Episode Report Card Sobell: A- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Safe and Sound
By Sobell | Season 4 | Episode 5 | Aired on 09.22.2008
Dr. Sara comes in right then, and Michael is so relieved, he actually shows some emotion. She runs up the stairs to him and hastily explains that she's fine, but someone was following her. She shook him a mile back. Linc comes in and calmly asks, "What'd he look like?" Dr. Sara begins to compose a description: "Tall, black, he had a beard --" "Was this the guy?" Mahone asks, popping into everyone's face suddenly with his picture of Agent Blots Out the Sun. Dr. Sara confirms that it was. Linc asks who that is, and Mahone says, "That's the man who killed my son." Michael rather unnecessarily adds, "Now he's come to kill us."
Mahone has since taken Dr. Sara down on the dock to quiz her a little further about Agent Blots Out the Sun. First question: where was she when she first saw Agent Blots Out the Sun? Dr. Sara says she was walking home. Mahone points out, "He didn't just run into you on the street. Where were you before that?" She cops to the bar -- "you have a problem with that?' Mahone is a little disarmed: "N -- no. I just want to know how long you were there. Sara, I need to find this guy and I can't do it without your help. I don't care what you were doing there, I just want your help, I want to know how long --" "Okay! Okay," Dr. Sara says, probably because Mahone's desperation is hard to face. She explains that she was there for one long, drawn-out subplot from last week, and they quickly establish that Agent Blots Out the Sun must have traced her based on the credit card that's now gone.
Inside, Don Self has laid out the blueprints. He explained how everyone who's allowed in the building has a security card that lets them pass specific checkpoints. Forging the card would only take two weeks and access to the building mainframe. Michael points out that there are no security checkpoints on the tenth floor (which is presumably where they have to be), but Don Self replies, "No, just on the access points to the tenth floor. If you could magically appear in the middle of the hallway, you'd be fine except for all the government officials who would be swarming around." Michael asks, "If you could get us into the parking structure, would security check our van?" Don Self bleakly replies, "Sure. Transporting known felons? Why not?" Michael decides the parking structure is how he'll get in; Lincoln decides he'll need the details to the safe. Don Self replicates the insignia for the safe -- that'll be a start.
We cut to Agent Blots Out the Sun; he's heading into the dank torture dungeon. A flunkie tells him to stick some Vicks Vapo-Rub under his nose first. Oh, good -- we've moved beyond mere violence in our torture. When Agent Blots Out the Sun heads into Gretchen's cell, he yanks her head up and rips the duct tape off her mouth. Then he gossips about how he ran into Dr. Sara outside a bar. Gretchen replies, "Sara, huh? She's a slippery little bitch, isn't she?" Agent Blots Out the Sun is done with the girl talk: he wants to know what Michael and Linc are doing in Los Angeles. Gretchen can't help him out there. Agent Blots Out the Sun says, "Since you seem to be somewhat immune to physical coercion, we've decided to move on. The nose is an evolutionary marvel. Our brains has been constructed so that certain aromas -- coffee beans, blueberries -- that are helpful to our bodies, we perceive as pleasant. Other smells that signify death, disease ..." He waves a bucket of something under Gretchen's face and she begins coughing and retching. Agent Blots Out the Sun continues, "Initial symptoms include dizziness and nausea, burning eyes, all of which you are experiencing right now. Prolonged exposure will lead to faintness, rapid degredation of your mental faculties." So, wait ... he's leaving Gretchen in there with a bucket of ordure? Wouldn't it be cheaper and more interesting to drop this charade and just put her on diaper blowout duty at the local Kindercare? Gretchen continues working on the nail she's found in her stool. I mean, the thing she's sitting on, not whatever's in the bucket.