Episode Report Card Sobell: B+ | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Alexander And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
By Sobell | Season 3 | Episode 1 | Aired on 09.16.2007
Michael is allowed out to see his visitor. Basically, he's let into the human equivalent of a dog run topped with barbed wire. A raised wooden rail keeps Linc from getting too close to the fence on the other side. The two brothers say very stoic hellos: "So." "So." Linc says, "I feel like I'm on the wrong side." Michael assures him he's on the right side, and Linc quickly replies, "You're not." Michael grins wryly and asks, "You gonna break me out?" "And tattoo this gleaming expanse of prime-grade manflesh?" Linc chortles. Oh, he does not. He says something nearly as good: "Too tiring...all that running." Michael then teases Linc about needing to lose his cowboy boots. Hee! Linc asks if Michael's scared, and the way Michael drops his head and refuses to answer tells him everything he needs to know. Linc tells Michael that he's working on getting Michael moved to a safer facility while he waits to be tried for Agent Kim's death. The transfer's supposed to be tomorrow; the trial will be a month or so away.
Michael changes the subject with, "I keep waiting for you to mention a certain someone." Would that be the someone who did the actual shooting you're in jail for? Why, yes, it would. Linc awkwardly admits that he has no idea where Dr. Sara is. Michael says desperately, "You gotta find her...she's important to me, Linc." To his credit, Linc does not immediately riposte, "Really? My first clue was when you WENT TO PRISON for what SHE had done, boy genius." Linc promises Michael it will all work out, and adds, "I'll see you tomorrow." Michael looks like he wants to reply, "If I'm alive tomorrow." Linc walks off, looking miserable. At the fence, Michael lets himself cry one perfect tear. Or perhaps he's sweating, since he's wearing four layers on what looks like a very warm day.
(Can I digress here for a moment? I was sort of hoping that Sona would be some ridiculously high-tech government prison compound where crazy, Age Of Apocalypse-type science was going down, and some mad doctor would come in, strip Michael to the waist, and say, "Let's see how you do without your tattoos!" Then he'd cackle evilly, we'd get a crack of phosphorescent light, et voila Michael would be tattoo-free and we could stop this business with the nonstop wearing of long-sleeved shirts because it's too much trouble to put on the tattoo makeup week in and week out. Because seriously. The tattoos were fun for the first season, but it is so unfair that we've hardly seen them since, so why not just get rid of them and let Michael Scofield dress in more climate-appropriate clothing? If T-Bag can get the superhuman powers following a hand amputation, a little tattoo removal shouldn't be that big of a deal.)