By M. Giant
Sam's got a friend in prison named Juan who's run afoul of a gangleader named Cruz and thus has a day to live. Sam's Plan A, to break into the prison, is aborted on the launch pad because the gang members will recognize him. Plan B, in which Michael goes in instead and runs interference for Juan long enough to keep him alive until the guards come to the rescue, proves equally flawed when the guards turn out to be on the take. Plan C, to bust Juan out with a week left on his sentence, goes afoul when Cruz breaks Juan's leg so he can't run. So as usual it's Plan D, in which Cruz is smuggled out, only to be immediately recaptured. And presumably killed by other gang members.
In long-term arc news, Michael gets his meeting with Simon, who directs him to a stash of materials hidden in a cemetery plot. Since Michael's in stir for most of the episode, it's left to Fi to dig it up and disarm the booby trap, with assists from Sam and Madeline. The big prize? A recording of a phone call in 2007, when Vaughn can be heard discussing Michael's then-impending burn notice. Now that Michael knows that Vaughn isn't the Johnny-come-lately in Michael's personal drama that he's always claimed to be, Simon feels ready to tell Michael that the shadowy figure they're after is actually a famous technology CEO, who's starting all these wars so he can build the materials to supply them. And if Michael gives that man the Bible, it'll be the end for Vaughn and his whole organization. Michael tells Vaughn what he learned from Simon -- but not everything he learned from Simon.
Discuss this episode in our forums, then find out how to make a USA Network show!
Want to immediately access TWoP content no matter where you are online? Download the free TWoP toolbar for your web browser. Already have a customized toolbar? Then just add our free toolbar app to get updated on our content as soon it's published.
Michael is staring all intensely at Simon's dossier, whose guts he has taped all over the wall of his loft. For what it's worth, it seems Simon was quite the track star in his youth, until he blew a knee. Fi enters to tempt him with a trip to the shooting range (not a euphemism, I don't think), but Michael informs her that Vaughn is bringing Simon back to Miami today, and Michael's hoping to find out what it all means -- the Bible, Simon's shadowy employers, the works. But since I just found out today that there are two episodes left in the season after this one, I'm not holding my breath.
Michael drives up to the kind of house that's usually occupied by drug lords on this show, only in this case the heavily armed guards aren't even bothering to try to blend in by wearing Hawaiian shirts. Vaughn walks out and grins at Michael, "Nice digs, huh, buddy?" The subtitles remind us that he is "Vaughn -- Michael's Buddy." Michael wants to talk to Simon alone, but Vaughn warns that in the months since the Season Three finale, all they've learned about Simon is his high pain threshold. Michael says that's not the approach he plans to use.
Inside the house, Michel finds a scruffy, bloody Simon sitting in an armchair in a solarium with a security camera overhead, with his hands cuffed together in his lap. Which of course makes him as dangerous as a fluffy bunny with social anxiety and a spinal cord injury. Simon tells Michael he's been dreaming of this for months, and Michael returns the compliment, sort of, as the subtitles remind us of "Simon -- Rogue Operative, Walking Nightmare." Michael tells Simon about the Bible he stole after someone else tried and failed to steal it first. Simon holds up his cuffed hands in what looks like prayer while Michael VOs that handcuffs are subject to metal fatigue just like anything else, if you give someone long enough to work on it. But surely they've been changing Simon's handcuffs? Nope; as Simon quotes his favorite verse about the truth setting you free, he breaks the handcuffs, leaps from the chair (no leg irons?!) and drags Michael crashing through the second-floor window. Fortunately for both of them, they land on a preternaturally sturdy chaise longue. Here, out of range of any surveillance devices and with 30 seconds before any guards arrive, Simon gives Michael a gift even as the latter grapples underneath him: "Cemetery, Third and Grand. Go to plot 837, there's some keepsakes of mine in there, including an audiotape labeled Berlin 2007." Simon adds that he'll talk to Michael about the Bible after Michael hears what's on it. Then Simon starts fighting harder, drawing blood to make it look good for the guards who are rushing up to take Simon away. "Did you learn anything?" Vaughn asks after checking that Michael's okay. Michael answers in the affirmative: "You should replace his handcuffs more often." Yeah, no shit. And maybe accessorize them with a straitjacket.
Back at the loft, Fi is stitching up the chest wound Michael received in the altercation while Sam watches. They try to talk him out of digging up the tape, because that's what they do, but Michael is adamant, because that's what he does. Michael asks for some help with the exhumation, since Vaughn is watching him, but Sam's got to go help a friend in Dade Federal Prison. Looks like the digging's up to Fi. So one of them's going to the graveyard and the other's going to jail. Looks like a relatively easy week for Michael.
Sam goes to the prison visit his buddy Juan, who thinks his life is in danger. Juan explains the situation -- someone in the prison got him to skim some money from one of the prison gangs, and now that Juan only has a week left, Juan thinks the guy, Cruz, wants him dead to silence him. Sam thinks there must be a solution, but Juan only wants Sam to take care of his family when he's dead. Hope Sam didn't have plans tomorrow. Sam pretends to agree, but the look he gives Juan cues the subtitle "Juan -- Unsuspecting Client."
After Sam drives off the prison grounds, he soon realizes that he's got a tail: two very bad-looking dudes in an SUV, packing some serious heat and some pretty scary tattoos. Michael VOs that escape isn't always the best option in this situation, so Sam calls 411 and asks for the nearest criminal defense firm. And then, as Michael's VO continues to say that looking like somebody who's not a threat could be your best play, Sam drives up to the building, gets out of his car, and engages an unwitting attorney in some nonsense conversation, causing the bad guys to abort their drive-by. I guess because they like lawyers.
Back at the Carlito, Sam is trying to convince Michael and Jesse that he's planning to break into the prison. Seems Juan saved him from a Medellin bomb back in the day in Columbia, and Sam still owes him. Michael points out that Sam can't do it because Cruz's guys will recognize him, so Michael will do it himself. "You would do that for my friend?" Sam asks. "I'd do that for you," Michael says. Before they make out -- but not very long before -- Jesse asks how this is going to work, and Michael says he knows people who would love to see him locked up.
Cut to Michael being dropped off at the gates in handcuffs by "FBI Agents Lane and Harris -- Guys Who'd Love To See Michael Locked Up." Harris tells Michael that he'll be in a cell with Juan, as well as with a phone they stashed for him. Harris says they'll see him in a week, "If you survive that long." We'll see Michael after the commercials.
Michael is introduced into gen pop, VOing about how you have to watch out about the amount of eye contact you make. He sits down across from Juan and quietly tells him he's a friend of Sam's and to never leave his side. "Like that," he says to the spot where Juan was a minute ago. Juan is grateful, but skeptical that Michael can protect him from Cruz. Michael gives him a little pep talk, playing the family card. Dirty pool, that.
Out in the yard, Michael quickly gains the attention of "Cruz -- Prison Gangster," by virtue of being the new guy and also being to Juan. Cruz beckons Michael over, and Michael approaches for his audience, acting all nerdy. Cruz talks tough, and Michael goes totally submissive, so he survives the encounter.
At the cemetery, Fi stands over Sam, who is digging open a grave in broad daylight while Michael VOs about what a good place cemeteries are for hiding stuff, as long as you don't mind committing a little desecration. Sam complains to Fi that he's digging for a bomb (Simon had warned Michael that the stash is booby-trapped), but when he hits something solid down there, he thinks it looks safe enough and is about to open it. But Fi stops him, pointing out that the airtight seal means there must be something inside that explodes on contact with the atmosphere. Fortunately, all they need to get into it is a circular saw and some machine oil. So I guess they'll just leave this giant gaping hole open while they make a Home Depot run, then?
Back at the prison, Michael VOs how silence is a sign of impending violence in the jungle -- just like in prison. And we're getting some now. Silence, that is. The violence is coming in a few more minutes. Juan fails to pick up on it, but Michael tips him off and says they need to get to the library. Clearly, Michael saw Out of Sight. Oh, wait, they're just ripping the covers off the big law books to make some makeshift armor to put under their shirts. Then it's off to Juan's cell to wait for Cruz. Michael assures a nervous Juan that they only need to survive until the floor guards arrive. Except when Cruz shows up with two goons, he's being escorted by the floor guard. Oops. Michael realizes that means they're going to have to hold out a little longer, for the block guards. While Cruz's group approaches, Michael soaks and twists a towel to use as a weapon, to Juan's amazement. "Why, do you have a gun?" Michael deadpans. Enter Cruz and two goons, and when Michael doesn't step away from the narrow doorway, it forces them to come in one at a time. Michael's able to take them that way, using his towel, and the shank one of the guys manages to stick him with is stopped by the hardcover armor. When the block guards come to break it up, Cruz vows that this isn't over, and promises to throw a party tomorrow night. "And the two of you, you're my guests of honor." Only the tone of voice he's using doesn't make it sound as pleasant as the words alone might seem to imply.
After the ads, Michael and Juan see that Cruz is making a deal with the leader of one of the Aryan gangs, which Michael realizes is part of Cruz's plan to cause a riot. Juan says they're dead. "Only if we're still here," Michael says. So he goes to the cell and whips out the phone the FBI guys left him.
Only he's not calling the FBI, but Sam and Fi at the cemetery, who joke around with him. Michael's in no mood, informing them that he and Juan are busting out. He tells them about the planned riot, and asks them to lean on the crooked guard, whose name is Hill. After he hangs up, Sam goes to get Jesse to work on Hill, leaving Fi to deal with the half-open grave on her own. Well, I guess it's not like Jesse can be brought in to help retrieve items belonging to a guy Michael has been claiming not to know anything about.
We catch up with Sam and Jesse outside Hill's house. Sam has learned that Hill's not on the take; he just has a brother in another prison, and Cruz is extorting him by threatening Brother Hill. So they approach Hill as he gets home, and take the direct approach, threatening to call the police and rat out Cruz, which will get Hill's brother killed. Which is not nice, but it works.
Fi visits a very tense Michael in the joint to tell him that she's going to have to get some help from Madeline with the exhumation. As for the escape, they've learned enough from Hill to make a plan. Michael and Juan will have to get to the infirmary and hide in the drug locker within the first 20 minutes of the riot. SOP in the prison is to move it offsite in the event of a riot. And Michael needn't worry about the guards whose job it is to move it, because those guards will be Sam and Jesse in disguise. Michael complains that the infirmary door will be locked, but after popping a piece of gum in her mouth, Fi says Michael has to do some things for himself, and lunges across the table to plant a giant kiss on him. When she gets peeled off (and I'm terribly disappointed that none of the guards bellows, "NO TOUCHING!"), Michael has a set of lockpicks in his mouth. Hot!
Back to the cemetery, which I hope is at least close to the prison. While Madeline stands guard, Fi uses an entire drum of oil to cover up the concrete box containing Simon's stash, on the theory that the oil will prevent the sodium metal inside from coming in contact with the moisture in the air. The theory holds up, and after breaking through the concrete shell, Fi is able to transfer some sodium metal rocks inside the oil into a Mason jar. Good thing what she was looking for was another box inside the first one, or all that oil probably would have wrecked it. But here comes the groundskeeper, which means Madeline has to go intercept him and act like the grieving widow of the person supposedly buried in the grave they've been digging in for whatever time period we're up to now. That hits a bit of a snag when he tells her it's a historic cemetery, and everyone in it has been dead for over a hundred years. But that's long enough for Fi to finish up and get them both out of there, oily box and all. And no, that's not a shot at Fi.
At the prison, Michael's going over the escape plan with Juan. But a couple of guards come to take them out of their cells, which Michael takes as a sign that "Cruz's party is about to get started." Sure enough, the guards lead Michael and Juan to Cruz's cell block, where the security cameras are all torn out and Cruz is waiting in a tiny, screened-over courtyard with some goons armed with pipes. They start by beating down the guards, and while the rest of the prisoners on the other side of the glass -- and indeed, throughout the prison -- start getting wound up and the guards start to respond, Cruz starts in on some big talk about what he's going to do to Michael and Juan. So Michael starts some beating of his own. He handles the goons while Juan handles Cruz, if by "handles" you means "gets curbstomped by." By the time Michael is free to come to Juan's rescue, Juan's leg is broken and the riot is starting in earnest. Michael insists on dragging Juan toward the infirmary, but Juan says they'll never make it with his injury. Michael insists that someone's going to have to leave by the route they planned; it'll just have to be Cruz.
He gets on the phone to Sam and Jesse, who are getting checked in at the gate in their borrowed guard uniforms. You know, in the middle of a prison riot. Michael hides Juan in one of those giant wheeled laundry bins that come in so handy in prison breaks (they really need to start making those out of clear plastic) while telling Sam the new plan.
Sam calls Hill to have him get word to Cruz that Michael and Juan are hiding in the infirmary. Where Michael has just entered, and has gotten to work MacGyvering a little welcoming party for Cruz involving oxygen, ether and rubbing alcohol. Cruz and his guys are quick to arrive, and Michael uses a dental butane torch to light the alcohol he poured on the floor, which leads to the oxygen tank he just tossed in their direction. The place gets blown to shit, of course, but as always the explosion is just large enough to only knock out the bad guys without killing anyone. Sam and Jesse arrive a few seconds later, and Jesse takes in the devastation and dryly says, "Yep, this looks about right." Sam can't resist quipping, "I guess Cruz finally got a taste of his own medicine," but he at least feels bad about it. They load the unconscious Cruz into the drug locker and haul him out while Michael dials Agent Harris. "You said to call if there was trouble?" And Michael is nothing if not obedient.
In some empty warehouse, Cruz busts out of the drug locker, grabs the gun left for him on the floor nearby, and runs outside, only to find the entire Miami-Dade police force waiting for him. Lucky for our guys he doesn't decide to go down shooting.
Harris and Lane walk Michael out of the prison, wrapping up the plot -- an escaped prisoner, guards taking bribes, and all manner of mayhem. They ask if Michael had anything to do with it. "You really want to know?" Michael asks them. I think we all know the answer to that question. Both questions, in fact.
Sam also gives a newly free Juan an update of his own: Cruz got taken out by the gang he was stealing from, and Sam gets to fulfill his promise to make sure Juan's family was taken care of. "Now they will be, because they have you back." After helping Juan out of the car with his crutches, Sam smiles at and then drives away from the joyous reunion in Juan's front yard, glad he doesn't have a family to keep tabs on now.
Nighttime at the loft. Once Sam is ready with a fresh beer, Michael opens the box to reveal a bunch of autopsy photos, a high school yearbook, and a tape labeled "Berlin 2007."Which is weird, because Berlin broke up in 1987. While loading it into the player, Michael says he's in charge of the security for his meeting with Simon, so they'll be outdoors. Which is good, because it'll be much safer if Simon drags him inside a window.
The tape starts. It's a recording of Simon calling Vaughn on the phone, telling him that he killed the men Vaughn sent after him. Vaughn says they had no choice, with Simon working against them, but they found a replacement for him. "Name's Westen. And if he doesn't work out, there'll be another. The work continues." So Vaughn's whole routine about how he came along late to the game and had nothing to do with Michael's troubles early on? Looks like that just got shot to hell.
day, Michael and Simon walk along the beach. Simon's only got wrist irons on a long chain, which makes him about as safe to be around as a radioactive shark in an F-16 made of razor blades and high fructose corn syrup. It also allows him to gesture expansively while taking about everyone "rejoicing in the truth with his brothers." Meaning him and Michael. "Whatever you say, Simon," Michael says indulgently. He mentions the Bible again, and Simon says that if he and Michael are pawns on a giant chessboard, the person who tried to take the Bible is a king. Michael reminds Simon that a pawn can still take a king. Simon says they'll see, and gives Michael the name John Barrett. Just like that. "CEO of Drake Technologies?" Michael asks in surprise, recognizing the name. According to Simon, the company's business model is to rebuild all the stuff that gets destroyed in the wars they secretly start. Which is too ridiculous to spend a lot of time on, so I'm not going to. Michael tries one more time to find out about the Bible, but all Simon will say is that if Michael gives the Bible to Barrett, Barrett will be able to wipe out Vaughn and everyone who works with him. And thus Michael can avenge both himself and Simon on those who burned them. "Go get 'em, Brother," Simon says. Michael signals to the guards, ending the meeting.
Michael reports back to Vaughn, including the name Simon gave him. Vaughn is still all friendly, even as Michael tells him that he let Simon believe he convinced Michael to kill Vaughn. "I just told a psychopath what he wanted to hear," Michael says as he accepts (with a slight hesitation) a drink from Vaughn and asks what the move is. Vaughn says they can't exactly go after Barrett guns blazing, which means there's still work for Michael to do. Of course there is. "Here's to you, partner. I'm glad we found each other," Vaughn says, clinking glasses with Michael. Michael somehow refrains from smashing the tumbler into Vaughn's grinning face. "Me too," he lies.
Watch this episode below, discuss it in our forums, then find out how to make a USA Network show!
Want to immediately access TWoP content no matter where you are online? Download the free TWoP toolbar for your web browser. Already have a customized toolbar? Then just add our free toolbar app to get updated on our content as soon it's published.