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Now that Kiefer's got a video file of Dana conspiring with Pavel Tokarev, the Russian spy, he needs to figure out his move. So he calls up Hassan's favorite reporter, Meredith Reed, to set up a meeting. Cole is brought back to CTU in handcuffs so Jason Pillar can grill him. That goes nowhere, but CTU intercepts Kiefer's call to Reed, so it turns out he doesn't need Cole anyway. Chloe, increasingly suspicious of Jason's activities, recruits Arlo into her secret mutiny and convinces Cole to give her a tenuous clue regarding how to find Kiefer. But when the meeting happens, Tokarev is already in place with his sniper rifle and a whole Russian support team, thanks to the heads-up from Jason. Kiefer's buddy Jim gets the drop on Tokarev and neutralizes him, while Kiefer snags Reed and shoots his way clear of the trap, complete with Tokarev, which was his plan all along, of course. Now he gets to hand the file over to Reed and torture Tokarev for further information. And when that doesn't work, Kiefer literally digs the lead he needs right out of Tokarev's belly. Once again, Kiefer's got a line on Charles Logan.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Tonight's previouslies freeze-frames: Jack Bauer (who watches Walker get shot all over again), President Charles Logan, and Jason Pillar. And the following takes place between 12:00 PM and 1:00 PM, which means it'll never be morning on 24 again. And after this episode that will feel true in more ways than one.
Cole is handcuffed and in NYPD custody, so I guess someone figured out during the previouslies that he wasn't so much Kiefer's hostage last hour as his accomplice. He's led into that building near the bank, the one undergoing an interior remodel with no construction crew, and brought to the spot where Dana's murdered corpse lies cooling on the floor. At least Kiefer shot her so that she'd land on top of a big piece of plastic sheeting, which will make clean-up easier. Just gather her up like a half-eaten Subway and your crime scene's good as new. Cops mill about as Cole looks down at his late ex-fiancée, his expression serious. And who could blame him; those handcuffs are going to make it tough for him to get his ring back off the corpse. The police captain asks Cole who she was, and he takes a long time to say, "Her name is Dana Walsh." And also Jenny Scott, but I think we're supposed to forget about that now. Before the captain orders Cole brought back to CTU, a young cop notices that it looks like she was shot at point-blank range, execution-style. I'm partial to Buffalo-style myself.
Kiefer's sitting in the back of a taxi, because despite being the most wanted man on the eastern seaboard and also despite reeking of sweat and cordite, he can still get a damn cab in this city. Now at his leisure, he pops Dana's memory card into his phone, which fortunately has a compatible format. He listens through his earpiece as a grainy hidden-camera video plays of Dana talking to Pavel Tokarev -- the guy who both shot Walker and works for the Russian Foreign Minister -- in some random room that looks more like some executive's outer office than her apartment. She says she wants out after she does what they've asked, but Tokarev says they (meaning the Russians) have invested too much in her. He even mocks her for planning to marry Cole. "If you have a problem wrapping your brain around that fact," Dana says threateningly, "maybe I should talk to your boss in Moscow." Tokarev ends the meeting, instructing, "Don't contact me again until Hassan is dead." Yeah, that's some pretty good proof there.
Kiefer's move is to call his buddy Jim back at his techno-sanctum. He's already sent Jim the file, and he wants Jim to ID the man in the video. "Also, I'm coming in hot, so whatever you have to do to protect your systems from getting flagged, do it now." Rather than arguing, Jim asks if Kiefer wants him to ID the woman as well. "She's dead. I'll see you in a few minutes," Kiefer says almost casually. I'm sure Jim can't wait.
Logan's evil flunky Jason Pillar is briefing the troops at CTU, updating them on Kiefer's last known location. That would be the First Unity Bank, where they were led by a 911 call from Dana Walsh. "She's dead now. Bauer killed her." So actually Kiefer's last known location would be the place where they found Dana's body, wouldn't it? Which I know is within a block, but still. Jason adds that Cole's on his way in for questioning, and he wants everyone to concentrate on finding Kiefer. Except for the skeleton crew of non-speaking roles working on security at the U.N., of course. "If you think you have a lead, you bring it to me immediately. Questions?" He doesn't actually want questions, especially since the only person who has one for him is Chloe: "Why did they go to the bank?" She brings up the evidence Dana claimed to have, and says maybe that's what they were getting there. Jason ignores that possibility, saying Dana's whole plan all along was the bomb in the safety deposit box that she used to escape. "Jack Bauer can't accept the fact that Dana Walsh was an enemy agent working solely with the IRK opposition to Hassan's government...He's lost it, and he's a danger to himself and the community. So let's stop second-guessing the operation and find him." Hey, you're the one who opened the floor, dude.
Arlo turns back to his screen at 12:06:22, and Chloe comes over to complain at him about how this is going. "Pillar's ignoring the key questions and the questions that he is answering, no one's asking." She thinks Kiefer is right and Jason's in on the conspiracy, and that Kiefer now has the evidence. Arlo correctly says that's all wild guessing. "Until I know otherwise, I got my orders." Sounds like Chloe's got a new project: making Arlo know otherwise.
Jim lets Kiefer into his techno-sanctum, complete with the giant duffel that Kiefer retrieved somewhere along the line. He certainly didn't have it with him at the bank or the construction site. They must have driven it over to the bank in the back of the CTUmobile and he picked it up from there after killing Dana, but then why take a cab over to Jim's place? Jim says that Kiefer's up to the real-life version of, like, seven "wanted" stars in Grand Theft Auto, and asks if the woman the scanners say he killed is the same woman from the video. "Yeah, did you ID the man?" Kiefer asks, like keep up, would you? But Jim digs his heels in, refusing to cooperate further until Kiefer tells him what's happening. Kiefer says that Dana was in on the assassination and the dirty bomb threat. Jim doesn't care about any of that. "I want to know why you're out there on your own." Kiefer explains about the cover-up, and Jim wonders why he didn't disappear. "Because I cant!" Kiefer snaps. At least not for another three hours and forty-five minutes. Jim demands the truth, and Kiefer sits down to softly explain, "The Russians took something from me. Her name was Renee Walker. They killed her inside my apartment. I need to make them pay." So is Jim going to join Kiefer on his mad, doomed crusade against the governments of two nuclear powers, now that he knows it's driven by a simple quest for revenge? Yup. In fact, he already identified Pavel Tokarev from the video, whom he says is a "primary operative, Russian intelligence." So maybe he's not really just Novakovich's "attaché" after all. Kiefer asks where Tokarev is now, but all Jim can tell him right now is that he's somewhere in the U.S. "To keep everything quiet they'd have to be a small unit, right?" Kiefer asks in what now seems like a non sequitur but will come clear later. He's already got an idea, and to put it in motion, he needs Jim to get him a secure phone line. What Jim ought to get Kiefer is a phone line to secure Kiefer to the nearest drainpipe.
Hey, Meredith Reed is back! I didn't think there'd be any more need for her after Hassan first dumped her and then got himself killed, but here she is. At the offices of the generic newspaper or magazine or whatever publication she works at, she's walking among the cubicles in a fresh suit and talking to her kindly old editor, who manages to say nice things about her article on Hassan without asking whether she was shtupping him. Someone tells her she's got a call, and she steps into an office to take it. It's Kiefer on the phone, of course, and he quickly tells her about the proof he has of the Russians being in on the assassination of Hassan. Disappointingly, she doesn't turn to the door and bellow, "Stop the presses!" She asks if he's contacted the authorities, and he says, "I can't. I'm being set up, just like you were yesterday." They have so much in common, don't they? He wants to bring her the evidence, and asks her to meet him at the coffee stand on the third floor of "Turner's Department Store" in twenty minutes. Hearing her hesitate, he reminds her, "Yesterday I helped clear your name. Right now I need you to help clear mine." But wasn't that mostly Chloe who did that? In any case, she agrees to help. Because, as she says, "I want to know the truth as much as you do." And a book deal wouldn't hurt either.
At 12:10:35, a small army of uniformed guards frog-marches Cole, still handcuffed, into CTU and straight into an interrogation capsule where Jason is waiting. Jason tells him to take a seat and asks where Kiefer is. Cole truthfully says, "I don't know." Jason starts right in on him, talking about the trouble Cole's in that Jason can make go away. He adds that President Taylor asked him to help with the manhunt for Kiefer. "So you're part of the cover-up," Cole says flatly. Jason recovers quickly, trying to bond over the military experience they both have. "We're both soldiers. So you understand, when the commander-in-chief deems a course of action necessary for the national good, it's not our place to question." He says they both want what's best for the country, unlike Kiefer. "He didn't give a damn about what happened to you, just as long as it served his needs. He used you. So let's start over." That's actually a pretty good line of reasoning. He asks again where Kiefer is, and Cole says, "Probably somewhere with the evidence you guys keep saying doesn't exist." I'm kind of surprised that didn't work, actually. Jason looks about to get pissed, but just then he gets a call on his Bluetooth. It's his personal assistant/porn star Eden, reporting that a vital phone conversation was just intercepted. Jason tells Cole this is his last chance, but Cole stays mum. That'll wrap up this interview, and on his way out, Jason orders Cole taken to holding. Let's hope it's not the same holding room where Dana stashed Prady's body last night, because that one's probably getting stinky.
Outside the capsule, Eden meets up with Jason to tell him that Arlo picked up a call that NSA's Echelon program intercepted. Of course it's Kiefer's call to Meredith Reed that she's talking about. Nice "secure line," Jim. The system flagged the words "Hassan," "Russian government," and "Jack Bauer." All that was missing was "Come and get me, Jason Pillar." Arlo hasn't actually heard the call yet, because he's still formatting the necessary preliminary technobabble, but he's working on it. And while they're not yet sure it was really Kiefer calling, the phone on the receiving end was registered to Meredith Reed. Which is especially mysterious given that Kiefer seemed to have called the publication's main switchboard. Eden tells Jason (and reminds new and/or forgetful viewers) who Reed is, adding, "Rumor has it she was also [Hassan's] mistress." By now they've reached Arlo's desk, and Jason abruptly tells him to immediately shut down what he's doing and send it to Eden's screen. Then he heads back up to Hastings' former office, while Arlo and Chloe exchange significant glances. It's 12:13:43, and you'd think Arlo would be a little happier to have some time freed up to ogle sunbathers with his surveillance drones.
12:18:05. Inside an office at the U.N., Logan and Russian Foreign Minister Novakovich are listening to a full recording of Kiefer's conversation with Meredith Reed, clear as day. Jason and Eden are playing it back for them over the phone from CTU. They talk about how Kiefer's obviously going to the media with the proof, but Jason is upbeat: "This is a major opportunity to make everything go away, sir. Bauer and the evidence." He's already sent the Russian team to the location Kiefer set up as the meeting place. Logan gives Jason major props, and after hanging up with Jason, tells the Russian, "I want to stay on top of this personally, Mikhail. So will you let me have Pavel's number?" Uh, didn't Logan give Tokarev a phone an hour ago? Novakovich looks annoyed at this latest instance of Logan's grasping, high-handed behavior, but he's totally going to give him the number. Which I have a feeling Logan will live to regret, for reasons that will become abundantly apparent at the bottom of the hour.
Meanwhile, Back at CTU, Jason looks around and sees Chloe peering in at him over her laptop from a distant conference room. "Can you make this room less public?" Jason asks Eden nervously. She hits a button and the glass walls suddenly go all frosty. That doesn't look suspicious at all, especially when you're alone in a room with a porn star.
Chloe is still reacting to this with disgust when Arlo enters the room she's in. She wants to talk to him about t
he call he intercepted, but he's not buying into her theory until she shows him what's on her own screen: a call history showing that two minutes after that mysterious call was flagged, Jason nabbed it and put it in a segregated server, "behind firewalls like I've never seen." Which is saying something, coming from someone who went from floundering n00b to acting director in the space of a day. Furthermore, Jason then made three calls to someplace outside of CTU, but the data on those calls is restricted. Chloe wraps up her case to Arlo: "The question is this: If the call was nothing, then why are they still hiding it? If the call was Jack, then why haven't they dispatched CTU SWAT teams? Why haven't they alerted NYPD?" Actually, that's three questions, but never mind that as she tells Arlo that Jason and Eden are part of the cover-up. "Look at them!" Of course Arlo can't because the walls are all frosty and they're just vague shadows moving around in there. Which, in Chloe's defense, does make them look a lot more like conspirators. Chloe adds, "What's worse is they're planning on taking Jack out." Now, is that really worse? She insists that Kiefer knows too much, and probably has Dana's evidence by now. "That's why I have to find him and I need your help." Arlo hesitates, but then he agrees, for reasons that will remain mysterious for at least this hour. Chloe's going to start by talking to Cole. But, as Arlo points out, Cole's being monitored. Chloe says they'll patch in a video loop, like in Speed, and after some technobabble about how they're going to do that without Jason's knowledge, Chloe decides it's time for a Sprint commercial. She goes to a drawer and pulls out a little black box that will apparently let them set up their own "mobile hotspot," the message being that Sprint is the way to go if you plan to illegally hack into the systems of a highly secure government installation. A moment later, Arlo has the laptop displaying the video feed from Cole's holding cell, which shows him sitting on a bench. Arlo says he can give her 90 seconds, and he'll text her when he's ready. On their Sprint phones, I take it. Welcome to the Now Network, mutineers.
At 12:22:26, Chloe heads across the building to holding, glancing nervously at Hastings' office as she passes it. I guess the nice thing about the frosted windows is that now they can't see her either. She approaches the guard posted outside Cole's cell and gives him some tedious errand that she needs him to do right now. Which, since it involves delivering time cards to her office, where Jason and Eden are now, may not have been the best pretext. But at least the guard's out of the way for now and she can go on in. She gets her text from Arlo reading "YOU'RE CLEAR FOR 90 SECONDS." Of course, with my phone, sending that text would have taken about 50. Seriously, Arlo, an apostrophe in a text message? A moment later, Chloe's inside the cell with Cole, telling him she's only got 90 seconds so she's not going to waste any time. Because she's usually so caught up with verbal pleasantries. "I need to find Jack or else they're going to kill him," she blurts. But just because it's Chloe asking and not Jason doesn't mean Cole knows any more than he did before. Chloe says Kiefer must have said something. "What Jack says and what he does are two very different things," Cole points out. I remember when that, at least, wasn't true. Kiefer's young Padawan is quite disenchanted, isn't he? Chloe says Kiefer's trying to expose the cover-up, which Cole says Kiefer doesn't care about. "He's taking out anyone who was anywhere near Renee's death. Starting with Dana. She gave him the evidence. He killed her anyway." Chloe makes excuses for Kiefer, until Cole tells her Dana was executed. "Just like she said he would. There are no good guys here. Jack, Pillar. They end up killing each other, maybe it's the best thing." Okay, then, enjoy the rest of the season, everyone! With less than half the time left on Arlo's clock, Chloe insists that she can talk Kiefer down if she can only find him. Because that worked so well earlier. "I need you to be on my side," she tells Cole. Not the first time Cole's heard that today. "Who am I fighting for?" he asks. Well, Sparky, right now you're in a holding cell, so I think you're done fighting for...well, at least another forty minutes or so. Chloe says they can expose the conspiracy together, then. When even that sweet prize fails to sway him, she snaps, "You just stay here and feel sorry for yourself, I'm gonna go find him." Finally Cole tells her to wait, and says that all he knows is that Kiefer must be working with someone, given all the gear he showed up with earlier. "You want to find Jack, you find his supplier." Oh, that's HUGELY helpful. Chloe thanks him anyway and heads out. In the hallway, she calls Arlo. "I know what Jack's doing. Pull up his files, get me the list of his known associates in the tri-state area. Everyone he's worked with in the past." But does Chloe have time to visit that many cemeteries?
Logan's watching a news channel that's broadcasting the itinerary for the arrival of his old buddy, Russian President Yuri Suvarov, at the U.N. later this afternoon. And to think of how he agonized over giving that exact same information to a terrorist so many years ago. Logan mutes the TV and then pulls out his phone and the little slip of paper holding Tokarev's number at 12:25:15. Logan just has to be the boss of everything, doesn't he? Even covert Russian agents doing wetwork in Manhattan. Logan reaches Tokarev just as he's arriving in a maintenance space. It's a spot that gives him a commanding view of the department store through an air vent, the louvers of which will be just far enough apart to stick the barrel of his sniper rifle through. Logan asks for an update. "My team is in position," Tokarev says, but Kiefer hasn't arrived yet. "I need to know about the woman," he asks. Logan cavalierly claims, "Ms. Reed is aiding and abetting a terrorist. She's a serious threat to both of our countries. Do what you have to." Tokarev looks like he can't believe he's got to deal with this tool, but he what can he do? He pulls a familiar sniper rifle out of its case and screws on the silencer, then levels it out through the vent. It's 12:26:14, and while he's at it, could he maybe take out one of those people who gets to the front of the line at the cash register and spends like five minutes fumbling with how to pay for their shit?
At 12:30: 32, President Taylor is back at the negotiating table at the U.N conference chamber, this time with Dalia Hassan and the IRK delegate Jamot across from her. Of course she's all alone on her side, because her Chief of Staff is in stir and she drove her Secretary of State away by being an amoral dumb-ass. Dalia's all warm smiles, even as Taylor completely spaces on a point that was previously resolved. She asks if Taylor's all right. "It's been a long day," Taylor says. Dalia's quite sympathetic, considering she's been a widow herself for all of four and a half hours. Just then Taylor's assistant enters with a note, and Taylor excuses herself. "There's someone I need to see." I think it's more the other way around.
Yep, it's Logan. In the conference room where she goes to meet with him privately, he gives her "good news:" "We've located Bauer. He has the evidence, but--" Taylor freaks on him, saying that wasn't supposed to happen, but Logan presses on, saying that they know where and when he'll be and that they'll be able to "reacquire" him. Is that what he's calling it now? Taylor heaves a shaky sigh and says, "Let me know as soon as it's resolved." "Resolved" is also a good euphemism. She's about to head back to the negotiating table -- and honestly, they really ought to knock off redlining that treaty and get it to Kinko's already -- but Logan brings up another point: "We are three hours away from the signing of the treaty. Isn't it time for my role in the process to be officially recognized?" OH MY GOD IS HE SERIOUS? Holy shit, he totally is. He suggests an announcement by her press secretary
, or even the president herself. "It was, you recall, our agreement that I would have a public face on this historic day." And then he has the titanium balls to self-righteously stick his nose in the air and add, "I believe I've earned it." Rather than giving him what he has actually earned, which would be for her to pull his scrotum up over his head and club him to death with his own femur, she manages, "I will talk to my press secretary. She will make the announcement in time for the one o'clock news." That satisfies Logan. Meeting over. This whole thing has gone more pear-shaped than ever since he stuck his Nixon-nose in, and now he wants credit for saving it. Unbelievable.
Meredith Reed arrives at the department store at 12:33:13. A man in a suit spots her and says in a Russian accent, seemingly to no one, "Target heading to third-floor escalator." "Acknowledged," Tokarev says from this sniper's perch. Oh, they've all got earpieces. He's got Reed in the sights of his rifle, but she should be safe as long as she doesn't have sex with Kiefer. Tokarev reports back to Jason and Eden at CTU, "We have eyes on Reed." They're also watching from Hastings' old desk, with a computer patched in to the store's surveillance systems. Another Russian, a woman, crosses paths with Reed and quietly confirms that Reed is approaching the meeting spot. Kiefer seems to be late, but he's there; he's just avoiding the cameras. At least until the tall guy he's using as cover gets his leash yanked by his wife, leaving Kiefer out in the open for just a few seconds. None of the three Russian operatives on the sales floor can see him. Jason can, though, and he tells the team that Kiefer's in a brown leather jacket and jeans. Don't forget the high-heeled boots, Jason. Kiefer adjusts his cell phone earpiece and proceeds through the crowd. Jason stresses at Tokarev to take a shot if he has it. Tokarev is about to do just that, when suddenly there's a gun barrel at the base of his own neck. A hand reaches around to close the cap on his sniper scope. "Put it down," Jim says from behind him. Tokarev does, because going from how that scene was just edited, Jim not only got the drop on him but also seems to have three hands and you don't want to tangle with that shit. Over an earpiece, Jim tells Kiefer he's clear. Kiefer copies that, just before coming up behind Reed and grabbing her by the arm without even slowing down. "Come with me. Do exactly what I say," he tells her, like he's giving her a choice. Jason gives the order to take Kiefer out, and all of the Russians in the store start moving. Well, the Russian spies, I mean. There may be Russian tourists or immigrants present who have nothing whatsoever to do with any of this. Kiefer stashes Reed behind a rack of ladies' clothing and draws his handgun, waiting for the Russians to make their move. He shoots the first guy he sees reaching into his pocket, and how lucky is he that it actually was one of the bad guys and not just some dude trying to pull out his cell phone? Although I guess the haircut was kind of a giveaway. Now that the first shot's been fired, the other shoppers scatter in panic as a gunfight ensues between Kiefer and the three other Russians, who of course don't have a chance. Watching this on the surveillance feeds, Eden asks, "What the hell just happened?" "He knew it was a trap," Jason chokes out as Kiefer and Reed run out through a back exit. "Don't let them out of your sight," he orders Eden. Too late. "Just keep looking!" Jason snaps. You know, I bet Chloe could find him. He should ask her for help.
Somewhere behind the scenes of the store, Reed asks Kiefer who he just shot. "Russian operatives," Kiefer says as they met up with Jim, who is holding Tokarev at gunpoint. Jim hands Kiefer the rifle case he confiscated from Tokarev and drags the assassin along behind. The four of them head through a service hallway at 12:36:25. You'd think Tokarev would be trying a leeeetle harder to make a break for it about now.
12:40:43. Logan, that complete asshole, is in his office picking out a tie for his TV appearance, which is both hilarious and enraging in its total dickishness. He's excited to get a call from Jason, assuming it's going to be good news, until Jason has to report that it's quite the opposite: "All of Pavel's team is dead and Bauer has Pavel." He adds that Kiefer was several moves ahead of them, and used keywords on purpose to trick Echelon. "He played us, sir. He knew we'd use off-book resources to deal with him. He used that journalist to draw them out." And he came up with the whole plan in, like, five seconds. It gets worse; Tokarev knows everything, so if he talks to Kiefer they're fucked. So what's the good news? Jason says, "At the moment, sir, you still have complete deniability. President Taylor made all the decisions." At Logan's urging, but never mind that. "I think the time has come for you to distance yourself from this mess." You know, the one he made. Logan gapes like a fish, and it's obvious he's not about to follow Jason's advice, but his reasons are not human ones like you and I would use. Instead, he says, "Twenty minutes from now, the president's press secretary is going to make an announcement. She will say I've become part of the president's team, and I've been indispensable in bringing this peace process to a successful close." Yeah, that's going to turn out awesome. "Do I just slink away?" Logan demands. Jason claims this isn't Logan's fault; "There were circumstances we couldn't have anticipated, namely Bauer." How can anyone not anticipate Bauer on this show? "Then we find Bauer and we neutralize him," Logan says, like it's just that easy and like they haven't been trying to do that for more time than they have left at this point. Logan says, "Pavel is a good soldier. He won't talk, whatever Bauer does to him." Logan's got a lot of confidence in a guy he just met an hour ago. He reminds Jason him why he's at CTU: "They have huge resources. You have intelligence and tenacity. You use those capabilities. Find Bauer." Jason says he's on it. "Good!" Logan all but yells. "Keep me posted." Yes, I'm sure it will be nothing but good news from here on out.
After hanging up, Jason tells a stunned Eden that it's still on. "I need to know you're with me on this." She says she is, but she's clearly freaked. Jason says he's going to the scene of the gunfight, to "remove all trace of the Russians and get on Bauer's trail." Eden watches him go, looking more than a little worried. She's got a right to be; if I were Jason right now, I'd head to the store via Canada, and maybe forget to get to the store at all.
.Chloe is scrolling through screen after screen of Kiefer's "associates," which she says will still take hours even leaving out the dead ones. Arlo has some info she might find helpful; he knows about the shootout at the store from a 911 call, and replays her some security footage of the incident, complete with Kiefer's escape. Now all they have to do is run facial recognition and cross-reference it with Kiefer's associates to find his supplier. What could be easier?
Kiefer and Jim lead Reed and Tokarev out a back entrance, across the street in broad daylight, and into another building at 12:45:03. It looks like an abandoned warehouse, which is the surest sign yet that Kiefer's going to the dark side; this is the kind of place he's charged into and fumigated more times than we can count. While Kiefer puts Reed in a chair, Jim orders Tokarev to empty his pockets. Kiefer opens Tokarev's case, and there it is -- the gun that killed Walker. It's a sight that clearly gets to him, and Jim reminds him that they don't have much time. Kiefer orders Tokarev to take off his jacket, which he does. Reed, meanwhile, has realized that Kiefer knew the bad guys were going to be coming for him, and she used her to draw them out. Kiefer cops to it. "I could have been killed back there!" she accuses. "You weren't," Kiefer reminds her, looking like he's having mixed emotions about that right now. Meanwhile, Tokarev purposely drops his cell phone on the floor, and Jim makes him pick up the pieces. Something will be coming of that later, you can be sure. Reed asks if the evidence Kiefer dangled at her was also a lie as well, but Kiefer gives her Dana's memory card. "When you see it, you'll know it's real. Take it. My partner's going to take you somewhere to show it to you. I'm sorry things had to play out like this." So Jim's his partner now? He must be thrilled. Seeing Kiefer tying Tokarev's hands behind him, she begs him not to do what she knows he's about to do. "Take her to the storeroom," Kiefer tells Jim. And to Reed, he says, "The evidence I gave you doesn't tell me who else was involved. He will." Jim drags her out as Kiefer hauls Tokarev over to a support column. Once he's secured, Kiefer picks up the sniper rifle and, ejecting the clip and the chambered round, remarks, "Springfield, M1A rifle. 308 round." He puts it down and gets in Tokarev's face to add, "You know, about four hours ago, a friend of mine, a very good friend, Renee Walker, was killed by a rifle just like that." What a remarkable coincidence! Tokarev forsakes the smart-ass route and tells Kiefer, "Go to hell." Kiefer rips oven Tokarev's shirt, revealing the whole gallery of Red Square tattoos underneath, just like the ones on Davros and the other Russians Kiefer killed yesterday afternoon. "You first," he invites. It's 12:47:48, and I think we can rest assured he's not being metaphorical.
Viewer discretion warning at the end of the last commercial break? That's not a good sign.
At 12:51:54, Reed is watching Dana's video while Jim stands guard over her. She has a clear reaction to watching the Russian who's now in the room talking about planning her then-boyfriend's death. But I don't see her getting up to join Kiefer.
Kiefer's got a pair of pliers in his hand as he says, right in Tokarev's sweaty face, "To be honest with you, Renee Walker was more than just my friend. But you already know that, don't you? Because you saw us in the bedroom of my apartment." Rather than asking Tokarev for a review of his performance, Kiefer offers a review of Tokarev's: "Now, you're either not very good at what you do, or you wanted her to suffer. Because with that rifle at that range, it was an easy kill shot. But instead you shot her right there, two inches below her heart." And the coincidences continue, because Kiefer's got the point of his pliers pressed up against that very point on Tokarev's torso. "So she would bleed out slowly," Kiefer continues. And potentially tell Kiefer what she knew? "I watched her gasping for air as the blood slowly filled her lungs. She died in agony, which is exactly what I'm going to make you do, unless you tell me what I want to know. With that, he grabs a pliers-full of flesh and rips a big bite free of Tokarev's torso. That's gotta smart.
Reed can hear Tokarev's howl of pain from the room. Through his agony, Tokarev yells at Kiefer, "I kill her, I kill your bitch, I did it!" Kiefer loses it and soon finds himself in another one of those Kiefer vs. Restrained Person bouts that he just can't seem to avoid. Reed begs Jim to stop him, insisting that there's enough on the file. "You're not going anywhere," Jim tells her, because he's not accessory to enough horrible shit yet. Yes, by all means, let Kiefer beat Tokarev to death. Let's see how forthcoming he is after that. Kiefer somehow stops himself (or just runs out of steam) before killing Tokarev (which of course is exactly what Tokarev wanted), but his captive is still pretty bloody. Kiefer stumbles into a chair, spent. Yeah, but you should see the other guy.
At 12:54:57, Jason arrives at the department store and takes the escalator steps two at a time to the crime scene. He waves a badge around (where'd he get that?) and demands all the weapons and documents found on the bodies. Of course, all they were carrying was the guns -- no IDs. That makes sense if spies are going into an operation where they could be killed, but what if they ever have to assassinate someone in a bar, or while buying cigarettes, or at an R-rated movie? Jason pulls up a photo of Kiefer on his phone and waves that around, telling the cops that's who they're looking for. Before they all spread out in search of a tiny little blurry blue-tinged man who seems to be shaking a little, Jason warns them, "If you don't want to end up like these people, shoot on sight." Unfortunately nobody misinterprets his instructions and shoots Jason.
Kiefer wakes up Tokarev with some handy smelling salts for round two, and this time he pulls out his knife. He says he already knows Tokarev killed Walker. "What I want to know is the name of the Russian pig inside your government that gave the order." To emphasize the point, he's also using his knife to vandalize the Kremlin, or rather the tattoo of it on Tokarev's torso. "Give me a name and I'll end this quickly, I give you my word," Kiefer offers. Tokarev just spits in his face. Kiefer wipes away the bloody sputum and picks up an unlabeled bottle of liquid. Lighter fluid, maybe? "You think you know about pain?" he asks, starting to squirt the stuff into Tokarev's wounds while his victim screams louder than ever. "You don't know anything yet." Tokarev is looking like a mighty quick study, though. Kiefer continues squirting, repeating his demand. Tokarev isn't giving anything up, even when Kiefer comes at him with a blowtorch. "You people are so stupid," Kiefer says. "Renee Walker was no threat to you. Her work was finished. She was done. We were out. All you had to do was leave us alone. Why? Why couldn't you just leave us alone?" When there's no answer, Kiefer applies the blowtorch to Tokarev's body. The good news for him is that I think we've just ruled out lighter fluid. Kiefer keeps repeating his question through the wisps of man-smoke rising between their faces. "Did it on my own," Tokarev claims, barely able to speak. Kiefer knows that's a lie, but he's still getting nowhere, and he retreats to his workbench to regroup. "This isn't working," he whispers to it. You think?
Then his eye falls on the phone Tokarev dropped earlier, still lying in sections on the table. He grabs it and demands, "Where's the SIM card for your phone?" Tokarev doesn't answer that, either. It's nowhere in sight, and after casting vainly about on the floor for a bit, Kiefer realizes, "You dumb bastard, you swallowed it." He stomps back over, whips out his knife, and whispers. "This is for my friend." And he proceeds to open him right up where he stands.
Why doesn't this bother me more? I mean, obviously it's hideous and repugnant, but it's also obvious that there's no attempt to ascribe any kind of heroic motive to Kiefer's actions here. He's crossing a line he's never crossed before, giving his sadism free rein, and he's doing it for revenge. But at least this time he knows it. All of the arguments he's used to justify torture over the years aren't going to apply this time, and he's got to realize that, even as far gone as he is. Yes, he's back to his old torturing ways, only much worse. But at least now he isn't doing it for me.
Splitscreen. Dalia and Jamot are still at the conference table with Taylor, Jim continues to guard Reed, Jason barks orders at the cops on scene, and Arlo and Chloe are busy with their laptops while Logan sits in his office and manages to look both pensive and smug. Like he's got nothing to do but wait for a call on his cell phone.
Kiefer has finally fished the SIM card out of Tokarev's gut, mercifully out of frame. Lucky for him Tokarev was so skinny, or this might have gotten gross. Kiefer examines it, cleans it off, and sticks it in the phone. He pulls up the call list, and it doesn't look like Tokarev's stomach acid erased a single bit of data. Kiefer dials the most recent first number, a 917 area code. And he a recording of a deep, unfamiliar voice saying, "You've reached the mobile number of President Charles Logan. We can't take your call right now, but if you leave your name and number, we'll get back to you as soon as we can." Kiefer lowers the phone, somehow both shocked and not surprised at the same time. He does not leave his name or number. It's 1:00:00.
week: Grudge match!
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.Find out what Katee Sackhoff really thought of her torturous stint on 24.
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