Mac and Jack are on a mission with their exes when Nikki resurfaces with a surprising revelation; she's a deep cover agent for the CIA, searching for a traitor known only as Chrysalis, and needs their help.
Tropes:
- Actor Allusion: Jack compares Mac and Nikki to "Taylor Swift and whoever she's dating right now. It's tragic, messy, and never ends well." Mac actor Lucas Till starred in the video for You Belong with Me, and was rumoured to be dating Taylor at one point.
- Amicable Exes: Jack and Sarah, although he appears to regard her as The One That Got Away. Mac and Nikki become this by the end.
- As You Know: A couple of examples. First, a captured Jack explains the basic premise of the show while full of Truth Serum, then Sarah comes to Mac's house to tell him she has a lead on Nikki, which involves verbally confirming their whole history. It's because this episode comes after the mid-season hiatus, and it's clunky as hell.
- Boxed Crook: Riley and Bozer visit Murdoc in prison to get his help finding the mole. What does Murdoc want in return? A particular rare book, which he later uses to escape.Murdoc: Paradise Lost. The original print with the Doré etchings. Not a second edition, not a reprint... original cloth.
Riley: Let me guess. Out of print? Extremely hard to find? So what's this book mean to you?
Murdoc: Oh, what this book means to me is inconsequential. What matters to you is that this book is the key to unlocking my lips. Until then... - Call-Back:
- When informed that Nikki was acting as a deep cover agent for the CIA, Mac asks where releasing a WMD fit into that. She replies that she knew he'd never let the weapon get released.
- Discussing Nikki's mission, Mac realises the mole hired Murdoc to kill him when Nikki got too close.
- Did You Just Have Sex?: The morning after Mac and Nikki spend the night together alone in the honeymoon suite, Jack makes pointed comments at how little sleep they appear to have had.
- Groin Attack: Sarah threatens Jack with this when he suggests a quick hookup before she gets married.Jack: We can gather together, side by side, arm in arm, just like old times.
Sarah: Teaming with operatives who know the suspect gives me the best chance of mission success.
Jack: Yeah, and if you think about it, it gives us really... really quality time together before you walk down the aisle...
Sarah: I'm just gonna stop you right here before you say something we both regret, because you'll be sterile, and I'll be in jail. - Guile Hero: When Nikki's lockup full of evidence is raided before the team reach it, they realise Chrysalis doesn't realise that was the only copy, and plan to smoke Chrysalis out by pretending she wants to sell them the only remaining copy.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: Nikki's handler died in a car accident two days after she asked to be pulled from the mission, leaving her stranded as no one else knew she was undercover.
- Mole in Charge: What Patricia Thornton is revealed to be.
- Shout-Out:
- Bozer asks Murdoc if he wants some fava beans and a nice chianti.
- Jack calls Nikki Mac's Kryptonite.
- Wham Line: When Mac, Jack and Sarah have Nikki cornered, she has a revelation for them.Nikki: Altiora Petimus... Bravo Seven.
Mac: What does that mean?
Sarah: Altiora Petimus... Bravo Seven. It's... it's an agency code for...
Riley: It means Nikki isn't a terrorist. She's actually a deep cover agent for the CIA. - Trap Is the Only Option: Mac argues that following up on Nikki's lead is the right thing to do despite the risk that she's leading them into a trap, because the possibility of a mole in the U.S. government is too dire to ignore. Downplayed as Nikki is being truthful.
- Trust Password: When Mac breaks into Nikki's phone, he guesses the number in one because it's his birthday. That makes Jack more suspicious of her, evidently thinking she chose that number as a manipulation tactic, but has to admit her phone being full of CIA codes such as a deep cover agent would have is pretty convincing.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Even after learning the truth about Nikki, Sarah has reservations.Sarah: Don't give me the "God and country" speech. You could have found another way into the Organization, one that didn't get your boyfriend shot and put millions of lives at risk. Even if everything you've told us is true... and I'm still not sure it is... I don't trust you, Nikki.
