Episode Report Card Sobell: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Shut Down
By Sobell | Season 4 | Episode 3 | Aired on 09.08.2008
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.Oh my goodness -- this episode had everything! Any episode that begins with Michael shouting is going to be good, as "Michael Shouting = Hot" is an immutable law of the Prison Break universe. Also, the episode has Lincoln and Mahone taking turns abusing Roland; smacking around Roland is rapidly becoming one of the most amusing leitmotifs on this show. Also, this episode has Agent Lang, and we all know how awesome she is. Finally, this episode has Linc burying the hatchet with Mahone in a breathtaking act of empathy.
So would you like to know what this all has to do with the actual storyline? Here's the deal: Michael loses his temper on Don Self regarding Scylla's six-headed nature, and Don Self reacts by telling Michael he has 'til the end of the day to get the next card. He's only pushing the crap downhill, as Boss of Self is all pissy and "pull this project! You don't know what you're doing!"
But Michael has not the time to concern himself with petty federal office politics. He's using the information sucked off Stuart Tuxhorne's PDA (thanks, Charybdis!) to determine the date and time of the next cardholder meeting. Conveniently enough, it's at 4 p.m. that afternoon. But where, oh where, can it be?
The guys figure that out in between breaking into a data center, then being chased down by the feds -- Don Self had to pull the plug on the project -- and whatnot, and Michael ultimately breaks away from the eleventy million feds and his girlfriend to go spy on the meeting and record it for posterity. He's all "HA! Recorded evidence of all the keyholders! In your face!" at Don Self, and Don is sufficiently impressed. So he tells his boss to shove it and decides to continue the operation. Something tells me Don's going to end up as a fugitive on the run from the law, just like darn near everyone else around Michael does.
And now, the really wrenching part of the episode: we learn that Agent Blots Out the Sun didn't kill both Pam and Cameron Mahone. He only killed the little boy, in front of his mother, so that Pam could A) live with the sight of seeing her son murdered in front of her, and B) pass on a warning to Mahone that she was probably next. Mahone has gotten Lang to pass him the autopsy report and he breaks down at the end of the episode. With a there-but-the-grace-of-God-go-I shudder, Linc promises to help Mahone get the bastards who did this to his son.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!The episode begins with Don Self on the docks, monkeying around with a wedding band. He's distracted by Michael yelling at him. I can't blame him -- I get distracted by Michael yelling. As I've mentioned before, although the laws of space and time are but mumbled suggestions to the Prison Break universe, one immutable law within it is this: Yelling + Scofield = Hot. Michael is pissed too: "What did you get us into? You figured you'd get us on the hook so we could find out for ourselves that how screwed this all was!" Don Self asks irritably, "What the hell exactly are you talking about?" Michael bellows, "I'm talking about the card, Agent Self! I'm talking about the card! It's useless!" Don Self's like, "Wait, what? You have the card?" but Michael completely misses how he's already exceeded expectations here and shouts, "Yes! But without the other five cards, it means nothing! And I can only assume you knew that!" Michael, look at the confusion on Don Self's face. I realize it's one of his default expressions, but in this case, well, assuming made an ASS out of U. Michael steps Don Self through the whole If-Scylla-is-a-pizza-this-card-is-a-slice analogy, and continues screaming some more, and Don Self reminds him that the deal was not for a data card, per se, but for Scylla, and if Scylla is made up of six separate cards, well, guess what the team has to go out and collect?
When Michael comes back in, he breaks the bad news to the rest of Team Scylla. There is only a minimum of bitching and whining, and then Mahone asks quietly, "When the government gets scared, they tend to cut the cord. Did Self talk about shutting us down?" Michael dances around that answer with, "Let's just concentrate on finding Scylla, all right?" Mahone looks at him all, So that's a "yes," then? He heads off, to the general curiosity and disgust of the others.
Roland gets this week kick-started by revealing that Charybdis managed to suck up all the data in Stuart Tuxhorne's PDA. Roland snipes, "Let me make something clear -- I point and click for you guys. Other than that, I'm off the clock." Linc says contemptuously, "Shut up," and Roland rolls his eyes. At least he still has two good eyes to roll, as he's not yet goaded Linc into LINCOLN SMASH territory. Michael asks Roland where Tuxhorne's calendar is, and Roland quips, "Dr. Feelgood's got it." After looking askance at him for his unchivalrous remarks, Michael goes to hang with Dr. Sara, who breaks the news that there must be something going on today, as it's the only day Tuxhorne's completely cleared from his schedule save for an asterisk. Bellick whines about nothing in particular and succeeds in getting on Michael's last nerve, so he calls out, "If you open your mouth, I expect you to offer a solution. I'm not going to say it again."