Season 2, Episode 14
Directed by Edward Ornelas
Written by Travis Donnelly, Sarah H Haught, Marissa Matteo, & H Park
Keep Your Friends Close
Someone hacking into air traffic control at LaGuardia Airport nearly causes a crash between two planes. Bull assists in the FBI's case against security analyst Malcolm Swift, but Cable learns that the accused is the husband of her (pregnant) old college roommate, and risks everything to prove his innocence.- Defector from Commie Land: Malcolm's family originated from the Soviet Union, and their poor treatment from the CIA is speculated as a motive for the hack when initially looking into the case.
- Evil Former Friend: Sarah, Cable's pregnant friend, uses their connection and her vulnerability to trick Cable into using a flash drive with a virus that deletes everything incriminating Malcolm.
- Fun with Acronyms: Cable notices the name "JANET" while comparing Malcolm's digital signature, provided in a flash drive by Sarah, with the hacker's. It stands for "Joint Air Network Employee Transportation", and is a secret, discreet method of transporting military personnel across the country.
- Infraction Distraction: The hack turns out to have been a distraction while downloading information on a secret government project worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
- Hoist by Their Own Petard: The data on the flash drive, which carried the virus meant to free Malcolm, also revealed Malcolm's true crime.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Despite the fact that Cable's actions ultimately revealed the true reason behind the hack attack on the air traffic control and got all involved convicted, she still committed evidence tampering in a case against the FBI and so Bull fires her — and she's noted as being lucky to have avoided going to jail.
- To Be Lawful or Good: Cable is presented with the dilemma of choosing between talking to Sarah, an old friend in clear distress (Good), or walking away from her, as her confidentiality clause demands (Lawful). She chooses to be Good, which sets her up for a second Lawful vs. Good choice; does she take the flash drive that Sarah offers her with an exact copy of Malcom's digital signature, which will guarantee the absolute best comparison and could be what exonerates Malcom, who is the father of Sarah's child, or does she refuse it and walk away, which is what the law requires her to do? In the end, Cable chooses to be Good rather than Lawful a second time. Which comes back to bite her when the flash drive is actually a hacking tool primed to erase the FBI server containing copies of the hacker's signature from the event.
- What the Hell, Hero?: In trying to prove Malcolm's innocence for her desperate, pregnant friend, Cable unwittingly unleashes a virus on a server that deletes all vital information, committing the crime of evidence tampering, and Bull ultimately fires her for it.
