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We have a good news-bad news situation. Shall I give you the bad news first?
If you've been doing time in the Prison of Love with Michael and Sara, I'm afraid your 'ship just got the shiv: Susan B. Anthony beheaded Dr. Sara and sent the detached cabeza to Linc in a box. Linc has elected not to tell Michael about this for now, perhaps fearing that his brother will lose all motivation to escape from prison (instead of getting angry enough to get out of prison and kick some ass). But the good news is, this clears the path for Sucre and Michael to finally act on their feelings -- Sucre has been so shaken by the decapitation, he's back on Team Escarpara. He's now the new gravedigger at the prison. Susan B. shot the old one.
So Sucre's busy digging graves and spraying the fence with a chemical that, when lightly heated, burns through metal. The electric fence -- which happens to be metal -- is now heated thanks to a bait-and-switch scheme Michael pulled with the electricity. He managed to make the lights go out in the prison and used that as an excuse to fix the fence out in no-man's-land. When Bellick sees him doing this, he snitches to Lechero that Scofield's busy burying things in the transformer box outside. However, when Michael re-digs his hole, he explains to the utilities-ignorant prison posse that he was merely fixing the power. As a result, Bellick is discredited. He is also the owner of some fine second- and third-degree burns along his back, as Lechero tortured him for offering bad intel.
Meanwhile, T-Bag finally kills someone. I know! I was also wondering what the delay was. By dispatching the in-house drug dealer, T-Bag has guaranteed himself a place in the prison posse. Sammy is not pleased by this development.
Finally, Mahone is not dealing with drug withdrawal well. He's hallucinating that a bloodied Haywire is in the clink with him, giving him instructions on dealing with Scofield. The sad thing is, Haywire's advice is proving useful. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
When we begin the episode, Linc is taking a cab ride through some truly lovely green valley. Too bad he's not seeing any of it. What he sees instead are flashbacks to last week -- walking down to the garage, noticing the blood pooling below the box.
In Sona, Michael is perched in his usual indoor spot -- at a window, staring out at the gravedigger and the ivy-covered electrical fence. Wait a minute... Anyway, Whistler comes rolling on over and asks, "What's so interesting out there, other than our freedom?" No doubt that line looked better on the page than it sounds when uttered aloud. Michael points out that live vines equal dead electrical fences, but Whistler's like, "Really, College Mouth? That's not news -- nor are the trigger-happy guards on the other side of the fence." Michael snots something and Whistler decides to sling attitude in return: "I get what you're doing with my book. They hold your girlfriend, you hold what they want. Countering needs -- Churchill 101. Soon those bastards are going to ask what progress I've made in figuring out what they want, and I'm going to say, 'Nil, because Lincoln Burrows has the book.'" Michael does not ask how a humble fisherman is so conversant in Churchill. Instead, he points out that "threatening the brother of the guy who's supposed to get you out of here might not be the smartest move." Whistler's all, "Threatening? Who's threatening?" and says he's merely worried that the One World Conspiracy will take action against them. Michael shoots back, "'I never worry about action, but only inaction' -- Churchill 101. Now, like I said, I've got a lot of work to do." He skulks off. Whistler has a distinctly appraising look on his face as he watches him go.
Meanwhile, Lincoln is still in the throes of a flashback with opening the box. He is also walking toward his daily rendezvous with Michael. Michael trips up to the fence and notices that Linc looks like he's just taken a two-by-four to the back of the head. He asks if Lincoln's okay, and Lincoln lies, "I'm sorry, man. All this stuff -- it's just starting to get to me." He's practically in tears. Michael looks both confused and concerned. But he quickly perks up and tells Linc they've got to pull the gravedigger into this escape effort; all the instructions are on a piece of paper that Michael quickly tosses through the fence. He excitedly says, "We got to get started now." Lincoln very nearly breaks down in tears. He can't even look at Michael. Scofield asks, "What are you not telling me?" Linc looks at him and says, "All these people who have been hurt because of me. You know, it's...I'm so sorry, Michael." Michael reminds him, "They did this, not you. Okay? It's not your fault." When Michael adds, "I feel like we're running out of time," Linc looks sick to his stomach. He silently limps away. Michael looks really worried as he watches him go. At this point, someone should open a line as to which one of the brothers is going to be felled by a stress-induced cardiac incident first. I mean, we're looking at months of pent-up trauma.
However, my money is on Linc. He leaves Sona, walks down a surprisingly lovely and remote set of stairs, and falls to his knees in grief once he reaches the bottom. We see the flashback through to its finish: Linc has lifted the lid on the box, and inside is Dr. Sara's head. We see Linc stuff his fist in his mouth when he's in the garage. Back at the base of the sunny staircase, he just whispers Sara's name.
As we go to the credits, I am juggling many thoughts at once. The first is, what do you do with a head in a box? Do you just toss it in the nearest dumpster and hope it can't be traced to you? Chuck it in a river? Give it a decent Christian burial? Another thought: has there been a dude on this show who has been through half of what the women here go through? Veronica: held at hostage not once but twice prior to being shot and dismembered. Dr. Sara: tortured by Kellerman, kidnapped by the One World Conspiracy, then beheaded. T-Bag: tortured -- but then managed to kill one of his torturers and set the other up for murder. Sure, he was kidnapped by the Bozo Fetts compared to the One World Conspiracy, but even the three dudes whom the conspiracy took out last year -- Abruzzi, Tweener and Haywire -- weren't savaged like Veronica and Dr. Sara were. The women protagonists on this show are depowered and dehumanized in a way that none of the men ever are. It creeps me right the hell out.
Anyway, as you were. We're back in Panama City. Linc is walking along the waterfront and he's just met up with Susan B. Anthony. She's not looking too pleased to see him. Linc leans to the rail and remains silent. Susan B. says, "I am just a soldier in this war, Lincoln. Just like you." Linc does not point out that A) the "just following orders" argument didn't fly at Nuremberg and it doesn't fly here, and B) most soldiers actually don't behead their hostages, thanks to a little thing called the Geneva Convention, so unless the One World Conspiracy's got the Bush administration's Justice Department on retainer, torturing and murdering prisoners is widely considered uncool, even in wartime.
Then Susan B. manages to annoy me even more than usual by pleading her case to Linc: "I did not want to do that. Can you even comprehend the intimacy of the mechanics of what I had to do to that woman? It's horrible!" Cry us a river, Susan B. Her upshot is, she hopes she won't have to start mailing pieces of L.J. to Linc, because boy, does she hate to do that sort of thing. Linc is like, "Whatever you want, lady." Then Susan B. starts in with her weird, conspiracy-stooge-with-feelings act, saying, "I know the last few days have been hard -- for me as well. If you want to talk about it, I know what this pain feels like." Okay, I get at this point that she is either a reluctant conspiracy stooge, or she's working for them following some sick family-harmed-by-forces-beyond-her-control backstory or whatever, but...I sort of don't care. Like I've said before, I have no idea what motivates her, I have no idea what she brings to the table, and the shrouded-in-ambiguity angle is getting old. Please, writers, it's time to tip the hand on who she really is, before I lose all interest.
Anyway, the scene drags on and Linc does end up having to turn over the real book he took from Sofia, because what is the One World Conspiracy if not nigh unto omnipotent when it's convenient? Linc stomps off as Susan reiterates, "We're just soldiers, Linc. Different armies, but soldiers just the same." Frankly, if I were a member of the U.S. military, I'd be insulted to be put in the same category as Susan B.
Back in Sona, Splenda's playing basketball (bouncing the ball off the wall) while Michael watches. After one such move, Michael comments, "Nice." "I was best in my school," Splenda says. "All girls?" Michael ripostes. Oh my...why, Mr. Scofield, was that a joke? Does this mean that Sona will be dining tonight on the pork that's about to fly through the courtyard? Splenda invites Michael to kiss his ass and makes another "shot," and Michael bets him $20 he can't repeat it. Splenda doesn't make it, and since he's short on cash, Michael shrugs that he'll take the chance to borrow Splenda's not-at-all-real-gold cross. Splenda won't hand it over until he finds out why Michael wants the cross.
Upstairs in Lechero's suite, he and his flunkies are chillaxing. The hooker is with them, looking like she'd rather be doing anything other than watching soccer. She must really hate soccer. And wow, how unfortunate for her, given where she lives. Anyway, Lechero throws a minifit over something, Sister Magdalen (the hooker) drapes herself on him to comfort him, and we switch suddenly to T-Bag, who is watching with a look of near-infatuation on his face. The power dies out right about then. Lechero gets up and curses some more; it's hard to be the king.
And if you're Mahone, it's hard to be going through withdrawal, especially when you insist on watching yourself do so in a nearby mirror. As he looks at himself unraveling, he sees a bloody hand rest on his shoulder. Mahone jumps back, all freaked out, and we see that nobody's there. Well, we all knew he'd be hallucinating. I was just hoping he'd hallucinate something cool, like bats wearing little bowler hats.
Anyway, Michael interrupts Mahone mid-freakout to tell him, "I've been thinking about our little talk, and, ah, you're in." Unbeknownst to either of them, Bellick is eavesdropping nearby. Mahone wants to know what the plan to get out entails, and Michael's all, "Um. I'll get back to you on that...when you get me a black felt-tip pen." He tells Mahone it's for documents that need to be altered. Mahone's on it. Michael adds, "And I'll tell you what else I need. I need you to get your act together. I need you to bring yourself under control, because you're attracting attention and that we don't need." Mahone indignantly quavers that he's under control. Michael whispers patronizingly, "Of course you are."
Down in the bowels of Sona, Lechero's down there with two of his flunkies. The one whose hair so offended me last episode -- Bad Hair Guy, with the half-shaved scalp and the long hair -- explains that when the system's overloaded, simply throwing the switch won't work. Lechero tells him to fix it. Bad Hair Guy replies, "I'm a truck driver." Lechero's left wearing a look like Why are all my flunkies STUPID?
Back in the cells, Bellick's just approached Mahone -- scaring the hell out of the jumpy former agent -- and asks guilelessly, "I just wanted to see how you're holding up in here." "Just dandy," spits Mahone. Bellick chortles, "I was having a tough time of it myself. I figured it shouldn't be that way for us, seeing as how we're the only two lawmen here in Taco Hell." Hey -- why not scream a little louder about being on the other side of the law? I'm sure a few inmates didn't hear you. Bellick keeps trailing Mahone, who is searching for a pen, and when Mahone snaps at him to reveal what he wants, the answer -- a black felt-tip pen -- is not what he was looking for.
We shift from the music we used to associate with Team Escarpara to the more delicate plinking that used to accompany the Sucre/Maricruz nonsense. Now it's the soundtrack for Whistler and Sofia. Be wary, you two! That music bodes ill for all to whom it's scored! Anyway, it's time for a tedious little lover's spat that basically boils down to...
Whistler: Yes, I'm in prison, and yes, it sucks, but no, I don't plan on telling you anything useful and no, I would prefer it if you didn't try to help.
Sofia: Try and stop me. Oh, wait -- YOU CAN'T. Because you're in PRISON.
Whistler: Well, if you're going to be that way...get me everything you can on Michael and Linc, would you? Now let's hold hands.
Sofia: Okay.
In the prison courtyard, Michael very casually absconds with a roll of duct tape. We see him tuck it below his shirt. We do not even get a slight flash of tattoo. I feel so cheated. Mahone comes up with a pen, but it's a ball-point one, so Michael tells him to go try again. As Michael walks off, Mahone hears Haywire hiss, "He's playing you...he's playing you. Do not trust him." Mahone looks around the courtyard and sees a bloodied Haywire lurking behind a clothesline. And you know, while one part of me is all, "Oh, how appropriate that Alec's most haunted by the one guy he talked into killing himself -- perhaps he feels a kinship with the crazy guy who was manipulated by others!" about this development? The other part of me is like, "You know Haywire's only here because they couldn't get the actors who played Abruzzi or Tweener."
Up in Lechero's lair, the boss man is asking T-Bag, "Your amigo...he's a builder, an engineer?" "He's no amigo of mine, boss, and trust me: you do not want to get under the covers with that hombre," T-Bag replies. Lechero is not in the mood for lectures and storms off to find Michael himself. Within five seconds, he's asking, "Scofield, what do you know about electricity?" Michael smarts back, "Only that we don't have any right now." Lechero holds up his mobile and says, "Let me tell you something: this phone keeps all the food coming through the gate. It keeps my business running. It keeps Sona running. Electricity die, phone die. Phone die, we die." Michael replies, "We die or you die?" Lechero pauses, visibly reins in his temper, and says, "Boy, you've got enough education but you're not being smart. Now I come to you. That is an opportunity. Be wise and take advantage. Now...can you fix the electricity just like you fixed the water?" Michael tells him, "It's not that simple. The water pipes were inside the prison. The electrical lines are probably running underground along an exterior wall, which means they're out there somewhere in no-man's-land...last I checked, they shoot prisoners who go out in no-man's-land. So I'm thinking the answer is no." Lechero grabs Michael by the shoulder and says, "Now, you listen to me, and you listen carefully, Water Boy. Like it or not, soldiers or not, you're going out into no-man's-land." Michael gives him the Blue Steel.
When we get back from where the commercial break would have been, Michael is busy telling Lechero it's a suicide mission (Lechero shrugs at this) and asks, "You're going to keep me safe?" "Best I can," assures Lechero. Michael says, "I don't think I can do this." Lechero stops that foolishness: "No, no, no, no. You will do this. Look, I will do something for you. I get you a new pillow -- goose feather, like mine. Or a small TV." Michael bargains for a corner cell, telling Lechero, "It's the first one to get sun in the morning. You get me that cell, I'll get you electricity." They have a deal.
Meanwhile, on the outside...Sucre is busy crafting a fake ID in Linc's hotel room. Linc comes in and numbly drifts to the window, and Sucre assures him he'll be moseying along real soon now. The coffee growers in Colombia are hiring Panamanians for the picking season, and Sucre plans to work there and send money home. The bus leaves in the afternoon. Linc asks Sucre to do one favor before he goes -- he's meeting someone and he needs a translator. Sucre balks. Linc begs, "I'm in Panama, I don't speak the language --" but Sucre insists, "I can't miss that bus. I'm going to make money and send it home. On the run or not, I'm going to be a dad, Lincoln. You, of all people, should understand that." Further self-righteous justification is interrupted by a knock on the door. Linc lets in Sofia, who's come over to announce, "You and I, we both have people in there we care about. Please, let me help you." And that is how Lincoln gets a translator.
Back in Sona, Lechero's trying to negotiate the work crew, but his phone dies. In exasperation, he knocks back his entire drink before T-Bag's even finished cutting the lime for it. Lechero looks at the knife and tells T-Bag, "Make [Michael] one." Michael discreetly shakes his head no. Smart man -- T-Bag probably carries a different poison in each fake finger. More of Lechero's crew comes in. The drug dealer, Nieves, hands over a bag carrying considerably less cash than Lechero expected. Lechero immediately assumes that sales are low not because the customers aren't paying, but because Nieves is using the inventory. He tells Nieves as much via a series of blows. From the floor, Nieves squeals that he's not using anymore. Michael watches all of this impassively. T-Bag helps up Nieves, urging, "Chin up, pal o' mine."
Mahone is still on his quest for a black felt-tip pen. It's not going well, but Michael's exit toward the gate provides a welcome diversion. An alert goes off, the inmates scatter, soldiers come in. As Lechero and Michael head toward the now-open gate, Haywire's ghostly voice moans, "He's leaving you." Mahone looks freaked and then we get his hallucination: the bloody Haywire right to him, saying, "He's leaving you, he'll be gone, and you'll be stuck in this place forever." Mahone groans and grabs his head, trying to regain his composure.
Michael and Lechero are outside. After opening pleasantries -- during which the colonel nominally in charge of this site reminds us all, "I am getting something out of this as well" -- Michael tentatively essays that yes, he can fix the electricity. The colonel pleasantly reminds him, "My men will shoot you in the back of the head if you so much as look at the fence." "What, that old thing?" Michael replies dismissively. "Never even noticed it." Oh, he does not. Scofield knows when to break out the smart mouth.
After this little exchange is over, Michael is back inside the prison courtyard. Bellick is immediately on him, offering to dig. Michael dismissively smirks, "I don't need your help," but Bellick lets him know he's been eavesdropping, so it's in "Mikey's" best interests to let him help out. Michael gives Bellick the old Blue Steel. Why, at this point, he should be surprised when crap like this happens...I mean, if the past two seasons have taught him nothing, it is that whatever the least desirable outcome is, that is what will inevitably happen.
Meanwhile, on the outside...Linc and Sofia try to cozy up to the gravedigger by chatting him up over his car. It's a very cute opening exchange -- Linc is busy firing off car questions, Sofia is relaying the questions and answers, all while giving Linc this amused and indulgent look. Those two have some chemistry! However, this productive conversation stalls when the gravedigger recognizes Sofia from outside the walls at Sona. Linc is like, "Okay...time to skip to the bribery portion of this event."
Then we cut back to the prison. Assorted prisoners (including Whistler, Michael and Bellick) pick up shovels and begin digging into the hard red dirt out in no-man's-land. Bellick continues to hector Michael about his escape plans, and while he does, Michael casually picks up the duct tape and replies, "I'm just fixing the electricity, boss." Bellick snaps back, "Yeah, right. And I'm just single 'cause I'm choosy." Why, Bradley. How unusually self-aware of you. Bellick adds, "Don't make me tell anyone what I know." Michael replies, "What is it you think you know?" Bellick tells him: "Some people called The Company wanted you in here to work with that Whistler guy. Am I warm?" Michael replies, "What's the Company? What do they want with Whistler?" Bellick says, "I don't know, but I bet you do?" Michael gives one of his ineffably smug smirks and replies, "It doesn't sound like you know much after all." Bellick replies, "I don't need to change a diaper to know that it stinks to high hell." Two zingers from Bellick in one conversation! I fear he may have bagged his limit for the month. Michael continues to maintain plausible deniability.
Cut to these guys digging. I am impressed with how deep they've dug in such a short time with such hard-packed, parched soil, but that's because I recently spent a weekend digging up plants out of a garden that hadn't seen rain in six months. Anyway, Michael eventually finds a junction box that’s been buried near the wall. As he clears it out and opens it, Bellick watches intently. Michael is assessing the wires. Wheeler asks, "I assume we're doing more than just playing electrician?" Real discreet there, Panama City's Most Wanted. Michael replies, "Rest assured, we're exactly where we need to be." We see Michael futzing with something in the junction box and kicking dirt on to it, then crouching down to tamp more dirt around the area. Bellick watches all of this, then invents an excuse to leave. After Bellick goes, Whistler stops rolling his eyes long enough to ask, "You mind telling me why he's even out here with us?" Michael continues digging as he says, "He knows something's up?" Whistler's all, "And hoooooow?" Michael dryly replies, "I have a bit of a rep." "From Fox River?" Whistler asks. Well. Michael's gobsmacked. I tell you, Scofield, just operate on the assumption that there are no such things as nice surprises and you won't have any more moments like these. Whistler tells him, "I know who you are, mate. I figured it out just lately. It finally made sense, why they'd pick you out of all people...no worries. It's in my best interest to keep your little secret. But Bellick can't be trusted."
Cut to Sammy -- who is fast becoming my favorite thug, which is sort of a disturbing thing to admit, because how often does one confront one's hierarchy of thugs from most- to least-favorite? Anyway, cut to Sammy getting up in Scofield's grill and snarling, "Trouble has a way of finding you here in Sona, doesn't it?" He then picks up Michael by the scruff of the neck and herds him over to Lechero. That man is not amused by the idea that Scofield abused his good faith by burying something in the junction box.
After the brief interlude where commercials would be, Lechero has Michael had back to the junction box and open it. Michael moves out the dirt at Lechero's request and brings up...some taped wires. Michael explains, "It's duct tape. It's to repair the frayed wires. That's why the power was so inconsistent. I didn't want the tape to become loose, so I packed it down with dirt." Lechero's got a look like ...oh.
They're back inside; Lechero and Sammy have decided to follow Michael down to the main power switch and watch him turn it back on, a development that Splenda regards with no small amount of chagrin. Michael is not too thrilled about this either.
Once they're down by the switch, we see the real reason both Michael and Splenda are nervous. Michael used the cross to disrupt the power circuit that keeps Sona humming, so flipping the switch will not restore the power; only removing Splenda's very recognizable cross will. Now that he's got an audience, how will Michael pull that off?
By taking one to the eye, is how. He throws the main switch and nothing happens, and after Michael puts on a show of dismay -- which puts him right in line with the circuit he needs to pull the cross from -- Sammy knocks him into the box. Michael makes a big show of stumbling, palms the cross, and the lights come back on. Michael -- whose face is untouched despite the loud and crunchy punch he took -- gasps, "Transformer delay." Check out Scofield's mad improvising skills! Lechero's all, "Um. Perhaps I should not have had my henchman punch you so quickly. You just rile me up, is what you do." But of course, he doesn't say any of that.
We cut to Nieves and T-Bag sharing a moment of commiseration over how tricky it is to work for a homicidal boss with a hair-trigger temper. Nieves promises, "When Lechero's in a better mood, I'll put in a good word. Help you -- how you say, move up the ladder." As T-Bag empties out a plastic bag filled with heroin bundles, he says, "I appreciate it, compadre. But I was always taught God helps those that help themselves." Then he walks behind Nieves and suffocates the man. There's the T-Bag we know! Didn't it feel weird to go three and a half whole episodes before the unidextrous pervert killed someone? After Nieves' remarkably quick death, T-Bag makes it look like Nieves overdosed.
Meanwhile, on the outside...Sucre is still monkeying with his fake ID, Sofia is anxiously waiting, and Linc is trying to get Susan B. to pony up $15,000 cash for the gravedigger. Susan B. assures him, "I will get you the money, and I will meet you there." Then she switches gears and asks how Linc is holding up. Linc tells her he just wants this done. She's pleased by that. I...couldn't care less. And I would probably like her more if she took a page out of Kellerman's or Kim's books and stopped trying to relate to the people she's jerking around. Oh, man. You've made me miss KIM, Susan B.! I hate you a little for that.
Linc heads for the door and Sofia kicks up a fuss over his orders to have everyone stay there. After she huffs, "You're not the only one affected by this," Linc snarls, "I know. That's the problem." Sofia pushes, "And you'll still run off and do whatever you want? What kind of a man are you --" "They killed Sara and put her head in a box! And they've got my son!" Linc shouts. Well, that shuts Sofia right the heck up. It also shocks Sucre out of his idiotic little fantasy world. He tells Linc he's so sorry. Linc's not having any of that -- he shouldn't have had to break out the big, beheaded-girl guns to ask for help in the first place.
Back in prison, Sammy's having a busy day: he has to now muscle T-Bag over to Lechero so that Lechero can yell at him some about Nieves. Lechero gets all up in T-Bag's shocked (shocked!) grill and shouts, "Do you know anything about this?" T-Bag convincingly lies that he does not, sniveling, "Nieves and me was friends, man!" Lechero slams T-Bag into a wall and says, "If you knew that he was using and you didn't tell me, his death is on your head." Well, it's there anyway, so that's not a very effective negotiating tactic. However, poor Lechero -- who is turning out to be remarkably bad at telling when people lie to him -- doesn't know that. T-Bag snivels his way out of trouble and into a promotion into Nieves's old spot. Sammy is watching all of this with an expression bordering on sorrow. I wonder: will he be the one to keep Lechero in power out of some loyalty? Or is he beginning to contemplate a coup? Or am I seeing something that's not even there?
A few corridors over, Michael returns the cross to Splenda. He also thanks the boy, and it appears to physically pain him to do so. Splenda comments, "You're a real smart guy. What the hell are you doing in prison?" Michael has a look like, "I am smart. And I ask myself that question all the time. I only wish I were smart enough to answer it."
Then he runs intro Mahone, who has the coveted pen. Michael totally blows him off.
Whistler's watching the guards outside when Michael startles him by appearing and asking, "What do you think?" Whistler's like, "I think I have no idea why you thought fixing the fence was a good idea." Michael says it's in everyone's best interests for the fence to be as deadly as possible, and all he's waiting on now is for Linc to come through with the gravedigger.
Speaking of whom...we see the gravedigger thumbing through a fat wad of cash, then telling Linc and Susan B. that this makes a nice start. However...he'd like more. Linc advances on him, snarling, "You said $15,000" until he gets to the guy, and then it's more like, "LINCOLN NOT LIKE ADJUSTABLE-RATE BRIBERY!" As the guy dangles, he squeaks derisively, "You want me running games in Sona?" Susan B. shouts that she's got this one. She tells the guy to calm down, then rummages in her handbag as she muses, "If it's more money you want..." and her handgun finishes that sentence with "...perhaps you'll get it in Hell." Linc is all, "We needed that gravedigger!" Susan B. reasons that the gravedigger will sell them out to the cops, then plugs him a few more times as a precaution against that possibility.
Back in Sona, Michael's packing up to move to a new cell. Mahone watches as Haywire urges him to kill Michael. T-Bag interrupts with his idea of good news: "Due to the untimely demise of Señor Juan Nieves, I have now been promoted to manager in charge of retail distribution and customer liaison." As Mahone tells T-Bag to get away from him, T-Bag sets up the works for heroin and tells Mahone he doesn't look too good. He sets down the dope and says, "No strings attached," before walking off. Mahone closes his eyes and leans against the wall. The phantom Haywire jumps into his face and hisses, "Get your head straight." Mahone bugs out and begins to stare at the heroin. Frankly, I have a hard time believing it would still be there, given how opportunistic most of the inmate population is.
Lechero is watching more soccer when Sammy and Bad Haircut Guy escort Bellick into the room. Bellick nervously asks, "You guys call this football down here, right?" Sammy -- who has an arm clamped around Bellick's shoulders turns to him and politely says, "Very good, very good." Sammy is this season's break-out badass; I think the way he goes from zero to kill-y in sixty seconds is chilling and therefore riveting to watch. Sammy continues, "It's World Cup. Football without the silly hats you wear in America, where they all jump on top of each other like a bunch of batty boys." Having made the requisite small talk, he offers Bellick a seat. Lechero sends T-Bag to go get a pot of coffee.
Bellick looks around nervously -- Sammy's arm still draped around his shoulders -- and Lechero finally begins speaking. He says, "The only thing I hate more than a rat is a rat with bad information." Bellick protests that it's not him, it's that tricky bastard Scofield. Wrong answer! Sammy soon has Bellick prostrate on the coffee table. Lechero pours himself a piping hot cup of joe and walks over while Bellick gibbers about how Michael's planning to escape. Lechero sits down on the coffee table and pulls up the back of Bellick's tee without looking at the guy; Sammy and Bad Hair Guy have Bellick pinned down. T-Bag looks down but does not participate. Lechero reminds him, "I heard something this morning about 'if I'm lying, I'm dying.' It's a good thing I don't hold you to that." Instead, he'll settle for scalding the skin on Bellick's back by pouring the hot coffee on it. T-Bag actually winces and looks away as Bellick begins writhing and screaming. Is anyone else amused by the idea of this stone-cold killer being grossed out by other people's dirty work?
Mahone sitting behind in a dramatically-lit staircase. Since the direction in this scene is all arty and desolate, that should be our first clue that Mahone's now a junkie. (See also Requiem for a Dream, Sid and Nancy, Drugstore Cowboy.) Our second clue is the empty syringe, along with the matches and the sticky spoon in a grim yellow pool of light. (See? Art direction. Being a junkie is pretty!) And our third clue is that Mahone is rocking back and forth and twiddling his fingers. I would get outraged at how his character's disintegrating, but I'm still worn out from the Dr. Sara snit I threw back at the beginning of the recap.
Michael moves to his new cell. The art in this one includes a woman free of shackles, dancing in flames; it's a lot of phoenix imagery as reinterpreted by very lonely men. Michael immediately begins looking out of the window. He whirls around to find Mahone dopily leaning against the door of his cell, dreamily twirling the black felt-tip pen around. "You left this in your old cell," he says. Michael manages to thank Mahone coolly, and Mahone replies, "It's funny that you could forget something as important as this is." Michael takes the pen and says cautiously, "I'm glad you found it for me." He walks over and Mahone follows him, ostensibly to marvel at a drawing on the wall...but really to plant a shiv about half an inch away from Michael's ear.
Michael takes a big, startled breath, but we do not hear the accompanying tinkle of urine. Bully for Scofield! Mahone pins his other hand on the wall so Michael can't move and says, "You are breathing only by my grace, Michael. Now you remember that the time you send me onna...on a goose chase." "I didn't," a frightened Michael protests. Mahone begs to differ: "You did. And you think you can manipulate me like you did Sucre and Tweener and Haywire. I'm not your errand boy. I'm going to go with you when you escape, and if you think, in any way, that you'll leave me, I'll put this piece of metal right in that very small space right between your eyes." As Mahone pulls his shiv out of the wall, Michael can't take his eyes off of it. Mahone weaves on out of there. Michael is still too freaked to move.
He eventually recovers enough to go out and visit Linc. The first questions out of his mouth are, "How's L.J.? How's Sara?" Linc pauses before lying, "They told me they're fine." Then Linc has to break the news that the original gravedigger's gone. Michael wigs slightly before Linc reveals that the gravedigger's supervisor could use some extra cash (read: bribes) and sure enough, there's a new gravedigger. The shot is of Michael rushing back through the courtyard to check out the new gravedigger. We see the boots and pants, and then, as Michael's watching the man lift a body by the shoulders, we see...Sucre. He's grinning at Michael. Michael barely suppresses a smile of his own. Well, Jay has Silent Bob; I suppose we can all agree now that Sucre has Michael. They're hetero life-partners.
Whistler's been kicking back in his cell. He gets a package -- it's his bird book returned to him, with a note inside reading, "You're running out of time." Whistler looks thoughtful and nervous.
Cut to Michael watching his hetero life partner move bodies just outside the live fence. Whistler comes over just as Sucre is picking up the canister and beginning to spray down the bodies. After Whistler asks, "This is how we're getting out?" Michael nods, "Yes. With a little help from an old friend." Whistler finally asks the question on everyone's mind: "What is that?" Michael explains that the stuff in the canister is Kesslivol. It's meant to hide the stink of decomposing bodies. But when it's heated to a certain degree -- as it might be when it comes into contact with an electric fence, say -- it can corrode steel. The episode ends with interleaving shots of the fence dissolving and Michael looking rather pleased with himself. Hold on to that feeling, Michael. I think you'll be missing it soon enough.