President Reyes denies involvement in the murder of a U.S. Senator, and Jack's investigation into the cargo ship leads to an uncomfortable realisation. Meanwhile, a former Navy man is recruited for a secretive mission in Venezuela, and Jack is attacked by an assassin.
Tropes:
- Bathroom Brawl: Jack is assaulted in his hotel bathroom by Max Schenkel, who first tries to drown him in the bathtub. When Jack fores his way out of that, the assassin tries strangling and then suffocating him with a bag. Jack survives by pulling out the pocket knife Moreno gave him and stabbing his attacker in first the leg, then the eye.
- Blatant Lies: President Reyes produces "proof" that Senator Moreno was murdered by radical separatists, who have now been apprehended by Venezuelan forces.
- Call-Back:
- Jack defends himself from an assassin with the pocket knife Moreno gave him for his birthday.
- Harriet Baumann, or "Lena" as she previously introduced herself, resurfaces. She's actually a BND agent tracking Max Schenkel, a former agent turned assassin.
- Max Schenkel escapes due to Greer's heart condition preventing him from pursuing him.
- Dare to Be Badass: Matice bawls out Bishop for wallowing in self-pity after washing out of BUD/S and goads Bishop into joining him on a black operation.
- Everyone Is Single: Jack, Greer and Mike November establish during a car journey that they're all either divorced or single. Greer's divorced, while November's divorced twice, from the same woman.Jack: What, you didn't learn your lesson the first time?
November: The heart wants what the heart wants.
Jack: So, you planning to go for the hat trick? - Eye Scream: Jack turns the tide in his fight with the assassin by getting hold of the knife Moreno gave him and jabbing it into first his leg, then the assassin's eye.
- Femme Fatale: Harriet Baumann, previously known as Lena, reveals herself to be a private detective searching for a kidnapped German businessman. Except that's a lie too; she's actually a BND agent, and the "businessman" is Max Schenkel, her former mentor.
- Gratuitous Latin: The title means "third option" in Latin, and refers to the President having an option besides diplomacy and military action.
- Leave No Witnesses: Captain Ramos turns to the American Embassy, offering information for sanctuary, but is found poisoned in his cell before he can identify his family's killer.
- Line-of-Sight Name: The second alias given by Harriet Baumann is Lee Kline, after two American jeans companies, Lee and Calvin Kline.
- Oh, Crap!: Jack's reaction when he sneaks onto the ship he's been tracking. On being accosted by a heavy, he's rescued by the woman he hooked up with last episode, which kinda tips him off that he may have been honey trapped. In a later meeting, he gives her a drink with her own bug in it.
- Overshadowed by Awesome: Marcus Bishop has an inadequacy complex due to other members of his family having long and illustrious military careers while his own, in his opinion, doesn't match theirs.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Max Schenkel, the assassin who tries to kill Jack in his hotel bathroom, has this reaction to being stabbed in the eye. Understandably.
- Spotting the Thread: Jack realises Matteo Bastos is the killer of Captain Ramos' family when he notices he's favouring his left arm, which Ramos' dog bit.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Jack delivers a blistering one to Harriet Baumann, who still tries to work together despite the fact that her story changes every time they've met and he can't trust her as far as he could throw her.
