot of a guy named Ziya Dachylov. IMDB was no help at all on that surname, by the way. Dana points out that Ziya never turned in Vladimir, even in exchange for immunity, but Walker reminds Dana that she's not an agent but a former felon. Is she referring to her cover or herself? She assures them Ziya will take the deal she plans to offer, which will allow her access to Vladimir to talk about a potential buyer for nuclear material. Cole will be playing that part, by the way. Because Freddie Prinze, Jr. totally looks like the kind of guy who's in the market for some uranium. Maybe if he pretends he wants it for a car stereo. Walker says they'll need to be able to show off some offshore accounts of a couple hundred million, and Hastings says he'll get on that. It's up to Walker and Cole to work with Chloe and put together their shared backstory. Right then, Kiefer walks in, asking to talk to Hastings alone. Chloe, Dana, and Cole get up and leave like Kiefer's their boss instead of Hastings (although honestly, it's only a matter of time), but when Kiefer says, "You too, Renee," she decides to stay. The one other person who doesn't work for Hastings, in other words. Walker tells Hastings he's making a mistake, and he's worried about both Walker and the operation. "She's not ready for this," Kiefer bosses. "You must have other options." Walker insists that she's the only one who knows these people, and Hastings agrees with her. "Fine, then I want to go with her," Kiefer announces. He offers to play the competing buyer, saying Cole doesn't have the experience. "This is how he gets it," Walker says. "Not with nucular weapons on the line," Kiefer snaps. He repeats his request to Hastings, making it official by using the word "officially." "I'd be foolish to object," Hastings says, but doesn't object anyway. Good thinking, Hastings: you're about to send out an undercover team composed entirely of people who aren't even on the government payroll. What could possibly go wrong? They agree to start working up a cover ID for Kiefer. "I'm sorry," Kiefer says to a disgusted-looking Walker on his way out. You'd think they'd be happier about getting the band back together. Even if this particular band is prone to more fatalities than Spinal Tap.
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