K&R: Part 3

2:45 AM. Jack's feet walk into Studio 60, past the press who have been camped out there since the story of Tom's brother's kidnapping broke. His feet, followed by that of a security guard, make their way up to Danny's office. Simon broods in the dark. Jack isn't happy, and tells Simon why: "No wonder those guys want to kill us. I live here and I want to kill us." Simon's last words may in fact be his last as a performer, unless he gives the apology Jack wants him to give. Of course, Simon tells him to fuck off (though not in those exact words), which sends Jack searching for the booze. It's going to be a long night.

Back in the office with a bottle found in Simon's dressing room, Jack takes a slightly gentler tack. Is Simon suicidal, maybe, and that's the reason why Simon went off? Now that story he can spin. Simon explains, first by saying that the press at their back door? The entertainment news outlets, which shows the angle everyone is taking is that it's a celebrity's brother, and moreover a celebrity who just appeared in a (unseen to us, thank goodness -- those Studio 60 sketches tend to be dullsville if not outright awful) sketch potentially offensive to Muslims. It's not about the war for them. Jack tried to keep the story off the air, which incenses Simon further -- is Jack trying to get Simon to apologize for the sake of the show, or for the sake of Mark and his fellow soldiers? Still not leaving the apology thing alone, Jack mentions that in 1993 Congress apologized to the Kingdom of Hawai'i for overthrowing their monarchy in 1893. Simon offers to apologize to Hawai'i himself. Simon pretty much dares Jack to fire him. Which Jack is happy to do, but that doesn't matter to him as much as Simon apologizing. For once he'd like to do this right.

And when I say "this", I mean Studio 60 staff apologizing for content, which is pretty much what got Danny and Matt fired. Even though their sketch, where Karl Rove goes to Hollywood to pitch ideas to movie studios after 9/11, made it through the dress rehearsal with nary a protest from sales, marketing, or legal, Monday morning founds conservative radio hosts in an uproar. With threats of boycotts for Studio 60 sponsors, Jack asks that Matt and Danny make a formal apology or they're gone. They counter by saying that he can't fire them, only Wes can. Calling their bluff, Jack calls for his assistant to get Wes, still recuperating, on the phone. In another flashback, we see that Harriet warned Matt about the potential of the sketch, asking him to cut it if it didn't survive the dress rehearsal. She's pretty sure Matt's just putting it through to get back at her for dating Luke (snooze), but he's insistent: "I'm Jewish! I wanted to kill Arabs long before any of you!" At that precise moment, the studio was conveniently silent so everybody -- dress audience, cast, crew, execs -- got to hear it. Way to be, Matt!

At the hospital, Harriet tries to distract Danny with her Holly Hunter impression. Which is about as successful as that sounds. The doctor reports that while they've managed to get Jordan's blood to clot, she has an infection and is still critical. Harriet gets Danny into a chapel, and tries to teach him to pray -- relentless Christian. Harriet tells him to kneel, as he has choices but needs humility and to show respect. He bristles when Harriet says that he's gotten everything he ever wanted -- he had to work for it. He got what he wanted because he went for it. And if there's no action he can take now, why can't God just fix it? Feeling a bit wrong about being in the chapel at all, Danny leaves. Harriet looks up and says that Danny was not without some good points before getting up and following him.

Mary, Matt, and Jack pitch the Trask option to Tom, who has lots of questions for Mary about statistics and about whether or not they really know where the soldiers are. Mary can get some more answers for him, but reminds him that she's doing the best she can: "I'm a sexual harassment lawyer. I'm not with The A-Team." Bwa! While Tom appreciates the offer, he doesn't want to interfere with whatever the miltary might have going on. From the corridor, he catches the eye of Captain Boyle who, having already wondered aloud about Mary being at the studio at 3:00 in the morning, has sussed out what Tom is being pitched. Captain Boyle tells Tom a story about a VIP getting kidnapped a few years ago. Insurance refused to pay the $3,000,000 ransom, so the non-VIP who also got nabbed was killed. After that, the ransom was raised to $11,000,000. Now, the going rate for a hostage in Colombia is exactly that. The jihadists who got Mark and the other soldiers? They're not screwing around. Tom reminds Captain Boyle that it's really hard to manage the press at a time like this. Boyle, being himself, can only imagine as he's only ever had to spend his adult life worrying about people kiling him. Ooh... burn? This is all well and good until Boyle gets a secure call -- in a few minutes, Al-Jazeera will air 4-month old footage of another man being beheaded. They're going to say it's Airman Valdez, and he cautions Tom to stay calm. Tom considers this until he watches the story himself, and immediately begins proceedings to begin the rescue with Trask.

Mary reminds Matt of Danny and Jordan's precarious situation. While it isn't polite, getting Jordan to sign guardianship papers for Danny is the best way to ensure Danny doesn't lose her or the baby should something go wrong. Matt bristles, but even he knows that while it may be impolite, it's the thing to do. He asks Mary if she can draw up the papers.