Directed by Jeff T Thomas
Written by Jeff Melvoin, Tracey Rice, Pierluigi Cothran, & Patrick Cunnane
Kirkman grapples with his conscience over the military intervention in Kunami, as Agent Wells tries to make contact with a rebel leader opposed to the country's reigning emir.
Tropes in this episode:
- "Ass" in Ambassador: Ambassador Salimi from Kunami, who is secretly plotting his emir's downfall.
- Bittersweet Ending: The brief war against Kunami is over, the treacherous ambassador is thwarted, and the emir abdicates in favour of his more democratic cousin, but civilians were killed in the military strikes and Kirkman's credibility is still shot.
- Cliffhanger/Sequel Hook: The episode ends with the leak of Kirkman's therapist's session notes, casting doubt on his fitness to be President, and the implication that someone from the administration is responsible.
- Death Seeker: Sergeant Sims starts to suspect that Agent Wells is this after Director Forstell's death, and talks her out of Revenge Before Reason.
- False Flag Operation: The rebel leader is actually in league with the Kunami ambassador to the United States, who is seeking to use the war to force the emir out of power and take over in his place.
- Frame-Up: The Kunami ambassador is trying to use the war against the emir of his own country.
- Here We Go Again!: Yet another embarrassing and damaging leak from someone connected to the White House threatens to torpedo Kirkman's credibility with the public.
- Hollywood Hacking: Someone hacks Kirkman's therapist's computer, steals the recorded session notes, and leaks them on the internet.
- Idiot Ball: Seriously, who assigned an FBI agent still clearly furious over her superior's death to infiltrate the country whose government is responsible? Why is Wells even deployed to field work half the world away at all? Was the entire CIA not available?
- Leeroy Jenkins: Agent Wells gets these tendencies in seeking revenge on Kunami for Director Forstell's death. This alarms Sergeant Sims, who talks her out of it.
- The Main Characters Do Everything: What good reason is there for an FBI agent attached to the White House acting as the country's primary envoy to a rebel leader half the world away?
- Retired Badass: Agent Mike Ritter's past in the special forces helps him bond with staffer Tricia Sims, whose brother is serving with the Navy SEALs (currently in Kunami, as it turns out).
- Revenge Before Reason: Agent Wells is still angry over Director Forstell's death in the preceding episode, and is looking to make Kunami pay for it. Sergeant Sims talks her down from it, whereupon she acts much more effectively.
- Sergeant Rock: Sergeant Sims of SEAL Team 3.
- Spotting the Thread: Agent Wells notices that the "guide" leading her and a SEAL team member to the rebel headquarters is actually part of the Islamic sect that the emir and the country's ruling class belong to, and not the sect that the rebels belong to.
- The Starscream: Ambassador Salimi is plotting to bring down and replace Kunami's emir with the aid of a rebel movement.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork/We ARE Struggling Together: Chuck engages in a bunch of this with Damian Rennett as they try to track the hacker attacks to their source.
- Time Skip: A jump of one week happens in the middle of the episode.
- Vengeful Vending Machine: Mike Ritter encounters Tricia Sims while she is dealing with one of these. He applies a little Percussive Maintenance to get it to yield what she paid for.
