Near the end of the episode, agents are shown getting ready to operate a reel-to-reel tape player, but we can clearly see that the left-hand tape-reel is wobblingly loose and ready to fall off the spindle.
The "bolt cutters" shown in the post-hospital-room-escape scene are clearly just light-duty trimming-loppers, designed for merely cutting through wood-fiber --- not metal --- when pruning trees and shrubbery.