Episode Report Card Sobell: A- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT The Brief Wondrous Life of Cole Pfeiffer
By Sobell | Season 4 | Episode 14 | Aired on 12.08.2008
And this is what convinces T-Bag that Ralph is merely a Bible salesman. He smiles in relief, and drops the gun. Then T-Bag calls, "Rita? Have you got a car? Now you get in that car and you drive far, far away from here right now, okay? Here. Take this [wad of money]." Rita does not have to be told twice. She bundles up Emily and runs. T-Bag calls out a thank you as she goes.
The redemption of Theodore "Cole Pfeiffer" Bagwell continues apace as he cuts Ralph's bindings with the exhortation, "I want you to go, to be free, to be free as me." And then the redemption of T-Bag ends as we learn that indeed, Ralph WAS a One World Conspiracy goon. As he subdues T-Bag, then bundles him off, Ralph steps on Cole Pfeiffer's business card. Oh my gosh, I ... I think that might have been symbolic. But it's so hard to tell, since this show traffics in ambiguity.
Meanwhile, back at One World Conspiracy HQ, Dr. Exposition is busy telling General Von Baldy what we all already know: Michael has a malignant tumor, it's rearranging the furniture in his brain, and if he doesn't get an operation soon, his head will burst open like the aliens at the end of Mars Attacks! As General Von Baldy ponders the strategic pros and cons of letting Michael's head explode, his lead goon pops in and crows, "You'll never guess who just came in."
Cut to General Von Baldy facing Linc in the hall. Linc looks like he's keeping the mayhem-making impulse in check as he requests a visit with Michael. General Von Baldy says soothingly, "I think you made the right decision. Let's go downstairs and see your brother." (oh, please, please, let General Von Baldy begin to think of Linc as the son he never had. That would be so perversely amusing. I can dream, right?)
The fog has lifted and Vykin is now on the pier. I refuse to believe the two aren't related. Don hands over Scylla, Vykin checks it with some specialized-looking doohickey -- I love that some device exists solely to validate Scylla -- and as he does, he patiently and patronizingly answers Don Self's questions about the buyer and the big piles of money that are arriving henceforth. This is a fatal miscalculation; Don has decided to cut out Vykin and the middleman fee, and to kill Vykin. Don Self, you bastard! Vykin was a real asset to this show; we don't have enough snarky bad guys anymore. Gretchen, who understands international markets and the need for caustic verbal interplay better than Don Self does, is appropriately horrified.