When the episode begins, Lincoln is drifting in and out of consciousness. We know this because the director's employing an arty-farty exposition technique wherein we alternate between a black screen and scenes of unalloyed carnage, all timed to the beating of Lincoln's heart.
Then the director discovers he has a "blurry" setting on the camera, and we get the Lincoln's-eye view of things. Lincoln does not approve of low-res exposition. His head falls back on the ground with a thud and he groans for a while. An unremarkable gray sedan pulls up in the distance, and we see an unremarkable fellow dressed in jeans and a pullover get out. Linc sees a column of navy blue. We see Kellerman.
He hunkers down to Lincoln and begins pulling on gloves. As he does, he talks: "I used to have a Great Dane. Big and loyal. When she was 12, she got cancer, so we put her down. You'd think it would be this big, dramatic event, but it was very…peaceful." Toward the end of this monologue, Kellerman has stuffed a glove over Lincoln's nose and mouth, climbed on his chest, and begun suffocating him. Kellerman continues, "One minute she was breathing, the she wasn't." What do you want to bet the young Kellerman watched the whole thing, beady eyes agleam at the prospect of someone deciding when a living thing should die?
Kellerman continues to suffocate Lincoln as a second car pulls up on the previously abandoned road. The guy getting out hollers a query about calling 911, and Kellerman's all, "No need! I'm giving CPR! You know, 15 chest compressions, two breaths, one suffocation!" The guy persists, "The engine's smoking pretty bad. It looks like it could go up at any second." Kellerman rolls his eyes, as if to say, What does it TAKE? Would it be so much to ask the universe to just let me murder this man IN PEACE? He finally gets up and stalks off, telling the guy, "I think we're okay." We see him go for the gun tucked into the back of his jeans. Kellerman's clearly planning on circling behind the guy and shooting him in the back, but the guy has other plans. They include whirling around and whacking Kellerman upside the head with something big and metallic. This is the second major injury he's had in a week, yes? As much as it galls me to say this, maybe Brinker was on to something.
The mystery man -- wearing a baseball cap, still regarded fuzzily by the beat-up Linc -- drags the convict away.
We then zip to the prison. The rap music of impending racial violence plays, but it's just Prison Break messing with us, because we're only got Sucre bopping out of the SHU and into the open arms of Team Escarpara. Well, most of Team Escarpara. As Michael and Sucre are hugging, T-Bag snipes, "Y'all can sign each other's yearbooks later." Someone is in a hurry to get to the spring cotillion before they announce the king. Michael announces that the map is complete and he's got what he needs: "I know which pipes we need to take beneath the psych ward now, which means our way to the infirmary is clear. With our new route, we're going to come up on the far end of that building, which means we've got to walk down 30 feet of hallway to get to the doctor's office -- our exit point. Which means there's only one piece left to this whole thing: the key to that room." C-Note assures him they can get someone to run a bump-and-grab and make a copy of the keys. And then -- since this is Team Escarpara -- they can invite the guy to join them. The more the merrier!
The conversation's interrupted by the arrival of a bus full of new fish. While C-Note and T-Bag carp about how they don't want any more surprises, Westmoreland announces the arrival of one right now with a fervent, "Jesus, Mary and Joseph!" The object of his awe? A freshly-shorn Abruzzi. It's hard to say what startles most of the members of Team Escarpara more: that he's among the living, or that he's not traveling in a bubble of his own sebum. The camera pulls in tight on T-Bag, who has skipped being surprised about Abruzzi's new hybrid bowl/buzz cut and moved straight toward shock that the man he tried to kill is still alive.
Commercials. After watching spots for both Poseidon and the DVD release of Aeon Flux, I feel like taping them, wrapping them up, slapping a label reading "Exhibit A" on the package, then shipping the whole thing off to the person who wonders, "Why is movie-going attendance down?"
Abruzzi is busy reading the Bible while clutching a rosary. Michael approaches him and coolly says hello. Abruzzi gets up and hugs him happily. We cut to a genuinely hilarious shot of Abruzzi draped over Michael while the younger man rolls his eyes in sufferance. Proving he hasn't lost his touch for the transcendently weird, Abruzzi tells Michael, "Any day above ground is a blessing." You won't be saying that when they lock you into that mausoleum, Abruzzi. Anyway, he politely bids Michael to sit. Michael does, looking as if he fully expects Abruzzi to begin speaking in tongues. (Then again, how would that be any different from the pre-converted Abruzzi?) Abruzzi asks if Michael's still planning on escaping, and Michael replies, "That depends. How does the idea of escaping sit with the new you?" Abruzzi says, "Oh, the old sinner who was confined to these walls is dead. The new soul deserves to be free." Michael says cautiously, "The old sinner was going to have a jet ready for us. Is the new soul going to be able to pull that off?" Abruzzi then proves that weirdness transcends all states of the soul by looking at Michael cross-eyed and asking, "Noah had his ark, did he not?" Then he bids Michael to join him in prayer. T-Bag watches this, looking decidedly nervous. He decides it's time to get a razor blade.
Pope is not reacting well to the news that the auto accident left two officers dead, one officer wounded, and one con missing. He snipes to Bellick, "Do you know what the media's going to say when they get a hold of this?" Since Bellick only patronizes Fox News, he does not know what the media would actually say. He promises instead to bring back Lincoln. Pope grieves: "Twenty years in corrections, and this is how they remember." Bellick is confident that he'll be able to track down Lincoln in four to five hours. After all, it's easier to find a highly motivated con on the lam than it is to wrangle a captive construction crew working on your break room. Pope wants to report the incident to the state department of corrections right away, but Bellick argues that going by the book will only backfire on them, the people entrusted to law enforcement.
Meanwhile, on the outside...a car drives into a garage in the middle of a giant auto demolition yard. We see the presumed mystery man dragging Lincoln out -- the camera is very careful not to show us who he is, so as to maintain suspense for the five viewers who are like, "A guy in a baseball hat? What is a man in a baseball hat doing on Prison Break?" And also on the outside...Veronica and Nick have been making a lot of phone calls, trying to track down any possible lead connected to Quinn via his cell phone. Nick moans, "There must be thousands of calls here...it's going to take us forever to go through all of these. And what if these have nothing to do with Lincoln and Steadman and we're just burning time -- we're just that much closer to the execution." Veronica notices that Nick seems to be ready to jump out of his skin, and says belligerently, "It's almost like you want to quit." Nick lies and tells her he doesn't. Veronica tosses him a stack of paper to go through and wanders off, leaving him to marinate in his self-loathing. Or to count the minutes until he's handed her off to whatever nefarious forces are demanding her. It's hard to tell which.
Michael is lurking around the door of the clinic, the better to "accidentally" close it so Dr. Sara has to whip out her keys and open them. Michael observes that she uses one with an orange key ring attached, then gives Dr. Sara his best flirty eyes so she won't notice he's scoping the locks.
Meanwhile, on the outside…Bellick is heading this elaborate, purportedly secret operation that is sure to go undetected because no reporter covering Kane County would ever listen to a police scanner. Some random uniform walks him over to talk to purported accident-scene witness Kellerman; he also frets about not being able to keep this thing under wraps for long.
So Bellick walks over to Kellerman, who introduces himself as "Roy Hawkings." Before Bellick can say a word, Kellerman's up and wandering off, explaining vaguely that he's "late for a meeting in, uh, Aurora." It's with these two metalheads who have their own basic-cable show. Bellick asks where Kellerman's coming from and he answers, "Chicago." "Hell of a route you picked to get to Aurora," Bellick sneers suspiciously. Oh, Kellerman -- how low you have sunk! When Bellick is blowing holes in your cover story, it's a sure sign you're not bringing your best stuff. Get your head in the game! I don't care if it has been dinged by LJ's bullet and half stove in by a fire extinguisher. That's no excuse.
Back in the prison, Dr. Sara's closed the clinic door again and pulled up a privacy screen so she can examine the shirtless Michael without getting distracted by the catcalls of other lonely inmates. Michael watches her avidly. Or perhaps he's eying her key ring with moist-eyed longing. Once Dr. Sara finishes cleaning out Michael's burn, she turns to face him. That's when he leans forward and kisses her. Apparently there's something in the Hippocratic Oath about reciprocating your patients' affections, because Dr. Sara's hands come up and pull Michael's face to hers as she kisses him back. They smooch for a few seconds, which suggests one of two things to me: either there's some mutual attraction there, or there's a shortfall in the tongue depressor budget and Dr. Sara's improvising on ways to test for strep throat. Once they're done, Dr. Sara laughs ruefully, then reluctantly pulls her hands away from his face. She asks, "What do you want from me, Michael?" He gapes, because that will go over better than "Your keys."
The tender love theme from Prison Break continues, and Michael sighs Dr. Sara's name before looking down, eying the key ring one more time, then sighing. He looks up again and gives her the full Blue Steel before saying, "I need you to do something for me." That is like Spanish Fly to Dr. Sara, and she leans in, stroking Michael's face. He gives the key ring a long, loving look, then transfers that fervid regard to Dr. Sara juuuust in time to say, "Wait for me. It won't always be like this, in this room, in this place." Yes -- soon, he'll be a fugitive. Can you think of a better romantic prospect for a prison doctor than love with an escaped convict? Dr. Sara's all into this until it hits her that until Michael's not a con, this is what her coworkers might call an "unprofessional situation." Before Michael can craft a protest, a giant orderly wanders in. Has he no romance in his soul?
The spell broken, Dr. Sara hustles off. As she leaves, Michael slumps on the table all, Well, that could have gone better… Perhaps he's filled with self-loathing because he's toying with a perfectly nice woman's emotions in the name of getting her keys. Or maybe he's just realized he's going to have to walk back to his cell with a tent pole in his trousers.
Speaking of people who are chary of erections in prison, it's Tweener, sidling into his cell with his back against the wall. Alas, that will probably not do him any good, as Avocado is already in the cell. He tells Tweener to address him formally, and Tweener says, "Mr. Balls Johnson." I really hope this is, like, another nickname. Because otherwise...with a name like that, you're sort of predestined to become a prison rapist. Anyway, Tweener tries to preserve the sanctity of his sphincter with a $100-per-month bribe, but Avocado demurs with, "It's nice of you to think of me like that, but you only got one thing I need." He reaches over to drop the sheet. Tweener realizes he's in for another long interval in which the sheer physics of the situation -- things like mass and force and quite possibly acceleration -- are not going to work in his favor.
The morning, Tweener is sitting against a prison wall, obviously distraught. Michael walks over and sits to him. As is typical for Michael, he completely misses the obvious social cues others around him are displaying -- in this case, Tweener's rocking back and forth and practically crying. So when he tells Tweener he needs him to perform another bump-and-grab, Tweener points out that the last time he pulled that little stunt, the guards found out and stuck him in a cell with Avocado. Michael finally realizes that perhaps Tweener is not excited about the resumption of a sex life inside these prison walls. Remember, he's the guy the shrink said was super-empathetic to the suffering of others. Tweener tells Michael that if he wants another bump-and-grab, he'll have to kill Avocado. Michael says, "That's not something I can do." Tweener bursts out, "Screw Honus Wagner." "Sorry -- can't help you there either," Michael replies. Oh, not really. It comes out that the reason Tweener's in here on grand larceny is that he lifted a Honus Wagner card worth $300,000. Tweener pleads that he knows nothing about baseball, so how was he to know the card was so valuable? Ignorance is no excuse, my lad. You might as well have said, "I stole my neighbor's diamond collection. How was I to know the Hope Diamond was worth anything?" Anyway, Tweener grieves over his past idiocies, and Avocado lolls about on the lawn, clearly hoping someone will call him "Splendor in the Grass." Michael eyes Avocado speculatively, so perhaps there's hope that Mr. Balls Johnson will eventually meet a sticky end. We all know Michael won't kill, but there are other members of Team Escarpara who have fewer hang-ups with it.
Meanwhile, on the outside...Linc is finally waking up, and his vision unblurs enough to discern that it's his father who rescued him from the flaming wreck.
Commercials. How did that nice Felicity get mixed up with Truman Capote and Tom Cruise? Wasn't the Ben-or-Noel question enough excitement for one lifetime?
When we get back, we're still in the junkyard with Burrows Senior and Junior. Linc asks what Dad's doing there and Burrows Senior says, "As soon as I heard you were granted a visit with your son, I knew they'd make a move on you." Linc is like, "No, I meant what are you doing here after decades of neglect?" Only not in so many words. Burrows ignores the question and tells him they'll be switching cars in another 20 miles or so, and then Lincoln will disappear. Once that happens, "This business will just be between me and them." Well, that'll keep Michael warm at night in prison. Lincoln asks, "What are you talking about? It's me they're after, not you."
Burrows then launches in a long, tedious expository speech which can be summed up thusly:
1. There is an international conspiracy, because unless you can bring in the villains with the foreign accents, your conspiracy's merely minor-league.
2. This conspiracy determines everything from the course route on the Amazing Race to the price of crude oil per barrel.
3. Like many working parents, Burrows faced a choice: put in the long hours at the office, or get shunted to the slow track. He elected to walk away from his family because his career was more important.
4. Then, as with many other career-obsessed execs, he foundered at work, decided to "resign" so he could "spend more time with his family," and discovered that unlike many other career-obsessed execs, his former coworkers decided that any time he spent with his family would be in the afterlife.
Back on the inside, Michael's lady troubles continue. He's trying to talk Nika into helping him with something, but she's not having it: "Green card for credit card, that was the deal." Michael wants a new deal. Nika tells him there's no new deal until he tells her what's going on. Michael tells her he can't do that, and Nika pulls out the gloomy fatality, telling him, "I don't know why you're in there. But I can tell you what I learned from those guys who brought me here. If you fight? If you struggle? It only makes things worse. Stop fighting, Michael." That's what you want from your helpmeet -- fatalistic resignation. However, it's worth noting that Nika's still wearing her wedding ring.
Meanwhile, on the outside...Veronica's found a pattern: "There it is again, the 406 number. It's on every listing." Nick notes that hundreds of far-flung businesses and residences are all calling that number, and asks Veronica to check the numbers' prefixes. Veronica replies in frustration, "It doesn't make any sense. All these people from all over the world, are calling this place in the middle of nowhere with a population of 42. Blackfoot, Montana."
Speaking of Blackfoot, Montana, it's time for that town's resident crank caller to put in his dentures and call the vice president of the United States to ask her if her refrigerator's running. Madame Vice President's not having it today; she clicks on the phone and says in the tones reserved for dealing with recalcitrant idiot siblings, "I thought this was clear, Terrence: if you want to talk, we set up a meeting, at home, in person." Terrence ignores this and skips straight to the sibling button-pushing: "I saw the latest tracking. Your polls are headed south. The Burrows thing's finally starting to gain some traction with the swings. It could hurt." "Goodbye, Terrence," Madame Vice President sing-songs, and Terrence continues petulantly, "You said it was almost over...are we talking about Lincoln Burrows, or your candidacy?" Madame Vice President reminds him, "The only reason you're still alive is because I won't let them kill you." She and Kellerman have similar rhetorical styles with the whole I-get-to-pick-if-you-live-or-die thing. Terrence is all, "Yeah, but the thing I can't quite figure is, with the crap storm this thing's become, why they haven't killed you." Wow, that is the most humorless prank call EVER.
Michael flings himself around the yard, having a good sulk in the rain. He's distracted from his pity party by the beatific vision of Dr. Sara floating toward the prison. Nurse Gossipson is attending her like some umbrella-wielding cherub. Michael Blue Steels until Dr. Sara's compelled to return his gaze, but their ocular tryst is interrupted by Sucre coming over to ask if Michael's maybe figured out how to get into the infirmary. He has not. Sucre asks Michael if he's working a game on the lady doctor. Michael sighs and says unhappily, "I don't know."
Cut to T-Bag shaving in his cell. Yes, alone. Yes, unsupervised. Why in the Sam Hill did he have to turn to that extra and make a big fuss about getting a razor blade when apparently all he had to do was wander back to his cell? Abruzzi skulks in a doorway and announces in a regionally confused accent, "Uh've hid tahm ta thaynk." T-Bag's eyes bug out, possibly in fear but more likely in confusion. Abruzzi assures T-Bag that all that thinking was not directed at how T-Bag tried to kill him, but rather at pondering the mysteries of Jesus. Abruzzi tells T-Bag, "I didn't come here to inflict any more pain. Take my hand, so we can put this behind us, please." T-Bag's twin fears -- being shivved or being forced to sing "Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam" -- paralyze him. Eventually, he croaks, "Show me the palm of your other hand." Abruzzi lurches into the cell, his one arm behind him. He groans, "Don't. Insult me. After all that you've done. Don't. Insult me." It's like Frankenstein is reciting blank verse. T-Bag finally gives him the world's most cautious handshake. Abruzzi asks him, "Does not a warm hand feel better than a cold shank?" T-Bag smiles nervously and says, "You got a point there, John." Abruzzi claps his other hand over their linked hands. T-Bag spits out, "Truce." Abruzzi says simply, "You got it." Then Abruzzi leaves. T-Bag sighs, rolls his eyes, and looks for a clean set of britches to wear.
In another part of the prison, Pope is unloading all over Bellick. I love how they're all, "You mean a convict on Death Row just disappeared into the vast rural acreage and your friend couldn't find him?" Pope tells Bellick, "You've got two hours to find him. After that, I have got to talk to the press." Again -- surprised no reporters in the prairie state actually listen to police scanners, because otherwise there'd be media crawling all over the place now. Pope adds, "There's an escaped killer outside our walls, and some things are more important than careers." Bellick stares uncomprehendingly. I can see where he'd have difficulty grasping that idea.
Naturally, this is where Tweener flags Bellick down and pleads to be assigned to a new cell. His request does not fall on receptive ears.
We cut to Tweener sitting on his bunk, coiled with tension. Avocado wakes up from a restful little nap and swings down for a quickie. He tells Tweener, "You need to start relaxing. It'll hurt less." Tweener gulps, then asks if they can maybe move up to Avocado's bunk. Avocado's thrilled that Tweener's finally taking an interest in the goings-on, and as he's arranging the sheets, we see Tweener slip out a razor blade. The thing we hear is Avocado's shocked scream of pain.
However, a little ol' laceration isn't going to come between Dr. Sara and her lunch hour. She's in the employee parking lot, digging for her keys, when Nika comes up and asks, "Are you the doctor from the prison?" Wow, security is totally lax if anyone can just wander into the parking lot. Dr. Sara is all, "Aren't you Michael's wife?" and Nika tells her, "I think Michael's gotten himself in some trouble. He's planning on doing something dangerous to get out of it." Dr. Sara's eyes widen in alarm. Guess she'll be having panicky speculation for lunch!
Commercials. I always confuse the Lunesta butterfly with the Absinthe Fairy.
When we get back, Dr. Sara and Nika are settling down to some girl talk. Shockingly, it does not include comparing notes on Michael's kissing techniques. Nika tells Dr. Sara that Michael has a deep need to help people. "So I've come to understand," Dr. Sara says warily. Nika explains that Michael rescued her from a life of sordid sex slavery. Dr. Sara says, "Nika, I want to do whatever I can to help Michael. To do that, I need you to tell me whatever you think he's mixed up in." Nika gets flustered and says this was a mistake. She drops her purse, and Dr. Sara tries to stall her -- "Can I just have a contact number for you --?" and Nika flees with, "It's not a good idea. Please don't tell him that we met."
At the salvage yard, Linc is muzzily asking, "Something I don't get: how can killing me stop you?" Burrows says, "'Cause I'm the one who leaked the information about EcoField. They could've covered up the scandal a thousand different ways, but they chose to fake Terrence Steadman's death. Then they chose you because they knew it would flush me out. They knew that any man with a son on death row who was innocent would have to come forward." Lincoln points out that Burrows isn't exactly coming forward right now. Burrows replies that's because he's got a cause he's working for, and if wars can be averted via this presumed cause, then millions of lives are saved. Linc says slowly, "So you were willing to sacrifice one life?" Burrows replies, "Yeah...at least I thought." In other words, no. Lincoln asks, "Do you know what you've done? The mother of my child is dead." Burrows is all, "I know," and Linc loses it, shouting. "Do you? Then I'm guessing you know Michael's in Fox River! And LJ's rotting in some jail." Burrows says resignedly that he knows all of this, but Linc barrels over him, snarling, "If you think for one second --" "You don't have a choice right now," Burrows says, and this is how we can tell he was an absentee dad, because telling Linc he can't do something is practically a gold-plated guarantee that he will do it. Lincoln continues, "It's on you. All of it." Burrows sacks up and tells him, "I know. That's why I'm here. There's still a chance we can make it right." Well, first, could you maybe make a bandage for Lincoln's head? It looks like raw hamburger.
Outside the garage where this cozy father-son talk is taking place, an alert employee happens to notice that the car parked therein looks just like the Mustang that is apparently the object of an APB. So did Pope go to the press, or is this guy listening to a police scanner, or what?
Inside prison, T-Bag's just procured a very unnecessary shiv in the least subtle hand-off ever. I am still mystified as to why he needs it. The man's shaving with a Schick, for heaven's sake! What does he need with another blade? Anyway, T-Bag stops so we can admire his high, lethal pompadour, but before he can lunge for Abruzzi, C-Note's intercepted him. He says, very quietly, "That man in there is our transportation out of here, Which means, you go after him and that messes with my chances of me seeing my family. So I ain't gonna let that happen, so why don't you just hand over that shank you're holdin'?" There's a long, intense stare, and given how close these two are and how deeply they're looking into each other's eyes, I'm thinking that soon, both of them are going to have some 'splainin' to do to their assorted racist posses. C-Note glides off with the shank, and T-Bag sulks for a while.
Meanwhile, Dr. Sara's discovering that she's missing her keys to the clinic. That would be because Nika's lifted them. And because Michael's sweet-talking her with "You were right. I'm sorry -- I should have never gotten you involved with this. If anyone knew --" Nika turns over the keys, then sweetly tells him, "Now we're even. I owed you everything, but that's over now. Goodbye. The lady doctor? She cares for you." Michael watches her go without asking, "So does this mean I can date her?"
Bellick's now sweating because there's no word of Lincoln. Fortunately, his friend Sheriff Ballard just called -- a junkyard owner's spotted a black Mustang and called it in as the missing/wanted vehicle. Bellick's not the only one to get the news; Kellerman puts down his police scanner. Bellick heads out. So does Kellerman.
Burrows is asking Lincoln if he's ready to travel; in return, his son asks, "The place is going to be crawling with cops. You know that?" Burrows is betting on a road by the river that might not be blocked off. Lincoln looks outside and he's like, The only thing dumber than relying on a road that "might not be" blocked off is assuming we can get out of here. Way to go, DAD. The two of them slide out of a back exit from the garage and begin winding their way through rows of cars. Unfortunately, it looks like Kellerman's covered the back exit; he also has the good timing to step into view right as a train is rushing by, so it's not like the father-son team can make a wild sprint past him without turning into track pancakes. More cop cars pull up. Soon, the yard's crawling with uniforms, plus Kellerman, who's screwed a silencer onto his piece.
Burrows slips away, then gestures for Lincoln to follow him. Unfortunately, Lincoln's right in Kellerman's sights. And then he does something both shrewd and noble: by stepping out and surrendering to the cops, he keeps Kellerman from shooting him, and he allows his dad to escape. He whispers harshly, "Get out of here. Go!" and with a lingering, regretful look, Burrows does. Linc is apprehended, ungently. Kellerman sidles behind a car and sighs in frustration, wishing Mercury would just move out of retrograde already.
Commercials. Nexxus shampoo, if my hair were thirsty, that would mean it's alive -- and that's a disturbing idea.
When we come back, Michael's busy heating up the plastic handle of his toothbrush so he can make a mold of Dr. Sara's key. Sucre comes in, giddy from the latest gossip: "Did you hear about Avocado? Got his salchicha sliced." Michael manages to infer Sucre's meaning ("salchicha" is Spanish for "sausage") and whispers, "How?" Sucre says, "Tweener. Avocado's saying he got caught on the frame while he was hopping down off his bunk." Michael asks heavily, "Why did he lie?" Sucre casually explains, "He doesn't want Tweener to go to the SHU. He can't get him in there. All I have to say is, as soon as Avocado gets out of the infirmary, Tweener's a dead man." The relish with which Sucre delivers this kind of news suggests that in a past life, he was the town gossip. Or someone who gave testimony to HUAC.
Since Avocado and his sausage are all taken care of, Nurse Gossipson is helping Dr. Sara tear apart the infirmary looking for the keys. Nurse Gossipson says, "Just retrace your steps. When did you first realize they were gone." "When I came back from lunch," Dr. Sara says. Then the electrical guitar of foreboding flashbacks kicks up. Dr. Sara flashes back to the lunch and realizes that Nika scooped the keys from her bag. She quickly strides outside to check the visitation log, and sure enough, there's an entry for Michael Scofield -- one Nika Volek. Good to see that she kept her name after she wed. Dr. Sara reels a little as she reads the entry, but quickly composes herself and stalks off.
Outside, Michael's walking across the courtyard, completely oblivious to the impending doom hanging over his head. From somewhere around his knees, a voice issues forth: "I need to know where he is." It's Abruzzi, who was presumably prostrated in prayer until about ten seconds ago. The convict-cum-convert explains, "Fibonacci. You see, my conversion requires that I not only seek forgiveness but also provide forgiveness, even to my greatest transgressors." Michael smirks and Abruzzi protests, "Don't look at me like that, like I'm the same old man I used to be -- I'm not." He practically bursts into tears after this. Abruzzi's new spiritual side is not so much a Saul-to-Paul conversion as it is a Saul-to-Paula-Abdul conversion, complete with inappropriate fits of emotion and incoherence. Abruzzi keeps going: "Trust me! I need to reach out of Fibonacci! So we can heal!" Michael's all, "Skeptic, here!" and Abruzzi struggles to remain meek and mild as he says, "I understand. I'll be patient."
We soon find out that Abruzzi's idea of "patient" is to call Nick and snarl, "You're officially now on standby. You'll have it there. Do you understand?" The camera pans past a silver model of an airplane on Nick's desk; he sullenly replies, "I'll do my best." Abruzzi snaps, "I said do you understand?" Whoa! How about a little of that much-vaunted forgiveness for your flunky? Nick takes a longing, regretful look at Veronica, then replies that he will. Abruzzi replies, "Good. Goose Park Airstrip. Find it on the map. Soon as I call, you have that bitch there ready and waiting." I would like to hope that Abruzzi's referring to a jet airplane that way and not, say, Veronica, as that sort of label sort of flies in the face of that whole "love others as I love you" business he professes to be so keen on.
Michael comes over to say hi to Tweener. The younger man does not look terribly liberated for all that he may have castrated his rapist. Tweener asks, "You want me to still swipe that thing? I'm having a going-out-of-business sale." Michael asks why Tweener's not exploring the option of becoming the kid who lived in the SHU, and Tweener points out that doing so would constitute an admission of guilt in re: Avocado. That could add another 20 years to his sentence. "I'm dead no matter what, "Tweener concludes. He's on the verge of tears again. Michael says, "There may be another way out of here." Tweener's still wallowing in misery; he replies, "Yeah. In a body bag." Michael asks if he can trust Tweener; the boy protests that he's as straight-up as they come. Note how he doesn't disclose that he's a little squealing snitch. Michael presses that he really needs to trust Tweener, and the music gets all dramatic right before cutting away from Tweener's face.
We then transition to Michael in the clinic, coolly pulling up a sleeve. Dr. Sara comes in, and Michael says, "Hey." It almost sounds warm. She returns the greeting and Michael asks, "How are you?" She is fine, if a little standoffish. Michael extends his hand when asked, and Dr. Sara gives him a furious look as she preps him for his injection. Nurse Gossipson comes in right about then and conveniently finds Dr. Sara's keys right by her inbox. Dr. Sara's face gets even stonier. Michael's not even looking at her. Then Nurse Gossipson says, "You got a maintenance guy outside, says you wanted him here to change the locks. You want me to call him off?" Oh, that gets Michael's attention. He looks at Dr. Sara, and she's giving him a flat, betrayed stare in return. Someone finally finished her copy of Don't Do Life in the Prison of Love. Dr. Sara gives the go-ahead for changing the locks, and tells the guy to get started so Michael can see. He swallows, visibly upset. She asks, "Is there something wrong?" I love this! It's so excellent to see her moving quickly once she's got proof she's been played. Michael tells her, "No. Unless you want to talk about what happened this morning." Dr. Sara snaps back, "I have a pretty good idea. We're done here." Oh, Michael! She owned you! He knows it, too.
Lincoln's brought back in chains. An unamused Pope meets him in the prison courtyard and barks, "I want him under 24-hour surveillance. He doesn't sneeze without my knowing it." As the forum posters asked earlier: Linc is already in prison. How is he not already under 24-hour surveillance? Linc protests that someone tried to kill him; Pope does not snap back, "Then we have something in common!"
Time passes, and Tweener flags down Bellick. The guard smirks, "I heard Avocado cut his hose on your bunk. There must have been some serious gym-nast-ics goin' on." Tweener's all, "At long last, I am paying off as a snitch! Just try not to stuff me in a cell with any more libidinal mutant giants and I will sing like Clay Aiken in a Chelsea bar. Um. You know what I mean." Bellick bluffs and postures some more about the horrible things he can do to Tweener, so the boy blurts out, "Scofield and his whole P.I. crew? They're escaping." Oh my GAWD, Tweener, you idiot! You could have gone with them, and instead, you're going to do…what, exactly? Cultivate a career as a prison snitch and girlfriend to Fox River's Yeti population? Perhaps after this, you can aspire to be the Eva Braun to the prison's reigning Aryan Brotherhood leader, since you obviously have such a great nose for backing long-term talent.
Cut to Bellick barreling into St. Louis, clearing it out, pulling up the rug, then hammering the floor. The hole gapes open. So does Bellick's mouth -- he's just discovered the hole, and the endless possibilities as to what he can do with this knowledge are stretching before him.