Episode Report Card M. Giant: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT I Want You
By M. Giant | Season 8 | Episode 18 | Aired on 04.26.2010
. So the boss of this private security firm is neither particularly private nor secure. And I'm beginning to have doubts about his firmness.Chloe, Bledsoe, and Bledsoe's two goons enter Dana's CTU holding cell, which is built on the same design as the interrogation capsules, only larger and presumably without blood-gutters in the floor. Bledsoe formally bids her good morning, introduces himself, and informs her that she's being transferred offsite by presidential order. The part where he says good morning is my favorite. Dana's antennae are up before she's even been manhandled out of the chair, with Bledsoe's men dragging her out by the arms while she demands that Chloe tell her what's going on. "Where's Bauer? Where's my immunity deal?" Yeah, she's out of the loop for an hour and the loop turns into a line. Chloe tells her to just do what they say, but she makes them drag her out, while she begs Chloe for help and protests that they're going to kill her. "Thank you for your cooperation," an unflappable Bledsoe tells Chloe before following Dana and his team down the hall. His gratitude doesn't seem to make her feel any better about this.
Chloe pulls the contraband flash drive out of her pocket at 10:24:42 and ducks into a conference room off the main floor, where she can peruse the order at her leisure on her own phone. There's Dana's name and photo, and the next page shows her "classified destination" as 14633 12th Street, New York, NY, 10009. Those evil mercenaries are taking her to a nonexistent Brooklyn address with a Manhattan zip code! Chloe has a phone call to make.
But the person she's calling is Cole, who's busy with the NYPD. He breaks away to answer, and she tells him that Kiefer just called her about Dana. "I told him that she was being transferred to an offsite facility and I would give him the address. And I almost did. But I can't, I'm under presidential orders. Besides, I don't think he's right. We have to find him before he gets himself killed." Cole wonders what it means if Kiefer is right. Chloe insists that they're going to follow their orders to bring him in, and Cole listens to the boss and says, "All right." After taking a look at Kiefer's traffic-cam photo still up on the conference room's big screen, Chloe steps out to the floor and calls for everyone's attention. "We're mobilizing a sting operation in the field to be led by Agent Ortiz. The target is Jack Bauer. Let's get to work." It's 10:26:22, and I assume Taylor's cool with her putting U.N. security on the back burner like this.
10:30:45. One of Jim's many monitors reads "Security Alert." Picking up a handgun, he checks the four security monitors covering the hallway and sees Kiefer coming up and knocking. Hey, he doesn't have a doorstep! Of course the gun he's got wouldn't do any good against Kiefer anyway, so he holsters it before undoing the triple locks on his door. "Did you get what I needed?" Kiefer demands. "Nice to see you again too, Jack," Jim says, but Kiefer isn't amused; he just wants the goodies. Jim directs him over to a table where everything's already laid out. When did Jim find time to go out and get all this crap? Does he live in the Matrix or something? That would explain all the monitors, at least. While Kiefer checks the gear, Jim tries to fish for more clues about what Kiefer's being chased for. "It's not about what I did," Kiefer dodges. "They're afraid of what I'm gonna do." Kiefer ignores Jim's next hinting question, ducking to a back room to make a phone call. He reaches Chloe for an update on Dana's destination, and Chloe gives him one more chance to think about what he's doing and turn himself in. He's adamant, and finally she sends him to an industrial laundry at 141 Juniper Valley Road (that's in Queens, but at least it exists). Kiefer writes it down, says it's ten minutes from there (which I'm sure makes his planned route of great interest to many Queens-Manhattan commuters), and he'll call her back. She even says she'll have blueprints by then to help walk him in. "Thanks, I know I put you in a spot," Kiefer says. "Yeah," Chloe says stiffly before they hang up. Kiefer tosses the cell phone in Jim's wastebasket (which Jim seems to be fine with, surprisingly, for how paranoid he seems), and tells him to stick around in case he needs him later. Jim tries to tell Kiefer he can't come back, and now they're even. "I'll let you know when we're even," Kiefer says. But then he stops himself and asks nicely, because Jim looked for a second like he was going to ask Kiefer to lend him an ear, and that's the last thing you ever want be asked by Michael Madsen. I'm sure Jim will be around later; you don't cast Michael Madsen for a one-off guest shot as a freelance Q.
At 10:32:56, Cole drives up to an old laundry and meets up with a CTU field team led by a Handsome Black Agent. Cole informs them, like they care, that this place was seized by the DEA a year ago and has been a CTU safe house ever since. That's good for us to know, but I'm sure the CTU agents didn't find that factoid quite so vital. "Everyone stays out of sight until Jack's between our choke points. We do the takedown when and only when I give the order. We get this right, we take Jack by surprise before he has a chance to fight back." Just then Chloe calls with the news that Kiefer's on his way. "Remember, non-lethal force," she says. Cole reminds her that his men might need to defend themselves, and Chloe says she'll call when Kiefer does. Just don't hit redial by accident.
At the U.N., Ethan enters Taylor's office with a fancy folder containing the statement she's had him working on futilely for the last twenty-five minutes, even though she had no intention of using it for the last twenty. She tells him she's decided not to withdraw after all, much to his confusion. So she explains to him about Dana being taken "off the grid, out of Jack Bauer's reach," and the plan to "acquire the evidence," which he's so not down with. "Authorizing the illegal detention and torture of a prisoner?" he asks. "How far are you willing to go to protect this lie?" "As far as necessary to preserve this treaty," she says. "It's vital to the security of this nation! What I am doing is for the greater good." Ethan recognizes Logan's words and realizes it was his idea, but although Taylor looks away sheepishly, she says it's her call. Ethan sits down across from her and starts trying to reason with her, psychoanalytically, talking about how she seems to think this treaty will somehow make up for the fact that her presidency cost her her husband and children. Which she doesn't seem to appreciate much. He begs her to reconsider, but she cuts off the debate and says they need to move on, handing his folder back to him. Rather than quitting on the spot, as I kind of expected him to, Ethan gets up to leave and heads for the door. But then he quits. "Madam President, unless you stop what's being done in your name, I can't be a part of this any longer." He promises to keep it quiet and says he'll cite his health concerns. "After all, I'm here against doctor's orders." She begs him not to abandon her when they're so close, and he says he 's listening to his conscience. And then he gets in one last dig about hers: "Anyway, you've got Charles Logan now. Only room for one of us." He nods formally, saying, "Madam President," and leaves with his folder. It's 10:37:02, and I hope that statement ends up framed at his house.
At 10:41:24, Dalia Hassan is working on her speech in a dimly-lit conference room with Jamot. Apparently the two of them represent the whole of the IRK government now. She's a little worried about creating the false impression that she's making a power-grab, until Kayla enters to remind her of Hassan's words: "He said the best way to dispel public misperception is to address it directly." Dalia says she'll do that, but of course the real point of the exchange, as demonstrated by their sappy smiles, is to show that Kayla's on board now. As Jamot discreetly leaves with a reminder that Dalia's expected in twenty minutes, Kayla apologizes for earlier. Dalia gets it. "You lost your father