Jarod, driving out of Chicago after a successful pretend, listens to a late-night talk radio show hosted by Neil Roberts (Bryan Cranston), who frequently discusses government conspiracies. Neil has been receiving a series of creepy messages in the mail, and the author of the messages comes to his studio armed with a shotgun and attacks him while he's on the air. Jarod returns to Chicago and offers his assistance in identifying the attacker and preventing him doing further harm.
Tommy Gates tells Miss Parker he has finished the renovation job that brought him to Delaware; his next fixer-upper is in Oregon, and he wants Miss Parker to leave the Centre and go with him. Miss Parker struggles with her loyalties, and at first breaks up with Tommy before realizing that it's time to put herself first for once. She tells Tommy that she will go with him, warning him first that with her troubled past she's going to require some renovation work herself.
This episode contains examples of:
- Area 51: Neil's first caller at the beginning of the episode has a conspiracy theory involving a secret meeting of the Trilateral Commission at Area 51.
- Armor-Piercing Response: When asked about his exploits, Jarod says the powers that be separated him from his parents and that he's spent a long time searching for them. Neil admits he has no clever one-liner for such a moving story.
- Ascended Fanboy: Of a sort. Jarod has regularly listened to Neil's show and called in often enough to be known by the host. He becomes a Guest Host as part of helping Neil out.
- The Atoner: Neil's crusade against conspiracies is motivated by guilt about a secret medical test program he helped conduct while he was in the Army. He's also anonymously helping out Patty, whose congenital disability he believes is a consequence of her mother being one of the subjects in the test program.
- Batman Gambit: Expecting Spence to try to get to Neil by killing Patricia, Jarod simply waits at her apartment for him to show up and ambushes him.
- Berserk Button: Jarod tries to goad "Pavlov" by openly denouncing him as a coward on the radio. "Pavlov" fights fire with fire by suggesting Jarod's beloved parents are dead.
- Book Safe: One of the books on Neil's shelf has been hollowed out to contain a cache of newspaper clippings and mementoes related to his secret project.
- Call-Back:
- During a heart-to-heart about her choice, Sydney reminds Miss Parker of how he lost out on a life with Michelle and Nicholas because "the powers that be" interfered in his life.
- Neil knows Jarod is the mysterious good Samaritan helping people across the country. He has newspaper clippings detailing such incidents as hospital fraud, a murder in a hazmat unit, a crooked parole officer's thefts, a professor burying a student alive, and a tribal scandal.
- Captain Obvious: Broots says Mr. Parker would freak if Miss Parker left outright. Miss Parker "thanks" Broots for pointing out the obvious.
- Chekhov's Gun: Part of the gimmick of Neil's radio show is that he hosts it from a "secret bunker", linking in from a location known only to his producer while she runs the technical side of things at the radio station. At the climax of the episode, Mr. Lyle and a sweeper team barge into the radio station while Jarod and Neil are chatting on the air, expecting to find Jarod in the studio with Neil, only to find that this time Neil is in the studio but Jarod is linking in from somewhere else.
- Come Back to Bed, Honey: At the beginning of the episode, Tommy gets out of bed to go to work; Miss Parker wraps an arm around him and tells him he needs to learn how to sleep in. He succumbs to her persuasion.
- Conspiracy Theorist:
- Neil Roberts is a milder version. He believes in exposing bad conspiracies and is quite paranoid (but the latter is because someone actually is trying to kill him). He also makes a point of not accepting every conspiracy theory he comes across, reminding his listeners to check the evidence and never stop questioning.
- His first caller, who claims to have an Air Force document describing a secret meeting of the Trilateral Commission at Area 51, is a more regular example.
- Continuity Nod: Neil reveals to Jarod that among the conspiracies he's tracking he has a file on Jarod's activities, which is full of newspaper clippings referring to the events of earlier episodes.
- Desk Sweep of Rage: Jarod sweeps a bunch of stuff of a desk in anger after losing the "Phone Trace Race."
- Don't Explain the Joke: Jarod's radio handle is the Middleman. Broots later lampshades how this refers to the Centre, prompting an irritated Mr. Lyle to chastise him for bothering to point out the obvious.
- Don't Be Ridiculous: After listening to the conspiracy theory about the Trilateral Commission at Area 51, Jarod remarks that it couldn't possibly be true because on the date in question those individuals were having brunch at the Centre.
- Everyone Has Standards: Neil makes a career out of railing against conspiracies, but only bad conspiracies. He would never consider doing anything to endanger Jarod's work.
- The Gadfly: During his gambit with the three syringes, Jarod happily eats some chocolate in front of Spence and comments on how good sugar tastes. He adds that a 1 out of 3 chance doesn't make for very good odds before getting up to leave.
- Hypocrite: Neil bemoans to Jarod how, for all his tough talk now about speaking truth to power, he did nothing when his superiors told him to not concern himself with what effect the experiments would have on a pregnant woman.
- In-Series Nickname:
- In this episode, Miss Parker's father tells a story about why he always calls her "Angel".
- Some of the regular callers to Neil's program have nicknames. Jarod goes by "The Middleman" when he calls in to talk about the Centre, which Neil further nicknames to "Double M".
- Jarod dubs Neil's stalker "Pavlov" because of a bell that rings in the background during one of his calls.
- Jumped at the Call: The second Jarod hears the gunshots on Neil's show, he does a u-turn and speeds towards Chicago.
- My Greatest Failure: Neil was a doctor in the military and part of Spence's experiments, though he thought they were simply testing vaccines on soldiers. He knew Patricia's mother was pregnant at the time and had test results indicating she would have an adverse reaction to all this, which he brought up to his superiors. He was told to drop it and, convinced they knew better, did so. Sometime after his transfer, he learned about Patricia's degenerative nerve disorder and how she'd spend her life in a wheelchair. He never forgave himself for it and spent years doing whatever he could to help her (be it funding a foundation or sending assorted tapes discussing various subjects).
- Never My Fault: Spence wants revenge against Neil for being sent to prison, completely glossing over how it was his own actions that led to that fate. As Jarod says, all Neil did was reveal what Spence had done.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: During the climax, Jarod observes how Spence is obsessively trying to get revenge all because Neil simply told the truth about what was being done to innocent people.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Jarod notes how Neil is in the same boat he's in: relentlessly stalked by a merciless opponent who will do everything to keep him from a loved one and having peace of mind.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: At one point, after Miss Parker has broken up with Tommy and is trying to pretend that she's okay with that decision, her phone rings; she picks up and immediately says, "I'm sorry, Tommy", which is a conspicuous departure from her established habit of answering the phone with a single impatient "What?".
- Out-Gambitted:
- Jarod tries to goad "Pavlov" into calling into the show and staying on the line long enough to run a trace. It fails because "Pavlov" knows how long that takes.
- Jarod fully anticipated that Revenge by Proxy was a possibility and simply waited for Spence to show up at Patricia's apartment.
- The Password Is Always "Swordfish": The password to access Neil's computer is "Patty", the name of the most important woman in his life. Maybe slightly less insecure than usual, since he's taken steps to make sure nobody knows about Patty, but a real password would have been better. (Of course, then Jarod wouldn't have been able to guess it when the plot needed him to.)
- Phone-Trace Race: During one of Pavlov's calls to the radio station, Jarod tries to keep him talking while the radio show's producer traces the call. He suspects what they're doing and hangs up before the trace completes.
- Plot Parallel: Neil and Miss Parker have parallel character arcs in the episode. Both have had their lives damaged by involvement with shady organizations. Both have few friends, and each has one particular person who is very important to them but whom they have kept at a distance and ignorant of the shady part of their life. Each ends the episode choosing to open up to that person.
- Red Herring: After Jarod and Angela go to meet Patty, the audience sees a sinisterly-framed figure with a handgun watching them leave the building, with the implication that it's the stalker and he's about to do something to hurt Patty. Nothing does happen, though, and it turns out later that the figure was Neil, keeping an eye on her.
- Revenge: At the start of his radio career, Neil did shows about the experiments that Spence was performing on soldiers. Jarod explains the Army was prompted to shut down the experiments, conduct an internal investigation, and throw Spence in prison for seven years. As he says, quite a way to develop a lasting grudge.
- Revenge by Proxy: Having twice failed to get Neil, Spence settles for trying to kill Patricia.
- Secret Secret-Keeper: Neil has tracked reports of "a very clever person" that keeps turning up to help the little guy when no one else will. He quickly realized it was "the Middleman" behind all this, but he wouldn't even think of exposing him on the air.
- Shrouded in Myth: The last newspaper clipping in Neil's collection isn't a reference to a past episode, but instead a piece titled "Who is Jarod?" that discusses the various claims of the mystery Samaritan purported to be helping people all over the country.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Spence clearly has a high opinion of himself, what with all the "powers that be" talk he keeps using to describe himself. Though certainly a credible threat, he's still not comparable to the pursuit team that Jarod has to deal with every week.
- A Taste Of His Own Medicine: Almost pretty literally this time. Jarod restrains Spence by tying him in a wheelchair, likening it to Patty's situation. He had also learned from the military file that Spence has diabetes, so he presents three syringes. He claims one has insulin and the other two have experimental drugs, remarking this is no different than the soldiers that Spence experimented on. Spence ultimately cracks under the pressure and confesses, only to learn that all three had insulin in them.
- This Is Gonna Suck: When Angela says some guys in suits were at the station looking for him, Jarod immediately realizes just how bad it is.Jarod: Sweepers.
Neil: Who are they?
Jarod: The powers that be. - Title Drop: "Maybe you should call me 'P.T.B.'."
- Villain Has a Point:
- Spence correctly deduces that Jarod leads a lonely life, is consumed with finding his family, and secretly worries there's no one left to find.
- Neil thinks Spence has a point about him being a coward, as he didn't stand up for Patricia's mother before things went wrong.
- Villainous Vow: While confessing, Spence admits he vowed to ruin and kill Neil for his time in prison.
- Wanting Is Better Than Having: When dishing out justice against Spence, Jarod laments how achieving his dream of escaping The Centre just led to him spending every day being relentlessly pursued.Spence: I went to prison for that!
Jarod: YOU DON'T KNOW THE FIRST THING ABOUT PRISON! Sometimes the worst kind of prison is the one you have to wake up to every morning, when you think you're out free in the world, and you're being hunted and stalked. - Wham Shot:
- As Spence talks to Jarod on the show, we see he's standing behind Neil's car.
- After doing some more research, Jarod walks through a parking lot and finds a gun being pressed against his back. He thinks Spence has ambushed him, but it's actually Neil.
- Jarod not being in the studio with Neil when the pursuit team arrives.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Neil suffers from a crisis of conscience connected to his status as "The Atoner", believing that he'll never be able to make up for his involvement in the Army's secret test program or to earn a happy life. Jarod tells him that he's better than he thinks, and in the course of his investigation finds evidence that Neil did more good than he knew both as part of the secret program (which was worse when he wasn't involved) and afterward (as the Army quietly shut it down after Neil started using his radio program to draw attention to it).
- You're Insane!: Spence's response to Jarod's gambit with the three syringes.
