In this episode, the flashforward depicting a human hand on the sunken Amanda, Jack Porter's boat is addressed, revealing the identity of the body and how it came to be deceased.
The previous episode ended with Nate Ryan cutting the phone line after stowing aboard the Amanda to locate an incriminating laptop threatening his business plans.
"Sacrifice" received near universal acclaim from critics, with commentators hailing the episode as a return to the suspense of the first season[1] and giving particular praise to the end scene.
A day after Jack and Amanda are married and set off on their honeymoon to Nantucket, Massachusetts, Nate Ryan reveals himself to have stowed away on the boat and he takes the couple hostage.
In an attempt to win Ryan's confidence, Amanda claims she is enacting what is really Emily's plan to destroy the Graysons, and bluffs that she was using Jack (who hears the conversation below deck).
Victoria and her son Daniel (Josh Bowman), whom she was protecting by killing Crowley, act out a scene in his bugged office at Grayson Global to throw the Initiative off.
While Emily and Nolan are off to rescue Amanda, Aiden Mathis (Barry Sloane) attempts to assist Padma Lahari in probing the Initiative for information.
She described the shooting of the final scene as "difficult and draining" due to the water and stated that in the end "they gave me an amazing death — saving Jack and Emily before dying in her arms.
In its original American broadcast, "Sacrifice" was watched by 5.99 million viewers and received a 1.8 rating/4% share,[4] the largest audience since the second season's twelfth episode.
Miranda Wicker of TVFanatic gave Sacrifice a perfect score of 5 out of 5 stars, calling it "easily the best episode of the season" and especially praising the end scene, stating that she was excited to see Emily get back on track.
Club gave "Sacrifice" a B-rating and stated that while she was excited to see Emily refocus her revenge, she was disappointed that it failed to "bring everything from the beginning of the season together and make it all seem like it had a bigger purpose" as she had hoped.