Episode Report Card Sobell: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Michael and Lincoln -- not dead!
By Sobell | Season 2 | Episode 3 | Aired on 09.03.2006
Michael's setting up the car so it will drive itself right off the bridge, and he turns on the radio. He then drops the cell phone into the car. And THEN, right in the middle of this tense, oh-gosh-will-it-all-work-and-will-the-FBI-get-there sequence...why, that is when we go into the flashback explaining all. A flashback to some point in the previous 20 minutes has Michael asking Linc, "How do you throw a hunter off the scent?" Linc replies, "Get rid of the prey." Michael explains that once he hits the scan button, they'll have about 30 seconds before it hits 103.7 FM. Linc asks if that's when the car will blow up. Michael says happily, "That's right." Of course he's happy -- who among us doesn't love to blow stuff up? Michael hits scan and they shift the gears so the car drives itself off the bridge.
Only one problem. It's that the radio is playing Deep Purple. Michael objects, not because he doesn't like the British rock, but because this means the radio somehow got broken during the plunge to the riverbed, so the plan to blow up the car and leave only hunks of meat and bone behind ... well, it's less likely to succeed. Correctly sensing that it's been too long since the viewers have seen him do something manly while his unbuttoned shirt billows provocatively, Linc volunteers to head down to the car and set the radio station. Michael does not even try the "You know, I did RUIN MY LIFE and GO TO PRISON" eye roll to dissuade him.
Meanwhile, Mahone and Wheeler get closer. Linc and his sweaty, bare chest check out the upside-down car. Michael watches apprehensively. His trepidation only grows when Linc calls out, "How many stations between 102.1 and 103.7?" Michael gnaws on his knuckles as he calls back, "Way out here? Just one. Probably." Lincoln punches the scan button as the final chorus of "Hush" begins winding down, and on the final "Na-na-na, na-na-na," the last note is replaced by the fiery bloom of a car blowing sky-high. Mahone sees the plume of flame from the road and chortles, "Ho ho ho."
And commercials! Whomever decided a gum commercial based around a botched bank robbery was a good idea for this show...has a sense of humor I can dig. Well done.
Meanwhile, Sucre has finally escaped the cornfields of Pennsylvania and is back in the urban gardens of Bed-Stuy, New York. He shows up at Petey's apartment and immediately asks where Maricruz is. Petey starts, "Look, man," and Sucre runs him over with, "You look. I've been up 72 hours. I've seen a man's hand get chopped off. I've been shot at, dug up a grave, stolen a car, jumped on a frickin' train. So please, just tell me where she is." Hey! He's officially outside Mahone's 72-hour window. It's all smooth sailing from here, right?