With a little more than four hours left before the 2 p.m. deadline, Hunt announces that he'll be the lead negotiator. Sam, who is understandably uneasy putting his fate in the hands of Gene "Body Count, Shmody Count" Hunt, suggests that maybe he could play the leading role in this -- after all, he's trained other officers in the hostage confrontation program for years. Maybe in 2008 you did, smart guy. But in 1973, that program is less than a year old. Because of your sneakiness, the part of commander for this operation will be assumed by Ray Carling. A hung-over meathead coordinating a police operation to arrest an armed and desperate man -- what could possibly go wrong?

With lives on the line -- specifically, his own -- Sam is not about to take getting passed over for Carling lying down. He tells Skelton that he wants to know everything that's going on inside that hospital via remote monitoring methods. When Skelton stares back blankly at him -- though in fairness, that could just be his default expression -- Sam tells him to "think outside the box." There's that default expression again. "Be clever," Sam clarifies. Skelton says he can do that; we'll just wait for a little supporting evidence before we back him up on that. After Chris leaves to be puzzled elsewhere, Sam tells Annie he wants her to start working on a profile of the hostage-taker's wine-dark mind, using her mad psych degree skillz. Annie agrees and then wonders why Sam is being such a bossy little douchebag. Okay, she asks it nicer, but that's the subtext. Sam fills her in on the whole a-phone-call-from-2008-told-me-that-they're-shutting-off-my-life-support plot point, which causes the last bit of her sympathy for Sam to wither up and die. "Your ego," she says disgustedly. "Your monster ego. Sam, there are people in danger in that building, people on the wrong side of a crazy person's gun, and somehow, this is all about you?" Well, when you put it that way... Nevertheless, Sam insists there's a connection between the 2 p.m. deadlines of 1973 and 2008 and that he's the guy who needs to put a stop to whatever it is that's going to happen. That does not deter Annie from her riot-act reading: "Here's a psych term for you: narcissism. An exaggerated sense of self-importance. I think you've got a bad case of it." Oh, and just to add insult to injury, here are her parting words: "I never thought I'd say this, but I'm glad Ray's calling the shots." Let's see if she still feels that way after Carling inevitably orders her to put on a slinky cocktail dress and strut in front of him because it helps his "thinking muscle."