A lot of interesting stuff goes on in this week’s episode of ‘Hostages’, as the series starts to put its focus back on the plot to assassinate the President. Of course, ‘Hostages’ wouldn’t be ‘Hostages’ without the Sanders family once again trying to get out of their predicament. This time, they attempt to kill Duncan with the same chemical that Ellen is supposed to use during her operation on the President.

Since Ellen’s gun was discovered in last week’s episode, the family must find a new way to kill Duncan. Ellen says that she knows someone who might be able to take care of him. However, while she’s gone, Brian decides that he’ll load up a syringe with the chemical mentioned above and inject Duncan with it as soon as an opportunity presents itself.

Meanwhile, we learn that Archer – who’s now in prison – is in the same cell block as another man who assisted him in the murder of Ellen’s co-worker earlier in the series. While viewers originally got the impression that Duncan sent Archer to jail because the Secret Service was onto him and because he was upset that Archer killed the nurse instead of just tucking her away somewhere until their assassination plot was completed, this week we find out that he’s actually gone to jail to silence the other witness to the nurse’s death. However, the other man has a friend in one of the prison guards, who makes it quite clear to Archer (via a beating) that he better not lay a finger on his intended victim. Archer spends most of this week’s episode working on a way to get rid of the other prisoner. He finally incites a prison yard riot, during which he kills the prisoner in all the confusion. Contacting Duncan, he tells him the problem has been taken care of, and Duncan promises in return that he’ll make a phone call that will result in Archer getting out of jail.

Last week, Morgan went to the hospital to make sure she was really pregnant. The nurse, seeing the bruises on the girl’s arm, thought that she was being abused. This week, Morgan gets interviewed by a social worker, who also later interviews Jake Sanders. Both of the Sanders children try to cover up the fact that they’re in a hostage situation, but when Jake can see that the social worker isn’t buying his story, he tells her that he got in a fight with Morgan’s boyfriend, whom he implies is the one abusing her.

We learn that Burton (played by Larry Pine), who has been watching over Duncan’s daughter, is actually Duncan’s father-in-law, and that (as I guessed here a few weeks back) Kramer is Duncan’s brother-in-law. What we didn’t know – and find out this week – is that Ellen already knows Burton, and he’s the guy she thinks can help the family kill Duncan. Ellen visits him and tells him all about their situation, but then Duncan’s daughter comes downstairs and reveals that she met Ellen at her school. Ellen then realizes who Burton is, and Burton sits Ellen down and tries to explain to her why they need to kill the President. As it turns out, Burton was the lawyer who helped Ellen when she killed a rapist during her hospital residency, and when it came time to find a surgeon for the assassination plot, Burton recommended Ellen. Burton explains to Ellen that if they kill Duncan, the people behind this plot will not hesitate to slaughter the rest of them.

Kramer is worried about the limo driver he had to knock out when he and Sandrine held up that high-stakes poker game. He learns that the driver died and goes to talk to his father, Burton, about it. (Ellen has left at this point.) Burton tells his son that he needs to forget about it and move on, but Kramer – who is a recovering alcoholic – heads to a local bar for a drink. Before he can take a swig, however, Sandrine shows up and lays a whopper of a kiss on him.

After being absent from a number of episodes, both President Kincaid and the First Lady reappear this week, and we learn that the First Lady has a younger sister (played by ‘Warehouse 13’ star Joanne Kelly, who’s about 20 years younger than Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, so she’s a really younger sister!). The President apparently didn’t get along with very well with her late husband. Viewers also discover that the President had an affair at one point with the sister, and she regrets it horribly. Did the President kill his former brother-in-law? Probably.

Back at the Sanders’ home, Brian is just about ready to inject Duncan with the syringe when Ellen comes through the door. She tries to get Brian to stop. Duncan realizes what’s going on and lunges at Brian. During the scuffle, Brian plants the needle and the syringe firmly in Duncan’s chest.

So, as you can see, a lot happens this week – though the cliffhanger ending is rather silly. We all know that there’s no chance of Duncan being killed at this point in the series – not to mention the fact that he’s walking around just fine in the previews for next week’s episode.