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 It becomes obvious to everyone that the sucide of Erin Driscoll's daughter has greatly impeded her ability to lead CTU effectively. Heller orders Tony to call Division and have them send a replacement. Tony informs Heller of his experience running CTU and suggests that he would be capable of replacing Erin on a provisional basis. Heller agrees to make Tony the interim CTU Director, but maintains that he call Division to send a permanent replacement. Tony gets on with running the operation. He and Jack learn that McLennan-Forster, a defense contractor corporation and CTU's only link to Habib Marwan, is planning to detonate an Electro-Magnetic Pulse Bomb to destroy any evidence linking them to terrorism. Despite their best efforts, CTU is unable to stop it and Jack loses all contact with CTU. Just as all hell is breaking loose, Tony's replacement arrives from Division, and no one is
more shocked than Tony to discover the new CTU Director is none other than his former wife, Michelle Dessler.
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 Tony is in a briefing with Erin Driscoll, Sarah Gavin and Edgar Stiles. Tony suggests that they re-distribute resources in an effort to weed out some of the additional sleeper cells Marwan may use to execute a further attack that day. Erin stares off in space, having just found out her schizophrenic daughter committed suicide in the CTU clinic. She asks Tony to repeat the question. Tony does. Erin looks confused. Tony once again rephrases the question, suggesting they take 20% of resources to look for additional cells. Erin agrees with Tony's plan, then excuses herself. Sarah says they should report her to Heller. Tony does not want to make waves yet, so tells Sarah to keep quiet for now, but it is clear he sees an opportunity.
 Tony, Heller and Driscoll discuss the probability of Marwan launching additional attacks with his sleeper cells. In the middle of the meeting, Erin faints. Heller calls in someone to take her down to the cafeteria and get her some food. After she is gone, Heller remarks that Erin will have to be relieved of duty. Tony sees his one window of opportunity to make a play to get his life back. He tells Heller he ran CTU for two years and that he can step in as Interim Director until they find a permanent replacement for Erin. Heller is apprehensive, saying that Tony is not fluent in their new systems. Tony cuts him off at the pass, noting that Heller doesn't need a programmer -- he needs a decision maker who knows CTU protocols. Heller, impressed with Tony's confidence, makes Tony the Interim Director of CTU under his authority. No one seems more surprised than Tony himself.
Erin packs up her things to leave CTU and hands over all the access codes for CTU and Division to Tony. As Tony receives the codes, a look of pain crosses his face -- yes, he is getting his life back, but at the expense of Erin's grief and her daughter's death. Ever the altruist, this is not lost on our Almeida.
In classic Almeida fashion, Tony addresses CTU staff, a position he never again thought he'd be in. He informs them of his position as temporary CTU Director. As he tells the staff he mostly is there to support them, we definitely witness a softer, more humble Tony.
 Curtis tries to supercede Tony's authority by pulling Edgar off data analysis of McLennan-Forster and putting him on satellite imagery analysis to find Marwan. Tony overhears this and pulls rank on Curtis, ordering Edgar to stay on task. Curtis obviously has his nose bent out of shape that Tony was appointed Interim Director instead of him. He has no respect for Tony's history at CTU or his abilities to lead the team. He accuses Tony of going against him simply to establish his position. In vintage Almeida form, Tony shoots back that he doesn't HAVE to establish position because he's already got it, and that although he respects Curtis's opinion, when they disagree, he has final say. He assures Curtis that his tenure there is only temporary, and as soon as the crisis is over, he will be leaving CTU. Curtis doesn't seem convinced. Neither does the audience. In fact, neither does Tony himself.
 Over at McLennan-Forster, the CEO and his cronies have activated a non-lethal Electro-Magnetic Pulse weapon in order to destroy evidence that Marwan used their company as a terrorist conduit while undercover as an employee there before Jack and Paul Raines can get to it. Tony cannot get through to Jack's cell or using a landline. Desperately, he initiates a chat session through the company's internal computer network. Tony and Jack instant message back and forth urgently, using the aliases IPN-T and LOC-J to get the information on the EMP's location before it goes off. This seems a massive homage to the crazy internet fans of 24.
 Tony updates Heller on the EMP. Just then, Heller's phone rings. He is informed that Driscoll's replacement from Division has arrived. Tony is surprised how quickly they found someone. Heller thanks him for his efforts and asks him to stay on and assist Ms. Dessler. Tony does a double take. "Who?" he asks, his face pinching in that classic Almeida way. "Michelle Dessler," Heller replies. "Do you know her?" Tony turns his head to see Michelle striding in, looking polished, confident and in-charge, a vision of perfection and beauty, surrounded by her obligatory Division minions. "I used to be married to her," he whispers lowly, overcome by seeing the love of his life under such circumstances. The tone of his voice and the look on his face tell us that he knows losing her was the biggest mistake of his life.
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Sarah: Are we gonna ignore what just happened here?
Edgar: Whaddaya mean?
Tony: She's talkin' about Erin Driscoll.
Sarah: She can't focus. She shouldn't be running this place.
Edgar: Her daughter died a few minutes ago. Give her a little more time.
Sarah: More time? Edgar, since when do we have the luxury of time?
Edgar: She's not stupid, Sarah, she knows what's at stake here.
Tony: You're right, Sarah, we don't have the luxury of time. We have work to do and our work does not include deciding Erin Driscoll's fate.
Sarah: I think we have to tell Secretary Heller.
Tony: No, we don't, not yet. Now let's get back on it.
Heller: She's gonna need to be relieved of duty. Contact Division. Alert them to the situation and tell them to send someone.
Tony: I ran this office for two years. I could take over for Erin on a provisional basis.
Heller: Forget for the moment that you technically don't even work here. You've been away quite awhile. You're not fluent with the new systems.
Tony: With all due respect, Sir, you don't need a programmer. What you need is a decision-maker who knows how to stack up protocols.
Heller: And you can do that?
Tony: Yessir, I can.
Heller: Fine, effective immediately you're the Interim Director of CTU Los Angeles under my authority. I still wanna contact District, have them send someone on a more permanent basis.
Tony: I understand, Sir.
Tony: Could I have everybody's attention, please. By now you all know that I've taken over Erin Driscoll's command on a purely provisional basis. All protocols remain the same, but I want updates from department heads every fifteen minutes. Other than that, I'm just here to support ya, so let's get back to work.
[Curtis has just asked Edgar to shift his focus to satellite analysis from data analysis for Jack]
Edgar: You're gonna have to talk to Tony about that. I'm supposed to be backing up Jack and Paul at McLennan-Forster.
Curtis: Put somebody else on that, this is more important.
Tony: (walking over) What's more important?
Curtis: You've got 75% of our people on McLennan-Forster. I need Edgar to help me find a thread on Marwan.
Tony: No, we don't have much of a chance of finding anything on Marwan by satellite. Our best chance of picking up a thread is through those files at McLennan-Forster, stay on that.
Curtis: We can't afford one security-grade analyst?
Tony: Yeah, one. But not Edgar. Put somebody else on it.
Curtis: Tony. Are we trying to accomplish the same thing here, or is this about you establishing position?
Tony: I don't have to establish position. I've already got it. Now whaddaya say we stop wasting time armwrestling here. I respect your opinion, but we're gonna disagree from time to time and when we do, we're gonna do it my way.
Curtis: Fine. But I suggest you put more manpower into a data search for Marwan.
Tony: Aight. Grab a couple people from image processing and work the satellites with them. Curtis...don't worry. I'm gonna be outta here when this crisis is over, but in the meantime I want the same thing you do. I want to find Habib Marwan, alright?
[the following is a word for word transcript of Tony and Jack's instant message chat on the McLennan-Forster computer network]
IPN-T: Jack are you there? Tony.
LOC-J: I'm here. Radio frequency is out.
IPN-T: Outside your building too.
LOC-J: Fixed radius?
[Sarah tells Tony frequencies are out up to 8 block away]
IPN-T: No. It's growing.
[Jack discovers that McLennan-Forster has activated an Electro-Magnetic Pulse weapon inside the building. When it goes off, all electronic data in its radius will be destroyed]
LOC-J: It's an EMP. We found something and they must be on to us
IPN-T: We know. Trying to identify source.
[Tony realizes that when the EMP goes off, any airborne choppers will crash]
IPN-T: EMP is on first floor. Room 12.
Sarah: (via speakerphone) Excuse me, sir. Miss Driscoll's replacement has arrived. She just passed through security.
Heller: Thank you.
Tony: That was fast.
Heller: We got lucky. Division had someone available with the appropriate qualifications and CTU experience.
Tony: I understand.
Heller: Tony, I wanna thank you for filling in and I'd like you to stick around and assist Miss Dessler.
Tony: I'm sorry, who??!!??
Heller: Michelle Dessler. Do you know her?
[Tony turns around to see Michelle striding into CTU, surrounded by her minions from Division]
Tony: (whispering) I used to be married to her.
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