Episode Report Card Sobell: B | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Dr. Gudat -- dead!
By Sobell | Season 2 | Episode 2 | Aired on 08.27.2006
Pope's face collapses, and when he finally looks at Bellick, it's with honest dismay and betrayal. Bellick -- ah, major, major kudos to Wade Williams here. Bellick looks remorseful that Pope's found out, but not that he wrung a little extra income out of P.I. on the side. That Williams can convey all that in a single moment...that's craftsmanship is what that is. Anyway, Geary sits down and Bellick wastes no time in reminding everyone Geary was fired for shaking down the inmates. As Geary explains that yes, Bellick sold the P.I. boss job to John Abruzzi, Pope's fury gradually drains away. Instead, he looks stricken that this happened on his watch. By the time Pavelka's telling Bellick he better speak up or let the other C.O.s hang him, Pope's self-abnegation has receded and he's angry again. So Pavelka asks about selling P.I. one more time. Bellick seethes with loathing as he sneers, "Yes." Pope winces. Oh, Stacy Keach is breaking my heart here. As Pope and Bellick are dismissed to wait for the board decision, Geary assumes an air of ineffable smugness. Bellick gets up, looking like he's about ready to smack Geary into the middle of sweeps.
The two men barrel out into the hall. Bellick turns to look at Pope; his posture reminds one of a teenager who's just been busted for missing curfew. Pope snorts contemptuously and heads off to get some coffee.
And now, the plotline so repellent, I really don't feel like propagating it in any way, shape or form. And here is why: because it features a pretty goddamn weak portrayal of evil. It's nothing but T-Bag being a horror- movie-grade monster, and his antics aren't soul-chilling; they feel about as real as the stuff in a video game. A truly powerful depiction of evil is one in which it's made evident to the viewer that evil is not an alien behavior, but rather that it's the sum total of moral choices made by people who could be like us. Since T-Bag's behaving in a way that's completely inhuman, I think it diminishes the impact of what he's doing, and all you're left with is cheap gore.
So here is all you need to know about T-Bag's antics tonight: he straps Dr. Gudat to an operating table, jams him with a syringe full of something deadly, then ushers the man's soul out of this world with a truly foul little monologue: "Iâll tell you something I know is true. The Indians here, the tomahawk variety some of them believe, well used to believe before most of them were slaughtered --" And here is where I had to pause me TiVo and wonder if T-Bag was getting all outraged over genocidal slaughter in the middle of his own murderin' activities? The hell? Anyway. " -- that when a warrior kills another in battle, he absorbs that fallen warriorâs spirit. So this isnât the end for you, Doc. You're with me now." Then, T-Bag puts on the dead man's clothes, heads out to the dead man's car, and calls OnStar for directions to Utah.