By Sobell
Christina Scofield spends much of the episode regretting her decision to have children. After Linc eludes her goons' assassination attempt, he almost queers her deal to sell Scylla's wonders to an Indian gentleman. Almost. Thanks to the phlanx of thugs surrounding Christina, the boys are kept hostage until she can seal the deal and move on to her item of business: meeting up with some energy professor named Sandusky.
Unfortunately, this is where Kid No. 2 foils Christina's scheme, as Michael and Dr. Sara manage to decode a slip of paper to such an extent that they manage to a) pick up a One World Conspiracy Splinter Sect car, complete with cell phone and gun; b) find Sandusky's flight into Everglades Memorial Airport; c) kidnap Sandusky off the runway; d) survive an assassination attempt by Splinter Sect stooges thanks to the timely arrival of temporary One World Conspiracy stooges Linc, Mahone and Don Self; e) tell Linc to kiss off whilst he bundles Sandusky away; then f) call Christina and sling a lipful of attitude toward her. Also, somewhere during all of this, Dr. Sara finds the time to take a pregnancy test. She is indeed with child. We can only presume Michael is the father.
As for Sandusky, he's currently enjoying the finest hospitality Don Self, Linc and Mahone have to offer, so you just know week's episode is going to open with him escaping somehow. T-Bag is off in another room cheerfully tipping off General Von Baldy to Christina Scofield's meddling in re: Scylla. You kind of can't blame him -- Christina's hardly inspired anyone to assume her intentions are anything but nefarious. And you know what I have to say to that? Way to squander the third-to-last episode, guys. If Christina's regretting her decision to have Lincoln and Michael, I'm sort of regretting my decision to bother paying attention to a blessed thing they've been doing since season one.
Hello, everyone! I'm back -- did you miss me? Did you thank Mr. Sobell for filling in? I don't recall much of last week's episode, thanks to a week's worth of post-op vicodin, but apparently we are picking up right where we left off, with a sniper aiming his rifle at Lincoln's head. However, Linc soon passes below a leafy arcade and the sniper loses his shot. When he picks up his binoculars, he notices Don Self down in the plaza below -- and Don's got his binoculars fixed on the sniper. Don Self quickly alerts Mahone to the rooftop shooter; Mahone sprints up a set of stairs as the sniper keeps looking for Linc. The pounding of his feet on the stairs must have alerted the sniper, because the guy puts down his rifle, picks up a pistol and takes cover. So does Mahone. The two then have a firefight where many shots are exchanged, some come very close, but none hit any people. The sniper then pounds down the stairs. Mahone follows them and what follows is the world's first televised shootout set in an M.C. Escher painting. The sniper survives that, but he then has the bad fortune to run into Linc, who takes his gun, fixes it on him, and begins bellowing, "Where's Christina? Where's Christina? Where's Christina?"
The sniper is no dummy: he figures that any passersby will see a screaming man waving a gun around and figure he's the threat to public safety, and sure enough, that's exactly what happens. Whilst Linc is distracted by the screams of frightened passersby, the sniper whips out a blade and slices Linc's arm, then sprints off ... only to be run over by T-Bag. Linc decides that he might as well continue the interrogation, since nothing spells "this is not what it seems" like "screaming man waving a gun around and manhandling a bloody, unconscious person." Mahone manages to round up the rest of his idiot posse and get out of there before the cops arrive.
We cut to an exterior shot of a condo, then Dr. Sara and Michael letting themselves into a stereotypical beach apartment -- lots of light blue and white, with seashells and sisal everywhere. We find out that the place belongs to a friend of Dr. Sara's from medical school, and Deb only uses it during the winter, so our lovebird fugitives are in the clear to drop by right now. Dr. Sara exposits that Dr. Deb has a practice in New York, and comes down once a year to teach a seminar and update the exquisitely-posed photos of her perfect family. Dr. Sara takes in the wall of family-togetherness pictures and says to herself, "Good for her." Michael stands there, frozen. It is not clear whether it's because he has commitment issues or because his last foray into checking out a family photo album ended with his attempted murder.
When Michael recovers his wits, he joins Dr. Sara in the kitchen and comments, "Nice family photos. Sand, sun, cheesy matching outfits. We could have that if we wanted ... someday." So help me, if this series ends with Michael, Dr. Sara and their brood in matching polo shirts, squinting into the sun as a photographer snaps their photo ...
Anyway, Dr. Sara is amused by that until she realizes Michael's not kidding (I can see it now -- matching chambray button-downs. No, wait -- black turtlenecks, in pseudo-arty black-and-white family shots.), and then she's thrilled but trying not to show it. Whyever could that be? We find out once she retreats to the starfish-themed bathroom and goes rooting around Deb's medicine cabinet for a pregnancy test. Really, writers? Really?
We transition to General Von Baldy's office. He's still looking freshly-roasted, but his guest -- cardholder Stewart, of the thick silver hair -- tactfully avoids saying anything. The general launches into his concerns: "Someone is attempting a hostile takeover. They're trying to turn the cardholders against me. Oren tried to kill me!" Stewart tries to downplay the assassination attempt, but General Von Baldy's onto him: the general's people have already found several phone calls between Stewart and an unknown party. Stewart begins to look panicked. The general leans in and asks, "Who has Scylla?" As Stewart protests that he doesn't know, a particularly clammy-looking anonymous goon drapes himself over Stewart's shoulders and rasps, "Think, buddy. Think." General Von Baldy drawls, "This can be as painless as you want it to be. Who has Scylla?" Stewart attempts the ol' best-defense-is-a-good-offense move by telling General Von Baldy he's crazy, and the general deadpans, "I haven't even started yet." The clammy goon drags Stewart off by the throat.
Back at their condo, Linc is swabbing his shallow laceration. Don Self quips, "This guy wasn't trying to hurt you -- he just didn't like your tattoo." Nice acknowledgement that Lincoln is now more tattooed than Michael. Mahone's been scrolling through the sniper's mobile, and there are a lot of calls from a blocked number; he figures the One World Conspiracy can help ID the number. T-Bag pegs Christina for the job, then adds, "We have to pay a visit. You got the gumption?" We do not find out if Linc does, because the phone rings right then and he dives for it. On the other end, General Von Baldy says irritably, "Lincoln, I don't like having to initiate these calls." Lincoln grunts, "Then don't. We call you when we get it." The general rolls his eyes (ha!), then asks who has Scylla. Lincoln lies that he doesn't know, but he's had a rough morning, on account of a sniper. General Von Baldy says, in a please-don't-let-me-lose-my-temper-and-jump-through-the-phone-to-kill-this-idiot tone, "Whom you're interrogating, right?" Nope, on account of the guy being dead. General Von Baldy shouts, "The point of this action is not to kill as many of them as you can! Your methods make me question whether you're capable of playing in a league of this size." The general's only getting around to questioning Linc's competence now? Wasn't the whole point to making him a patsy for a (non)murder that Linc was exactly incompetent enough to go down for it? It's not like Lincoln broke himself out of prison, here. Also worth noting during this scene: T-Bag eying Linc with a mixture of suspicion and scheming, since he notices how Linc avoids saying anything about Christina to General Von Baldy.
The minute Linc's off the phone, T-Bag's asking, "Aren't you leaving something out? Something critical, like how it's your mama that has Scylla?" Linc grunts that he doesn't want to discuss it, but T-Bag persists, "Are you lying to the general because it's good for the team, or are you still protecting the woman who popped you out lo these many years ago?" Lincoln lunges for T-Bag, all, "LINCOLN'S MOM IS OFF LIMITS" and Don Self breaks up the melee. Well, as T-Bag says, there's your answer. Mahone attempts to reason with the crew: "If we tell [General Von Baldy] that Christina has it, he may know something that could help us, or he may determine that we're no longer useful. Everybody understand that? We're here to get Scylla. We need Scylla. And the way to do that is to stick to the plan and keep our mouths shut!" Then Mahone walks off, presumably to bang his head against a wall in exasperation over dealing with this group of maroons. T-Bag and Linc have to settle for glaring at one another.
Dr. Sara finally emerges from the bathroom, and Michael shows her what he's discerned from the scrap paper he took off last week's thug. The top line of characters has their prior coordinates ("Interstate 10, off rte. 4, in Arizona, with Michael's initials at the end), but the bottom line -- B2348ROCKWELL1630VS -- is baffling him. Dr. Sara's off to google Rockwell and figure it, and Michael adds gloomily, "Assuming Lincoln hasn't already." Oh, I think that's a safe assumption to make. The one he should be worried about is Mahone. Michael looks at the string of characters one more time and asks, "If I'm MS, who's VS?" We'll be finding out soon enough, if the shot of an attaché case monogrammed "VS," followed by a shot of an unprepossessing man straightening his tie, is anything to go by.
We then cut to Christina putting on some jewelry and muttering about how Bengali has fourteen different vowel sounds. That's nothing -- the International Phonetic Alphabet has 28. Some dapper stooge puts another damper on her mood by telling her Linc's gotten away. Christina stalks out of the bedroom, and we get more evidence that the wardrobe department seriously hates Kathleen Quinlan. First it was the white bras under the white shirt -- which you never, never, never do -- and now it's the ill-fitting bra creating back rolls. It's not like Kathleen Quinlan is what anyone would call "beefy," either.
Christina starts philosophizing: "Have you ever seen a supernova? They're quite beautiful, aren't they? They're very rare; they only occur about once every 50 years. We're a day away from a supernova -- a moment so powerful, it'll eclipse everything. And nobody's going to stop me." We get a close-up on her smug, smug expression. Well, it's nice to know where Michael got that from.
Back at Linc's condo, Mahone and Don Self are passing along the contents of the sniper's phone to the One World Conspiracy, so that they can get a number and location for whomever was pulling the sniper's strings. It's going to take an hour; the guys do not take this news well. Linc insists, "If we get to him, we get to Christina." T-Bag slams down the tradeshow badges and points out that maybe they can get to the event, since it's obviously very important to Christina; Linc hollers that the badges are for an event taking place the day, and he wants Scylla now. T-Bag gives him a contemptuous look and says, "Oh, sorry -- there I go thinking again. My bad." This time, it's Don Self's turn to roll his eyes at the fractious idiots to whom he's shackled. And then, Lincoln gets a text from Michael; his brother is asking to meet at the marina in one hour. Good thing Miami only has the one marina, otherwise an amusing misunderstanding might take place!
Linc takes a moment to indulge in a flashback to when he first saw Michael in prison, then tells Mahone that Michael's in Miami and wants to meet. Mahone asks when, and after Lincoln has another flashback to him and Michael in Fox River, Linc replies, "Never. I warned him not to come."
Cut to Michael and Dr. Sara at the marina. It's Mahone who greets them with "Good to see you're both in one piece," but Michael has no time for social pleasantries: "Where's my brother?" Mahone tells him that Linc isn't coming. Dr. Sara asks sharply, "So you're working with him now? You're working for the [One World Conspiracy]?" Mahone is in no mood to debate the ethical dilemmas that led him to his current pastime, so he shrugs, "Sure. Whatever." Michael asks why Mahone showed up, and Mahone replies that he's here to warn Michael. "I could have saved you the trip, 'cause we're seeing this thing through," Michael smugs and I don't know what it is about him in this episode, but I tell you what: he hopped on my last nerve and shows no signs of debarking. Mahone asks, "What do you know? What do you think you've walked into?" and Michael snaps, "You tell me." Boy, that's a cop to "I know nothing" if ever there was one. So Mahone tells him, "Your mother -- she has Scylla. Whoever's going to get it has to go through her." Michael wants to talk to Linc. Mahone lays it out for him: "He's not coming. He's a little too busy trying to stay alive because your mother tried to kill him. And if you stay here with some half-baked plan, she's going to try and kill you." It's evident that Michael and Dr. Sara don't believe Mahone, which is too stinkin' bad since he's the only one of the series regulars who's still using his brain. Mahone makes one more plea: "Everybody can get what they want here. We don't have to choose between saving our families and taking down the [One World Conspiracy]. We can do both." This gets Sir Prissypants' attention and he asks Mahone, "How?" Mahone pleads, "I'll know when I get there. That's why I'm asking you, please, trust me. Now do you know anything? Do you have anything?" Michael replies, "The only thing I can tell you is that we're going to burn the [One World Conspiracy] down to the ground, and that's with or without you." Mahone takes off, presumably to beat his head against a wall while muttering, "They're both idiots. IDIOTS!" over and over.
Back at Deb's apartment, Michael is coming to grips with the idea that his undead mother is indeed a criminal mastermind. He shrugs, "At least she didn't want us killed. I should be grateful." Yeah -- it's proof that Mom liked you best. He concludes, "The fact that she thrived at the [One World Conspiracy] at the expense of everyone else makes me want to take them down even more." Dr. Sara's down with that, and her google-fu is strong: she's just dug up an address on Rockwell Ave. in south Miami that might be of interest to Michael.
Linc is multitasking: driving the car toward the location of whomever dispatched the sniper and arguing with T-Bag. Poor Mahone -- this is enough to drive him back to the smack. This is enough to drive anyone to mind-bending drugs.
We soon find out that the mysterious sniper-dispatcher is at the Indian embassy. I bet you didn't know that India had a Miami-based embassy! (That's because it doesn't in real life.) Sure enough, Christina hops out of the SUV, and Linc mumbles that she's got Scylla. He's all for storming the castle, but Don Self points out, "If she's going in, she's coming out. And when she does, we'll take our shot." T-Bag points out, "One thing I learned at Fox River is just 'cause something goes in don't always mean it comes back out." Oooh, snap! Don Self got schooled. Linc concedes, "You're right," and as T-Bag cups his prosthetic to his ear and says, "Hark! What was that? One more time?" Lincoln plows ahead with "LINCOLN NAB SYCLLA FROM MOM."
And now, your plotline-in-a-paragraph: Linc, Self and Mahone decide that T-Bag will not be infiltrating the Indian embassy with them. Instead, he is to distract the guards by clinging to the front gates of the embassy and blathering on about how terrible it is that the nation of India mistreats elephants. The good news for the inside guys is that this ploy works beautifully as a distraction tactic. The bad news is that it earns T-Bag a juicy beat-down from some hired security thugs. We see T-Bag in the condo after the rest of the boys return. "Where's Shylla?" he asks through a fat lip. Don Self and Mahone exchange uneasy looks, and Don Self admits that Christina and friends left before he could nab it. T-Bag daubs at a laceration and asks, "I get the ash-kicking of a lifetime and you come back empty-handed?" Mahone flashes the appointment time that Christina left behind as a consolation prize, but T-Bag will not be placated: "A POST-IT NOTE? That's what you got? How 'bout some Elmer's Glue, you get any of that?" Then T-Bag points out that if they had just let General Von Baldy know that Christina Scofield was alive and well, this job would be a whole lot simpler. Despite his, um, complicated feelings toward his mom, Linc's not having that argument. Mahone attempts to broker peace by pointing out that the meeting is important to Christina, ergo, it's important to them. T-Bag is not having it, so he skulks off to tattle on Lincoln and friends to General Von Baldy: "Linc and Michael's mother -- she's got Shylla, here. In Miami." I would make a crack here about how that'll come back to bite them all in the collective rear, but it's unlikely. I say that after working through the highly scientific equation:
(Innumerable Loose Ends)(Habit of pulling improbable plot developments out of thin air) / 3 hours left in this show total = Minimal chance of logical coherence
OKAY -- let's get back to the caper that Lincoln, Self and Mahone are pulling whilst T-Bag is pulling for the pachyderms. The guys skirt the security cameras and guards, thanks to T-Bag's distractions, go around a truly gorgeous in-ground pool, and head inside. Mahone texts T-Bag to let him know the guys are in, then the guys dash down the hall.
In another room, Christina is asking her dapper goon if he's ever seen the Taj Mahal. "Only in photographs," he grunts as he assembles some sort of computer inside a briefcase. Christina's seen it several times: "It was built by the Shah Jahan for his favorite wife." What a small world! YOUR SON built a replica of the Taj Mahal for his warden's wife. Christina's about to trash Aldo for something when her guy for the meeting shows up. She greets Avi in Bengali, then launches into her pitch: "This is an overview of the solar cell prototype. It's just the beginning of what's on here -- a desalination technique that can yield potable water within seconds. Bioengineered crops that will subsist in the harshest of climates. Revolutionary vaccines." Avi's all, "That's very nice but aren't you trafficking in stolen property here? And isn't the original owner something of a vindictive murderer even when he's not extracting payback against someone?" Christina rebuts, "That eight-carat purple diamond your lovely wife wears on her hand -- did she worry about which south African country it was taken from?" Oh, please say yes. Christina continues, "The profit margin would be split 50/50. Your country would handle the manufacture and distribution. I would act as your silent partner." This gets Avi's attention.
Meanwhile, Linc and pals change into black ties, the better to blend in with security. Mahone reminds Linc that "if we fire a shot in here, we're not getting out."
Christina is still pitching: "All you have to do is show up at the Progressive Energies conference tomorrow, go up on the dais, and present this technology as your own." Avi asks, "So I'm the one who looks like the fool if this venture fails?" Christina sidesteps that with "The leading minds of this world will be at that conference tomorrow, working on the crisis that we are facing with our planet. You will have the solution. You will be a visionary." What'shisname rebuts, "Dr. Vincent Sandinsky has done extensive research on the bargain theory. Says the proof of its practical application is pretty shaky. He's giving his speech tomorrow, and I'd like to make sure his findings don't debunk the foundation of our project." (Remember, "bargain" is an amalgamation of the chemical symbols for boron, argon, gallium and indium.) Christina thinks scientific rigor is for sissies and makes an appeal to Avi's nationalism, then points out that if he doesn't buy it, someone else will -- and then sell it to him at three times the cost later. She closes with, "What do you think your father would have done with this offer?" And as she goes, she reads and drops a post-it reading "Sandusky confirmed -- arrival at 4:30." Sandusky better hope someone else gets to him before Christina does.
Michael and Dr. Sara are in the parking garage at the address she looked up, and they quickly figure out that the three characters point to a parking spot. Once they find B-23, Michael jimmies open the lock on the sedan waiting there. Dr. Sara wryly comments, "Fernando was a great influence on you." "And vice-versa," Michael says. Aww! He misses Sucre as much as we all do. America's least fun couple hops in the car, where Dr. Sara promptly finds a briefcase containing car keys, a map to the Everglade Memorial Airport, and a gun. Michael quickly concludes that someone named VS was flying into the airport at 16:30, or 4:30 P.M., as we civilians know it.
Back at the embassy, Linc, Mahone and Don Self manage to get themselves caught. A minute later, the dapper goon comes over to Christina and tells her urgently, "We need to clear out." "Excuse me?" she asks icily, and the goon explains that Lincoln's in the building. Christina growls, "I need to close this deal, preferably without looking like an amateur. Handle it!" The dapper goon heads off. It turns out his idea of "handling it" is to make all three guys kneel on the floor, put their hands on their heads, then freeze. He then wanders off, presumably to apprehend some other intruders and force them to play freeze-tag too.
Good news for Christina! Avi's agreed to the deal. She takes off, leaving her Sandusky note behind. And in another room, Mahone points out that nobody's going to be killing anyone in an embassy, so it's time to go. As the guys head down the hall, there's a tense moment when they run into Indian security, but one soldier assumes they're part of Christina's security detail and he hands over the post-it she left behind.
Outside, the dapper goon is apologizing, but Christina huffs, "All I care about is Sandinksy! Is Boris on his way?" Dapper goon admits that he hasn't heard from Boris yet, but he'll check the status. Christina snatches the phone away all, "Do I have to do everything around here?"
We zip to Michael and Dr. Sara, who notice that the phone inside the briefcase is ringing. They put it on speaker and Michael asks, "Hello?" We cut to a shocked Christina asking, "Michael?" He declines to answer, and a still-gaping Christina snaps her phone shut. Dr. Sara asks Michael, "Is that your mom?" Michael is silent, and Dr. Sara warmly says, "Oh, Michael. I'm so sorry. I don't even know what to say." Scofield's fighting tears as he replies, "There's nothing to say. Nothing at all."
Fortunately, the awkward silence doesn't last too long, because they're at the airport and Dr. Sara's sprinted for the bathroom. Well, they do say pregnant ladies have to pee a lot. We don't find out if Dr. Sara is with child, but we do find out she's dealing with a hell of a mood swing.
Fortunately for us, she rallies and helps Michael get his hands on the flight logs for incoming planes by distracting the security guard with flirtatious overtures. You know, if I were Michael, I would be slightly concerned at what a natural con artist Dr. Sara is. At the moment, however, he has other concerns, namely the SUV full of Christina's goons (heretofore referred to as Splinter Group goons) that have just pulled up. Dr. Sara tells Michael there's an exit by the bathroom, but he's still reading. She urgently adds, "They will kill us if they find us," but Michael's more focused on the fact that he's just pegged who "VS" is -- Vincent Sandinsky -- and the fact that he was on airplane tail number N727MG. Now Michael can take off.
Cut to Mahone finding the same information courtesy of the One World Conspiracy -- gosh, evil empires are useful sometimes! -- and bundling the kids in the car because they've only got 15 minutes to get up to Ft. Lauderdale. For those not familiar with Florida geography: Mahone is attempting to drive 26 miles in under 15 minutes. For those not familiar with Florida's traffic: It will require a transporter beam to get around the downtown congestion.
So we're back at Everglades Memorial Airport, and Michael has just wandered into the operations office and pulled a gun on the lone employee. He orders, "I need you to call up to the tower with a message for N727MG." The message in question: Land at the north end of the tarmac and follow emergency protocol. The ops guy passes along the message, adding that the passengers will evacuate as soon as they hit the ground. , Michael makes the ops guy call down to the security office and allow Dr. Sara Tancredi onto the tarmac because "one of your passengers has had a heart attack. He needs immediate assistance."
We cut to Lincoln and the boys driving recklessly to the airport. After a few more quick cuts between an airplane landing, a black SUV full of Splinter Group goons waiting for the airplane and Lincoln driving, we return to Michael. He's still holding a gun on the ops guy, but he promises, "One more minute and I'll be out of your hair." The ops guy pipes up with, "You could be getting in big trouble for this, guy. You could go to prison." Michael smirks and asks, "Which one?" Oh, it's funny because he's broken out of prisons before!
The plane lands -- and by the way, it rolls right by a terraced housing development, something you're not likely to find in the profoundly flat state of Florida -- and the Splinter Group goons are all, "Guh?" when it a) fails to land right in front of them, and b) is promptly attended to by a security vehicle. The goons drive over, as does Michael. Dr. Sara hops out of the security vehicle and introduces herself to Victor Sandinsky. She smoothly BS's that "We have some concerns about some health risks you were exposed to during the flight" but Michael takes a more direct route by training a gun on Sandinsky. Incongruously, Dr. Sara picks then to make introductions between the two. As the knot of people moves over to Michael's sedan, the pilot notices that Michael's holding a gun on Sandinsky.
Dr. Sara takes the wheel, and Michael's in back with Sandinsky, who begs, "Don't hurt me." Michael claims he won't, but he's rocking a case of the crazy eyes, so it helps him look extra-menacing when he looks back at the SUVs zooming up and adds, "But they will." As Dr. Sara practices her evasive driving, Michael grills Sandinsky, who claims not to know who Christina Scofield is. If Michael believes a word anyone says to him while at gunpoint, he's an idiot. Anyway, Dr. Sara eventually runs out of road and is pinned between two Splinter Group SUVs. Everyone is ordered out at gunpoint. An anonymous goon shuttles Sandinsky to another car, and two more decide that now would be a fine time to kill Michael and Dr. Sara. Before they can, however, they are themselves killed by Mahone. I KNOW. He just happens to have shown up with the rest of his crew, and he drops the guys in two shots. Then Mahone takes out the people in Sandinsky's vehicle. Linc comes over to ask if Michael's okay, and while the two are sharing an awkward silence, Don Self bundles Sandinsky into his third mysterious vehicle in as many minutes. Then Michael snots, "What are you going to do, shoot me?" Linc merely replies, "I warned you not to come, Michael. I'm doing this for us. For family." Michael whines that "It's not over, not by a long shot," but Linc just turns on his heel and walks off. Sheesh -- when did Michael turn into such a petulant little princess? And when did Lincoln turn into the brain trust? Clearly, I can never take a week off for brain surgery again, because everything is upside-down when I come back.
Some time later, Lincoln, Mahone and Don Self are busy asking Sandinsky if the name "Christina Rose Scofield" means anything to him. Since both Don Self and Mahone are seasoned interrogators, this does not go easy on Sandinsky, but he convincingly snivels that he's never heard of Christina, the One World Conspiracy or Scylla. We do find out that Sandinsky's a professor at Dartmouth, and that he is in Florida because "I got a call from the organizing committee of the Progressive Energies Conference here tomorrow. They said they would fly me out and put me up in a hotel if I gave a short presentation." Linc looks frankly skeptical about the story, but then again, Lincoln is not exactly a trade-show circuit veteran, unless the trade shows in question focus on smashing people, places and things. He asks Sandinsky where his mobile phone is. Although Sandinsky thinks it's in his jacket, it's really not. Linc immediately assumes the worst-case scenario: "Why are you lying to me?" Sandinsky swears he had it, he truly did.
And it turns out he's not lying about that. (Come on -- this is Prison Break, so we can assume every new character's default communication mode is "lying SOB" until proven otherwise.) Dr. Sara is busy scrolling through the email application on Sandinsky's smartphone, and we see that the super-brainy mastermind of the Splinter Group apparently is not smart enough to send email under an alias, as there's a lot of email from christinarose@t-mail.biz. Really? Really? Someone who's capable of carrying out long-distance executions whilst simultaneously devising some alternate-energy source that relies on the renewable resource "dysbeliefsuspendium" ... wouldn't maybe try to at least use an encrypted addy that can't be traced to anyone? ANYWAY. The point is that Sandinsky and Christina are actually collaborating. And that Christina's mobile phone number is on Sandinksy's phone.
Dr. Sara then excuses herself so she can go to the bathroom and gaze upon the positive pregnancy test she's been carrying around all day. Then she hides it again. Well, she and Michael do not have the best track record when it comes to total disclosure. Why should it be any different now that there's a complicating element in the picture? Also, why shouldn't this show introduce yet another plot twist with only three more hours to go? I'm fully confident the writers will be giving Michael and Dr. Sara's reactions to impending parenthood the rich and fulfilling emotional exploration they deserve.
We then cut to Christina, who's looking a little tense now that her cyberbuddy's been nabbed. When her phone rings, the caller ID reports that it's Vincent Sandinsky, so she answers with, "Yes?" We cut to Michael asking, "How badly do you want him, Mom?" Christina replies, "Michael, listen to me --" "That's not an answer. I'll be in touch," he says, and hangs up. We get shots of both parties looking pensive.
Meanwhile, Don Self is demonstrating why our borders will never be entirely secure, if his (lack of) instincts and ability to discern when someone is hiding something is at all indicative of Homeland Security. Because he's all, "Well, Sandinsky checks out!" Mahone tells the man he'll be released soon, and the minute Mahone turns his back, Sandinsky drops the milquetoast expression and looks conniving. Raise your hands, all of you who suspect he'll break out the kung fu in the opening minutes of week's episode. Of course, given how this show's been pushed around the schedule, exiled to Fridays, and rushed to a finale, it might be more reasonable to request: raise your hands if you're even bothering anymore. Not so fast, writers. As for the rest of my fellow masochists, see you in a few days.
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