Episode Report Card Sobell: A | 2 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT He is a man of constant smirking
By Sobell | Season 1 | Episode 1 | Aired on 08.28.2005
Cut to Pope giving Michael a dressing-down. He finishes with, "Behavior like that will not be tolerated in my prison. Ninety days in the SHU -- that ought to be enough time to convince you of that fact." Well, being in solitary will make it that much harder to bust Lincoln out prior to his execution thirty days from now, so Michael bargains his way out: "It's just...I'm not of much value to you in the SHU...the Taj. It'd be a shame for the Eighth Wonder of the Modern World to collapse because the stress was improperly propagated." "Improperly propagated," Pope says flatly. "Improperly propagated," posits Michael. "The joints are overloaded. They won't provide anywhere near the sheer strength needed to complete the structure you need...you want this by, when? June? Then we better get started, wouldn't you say?"
Meanwhile, back on the outside...someone's shooting the bishop. That not an euphemism for anything.
Commercials. I believe my way at Burger King can be summed up as "way, way far away from that chain."
Still on the outside...Veronica is looking very important behind her big desk when her assistant comes in to tell her that the bishop was murdered in his bed. As soon as the assistant leaves, Veronica looks over at her wall calendar, where the date of her ex-boyfriend's execution is circled in red. She sits back and muses, "Michael was right." Then she digs out Lincoln's deposition. Ah, the girl detective's on the case!
Back in the joint, we see a guard strolling down death row and telling Linc that he's got a visitor. Ah, L.J. and his mom are here. Wearing a "this is all your fault" look that seems to come entirely too naturally, Lisa The Ex hisses, "He was arrested...for possession of marijuana. I figured he could use some fatherly advice before you're..." And she trails off, because there are very few ways to tactfully say "executed." Then she leaves. Linc and L.J. sit, and Linc's all, "Dope, huh? Using or dealing?" L.J. snots, "What's the difference?" "Well, in one scenario, I respect you for your entrepreneurial spirit. In the other, I resent you for bogarting," Linc replies. Not. He actually attempts to set his son straight, and L.J. slings some attitude back at him. Shut up, punk. "Don't backtalk me, boy! I will kill you like I killed the vice-president's brother!" Linc shouts in response. In the background, Michael overhears and screams, "DAMMIT, I got all these tattoos for NOTHING???" Kidding! But wouldn't that be kind of a dark, yet hilarious turn for this series? Where this scene actually goes is in the whole Linc-may-be-a-screwup-but-he's-not-a-bad-man direction, while crossing the intersection of If-L.J.-doesn't-lose-the-'tude-I'm-going-to-root-for-cougars-to-come-eat-him-during-November-sweeps Lane.
Also, it doesn't help that during this whole scene, Linc is wearing an expression that's less like resignation to his rejection and more like, "Gosh, I wish my prison diet had more fiber."