A boy named Ryan goes missing. The team finds out he's a good student, but obsessed with safety after his father died and 9/11 happened. They wonder if Ryan being bullied has anything to do with his disappearance. Jack is worried about Danny's recklessness after Martin and Vivian return to work, and reams him out for it.
Tropes for this episode include:
- Bittersweet Ending: Everybody Lives and no one dies from the bomb threat. Three boys, however, are going to jail, though at least one is getting the psychiatric help he needs to deal with his suicidal tendencies and obsession with safety. Ryan and Charlie's friendship is also broken beyond repair, and they have to face the consequences.
- Driven to Suicide: Ryan has crossed the Despair Event Horizon in the climax. He prepares to blow himself up while crying. Fortunately, he made the bomb wrong with the wire separating from the detonator. Jack pulls Ryan away as he starts to break down and beg for the detonator to work.
- Et Tu, Brute?: Ryan calls out Charlie for letting Lance bully and torture him to boot. All Charlie said was that he made new friends.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Charlie runs away from home and is crumpled into a ball crying downtown. When Lance calls him, Charlie is crying through the phone calls saying that he's a big mess. Charlie reveals that he untied Ryan out of guilt for letting Lance torture him while shooing him out of the basement.
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: Charlie says that the bomb components were in Ryan's house, while he had the plans. The FBI revealed that his house had nothing, including the box on the roof. Ryan also had the detonator in his closet. Cue Mass "Oh, Crap!" as the realization hits everyone.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: Lance and Charlie both get interrogated by the FBI and are forced to admit that they tortured Ryan. Needless to say, Lance's popularity is going to go down the drain when the school finds out about their arrests the next day.
- Mama Didn't Raise No Criminal: Both Ryan and Charlie's mother express this, saying they can't quite believe that their children are making bombs, or that Charlie would torture the kid he considered a friend. Charlie's mother, however, orders him to cooperate with the FBI.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- Lance asks if he and Charlie will get a plea deal for confessing what they did to Ryan since they're helping to find Ryan, a potential terrorist. Jack fixes him with a flat look. He says from the evidence and the confession, it looks like Charlie and Lance killed Ryan by torturing him. Lance protests, but Jack says he sees plenty of kids like him: juvenile delinquents that think they did nothing wrong. Their only hope is if Charlie is alive to tell his side of the story.
- The FBI is relieved to find Ryan alive, as is his mother. They manage to disarm him and get him into an ambulance. When his mother wants to go see him, the cops have to tell him he's under arrest for making a bomb and trying to blow it up, so he needs to go to a hospital now.
- Talking Down the Suicidal: Realizing that Ryan is not evil but traumatized and betrayed by his former best friend, Danny takes the time to talk to him and treat him like a person. It doesn't work; Ryan has long since passed the Despair Event Horizon. Fortunately, he is terrible at making bombs.
- Then Let Me Be Evil: In the climax, Ryan tries to blow himself up in the climax after Charlie and Lance torture him to find the "bomb" he made with Charlie's plans. If he dies, then Charlie will be blamed because of the bomb plans.
- Thousand-Yard Stare: Ryan has one when Danny and Martin find him. Realizing that he has crossed the Despair Event Horizon, Danny tries talking him down.
- Troubled Child: Ryan's mother finds out that her son was tortured by the kids that he considered friends. And Charlie's parents learn that he tied one of his good friends up in their basement and pressed wires to him as a part of the torture. Charlie then ran away and is on the outskirts of downtown with Tears of Remorse. When they do reunite, his mother calls him out for his actions, and his dad is horrified when learning that Charlie helped Ryan assemble the components for a bomb.
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- Ryan says, "Why did you let him do that, Charlie?" as Charlie uses a knife to cut him free from the chair where he was tortured. Charlie's mother says something similar and orders him to cooperate with the FBI about the bomb threat. Even his dad can't defend him.
- Jack gets mad at Danny for risking his life in the climax. He says that someone else should have talked with Ryan so he wouldn't pull the detonator. Later, however, Jack admits he was too hard on Danny and says the real problem is they need a bigger team.
- Where Is The Kaboom: Played for Drama. It seems that Ryan will blow up the school using Charlie's plans and supplies, with Danny taking the brunt of the force. Ryan clicks the detonator, and nothing happens. He then starts clicking it repeatedly. Jack seizes his chance and pulls Ryan away from the explosives.
