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Michael, now sans toe, continues with his plan to break out of Fox River. This week's step involves testing Sucre, his cellmate, to see whether he can be trusted to keep a secret. That test involves letting Sucre see where Michael hides a cell phone, and then waiting to see if he squeals. Sucre doesn't squeal, and loses his conjugal visits as a result. But he finds that his sacrifice was in vain when he discovers that the cell phone is actually carved out of soap, and he transfers to a new cell. Michael gets a new cellmate who apparently never sleeps, which creates a small obstacle to Michael's nocturnal activities. I mean, his escape-related nocturnal activities. Michael does get some good news when Abruzzi agrees to help him out. Of course, before he does that, Abruzzi sets Michael up to be raped by T-Bag, and then saves him from said rape. Linc's son's parole officer requires him to make a weekly visit to his dad, leading to a touching scene in which Linc asks his son to be present at his execution. And on the outside, Veronica convinces Leticia to come to her office to give an affidavit. After giving her testimony, but before signing the affidavit, Leticia takes a smoke break. Agent Kellerman chooses that exact moment to drop by Veronica's office, and takes the opportunity to kidnap Leticia while he's there. He's such a multi-tasker. Veronica ends up being dumped by Sebastian, while Leticia ends up murdered in the woods. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
When I was offered the chance to recap an episode of Prison Break, I leapt at it. I mean, prison rape, shankings, race riots, shower scenes -- those things hardly ever happen on The West Wing. But when I actually watch the show, they dangled both a shanking and rape in front of me, and then chickened out. Stupid Fox ruins everything.
And I know people have been complaining about how implausible this show is turning out to be. But I've seen a lot more implausible things in the real world in the last two weeks. Like the fact that the President appointed a man to run FEMA who was forced out of his last job running horse shows. If that can be true, who's to say a death row prisoner might not be given unguarded time alone with his brother?
We start up right where we left off -- with Michael about to get one or more toes cut off. And…then they get cut off. You thought they wouldn't do it, didn't you? There's been some debate over whether Michael lost one or two toes to the gardening shears. I really didn't examine it too closely, because when it comes to the sight of blood, this little recapper goes wee, wee, wee and hides his head under a cushion. I can say that in the shot from the previouslies, it really looked like there were two toes between the blades, but the shot immediately after the cutting was inconclusive. So if they come back some time later and say that he only lost one toe, I think they would have a leg to stand on. So to speak. When they cut his toe(s) off, Michael is, of course, staring into the middle distance. But for once, that actually makes sense. I do like how the guy holding him down near his head is laughing -- bodily mutilation is fun. A guard comes in and starts yelling. Abruzzi's gang let Michael go, and Abruzzi crouches down and scoops the toe(s) into a bloody sock. The guards take Michael out, and Bellick comes in. He asks Abruzzi, "I thought you were going to have a conversation with him." Abruzzi is still holding the bloody sock in plain view as he tells Bellick that "things escalated." Or maybe he said that things were espaliered. Either one might apply.
Two guards hold Michael up and lead him into the infirmary. Dr. Tancredi is on call (of course). Michael sits up on an examining table, and Tancredi kicks the guards out of the room. There are three little cuts as she's speaking to the guards, and in each shot we see Michael raise his hands to his forehead in exactly the same way. Whoops. Michael is doing some great repressed crying -- it's all very "little boy bullied in the schoolyard," and I mean that as a compliment. Kudos to Wentworth Miller, who I usually think of as only capable of acting distant and vaguely menacing. He might turn out to have some talent after all. Tancredi unwraps the bloody sock from around the wounded toe(s), and we see that it was two toes cut off, after all. Michael lies back, crying, but he calms down as soon as Tancredi asks him what happened. He tells her it was nothing, and when she persists in asking, he tells her, "Don't make me lie to you, please."
Tancredi steps out into the hallway, where Bellick is muttering something to the other two guards. Tancredi suggests that he start an investigation, but he tells her that they already know what happened: "There was a pair of gardening shears left on the floor of the shed. Evidently, he stepped on 'em." Tancredi wonders how these magical gardening shears cut through Michael's boot, and why said boot was already removed from Michael's foot when he arrived at the infirmary, but Bellick blows her off.
Michael lies in his bunk in his cell, a bandage on his bloody toe. He broods, and wonders what the fuck he got himself into.
Out in the yard, Michael limps along as he rakes the immaculate grass. He's near Linc's private enclosure (of course), and Linc is furious at Abruzzi, announcing his intention to kill him. Michael has calmed down considerably, and he points out that Linc can't kill Abruzzi, because he's important to their escape. Michael asks Linc, "You ever hear of Top Flight Charters?" Linc has heard of this famous aeronautics concern, but Michael decides not to let that fact derail the Exposition Express -- he proceeds to tell Linc all about Top Flight anyway. Top Flight flies out of a nearby airfield, and Abruzzi secretly owns the company. They need him in on the escape so that he can fly them to safety after the big break. Linc can't believe Michael is going to rely on Abruzzi, and Michael tells him, "Preparation can only take you so far. [Or, based on what we saw in the first two episodes, not that far at all.] After that, you have to take a few leaps of faith." Linc has no faith in Abruzzi, but Michael (still the chief engineer on the Exposition Express) tells Linc that the person they're really going to have to have faith in is Sucre. Linc (the junkie and gambler) thinks that it's unwise to trust a thief like Sucre. Linc wonders how well Michael knows Sucre. Michael responds, "About as well as a man can, in a week." Michael, honey, I think you could get to know Sucre a lot better in a week, if you really wanted to try. Michael points out that if he can't bring his cellmate on board, there will be no escape. Credits.
Out in the yard, Sucre is using the pay phone (which shockingly enough does not bear a product-placed logo) to call Maricruz. But he gets her answering machine. He tries to get her to pick up the phone by telling her how much he's been thinking about her body. And then her mother answers the phone. Heh. Mamacruz is pretty cold to Sucre (whose real name is Fernando, by the way). When he asks where Maricruz is, she tells him that she's with Hector. Sucre tries to plead his case with Mamacruz, but she tells him that she thinks he should let Maricruz get on with her life. She agrees to pass a message to Maricruz, and hangs up. Sucre smashes the receiver against the phone booth a few times. Which is the main reason I have trouble believing the pay phones would be out there -- they would surely get broken pretty quickly. But then again, the former First Lady had the gall to imply that poor people displaced by the hurricane were making out like bandits because they got a cot and a few free meals, so I guess anything is possible.
In their cell, Sucre (who has a very pretty little nipple) studies a photo of himself with Maricruz. In the bunk beneath him, Michael…wait, I mean the bunk is beneath Sucre, not that Michael is beneath him in his bunk. That'll never happen on Fox. Anyway, Michael broods. We get a close-up of one particular portion of his tattoo as he flashes back to his Big Wall of Fun. The only snippets I can make out in the flashback are the words "the fox is fast," and "cell test." And then we're back in the cell, where Michael holds a cute little cell phone. And his body is made of cells. And some of the other prisoners may have formed a cell of the Revolutionary Workers Party. It's all part of the plot.
T-Bag, holding a bible, enters…what the fuck? It's the prison machine shop, where prisoners are apparently allowed all kinds of metal crafting equipment. There's one bearded prisoner working in there -- I think that's my old shop teacher. And, of course, there are no guards. T-Bag tells Mr. Metalshop that he's looking for a weapon that will inflict the maximum amount of pain without causing a quick death. Mr. Metalshop has exactly the thing. He pulls a wicked-looking barbed metal knife thing from under a workbench and -- keeping his body between the knife and the solitary surveillance camera -- hands it to T-Bag. The knife is called "the Gutter." I can see how this prisoner earned his place of trust in the machine shop. Of course, if the Gutter doesn't work out for T-Bag, he can always see what they have at the prison munitions plant, or maybe the prison germ warfare lab. T-Bag takes the Gutter and hides it in his bible. Apparently, the knife is free, as Mr. Metalshop doesn't ask for anything in return. Maybe the satisfaction of a job well done is payment enough.
Michael limps into the visiting room, where Veronica is waiting for him. She notices the limp and asks him what happened. Maybe he just stubbed his toe, nosy. He tells her that he's okay, and she asks him, "They've gotten to you, haven't they? The other prisoners?" Michael didn't seem to have much trouble sitting down, so I'm not sure what lead her to that conclusion. Or maybe that's not what she meant by "they've gotten to you." He expositions that she told him that she had found a woman, and then surprises her by knowing that the woman's name is Leticia Baris. Veronica's a bit confused (natch), and Michael tells her, "A year ago, I was doing exactly what you're doing. Trying to find out the truth." I have to point out that Michael seems considerably smarter than Veronica, so I'm not sure why he expects her to succeed where he failed. Of course, she has already seen the videotape and spoken with Leticia, so maybe she's not the dumb one of the group. Despite the fact that he originally asked her to investigate, he observes that looking for the truth is "a bottomless pit." He gave it up and focused on the prison break idea once Linc's last appeal was denied and the date was set for his execution. He stares into the middle distance as he speaks, which is kind of difficult, since he's looking down at the table. He must be really good at seeing the hidden image in those 3D Magic Eye pictures. Veronica tells him that she may be able to get enough from Leticia to petition to reopen Linc's case, even though she really doesn't know what Leticia knows. She plans to look for Leticia in the dangerous housing project where she lives.
LJ and his mother are meeting with his parole officer. She wonders what made a good kid go bad, and he tells her that it won't happen again. She starts to talk about the extenuating circumstances in his life, and he interrupts her: "If you're talking about that guy at Fox River, he's got nothing to do with this." Except for having lead billing. LJ thinks the world will be a better place when Linc is gone. His parole officer thinks that LJ is carrying around a lot of self-destructive anger, and her solution is to make him participate in the Scared Straight program at Fox River. At first I assumed that would involve meeting T-Bag, because he's enough to scare even me into being a little bit straight, but that's not what the parole officer has in mind. Instead, LJ will be meeting with his father once a week. I'm sorry, I thought this woman was the parole officer -- it turns out, she's actually the contrivance officer. My mistake.
Michael and Sucre are doing their P.I. (prison industry) work, painting some empty room. Michael walks past Sucre, opens up an empty circuit breaker box, wraps the cell phone in a rag, and puts it in the box. Sucre sees him and says, "Tell me that ain't what I think it is." Michael truthfully responds, "It ain't what you think it is." Sucre points out what trouble Michael would get into if he got caught with the phone, and then wonders if Michael is able to make calls whenever he wants. Michael acts all threatening, telling Sucre, "What's in there -- you never saw it. Got it?" Yeah, Toeless Joe, I'm not sure why you think you're scary -- but you're not.
Warden Pope and three guards are in Linc's cell. The Pope hands a paper to Linc and asks why he didn't include any names on the list of people he would like at his execution. Linc doesn't see any reason to invite people to watch him die. Pope actually demonstrates some human compassion when he tells Linc that most executees "want some member of their family there before they leave this world." Linc hands back the piece of paper and says that he'll go it alone, but Pope tells him to think it over, and leaves the paper with him.
On the outside, we hear some of that "hip hop" all the kids are listening to. Do you think that means Veronica is going to the "dangerous" housing project? If you do, you're right -- but you don't win a prize, because that was the most obnoxiously obvious cue ever. Veronica enters a building and learns from a handy black woman that Leticia is in unit number five. If Leticia's hiding, she's not doing a very good job. Veronica climbs the stairs and finds that the door to number five is partially open. Rather than knocking, she slowly pushes the door open and enters the apartment. Rude. She calls out "hello," and then sees a partially packed suitcase on the coffee table. And then Leticia jumps around the corner, points a gun at her, and tells her, "Don't you move a muscle." And then Veronica twitches, so Leticia guns her down. Or maybe we just cut to commercials instead.
We return to the standoff. Veronica is shaking like a leaf as she asks Leticia to take it easy. Long story short, Leticia thinks Veronica is working with "them" -- you know, the people who have bugged her phone and are following her around. Veronica tries to convince Leticia that she's not. Leticia puts the gun down and resumes packing -- probably assuming that even without the gun, she could snap skinny little Veronica like a twig if she had to. Veronica tells her that she walked into the apartment because she was scared someone had gotten to Leticia, and Leticia asks her, "Why do you care so much about my well-being all of a sudden." Veronica wins honesty points by responding, "I don't." She just wants Leticia's testimony because it might save Linc. She gets Leticia to agree to come to her office to prepare and sign an affidavit, and then Veronica will drive her to the airport herself.
Back on the inside, Sucre is hungrily eyeing the circuit breaker box where Michael hid the cell phone. But he walks away from it. In the yard, Linc is taking his daily constitutional. He sees Sucre speaking to some of his friends (in Spanish, natch) -- Sucre mimes making a call on a cell phone as he regales his pals with some of that famous prison wit.
And now Linc is being led back to his cell in shackles. His guard makes him get down on his knees to undo the shackles. Bellick is conveniently standing nearby, and Linc tells him he wants extra time outside for the couple of weeks. Bellick thinks it's a joke until Linc offers to trade information about an inmate with a cell phone. They haggle over the terms of the deal, with Bellick eventually agreeing to give Linc an extra half-hour outside for one week, and a single cigarette. And then Linc gives Bellick Sucre's name.
Abruzzi's getting another visit from Philly Falzone, who is very disappointed that Abruzzi has not found out from Michael where Fibonacci is hiding. We learn that Abruzzi has a life sentence, thanks to Fibonacci. We also learn that Philly is pretty nervous about the idea of joining Abruzzi in the pokey. He wants to know if Abruzzi broke Michael's skin. Did he ever. Abruzzi slides a little white box across the table to Philly. I think he got him a promise ring. Oh, my mistake. The box contains Michael's former toes. Abruzzi tells Philly that Michael won't crack, and Philly suggests that Abruzzi try "a different methodology." And then to inspire him to do that, he has Abruzzi's kids brought in to visit with him. They're very excited, because they're going to spend a few weeks at Uncle Philly's house by the lake. Philly is one cold S.O.B.
Somewhere in the prison (in a room with the words "no talking" painted all over the walls), Bellick asks Sucre how his "boneyard visits" with Maricruz are going. Heh. "Boneyard." Bellick points out that conjugal visits are only supposed to be for married inmates. Sucre begs him not to take away his visits with Maricruz, and Bellick tells him that he won't, provided that Sucre tells him what he knows about the cell phone. The scene ends before we see what Sucre says.
Linc and Michael are painting a column in the same room where Michael hid the cell phone. Sucre enters with Bellick and a couple of guards on his tail. They all walk towards the general area where the phone is hidden…and then Bellick has Sucre take over painting for a prisoner being transferred to administration. Michael looks pleased with himself. Linc, in a completely normal tone of voice and with a guard standing about three feet away from him, tells Michael, "He didn't talk." After the guards have left, Sucre walks up to Michael and tells him that he had better be able to make all the calls he wants. Michael: "That'll be kind of hard." And then he hands the phone to Sucre, who snaps it in half. It was carved out of soap. Okay, first of all, that had to have been the biggest bar of soap ever created. Second of all, I don't think a bar of soap would really snap in half like that. Third of all, when the fuck did Michael have time to carve that thing? I'd say it's completely unbelievable, but in a world where the braintrust at FEMA can send a planeload of hurricane evacuees to Charleston, West Virginia instead of Charleston, South Carolina, I suppose anything is possible.
Sucre is pretty pissed that he lost his conjugal visits over a bar of soap. He's not impressed with Michael's plan to help him escape so he can spend all his time with Maricruz, since he only has sixteen months left on his sentence and he'd rather not end up on the lam for the rest of his life. Michael, confronted with actual logic, seems a bit flummoxed. He's sorry that Sucre lost his conjugals, but he tells him, "I had to test you. See if you could keep a secret." Sucre tells Michael that if he digs in their cell while Sucre is there, he'll "split [Michael's] wig." I just don't know what that means, but it doesn't sound fun. And then Sucre storms out of P.I. Doesn't he still have painting to do? Linc tells Michael, "That went well." Commercials.
Veronica walks through the reception area of a very busy law firm, and opens the door to a break room. There's a cigarette smoldering in an ashtray, but no sign of Leticia. D'oh!
Veronica runs out the front door of her office building, onto a busy, busy street. She runs a few steps and sees Kellerman getting into a car, which then drives away. Her phone rings. It's Sebastian, wondering where she is -- they had some important wedding-related appointment that she's missing. She tells him that she can't talk, and hangs up.
Back on the inside, Abruzzi is in his cell chatting with one of his confederates about how to get Michael to talk. Abruzzi has decided that cutting off appendages may not be the answer: "Maybe the Beatles were right after all." You mean she really does love me, yeah, yeah, yeah? Oh, no: "Maybe all you need is love."
Michael enters his cell to find Sucre packing up. He's decided he can't afford to risk getting caught up in Michael's scheme, so he's requested a transfer to a new cell. Michael tries to talk him out of it, but it doesn't work -- Sucre actually has a brain in his head. They have a muttered conversation -- unlike Linc, Sucre and Michael seem to realize that the guards standing three feet away actually have ears.
Linc is in his cell with a visitor -- a preacher of some kind. As one does when one has company, Linc is squatting down on the floor in the single beam of sunlight that comes in the window. Like the warden, the preacher man is nagging Linc about why he hasn't requested that any family or loved ones come to his execution. Linc once again wonders why he would want to cause his family any more pain by making them watch him die. The preacher man thinks that Link is looking at it the wrong way: "What's the last image you want to take with you? A stranger?" Well, that might be better than the image of your family wracked with pain and guilt.
T-Bag (remember him?) is sitting in the mess, fingering the Gutter and watching Michael dispose of his empty tray. He starts to rise up, and a hand shoves him down into his seat. It's Abruzzi, asking whether T-Bag has a problem with Michael. T-Bag reminds us all that his little friend (whose name was Maytag -- you can make your own spin cycle jokes) is dead because of Michael. Abruzzi offers to deliver Michael into T-Bag's power.
A line of prisoners proceed down a corridor. I assume they are leaving mess and returning to their cells. As Michael passes a door, a burly inmate tackles him and throws him through the door and into a large supply closet. It's Abruzzi and his gang -- and T-Bag. Didn't T-Bag used to have a gang of his own? What happened to the Fabulously Gay White Supremacists? Commercials.
We resume where we left off. T-Bag approaches Michael and tells him that he looks pretty when he's scared. T-Bag proposes that the "get the love out of the way before [they] move on to the hate." He sucks his teeth and makes little kissy lips at Michael as he backs up and sets the Gutter down on a shelf. And then Abruzzi smashes T-Bag in the face with his elbow. Abruzzi's men start working T-Bag over while Abruzzi grabs Michael by the neck and tells him, "You and I need to have a conversation."
Michael and Abruzzi resume their places in the line of inmates that is still walking past the supply closet. Abruzzi tells Michael that the beatdown delivered to T-Bag was just his little way of making amends to Michael. He wants a clean slate between the two of them. Michael looks at Abruzzi's proffered hand and tells him, "You're a mercurial man, John." Abruzzi would prefer to be thought of as "bald." Or maybe he said "bold."
Michael and Abruzzi walk together in the yard, discussing what kind of deal they can work out. Michael wants a plane from Abruzzi; in return, he'll give him Fibonacci. Abruzzi wants in on the escape, and Michael agrees. So, just to be clear, to help his allegedly innocent brother escape death row, Michael is willing to deliver a key witness to certain death and help a mobster escape? That's a hero I can really get behind. Abruzzi wants to more information about the date and time of the escape, but Michael won't tell him until the event is closer. Abruzzi just wants to ensure that he'll be out before Fibonacci testifies in a month: "If not…you're a corpse." But Michael still doesn't trust him with the information.
Linc, in shackles, is led by a guard to the death row visitors area. He begs the guard to take off the shackles, because he doesn't want his son to see him like that. The guard seems resistant. I wonder what will happen?
Linc enters the little visitor's cage shackle-free. LJ is already seated on the other side of the glass. They make a little small talk, and then Linc starts a rambling and disjointed speech, starting by talking about his chat with the chaplain and finishing by saying that LJ and Michael are the only two people he has left in the world. LJ wonders what the hell is father is talking about. Linc tells him, "In the end, all that matters is love." He raises his hand above the glass between them, to the more open metal mesh that makes up the cage. He looks around and tells LJ to give him his hand. LJ is, needless to say, a bit put off by this. I mean, what high school student wants to hold hands with his father? But with tears in his eyes, he eventually raises his hand up and places it against his father's. And then Linc asks LJ to be there at his execution. (Although he phrases it as "the day before I die.") LJ nods his head, and Linc tells him that he loves him. No snark from me -- that was some really nice work from both of these actors.
Back on the outside, Sebastian is waiting for Veronica at some riverside restaurant. She's late, of course. Veronica arrives with a mouth full of apologies, and starts to tell Sebastian about Leticia. But he's not really interested in hearing about the witness who could potentially exonerate her ex-boyfriend. Believe me, Veronica, we've all been there. Sebastian asks her if she wants to get married, or not. She talks about delaying the wedding, but he tells her that if she wants to postpone it, he'd rather cancel it. She doesn't suggest doing otherwise, and he walks away. What a baby.
In his cell, Michael opens a book in which he has hidden his allen wrench. He starts to unscrew some piece of metal from the wall, and then hears Bellick's voice. He stands up and slips the wrench into his pocket just as Bellick enters his cell. It seems Bellick has found him a new cellmate, some dude that Bellick just happened to find in the psych ward. I have to assume that the dude was just being discharged from the psych ward and needed a cell, not that Bellick somehow arranged his transfer out of psych ward into the general population. Because that would strain my credulity. Of course, in a world where an "unnamed White House source" (i.e., Karl Rove) can tell a newspaper that the Governor of Louisiana never declared a state of emergency despite the fact that incontrovertible evidence demonstrates that she made such a declaration on August 26, I guess anything might happen. Bellick shows Michael's new cellmate into the cell. His name is Haywire, and I agree with certain forum posters that he looks an awful lot like a crazy (er, make that "crazier") version of Mark Ruffalo. As the cell door closes, Bellick warns Michael not to make eye contact with Haywire.
Out in the yard, Linc is in his caged area while Michael doesn't even pretend to rake. They walk side-by-side, and Michael breaks the news to Linc about Haywire being assigned as his cellmate. Linc thinks there's no way they can let Haywire in on the plan, so Michael decides he'll have to work at night, while Haywire sleeps. And he couldn't have done that with Sucre because…? A guard yells at Michael to step ten feet away from Linc's cage. As soon as the guard walks away, the two of them start speaking again. Linc asks how many days behind they are; it turns out that they are three days behind. Linc: "I thought you said the margin for error was zero days?" That is indeed what Michael told him.
On the outside, a car drives down a rundown road. The car parks under a tree, and Kellerman and Hale get out. Kellerman is full of appreciation for the beauties of nature. He opens the trunk, and Leticia kicks out at them, but she doesn't do any real damage. So, just to be clear, while Kellerman was in Veronica's office, Hale presumably abducted Leticia from a crowded law office, took her out of the building, and then stuffed her in the trunk while the car was parked on a busy Chicago street? I guess if this can happen…well, you know the rest (sadly enough). Kellerman pulls Leticia (who is bound and gagged) from the trunk, and tells Hale to take her into the woods and shoot her. Hale tries to talk him out of it, but it's clear who the top is in that relationship -- Kellerman doesn't even argue with Hale. He just tells him to take Leticia about a hundred yards into the woods. Hale takes her about thirty yards into the woods, forces her to the ground, and apologizes for what he's about to do. And then we hear the horn of a train -- Hale looks up, startled, and Leticia takes the opportunity to run. Hale shoots and misses, and then chases her. Kellerman runs into the woods as well. With his second shot, Hale hits Leticia in the leg. She continues to try to escape, but it's no use. In seconds, Hale is just a few feet away from her. The tape has fallen from her mouth, and she begs him for her life. He hesitates. And then Kellerman blows her away. Kellerman tells Hale to pick up the casings, and walks away.
It's nighttime, and Michael gets out his wrench from its hiding place in his brightly lit cell. He squats down on the toilet and starts working with the wrench again. He hears springs creaking, and looks up to see Haywire staring down at him. Michael asks him what his problem is. Haywire gives him the literal answer: "I got a neuroanatomic lesion affecting my reticular activating system." Michael asks for a translation, and Haywire tells him, "It means I don't sleep. At all." The only thing less believable than this? "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job down here." Michael is so boned. And not in the way many of you seem to want to see.