Dan: I tried to find you.
Rebecca: No you didn't. And every time I tried to find you, someone would say that you had just left the place that someone else had just said you had been right before.
Dan: That was a truly spectacular sentence.
Directed by Alex Graves
Written by Aaron Sorkin, Paul Redford, & Joan Binder Weiss (uncredited)
A bomb threat temporarily shuts down the building, which ends up freaking Casey and Dan out. Dana has to deal with the network, in the form of J.J., as she tries to do her job and Isaac's while Isaac is in the hospital. Jeremy decides it's best for everyone, given what's going on, if he temporarily breaks up with Natalie, but she refuses to accept it.
This episode contains examples of:
- By "No", I Mean "Yes": Rebecca accuses Dan of avoiding her during the bomb scare; he says he wasn't, but then admits he was.
- Call-Back:
- When Dana makes fun of Casey being afraid after the bomb scare, he reminds her she's afraid of fish.
- When Jeremy tries to justify temporarily breaking up with Natalie, he reminds her he's been distracted since finding out his father cheated on his mother.
- Continuity Nod: Dan's still afraid Rebecca's going back to her husband (though he won't force the issue).
- Department of Redundancy Department: Lampshaded:Dan: There was a bomb scare.Dana: I know. Casey-Casey: There was a bomb scare.Dana: Did you know the two of you have been repeating that over and over for the last hour and twenty minutes? Do you know you've been repeating that over and over?Dan: Yes.Dana: Why?Casey: There was a bomb scare.Dana:...It's over now.Casey: Well, it worked.Dana: What do you-?Casey: We're scared!
- Ms. Fanservice: Natalie.Natalie: I'd just like to confirm for everybody that I am Jeremy's girlfriend.Jeremy: Natalie.Natalie: I'm his girlfriend and he's seen me naked many times.Jeremy: Natalie!Natalie: Sometimes, I do a little dance.Jeremy: (to Will, who's turned around to look) Eyes front, mister!
- Please Dump Me: Subverted and Played for Laughs; Jeremy tries to ask other woman out, including Dana, but no one will do so because they won't accept he's breaking up with Natalie.Jeremy: That's it; I'm calling the police!
- Running Gag: Natalie is mildly obsessed with a story about Pluto still being considered a planet.
- Sanity Slippage / "Eureka!" Moment: When Dan greets Sally normally ("Hey, Sally"), she snaps at him, and realizes she's coming unglued. Casey and Dan decide to do this to Dana and Natalie because they think they've been acting too calm given the craziness of what's happened. Subverted, however, in that Dana and Natalie don't snap.
- Foreshadowing: Dana does eventually snap, however, in the season finale.
- Shaped Like Itself:Dan: Dana, somebody just tried to blow up this building and you people are walking around like... somebody didn't just try to blow up this building!
- Shout-Out: Dave calls Will and Chris Betty and Wilma.
- The Show Must Go On: Dana uses a variation on this to finally get Casey and Dan to get ready to go on.Casey: Is there anyone who can say anything that will make us feel like the smart thing to do is to stay in this building right now?Dana: In ten minutes, three and a half million people will tune in to watch the two of you on television. Many of them will be women.Casey: (Beat) All right.
- Title Drop:Dan: It was a bomb scare, Rebecca, I was serpentining. I was employing the covert ordnance tactics that I learned.Rebecca: Where did you learn covert ordnance tactics?
