Episode Report Card Mr. Sobell: B- | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT Abruzzi -- dead!
By Mr. Sobell | Season 2 | Episode 4 | Aired on 09.10.2006
Well... this makes for an awkward Fox River reunion, doesn't it? "No need for anyone to get hurt, boss," Linc says to Bellick, who tells him to skip the formalities: "I'm no longer an employee of the state thanks to you." Michael guesses that Bellick is after the reward money for their capture. Bellick scoffs that mere riches would motivate him -- it's vast riches that he's after. "Your pal Manche told me all about your little treasure hunt for Westmoreland's stash," Bellick says. "Get in the car. We're going to Utah." Whoo-hoo! Road trip! Best Spring Break ever!
Hmmm... Peter Stormare is listed as a guest star in this episode. Eh -- probably means nothing. That 24 episode that Dennis Haysbert guest-starred in last season worked out well for his character.
As the brothers and Nika are led back to the one vehicle in this scene that's still safe for road travel, Bellick can't stop crowing about his investigative brilliance: "All the cops following you all over the country, when all they had to do is tail the tail, you know?" No, I don't know, actually. Could you make another leering sexist comment so that I could know specifically who you're referring to? "Move that money-maker, sweetheart," he says to Nika. Thanks, Bellick -- that's very helpful. Meanwhile, it's clear that Geary has never been able to get to that acceptance stage of losing his C.O. gig -- "Let's move it convict," he says to Linc, as he shoves his one-time charge into the side of the car. Linc slumps near the tire. I have a feeling that Geary's harsh action will soon prove regrettable. Michael, meanwhile, is puzzled as to why Bellick needs the three of them if he knows all about the money in Utah. Elementary, my dear Scofield -- "In the excitement of the escape, Manche didn't hear everything Westmoreland said before the old bird kicked the bucket," Bellick says, "but he heard enough. Utah and $5 million. You'll fill in the blanks." Just to provide extra incentive, Bellick grabs Nika by the hair and tells Michael that he and his brother will take him to that $5 million windfall, "or the whore gets dead real fast." So it's into the car for our three heroes -- too bad in their haste to leave that Bellick and Geary didn't notice the shard of glass Linc had place perilously under the front passenger-side tire. See? Regrettable harsh action back there by Geary.
Over at the FBI, the waxy figure of Agent Mahone is busy staring at Oscar Shales' case file. You may remember Shales as the guy Mahone was obsessing over during last week's episode. And if you don't remember, don't fret -- I figure we're in for another half-dozen shots of Shales' mug this week as William Fitchner begins panting heavily and grabbing for his Happy Pills. Right-hand man Wheeler interrupts this happy reverie with the news that a dredge of the river beneath Michael's apartment turned up a discarded hard drive with serial numbers matching a computer he ordered from Dell a few months before his incarceration -- about 12 percent of the data's been recovered so far. No word on whether it was mostly just illegally downloaded MP3s and potential designs for his MySpace page. Mahone seems more interested in a stack of newspaper clippings that Wheeler's handed to him -- he rushes over to the boarding bearing the mug shots of Team Escarpara and pins an article underneath one of the photos. The way the scene is shot, we can't see whose photo it is nor as much as a headline from the article. Wheeler seems perturbed that his report on the hard-drive has apparently gone in one ear and out the other. But not nearly as perturbed as Lang, Mahone's right-hand woman, feels, after she arrives to announce that the blood tests came back from the staged crash and the sample match the blood type of Linc and Michael. "I'll reach out to the media," Lang says. Mahone turns quickly and stares right at her: "How about don't?" He sighs at the apparent thick-headedness of his underlings and continues, "If it gets out that the guy who masterminded this whole thing is possibly dead, the other six cons are going to get their guards up even more." Mahone now turns his attention to the entire room. "It is our policy not to announce deaths until they're confirmed," he says, punctuating that last part by punching the bulletin board. Lang wonders how much more confirmation you need when you've got an exploded car and a blood match. Mahone suggests she thinks up more ways to make sure. "I want those guys out there getting more complacent, not more careful," he says, before turning and stalking out to go read another chapter from The One-Minute Manager's Guide to Being Creepily Obsessive About Things.